Mentoring plays a substantial role for us whose careers revolve around the arts and other related sectors. Those who went to college can name a person or two who acted as their mentor throughout their college years.

I was under a number of music mentors, there are those who helped me understand the art of creating music and there are those who provided me the opportunity to polish my craft.

Among those who taught me music, I had 4 private piano instructors between age 9 and my sophomore year of college. Each mentor helped me turn out to be what I am now, but there is one mentor that stood out among others. My three music mentors are more concentrated on technique while my mentor in high school focused on my gift for songwriting since she herself is a songwriter as well. She did not merely put me in a system instead she helped me develop into an artist.

As a composition major in college, I also had personal instruction with two composition teachers - and again, one of the two stood out as a mentor in music. He took notice of my strengths and weaknesses as a songwriter, and challenged me in particular ways to help me develop. He was not just a teacher, but also a personal coach, willing to deal with my human side, my attitude concerns and my meltdowns in the process.

On the other hand, I also encountered mentors who never taught me something but instead they gave recognition to my talent and gave me the chance to use it and develop it. I spent a lot of time in church music surroundings as a young man, and several of the musical and spiritual leaders in those settings gave me access to musical instruments and recording equipment, let me play on the music team (even as a youth), allowed me room to make mistakes, and even found me other areas to play. These people were my private cheerleaders, but even more than that, they had a hand in building a foundation of success under me.

There are two things I seem to remember when I think about my music mentors. First off, those mentors that really affected me were the individuals who took interest in me, as a musician and as a person. Second - looking back at my growth, I believe my mentors played more of a role in my education than my collegiate studies..Even though a few of my teachers and mentors were in the college scenario, it was the personal attention that helped me develop in music, far more than the classes, homework or tests. College helped but my music mentors made the variation in my development.