You Will Make It
[Music]
[Applause]
been teaching here for a while and
love it it is a joy to
find a job that really truly makes you
happy
and i did find that and i am loving it
and i want to talk a little bit about
redefining success
when emil told me that was the theme and
wanted me to talk about music
i thought well then i gotta say i think
that our definitions
sometimes about success are pretty
inaccurate
they maybe need some tweaking because
sometimes they can even be damaging
not to bring us down here but some
definitions
of success or some measuring of success
they can damage you and they can damage
your dreams
and they can damage your attempt to
have those dreams i just want to
make sure you understand it’s not all
down though because i’m here to say
that you’re you’re never too old
i’m not that old but i’m kind of old
never too old to
realize those dreams and you’re
never needing to worry about being
17 and having a ton of pressure and
having to figure out do
there’s all these things i have to
achieve right to be successful in all
these things i have to accomplish
you know as other speakers have said
today
you’re not on somebody else’s timetable
of success you’re on your own
you define what success means to you and
it took a while for me to learn that to
be honest with you
because here’s my short little story um
you know
i took this path in teaching which i’ve
been so happy
to do and but i grew up really loving
music
and being a part of choirs and doing the
things like that that you do but i also
wanted to perform on my own
a long time ago that was a dream for me
maybe even someday write my own songs
and here’s what happens
pretty quickly it’s quieted
by the measurers of success be they
well-meaning
parents or family or sometimes even
friends
the discouraging words and maybe even
worse
sometimes the stunning silence
that you might be met with when you’re
pursuing a dream and it
it if you’re strong it may not shut you
down but if you’re not i wasn’t
it can shut down your dream you can
start to build a wall
you didn’t even know you were building
or letting them build
um that can happen
and that can also become then and it did
for me your default
your default is your belief that they
have established that
you’re good but you’re not good enough
don’t draw attention to yourself
who do you think you are
2015 it took a while 2015
we mentioned coffee house here at
minnetonka and a student
involved with coffee house was also
doing some gigs in
in town here and she offered me
a chance to sit in i was like
okay yeah and and for the first time in
a long long time i
i started to let my yes be louder than
my no
to things to challenges we had a ball
and i tell you man i was hooked it was a
little tiny it wasn’t a big crowd or
anything it was a little tiny
you know a group of people who were
super encouraging
and and it was it was like something
that had been dying inside of me to be
alive again
came alive at that moment
and so we scoot ahead to 2016 and i
started taking some
voice lessons and some guitar lessons
and and
and all the while those measurers voices
in the background saying no one’s ever
going to let you play
you know that right so you know do it
it’s fun
well doors started to open and then the
next hurdle
my voice teacher says i think you need
to stop singing
covers and start writing your own songs
i think you have something to say
and i said absolutely not
no way because it just brought up all
those images of all those
attempts and fails and right
and the measurer voices again
so i had to take some big steps i’m a
good student i didn’t step away from the
assignment
i did the song it actually turned out to
be pretty good
and and it unlocked something man that
all these songs started to flow after
that
and more and more gigs and after
seven sold out shows in a row and
a lot of of songs and putting together a
little band
and having just the time in my life last
year you know we
released i released a dream
gave birth to a dream my first ep
i hope it’s my first the first cp we’ve
been down this road before
and we had a great release party and
just a time of our lives and
with no idea of course what was coming
around the corner in 2020
where a lot of those next opportunities
are all going to get shut down
and set aside it’s not my livelihood
and i’m thankful for that so
i thought well i guess that’s it i
achieved
but the music didn’t stop the songs
didn’t stop
it just they just kept coming and coming
and coming so
like a lot of artists i wrote songs and
started to record them in garageband and
wrote parts for other
band members who aren’t there and
background singers who aren’t there
but i see them i see them they’re
happening they’re happening i don’t know
how soon
maybe a year we don’t know right
but i see them happening because uh
being a teacher and i know that after a
plague
there’s usually a renaissance and we
don’t know exactly what that’s going to
look like for
so many people in entertainment
industries and
food services and so many other things
but there’s going to be a renaissance
and i’d like to be a part of that and
you can be a part of that
you can be an encourager to someone
else’s dream instead of a
silencer to someone’s dream
and i i just want to reiterate here
before singing you a little song
that it you’re never too
old to realize a dream if it’s what you
want you have to take those first steps
and surround yourself with those
encouragers and those walls start coming
down
and even healing starts to happen
which is pretty tremendous experience
and again
you’re not needing to worry if you’re 16
17 18 and concerned about what’s this
future going to hold
and and what about these dreams i have
well they’re not going to make me money
they’re not going to
what are you ever going to do with that
no
you don’t have to worry about that
there’ll be a place for your dream
if you want it there will
and you don’t have to have it all happen
by some prescribed
time table
silence the measurers go boldly forward
chase your dream because you’re probably
going to make something beautiful
that you can put out into this world
like
we’ve seen in a lot of the other folks
that have talked today and in the ones
that are to come
take your dream take your talent take
your gift hang on to it
pursue it all right so a couple years
ago i was
out riding around on my scooter downtown
minneapolis and i came by this really
old mill
it’s like a hundred and something years
old it’s abandoned but people go down
there and they climb it you know
i think that’s actually illegal but they
do anyway these adventurers
who go indoor climbing it’s crazy and
it’s
broken and windows are busted and
there’s glass everywhere it’s
the fruit mill i think if i’ve said that
correctly
and there’s graffiti all over the walls
in that day
the graffiti that i saw said will
you make it question mark which is a
good thing to ponder when you’re driving
around on a scooter
through a busy downtown in a city
and it was my birthday on top of it all
happened to me and
i don’t know man that that just it
became a song to me
and it isn’t will you make it for me now
it’s you will
make it and that’s my message for you as
well
so here’s that song
[Music]
i came across a crumbling wall
a splash of pink graffiti straw
the word’s a simple question
will you make it
[Music]
just couldn’t take it the winded blue
torn curtains through a jagged little
hole
empty halls and discolored walls
spoke right into my soul
you may be empty
you may be tired
you may be broken
or grow out of style
and they make them you
[Music]
put up signs but you
will make it go leave your mark on time
[Music]
well the mirror doesn’t light on me
no filter on that picture
see the lines the time is etched upon
but these really isn’t a death i
fear it’s living with this aging
mirror and it does what i’m doing
really matters at all
but maybe i was meant to find
the words now painted on my mind
i realize that it’s all right
it’s the writings on
[Music]
you may be broken
or grow out of style
they may condemn
go on baby you may be empty
you may be so tired
that you may be broken grow
out of style and they may
[Music]
you’ll condemn your mark
go leave your mark on time
there you have it thank you thank you