Live your truth and define your own success this semester with this installment of the Music Major Minute.
Welcome to a new school year, a fresh start, and another step on your musical journey. As we learn to sing, we begin to discover who we are and grow into artists that can change the world. Are you ready to learn about yourself and share your spirit through music? Read on for inspiration from Grammy® winner and living legend Jon Batiste about how you can approach this fall semester by living your truth and defining your own success.
Kings and Legends
In vocal literature, the textbooks cite Franz Schubert as the king of art song. He established art song as a new genre by creating miniature works of art by setting poetry for voice and piano. For 200 years, singers and pianists have treasured Schubert’s Lieder, and today’s students are tasked with learning his songs with traditional technique and performing them with an authentic, modern interpretation. It isn’t easy, but this is the quest of a music major: seek your truth, master your craft, and share your journey. Translation: be real, practice, and perform!
Fast forward to 2024’s living musical legend and Grammy award-winning artist Jon Batiste to experience a new musical frontier. Like many others, I was first introduced to Batiste when he led the band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. What a pianist! What a smile! Jon Batiste has won 11 Grammy awards spanning the literal gamut of musical style: classical, R&B, jazz, pop, score soundtrack, and more. The 2023 Netflix documentary American Symphony is the breathtaking tale how Batiste created his symphony for a Carnegie Hall performance under the most difficult circumstances.
As Batiste says in the documentary, “What we love about music is not that it sounds good. What we love about music is that it sounds inevitable.” His joy, vision, and unconditional love of all music is unparalleled in the pop touring scene. I make this bold claim after recently experiencing his “Uneasy Tour” in concert and I can attest that the love is real.
In short, Jon Batiste culminates his Julliard-trained classical piano technique + formative New Orleans jazz and gospel experience + creativity/love/faith/joy + popular styles that insist you get up and dance to create a new musical frontier. Not just a genre, but an evolving way of musicking. He creates new genres by layering traditional classical technique with world music and pieces of his wildly beating heart. In American Symphony Jon shares, “My mind is always making things. [It] just continues to become more and more of a survival mechanism as the years move on. It’s the way I process all the things in my life.”
His lyrics are so honest, they do not need Grammys to preach his personal gospel—but the awards sure help get the word out. The following are lyrics from three of Batiste’s songs and my take on how we can interpret Batiste’s truth to be better versions of ourselves this semester.
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The Song: “Be Who You Are”
But doing something greater, unafraid
Been over all the underestimation
Don’t get mad at your imagination
If it’s real magic, you ain’t gotta chase it
You can only be who you are…
Wherever you are
You can only be who you are.
The Take:
Keep going! Be brave! Let mistakes go—they are part of the artistic path. Marianne Williamson says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” And she finishes with, “As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Doing something “greater, unafraid” takes everything you’ve got. When you know yourself, you can access your truth and be who you are. The real magic, the combination of music and your imagination, will shine when you prepare and bravely “be who you are.”
What if you aren’t sure who you are? The college years are formative in defining your sense of self, while studying your chosen field. As you learn to live on your own and find new people to like and love, you will question, defend, and affirm your values. This is you, learning to trust yourself. As Jon’s lyrics advise, let go of underestimation and bravely be who you are.
The Song: “Tell the Truth”
My daddy growed up, when times was hard and gritty
Whether looking for love?
Are you looking for fame?
Before you go off
Better know the game
He said, tell it like it is
Love how you live
When you’re doing what you do
Just tell the truth!
The Take:
Just tell the truth. I mean, this is basically the secret of life and one of the Ten Commandments. To figure out what you are looking for and how to find it, be your true self. Love how you live and you will speak your truth. The world needs more truth and good music—but most of all, the world needs you.
People pleasers beware: when you figure out the secret of life is bravely being true to yourself, you might find you aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. NBD! If you tell yourself the truth, then you are doing your best and will probably find more common ground with those other tea drinkers!
Bring that bravery to class and to the practice room. Remember, Batiste graduated from Juilliard, so when he sings, “better know the game,” he learned from some of the best. My take, dear music major, is that there is no better time than the present. You are in college to learn your craft so you can “better know the game” and sing your truth!
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The Song: “Butterfly”
Butterfly all alone
But can you fly on your own?
Take your place in the world today
Butterfly flying home
Stay a while here with me
Up underneath the stars
When you go, you’ll be free
‘Cause you know who you are
You’re a butterfly.
The Take:
Practice! Every butterfly is a transformed caterpillar. Music majors looking for guidance in these lyrics can intuit that the practice room is your cocoon. “Stay a while” and learn your songs. When you are ready, sing for your teacher and then your community. Each note is important, so take care to learn them well. When we love the process, we will find more love for ourselves.
Love and truth are messages woven into all of Batiste’s music. In a talk about mental health he said, “True love is when you give of yourself from the depths of your soul, and whatever happens, happens.” These words describe a good audition, a heartfelt performance, accepting ourselves, being with our loved ones, and approaching our craft.
Isn’t it lovely to let the image of a butterfly represent our love of music and humanity? No one expects a butterfly to fly in a straight line, and your musical journey is no different—and it is like no one else’s. You must prepare as much as possible, but when you sing, accept that “whatever happens, happens.”
“When you go, you’ll be free,” is such a powerful directive. Batiste wrote this lullaby for his wife, Suleika Jaouad, as she battled leukemia. She is doing well and has reported that her treatment will be ongoing. Suleika is an incredibly articulate writer and artist—she shares her insights on Jon Batiste’s YouTube channel “Truth Be Told,” and if you resonate with Jon’s messages and his music, I can confidently recommend following Suleika.
Becoming a consummate artist is more than just singing beautifully. The classical music scene is changing all around us, and successful performers like Batiste are launching their careers with innovative performances and creative trailblazing. We classical singers strive for the virtuosity to sing the classics, contemporary works, and everything in between. Learning from Jon Batiste has opened my mind to new ways of putting our training and experience together as modern day artists.
What remains steadfast in the performing arts is drive and substance: keep working to be better than you were yesterday. This fall semester begins a new school year to pursue knowledge in every class, lesson, rehearsal, practice room, and even the hallways. When you live with your eyes, ears, and hearts open, you will learn how to share music your way. And, by all means, add some Jon Batiste to your playlists!
