Should I go to school?

[Nearby1]

You're not screwed. Just a little slow out of the gate, and perhaps afraid to fail.

If music were really your passion, you would spend hours a day practicing. You would move to Nashville, L.A., Austin, Little Rock and network with everyone and be in a band that at least played local clubs, and try to learn everything you can about the industry. Or you get back to school and immerse yourself in music and connect with people who are doing it. Push yourself.

Otherwise accept that it is just a hobby. Join a garage band and get on with your life, or play your music in church. Nothing wrong with that. There are many people who are frustrated musicians who have chosen other paths. The last three governors of the state I live in were all musicians, one played bass guitar, one played guitar and the third played saxophone. The sax player went on to be President.

Remember that there are a 7 billion other people out there. They are ready to compete. So no matter what you do, you'll have to put some passion into it and a lot of hard work, there are no easy fields.

Have you thought about heading towards audiology? Helping people with their hearing. Or get into architectural acoustic design. But most of all, you need to get started in some direction, any direction. You can't change directions when you are stopped. So do something and plot your course from there. Good luck.

[WyoNewk]

My sister has a very musically talented family. In fact, she and her husband were both in a band when in their late teens/early 20s. Her daughters (5 of them!) are all musically gifted. A couple were in Up With People, some sang for tv commercials, some for numerous weddings, etc.

Only one has pursued it as a full-time career. She majored in it in college (full-ride scholarship), studied overseas, and moved to NYC where she gives lessons, has a band and is on tour much of the time. She's played with some of the great musicians of our time, but I doubt she enjoys her music and her life any more than do her sisters.

Her sisters (and their mother) are content to sing and play in their church choirs, etc. They all have stable jobs with good incomes, established homes in the midwest, families of their own -- "normal lives".

I'm a photographer. I enjoyed it very much as a hobby and tried to make an income as a professional nature photographer. I simply couldn't make a living from it. Very few do. So now I shoot weddings, senior and family portraits, some commercial stuff. It's difficult for me to even make a good living at that. And I'm a little burned out so that I no longer have the passion for nature photography.

My point is this: Go back to school and learn something that will make you a good living so that you can enjoy your passion for music in your spare time. Radiology should be good. Almost anything in the medical field should be good. My daughter is a pharmacist. She makes very good money and could get a job anywhere. (And the good income begins immediately upon graduation from college, not after gaining a few years of experience.)