This music thing, it's hard work, isn't it?

I've had a very successful week, as far as succesful weeks go. I am now one more A* up on my roll of GCSEs, which has made me very happy.

But most importantly this week, I have found that all my hard work DOES indeed equal success, and with every great cliche it has a struggle story, a log of challenges that I have faced to get to my goal. I have just passed my Grade 6 Keyboard with Distinction, a pleasant surprise, something that makes me grin from ear to ear just thinking about it. Who knew that I could get this far? I certainly didn't think that I would be able to play a simple piano piece when I was six, never mind fully accomplishing a full orchestral version of the Beatles' hit "Eleanor Rigby". I always wanted to succeed in whatever I chose to do, and as a six year old watching a young man play a keyboard in the local electrical store, I knew I wanted to succeed at that! And so here I am... Grade 7 keyboard, with the added extra of Popular Music Theory which has increased my thirst of knowledge for the ever-interesting pop music industry so much that I now HAVE to write a blog post on this phenomenon at least once a fortnight. It's funny how things turn out, isn't it?

But.. anyway. Back to the keyboard. Last year, I was distressed that I had to put in so much work in order to achieve just a merit. JUST, aha. A contradiction in itself. So when this year came, I had no worries to the amount of time and dediction I had to put in, I just did it. With hardly any complaining either, haha. I sat down at my music programme for like 7 hours a week, because I KNEW somehow that it would all turn out with the best outcome. So to celebrate my success, I find myself writing about it. I was completely speechless that I could achieve such a mark so far down along the line, but it happened, and it's made me extremely satisfied as a result. I'm never afraid of hard work, but now in the future I know that it may not have definite success at the end of it, but I do it anyway because I want to and I enjoy it.

This is a bit like how the music industry works sometimes. The news of the death of Steve Jobs proved my thoughts. A man perhaps not directly involved in the music industry, but one who single handedly changed the way the music industry worked in less than a decade? Quite an achievement, you think. He did what he enjoyed, which was being the director of a company which had no entitlement to succeed, but it did anyway through entire perserverance. He's completely changed the way people see music through the invention of iTunes and the exponential growth of downloads at the consequence. If you have an iPod, which I highly doubt you do not have, what would you do without it? I have to admit I overlook the way a single device smaller than a small paperback can hold shelves and shelves of previously hard copy music, namely because I haven't known anything different! I only rely on my memory as far back as my Sony Walkman when I was very young, the first music storage system my Grandad gave me as a gift, and he has given me many more of them since then, most being products of Apple. Many others also overlook the fact it is possible download music at the click of the button. Sure, Steve Jobs didn't event this, but he sure made it popular. I still collect and buy CDs out of the reasoning that I like my music there to touch and to display not only on an electrical catalogue, but many don't. I'm sure Jobs' hard work puts homage to this. Music acts today make their music with the aim (advertising, A&Ring etc.) that it will be released through iTunes first. Some may centre their entire career around this.

The world is very different to the world 20 years ago, in terms of the industry and the way people see music. Going into the matter of whether today is better or not and the ethics of iTunes is another blog post, but you cannot deny the force for which Steve Jobs has fought to change how things work, all through his hard work. I for one may celebrate his genius, his innovation and for his ability to make so many people so happy in such a little time (Me and my iPod, my Grandparents and their iPads, both products have changed our lives dramatically). So thank you Steve Jobs for your hard work, I'm sure you can have your well-deserved rest now.

It's all hard work, isn't it? That's what makes life so interesting!