“Good is the enemy of great” is how Clint Valladares put it. While addressing my class Musical Traditions of India at Ahmedabad University Clint spoke on the need to strive for greatness and not settle for being merely good. He talked about how important it was “to be nimble” and motivate others while working as a team (off and on stage) and how he stayed hungry pointing out how important this is for all of us as the learning never stops.
Humility, integrity, trust were some of the important life lessons the students took away as they listened to his journey from growing up in Mumbai and to his career at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He emphasized how it was important to have good communication, marketing and networking skills. While discussing music as “edutainment” he spoke about possibilities that students could explore outside of music performance – music production engineering (MPE) or music therapy. Students’ questions to Clint ranged from “How do I balance studies (engineering) with music (playing guitar)?” to “Challenges in the industry.”
The students got a totally new perspective what it was to be in the business of music, working as an executive, collaborating with artists across genres in different countries.
Chitra Srikrishna 