Six Famous Musicians Who Started with Music Lessons
There are a bunch of different reasons why people attend music lessons. Many people do it for relaxation, the joy of having a hobby, the structure, or the educational properties. On the other hand, there are people who take music lessons to make music their life. This post highlights several famous musicians who started their music journey with lessons.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga has a pretty impressive background when it comes to music education. After all, it was her intention to become a star. She was classically trained on the piano starting at age four. She actually wrote her first piano ballad when she was 13. From there, Lady Gaga, who was then known as Stefani, started taking voice lessons with well-known teacher Don Lawrence. She went to open mic nights with her mom until she was old enough to begin her formal education in music at NYU. Funnily enough, Lady Gaga ended up dropping out of college because she felt she already learned everything she needed to know about music. She wanted to go out and perform instead of learning in a classroom. It is safe to say that this method worked in her favor.
Yo-yo Ma
Renowned cello player, Yo-yo Ma, was born into a family of musicians who had him begin music lessons when he was four. Without these early lessons, he would have never known how talented he was. His talent was so obvious that he started performing at age five as a child prodigy. Yo-yo Ma’s parents moved their family to New York City when he was seven so that he could enroll in the preparatory division of Juilliard. He then attended Harvard where he got his bachelor’s degree in anthropology instead of music so he could experience normal student-life.
Taylor Swift
Unlike Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift’s exerience with music lessons was more informal and personal. Taylor was inspired to sing by her grandmother, who was a famous opera singer. She started taking voice and acting lessons when she was nine in New York where she would perform in theater productions. Taylor actually learned to play the guitar from a local musician slash computer repair man who only taught her a few chords. It was from there that she started using her new guitar skills to write songs and perform them wherever she could. All it took was a few lessons with a guitar player and look at her now.
John Mayer
John Mayer started his love affair with music when his dad rented him a guitar and his neighbor turned him on to Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was then that John found the blues and became emersed in the world of guitar. He took lessons at a local music shop and used his new understanding of music to start learning songs by ear. His love for the technical aspect of the guitar drove him to attend Berklee College of Music, where he dropped out after two semesters to pursue a more practical approach to music. He performed on a plethora of different stages before becoming famous.
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow was born into a musical household where her mother was a piano teacher, and her father played the trumpet. She began learning the piano at around age five and her passion for music grew from there. She would perform wherever she could and was in a few music groups. However, unlike Lady Gaga and John Mayer, Sheryl Crow didn’t initially want to be a famous musician. She went to the University of Missouri where she got her bachelor’s degree in music education. She was a music teacher for two years in Missouri before she moved to LA to become a full-time musician after she started recording jingle for advertisements.
John Legend
John Legend has a prominently religious background when it comes to music education. His mother directed a church choir where his grandmother played the organ. He began taking classical piano lessons when he was four and then began singing in his church choir when he was seven. He sang throughout the beginning of his adolescence before enrolling in college at the University of Pennsylvania when he was only 16. He actually didn’t go to college for music, instead getting his degree in English while participating in multiple extracurricular music clubs and groups at his college. He got a comfy corporate job after college before deciding to take his passion for music to the next level.
It’s crazy to think about the big stars we know today as kids going to their first music lesson, but everyone has to start somewhere! Many of the artists we listen to wouldn’t be where they are today without the music lessons that gave them a foundational knowledge of music that they could use to follow their dreams. Did we miss anyone? Comment below your favorite musician with a background in lessons. Catch you next week!
As an institution that is a beat above the rest, Breaking the Barrier School of Music provides quality music lessons in a family atmosphere to students of all ages and skillsets. For more articles like these or information on this school, visit https://btbschoolofmusic.com/
