“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter” – Mark Twain
A lot of talk out here on these internets about age. You’re too old for this you’re too old for that.
I guess there’s an age that you should definitely stop rapping, right?
Well obviously after a certain age you could not possibly have a singing career, I mean it’s not like Al Jarreau’s debut album was when he was 35. Or was it?
Clearly if the acting thing is not happening by a certain age you should hang it up, because there is no way that you could be in your first feature film at 35 and go on to have a stellar career in Hollywood. No way.
Hmm it would seem that these and countless other examples run contrary to conventional wisdom, maybe that’s the problem because I don’t think true wisdom resides in the conventional. No, true wisdom should and would tell anyone that success is relative to the individual, not the age of the individual. Certainly there are exceptions like sports, (and not all sports for that matter) where there’s definitely a finite time of participation based on age/health etc., But we’re talking about art here and art sometimes is better with age.
So the next time you here someone making that simple argument based on the same concept as the milk going bad, send them here for a little light reading.
Ivan Orr is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and writer. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia Ivan was involved with the forming and nascent days of The Music Resource Center as its first Program Director. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Music, Ivan currently resides in Richmond, VA where he maintains an active performance and production schedule while serving as the Music Editor for Grown Folks Music, a position he has held since 2010.
