# How do star musicians rise to the top?



## GhenghisKhan (Dec 25, 2014)

Hi, 

I'm just curious as to what kind of process is used to weed out the hopefuls. 

How fair is the process? Is it more of a function of marketing or skills?


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Stars rise to the top by eating their Wheaties!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I don't know about musicians because I'm not really very concerned with who is famous and who isn't. There will always be good music and good musicians performing as long as the human race continues. Having an impressive CV is always a good thing to have though. 

In the composition world, it all comes down to knowing musicians. Probably the most important thing to garner any public appreciation is initially being good chums with people in professional ensembles or soloists who record music, perhaps music teachers and people like that. Competitions have another big role as well. With experience and practise, any composer will gradually improve and chances of writing something that would catch adjudicators' attention will increase, and with it will increase the chances of winning. The more pretigious, the better for one's CV but more important are the competitions which ensure a performance of the winning work.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

GhenghisKhan said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm just curious as to what kind of process is used to weed out the hopefuls.
> 
> How fair is the process? Is it more of a function of marketing or skills?


Most major orchestras, in the U.S. at least, have blind auditions for new members. They play behind a screen and are presumably judged by their playing alone. Marketing skills don't help. But I imagine you are talking about the small minority of solo artists who achieve international fame?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Record companies get good lookers with a bit of skills, polish their performances up in editing stages and put them in skimpy clothing if they are female, photoshop them and release them into the wild.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Good agenting and marketing, plus an undefinable "star" quality that projects well. Then there are those who work their way up the ladder over time simply by being really good musicians. But becoming revered that way requires a relatively long life


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

GhenghisKhan said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm just curious as to what kind of process is used to weed out the hopefuls.
> 
> How fair is the process? Is it more of a function of marketing or skills?


Considering that we define "musician" in the traditional (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Gould, Ma, Bernstein ...) sense, and not in the "marketing ploy masquerading as a musician" sense ....

A "star musician" rises to the top the same way he or she gets to Carnegie Hall -- practice, practice, practice!


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