Re: How am I different from all the other mandolinists? (ruminati
I think you're asking the wrong question. Express yourself through your playing, and take your satisfaction from that self-expression. Be as pleased by the music you make alone in your room, as you are by the music you make in front of an audience. Hear yourself, whether others hear you or not; critique yourself, encourage yourself, develop yourself. Be the musician you want to be and know you can be, whether you meet with acceptance or not. That's the way you can feel fulfillment, regardless of what others may or may not think of you.
Having said that, I've found that the road to wider acceptance is to "give the audience what it wants." Which is, of course, the opposite of developing a unique and personal sound and style. Only a few musicians -- or artists of any type -- can create such a compelling, original individual style, that they win wide acceptance from audiences despite "not sounding (or whatever) like anyone else."
So, wider acceptance can come down to marketing, in a sense: analyze the potential market (audience) for your music, and conform your music to that audience's tastes and expectation. I play maybe 150+ jobs for senior audiences annually; do you have any idea how many times i've sung You Are My Sunshine over the past 15 or so years? I don't. Not that I'm complaining; I love to play, and love to bring music into the sometimes comparatively barren environment of a seniors' residence or nursing home. But, really, it's a case of "giving them what they want," not "offering the world something that's different."
Lots of good advice above about how to make a slightly larger splash in the pond of the current music scene -- though I'm not so sure that finding a didgeridoo player is a sure path to anything; who's gonna notice your mandolin playing alongside that? But I'd recognize the potential tension between wanting to be original and expressive, and wanting to be popular. Talent and originality are only part of the formula for building a wider audience. As Rick Nelson sang in Garden Party, after failing to win over an audience:
"It's all right now; I learned my lesson well;
You can't please everybody, so you have to please yourself"
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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