One of the most important parts of any young musician’s musical journey is their mentor. Who will be teaching them, and how will that person serve their musical needs? Whatever music program you decide on, you’ll likely be interacting with the same teacher in weekly lessons for at least a few years. You and your teacher will be spending quite a lot of time together, and the influence they will have on your learning cannot be understated or underestimated.

At very least, a mentor is entrusted with helping their student improve and later excel at their chosen instrument. Depending on how deep the relationship grows, they may be able to guide their “mentee” to a greater understanding of music and the most personal growth possible.

The Power of Mentoring

Having a mentor is one of the best ways to expand your knowledge and get support in the most critical stage – the beginning. But a mentor is more than just a teacher – they can be, but good mentors don’t instruct or direct things to be done a certain way. In fact, the best mentors inspire, encourage, and give a different point of view about how to reach your goals by using their experience to offer feedback and advice.

But, like most things in life, you need to find the right mentor for you – one that fits you and what you hope to achieve.

• A good mentor understands and respects your background, goals, and unique individuality.
• They are generous with their experience, knowledge, and time.
• They’re honest when sharing their own experiences, and when giving feedback. Honest constructive criticism from a mentor can influence important decisions about a music career.
• You should also have complete confidence in your choice of mentor.

What to Look for in a Mentor

There are a few key qualities every good mentor shares:

• Availability – Your mentor should be available for communication. There will likely be times you’ll need to meet your mentor outside your normal hours, and they should be willing to make themselves available – within reason.
• Flexibility – A good mentor is open to adapting to your needs while teaching and guiding in a way that works best for you.
• Similarities – Pick a mentor with a similar attitude, values, and goals as yourself. This will make your goals more easily reachable, especially when your mentor understands you and the road you’re traveling.
• Character – Your mentor needs to be someone you respect and look up to. They should show strong morals, ethics, and honesty.
• Confident – The best mentors are people you can trust. There will be situations where you’ll be vulnerable and will need to be open with your mentor.
• Caring – Your mentor should care as much about your success as you do.
• Inspiring – The best mentors inspire you to reach for new levels and higher goals.
• Positive – Your mentor should stay positive. Your journey will not always be smooth. It’s important to have someone on your side who is willing and able to help you up and keep you motivated when you’re feeling down.
• Challenging – Mentors should not be afraid to offer constructive criticism. In order to reach your goals, you will need to be pushed out of your comfort zone. This is necessary in order to reach your fullest potential and advance your musical talent and abilities.
• Believe in you – Above all else, your mentor should believe in your potential and put their maximum effort into the relationship.

How a Mentor Can Help

Long- & Short-Term Goals

Having both long- and short-term goals is extremely important both for playing music and personal growth. Goals are what give you and your future in music your focus for years to come. They should be continuous and act as the framework for what ensures your musical dreams come to fruition.

Staying on Track

Having a mentor who knows your goals means they can check in on you and make sure that you’re not getting carried away with side-projects or other issues, and can help you stay focused on reaching your goals in a short time.

Pointing Out Your Strengths and Weaknesses

No one likes discussing their weaknesses, but with a mentor you can identify the areas you are strong, and more importantly, work out strategies to turn those weaknesses into strengths. With their help you can become a more accomplished musician.

Encouragement

There will be times along the way where you will want to give up.

A good mentor can help you decide if you want to continue with certain ideas or paths. You will get discouraged along the way and will want to throw in the towel. But having someone there to talk about these feelings with – someone who has experienced them themselves – can be a wellspring of encouragement. A mentor can offer different paths forward as they encourage you and help you to remember why this dream of yours is so important, and why it’s worth the extra effort.

Confidence

When you can talk about your goals, your fears, and even your wackiest ideas with someone who supports you and understands, confidence grows in leaps and bounds. A mentor can help you clarify all the ideas floating in your head into workable strategies that you can start using in a systematic way.

Being able to bounce ideas off your mentor with complete confidentiality, without fear of ridicule, and with positive feedback and support can make you feel like anything is possible. All you need to do is make a plan.

Inspiration & Connections

One of the things about a mentor is that they’ve been where you are, done what you’re trying to do. They’ve tried lot of things and different ways, and some of them turned out to be dead ends. Their experience can save you countless hours of research and usually a lot of money because, as the saying goes, they’ve been there, done that. So you don’t have to.

Their wealth of experience means you can have forewarning about the pitfalls and what has worked before. Then all you have to do is tweak that experience into working for you and achieving your goals.