Being a musician isn't just about how awesome you are on your horn, it's also
about how you interact with the people around you. If you think that you will
still be successful if you blow people off that listen to you, I will straight out
tell you that I think you are stupid.
I was doing a performance once and was distracted and stressed during one
of the breaks. I was heading outside and an audience member said "Good Job"
to me hoping to make conversation, but I said thanks and just walked right
past them.
Another one of the musicians playing that night was behind me and saw me
avoid the conversation. They followed me outside and really let me know how
disappointed they were with me.
I would like to contribute my wonderful :-) people skills to this other musician
(I don't remember exactly who it was). That night I learned that when
someone tells you that you played well, you talk to them and not just accept
their compliment because if someone takes the time to compliment you, you
should take the time to thank them and talk to them. Even though at the time
you are the hot musician up on stage, you can't forget that you are a person
too and that if someone you admired blew you off how shut down you would
feel, so it is important to take time with the people who try to talk to you (if
you can).
The same goes for other musicians, if one tells you that you played great,
return the compliment - even if they suck, there has to of been at least one
thing that they did that you thought was cool - don't neglect to tell them!
