How many times has a well-meaning acquaintance put you on the spot by asking how you'll make a living as a musician? Or maybe you've been the well-meaning individual who asks that very question to an aspiring musician under your tutelage? Either way, typical responses often include, but are not limited to:
Teach school
Get an "orchestra gig"
Go to grad school and then figure it out
Get a "college gig"
or
Move to NYC/LA/Nashville/Vegas/Burma/Chechnya/somewhere and "break into the scene"
Along the way, teachers, mentors, friends, family, clergy, rivals, significant others, classmates, idols, enemies, audition committees, and others in our environment offer up grandiose advice in an attempt to steer us in the "right" direction. Sure, we all know individuals who focused on a goal from day one (to become the timpanist of the Southern North Dakota Ukulele Radio Orchestra) and landed that dream gig. To those who found themselves following a direct route without interruption to their final destination, I salute you.
For the rest of us, it's a work in progress and subject to change. For that very reason, I've adopted the "Because You Never Know" approach to a music career.
In 1993, although I would have never openly admitted it, my career goal was to be an orchestral musician (learn excerpts, buy tux, take auditions, get job, wear tux, be happy). Somewhere in the career preparations, this goal seemed less important to me as other interests grew. In an ever-saturated market, diversifying your skills can not only be fulfilling, but profitable. Creating a niche for yourself may very well be the key to a fresh and successful career.
As preparations begin for a magnificently eclectic performance with the Andy Skellenger Percussion Project, the career path deviations from my 1993 projections are never more evident. Here's a partial list of "paying" gigs representing numerous genres, styles, instruments (50+ instruments played), and settings from late April through August.
-Orchestra gigs (tux, excerpts, etc)
-Teach course in improvisation
-Teach private lessons to college students
-Direct college jazz ensembles
-Host, direct, and perform on the college percussion ensemble/steel drum concert
-Adjudicate an indoor circuit solo and ensemble festival
-Present a clinic on frame drumming techniques for a Day of Percussion
-Perform a two hour percussion quartet concert for a music festival where I play marimba, vibraphone, and literally dozens of other percussion instruments
-Lay down drum set tracks for someone's recording project
-Play congas with a salsa band
-Tour for two weeks with a military concert band
-Teach for eight days at a summer music camp while performing with a band, orchestra, guitar ensemble,and choir, as well as faculty performances of jazz, Irish traditional music, and pop music
-Record congas and cajon for another album
-Teach private percussion, drum set, and frame drum lessons
-Teach drum line camps
-Record marimba tracks for another album
-Play doumbek, tar, bendir, drum set, udu, and cajon with a tabla artist and other musicians for a music festival
-Accompany a belly dance troupe
-Perform with a world-renown tabla virtuoso on a private concert
-perform marimba "background" music at a large national conference
-Play vibraphone with a jazz combo
-Teach a marching band camp, including writing parts
-Prepare classes and ensemble repertoire for the fall academic semester
The point is, you may never know where life's journey will take you. How you manage this may be the difference between a life full of rewarding experiences or an existence full of career disappointment.
Concerned about the "jack of all trades, master of none" label? Seems awfully black and white, don't you think? Who's to say you cannot be great at something and proficient at many other things?
There's no rule that states you must play vibraphone at a certain proficiency before age 23. No rule requiring you to be the best singer/songwriter before performing publicly. Sure, society has musical expectations, but there's always an "in the meantime niche" for your music. Perhaps if you diversify your musical skills, your experiences will remain new and exciting, and you'll continue to grow your niche.
Because you never know where your career might lead, absorb as much as possible. To quote a letter Bela Bartok wrote in 1931, "I don't reject any influence, be it Slovakian, Romanian, Arabic, or from any other source. The source must only be clean, fresh and healthy!"
What are your thoughts?
Please visit my website at www.jameswdoyle.com
