"It's all about balance, and I think I'm starting to find it."
How I did it: I said it took me 3 years because that's about how long it's been since I graduated college.
In reality I guess if it was since I started playing music, it'd be 20 years haha.
Anyway... here's how I did it:
First I gotta make it clear that I'm not a gigging musician. So I didn't end up being the next Kelly Clarkson (yet), but I managed to impress someone at a theater program for kids and they hired me to be their Summer music director. I got to write about 12 musicals, so that's about 50 songs (I had never written more than like, one song in my life before that), and it really kicked me into gear.
The pressure of writing 1 song a day for 4 days straight and producing a children-run musical every two weeks gave me no time to worry something wasn't good enough or freak out because I just had to get it done. And somehow, it came out. Music came out of me that I didn't know was in there, and by the end of the Summer, the director told me that in his 11 years of running the program he had never had anybody like me working there.
Talk about a confidence booster!
Along the same time of year, a friend of mine had friends who were starting a theater company in the area. He mentioned to his friends that I played piano and before I knew it I was asked to be their resident pianist.
While neither of those two things has paid enormous amounts of money, the children's theater camp kept my bills paid the entire summer I was there. And the theater company was a nice little bonus.
But yeah. So I guess my professional musical career is veering down the musical theater path for now. I'll be excited to see where it goes from there. Right now it's still a side venture, but I'm just excited to see how things happen. I'm trying to stop controlling my life and letting life take me where it's supposed to go.
Lessons & tips: If there's a particular genre of music you like, in my case, I've always been involved with theater, seek out jobs or people you can meet in that area.
Give people a chance to see your talents. I tend to downplay my abilities and don't show off. This isn't to say you should boast and rub it in people's faces, but if you're talented and you have something to offer, try to remember people will enjoy hearing what you do.
Resources: craigslist, personal networking
May 16, 09:47AM PDT
| 0 comments
