Dr. Ramos Asafo-Adjei
Dr. Ramos Asafo-Adjei, a senior lecturer in English and Communication Skills at the Takoradi Technical University (TTU), has urged musicians in the country to educate themselves in order to become professional musicians.
According to him, education will help improve the career of musicians and empower them to meet challenges ahead.
The lecturer also advised the musicians to invest their money in viable businesses to secure their future.
Dr. Ramos said when musicians are well educated, they can communicate and understand each other better, adding that a good educational background would give them the opportunity to understand various contracts they sign with event organisers and their executive producers.
He mentioned that since universities in Ghana have courses relevant to the creative arts, musicians should not shy away from formal education, saying, “This will even inspire music fans to also aspire to higher levels of education.”
The lecturer said media studies, marketing and research, human resource management, tourism, quality assurance, graphic design, and graphic communication, amongst others, are areas that musicians can pursue.
He stressed that most of the musicians become nonchalant when they get a hit song, to the neglect of their self development.
He advised musicians to equip themselves with in-depth knowledge of how things work to better appreciate it.
“It is not also enough to rely on just manager and team members who understand the industry but as a musician, when you understand it yourself, it directs your focus and talent too,” Dr. Asafo-Adjei posited.
Chief Executive Officer of Corporation Foundation, Corp Sayvee, who is also a performing musician, revealed that “there should not even be a limit to the academic level of an artiste.”
Dr. Asafo-Adjei noted, “If he or she can go to the level of Masters and Ph.D., they should not relent. That is why I admire an artiste like Corp Sayvee who has completed a course in MBA and also doing other courses at the master’s degree level.”
By George Clifford Owusu