Author: Shogan_composer

Composer/ Trombonist/ Teacher residing in the Twin Cities, MN.

My 2020 Music Goals

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As is now the tradition for me, I have written down my music related goals for this coming year.

The reason that I do this is because it gives me something tangible to periodically look back on and remind me of the things that I set out to accomplish. As a person who is very focused yet paradoxically gets distracted easily, this is very helpful to have when it comes to staying on track.

BIG GOAL: Pay off the last of my student debt

As of December of 2019, after years of sacrificing 90% of of my “fun money” (the little bit left over after bills and minimum payments are made) , I am down to my last 5K. Though there is far more debt to tackle (mainly the mess that is my SO’s student loan and the last bit for the used car that we purchased after their’s died), this will be a huge load off my back. The bit of anxiety I’ve felt since starting college because of this will finally be gone! Additionally, though much of my “fun” money will still go to start helping with my SO’s loans, I can start saving for things like buying scores, taking colleagues out for coffee more often, and grad school applications (if that is the road I go down for sure. This year will be a big indicator if/ when I can or should do that).

Mini Goal: Actually get better at marketing

I am going to start by aiming to get something out at least once a week. This may be a piece, a blog post, or (ghasp) a youtube video. Stay tuned for more on this one.

I will also make more of an effort to be more interactive on social media by either posting or commenting at least once a day.

Mini Goal: Finish setting up the store and sell some gosh danged scores (at least 5)

This is self explanatory. 2020’s the year it’s going to happen.

Part of my plan is to contact some music distribution companies to help get my music electronically accessible as well. (As of now, I can only offer physical (but personally autographed) copies as I lack the funds to pay for the technology that would help me prevent electronic file theft at a level that I’m comfortable with.

Mini Goal: Increase teaching studio numbers

My goal number for 2020 is 10 students. I am trying to keep it to no more than 3 evenings to avoid burnout as I already work 40 hours a week at my day job. This makes it more difficult, but, I am determined. Also, this will certainly help me build up the wealth I gave up by committing to paying these loans. The ultimate goal though is financial freedom.

Marketing with social media posts, hanging posters for my teaching business, and handing out cards for those who can help me with the word of mouth factor should help.

BIG GOAL: Be more giving/ pay things forward more

Though there is a long way to go to get where I want to go, I am thankful for where I am in life and acknowledge that a big part was because of the help and kindness I’ve received from strangers, mentors, and friends.

As soon as my 5K is done, I am going to begin donating a portion of what I used to have to pay on a regular basis. I am going to pick a couple of the helpful podcasts I’ve taken advice from or gotten enjoyment out of in an otherwise bleak existence over past years, and join their patreon pages. I won’t name which ones I’m going to pick. But, I have an idea for a future post where I outline my current favorites and you can speculate from there if you’d like.

I also aim to help out with a charity at least once (preferably more) this year by giving back some time.

My last part of this goal is to treat at least one person to lunch and/ or coffee per month.

BIG GOAL: Participate in at least 3 speaking, conducting or solo performance opportunities

As someone who wants to do this for a living, I need to get out of the Toastmaster’s training grounds and start putting these skills to use in the outside world. This is the bare minimum and I will do my bet to list them in next year’s follow up post.

Mini Goal: Participate in at least 1 Collaboration

Assuming that participation in Film Score Fest works out, this goal should be no problem.

Mini Goal: Finish all Current Works in progress and don’t add any new ones if you are over 3.

As of now, I’m finishing up the last Painless Parker’s Giant Bucket of Teeth (for Concert band), the electronic piece that my Composition Mentor has me learning with, and this year’s Minneapolis Trombone Choir Concert Piece.

Once one of these is finished, I’ll begin work on a Project that I cannot talk about….yet, and brass band piece.

BONUS: As this is a special year being the beginning of a decade, I thought I’d list a few things I want to accomplish in this upcoming decade that are music related. These may have to change, but for now I can dream and begin aiming. At the very least, I have this list to refer back to when making future goal posts.

  1. Go to Grad school- FOR MUSIC-and not go into debt to do so
  2. Pay off All Debt
  3. Attend some composer retreats and workshops
  4. Teach at a high profile event or music camp
  5. Be able to travel a few times a year for my Ideal music “job”
  6. Write my first symphony and compose at least one Big piece a year (with premiers and commissions of course)
  7. Be able to make my living composing, teaching, and performing/ occasionally conducting by the end of this decade

Thanks for reading!!!

2019 Goals- How did I do?

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Big Goal: Continue to increase income

Mini Goal: Set up the rest of my online store:

Did I succeed: Ha Ha. Nope. This is still a work in progress. But, I did manage to find a friend who is helping me set this part up-FINALLY!

Mini Goal: Sell more music

Did I accomplish it: Yes- I sold one score and even got my first concert music commission (Thanks Bill!). That’s one more than last year. Woo hoo!!

2020 is going to be the year where I aim to sell at least 5 scores- but hopefully more. Actually setting up my online store will probably help this goal come to fruition 😛

Mini Goal: Increase my teaching studio size

Did I succeed: Yes! I am now teaching at Maestoso Music studio and have a total of 2 trombone students and 3 piano students. I am also, teaching a couple of ukulele students as well. That’s up from just 2 last year!

Big Goal: Get out there even  more than in 2018

Mini Goal: Jam More

Did I succeed: Yes!…sort of. I managed to get together and play 4 times this year with friends.

Mini Goal: Go to more music gatherings and concerts- that are not my own.

Did I succeed: Yes, but barely. This summer kicked my butt when the swing band went a little uh, gig happy, a relative passed away, and life once again happened. Summer was when I had hoped to go to something every weekend as summer tends to be more relaxed schedule wise yet filled with a plethora of free concerts to listen to. This did not happen as planned, but I averaged about 1.5 every other month, which is way better than it could have been.

Mini Goal: Get better at this Marketing thing.

Did I succeed: I’m going to have to say no. Other life things took priority this year. Next year though, this is going to move more toward the top of the priority list. I do like to eat food ya know! (also, getting paid to perform and write is nice too.)

BIG Goal: Get healthier

Did I succeed: Yes- but mostly during the spring and summer. I sort of fell off the wagon once it started getting colder as far as exercise is concerned. Excuses- excuses, I know. But, I do eat a lot more veggies than I did last year. Now to see if I can drop the sweets a little. My miserly tradition toward buying new jeans before they have irreparable holes in them depends on it! (also, cavities are expensive and painful as I’ve come to find out.)

Big Goal: Write More:

Did I succeed: Yes- please see my final thoughts.

Also, as the urge to write seems to happen most often at night when I *should* be sleeping, I am no longer going to fight this- even if I do have to get up an hour earlier now with this self-imposed schedule. Bring on the Insomnia!

Final Thoughts:

I did manage to accomplish a few things this year that were not goals. For starters, this has been the most productive year composing since graduating from YSU in December 2014. This was not only in terms of volume but in variety as well. New pieces were written for a church brass gig, trombone choir, the VGM challenge and a brand new film score. I was able to put on a successful concert of newly composed and arranged works with my friends from Coffoa Brass in October. Also, thanks to my wonderful mentor, I am now beginning to explore the world of electronic composition. All it took was someone patient enough to show this technology illiterate, broke, and frustrated person how to steer the ship.Overall, 2019 was a step in the right direction.

~Tomorrows post will consist of 2020’s goals, but please feel free to comment with your accomplishments this past year. I would love to hear about them!~

Thanks for reading!!!!

#21 Days of VGM Days 4-6

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Hello Friends and Fellow Music Fans,

Here are the next Three Pieces from this challenge for your enjoyment. Please feel free to comment if the inspiration strikes you.

Composed 7/4/2019
Today, I started with an uncommon interval to start with- a Major 7th. This is what became of it.
Composed 7/5/2019
I reached Level 2! Woo Hoo!
This was the Name game. I took my full name, only took the letters that were in the musical alphabet, and created a bass line Motive that the piece builds around. While composing I thought in layers, before putting this into the computer. There are several types of bells used for the accompaniment and Crystal Glass for the melody. It could probably be used around a shrine, oracle dwelling, or religious site in a game.
Composed 7/6/2019
I wrote a very short, loopable blues tune.
It is 7 bars long because I like messing with form sometimes.






Here’s My ” I Didn’t Cheat” Proof! 😀

21 Days of VGM Days 1-3

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Hello Fellow friends and Music fans.

Every once in awhile, it is good to get out and try something new. In this case, it’s a challenge.

This summer, I am trying the 21 days of VGM Challenge in order to get back in the habit of writing every day.

As posting takes some time and realistically, I do not have time to write a blog post every single day this month ( July tends to be a heavy performance month) AND finish my writing goal, I can and WILL make time to write something for this challenge every day. That being said, you can expect a post about once every 3 or so days with new pieces attached from now until the end of the challenge.

Additionally, The Challenge officially started July 1st. I have been writing by hand every day in keeping with the challenge’s intent to compose every day. However, realistically , I do not have enough time to input my ideas into the computer as well most days, except for the weekend so today (Sunday) is the first day I have audio available. Just to prove that I have not been cheating though, here is a selfie with my notebook.

I did the Thing!

If you want to know what this is about (and possibly join now or in the future) please follow the link for more information, but in short, I will be following writing prompts that are sent to my inbox in order to write these pieces.

Here are the First 3:

Composed 7/1/2019
Today, I just came up with an 8 bar Melodic Idea
Composed 7/2/2019
For Day 2, I took the Write Something in Minor Prompt and expanded on yesterday’s Melodic Idea
Composed 7/3/2019
Day 3’s chosen prompt was Compose in a Compound meter. I chose 5/8 but did a time displacement in the baseline as well. It is what I would envision would play while talking to a giant owl or Fantasy creature (Griffin, Chimera, etc) in a game.

Enjoy!

P.S. Speaking of trying new things , here is a picture of me Jamming, on stage, in front of strangers, and with people that I mostly don’t know for the first time ever. It was fun, just like I hope this challenge will be.

Image may contain: one or more people, people on stage and people playing musical instruments
Me with the Rogue Jammers, June 29th, 2019
Photo credit Robyn Barziza Chargo

Good News Everyone!

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A few weeks ago I wrote a preview post of what I was currently working on and now have some news to accompany one of the projects.

In it, I mentioned that I was working on a film score that included 12 tone craziness among other things. Well, I’m proud to say that the film that Jason Schumacher and I have been working on the past few months was selected for the MnKino Film Score Fest.

This means that it will be screened with a LIVE ORCHESTRA playing the score simultaneously!! As a bonus: there is a theremin in the orchestra this year ( and yes I utilized it in the score)!!

The Event takes place at the Science Museum in St Paul MN on July 20th at 7:00 PM.

A link to the Facebook event page can be found here where you can reserve tickets. But, you’d better act fast because I’m told they go quickly.

Additionally, there is a pre-screening at 4:30 of the films that did not quite make the cut for the live orchestra to play. They are the product of months of hard work by talented collaborating artists of differing disciplines and deserving of viewing as well.

If you can’t make it because MN is a bit too far away, or have another reason (i.e. work and family obligations, or you couldn’t get tickets) I have even better news for you.

This event is live Streamed!!! Please make sure that you follow the Facebook page and click the “interested” button in order to get reminded of the event and receive a link to view it.

Additionally, if you got the Futurama reference in this post, we can be friends.

Hope to see you there!

Music in the Wind

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Hello Fellow Music fans and friends,

This is a short blog post where I wanted to share an experience from a few days ago.

Did you know that if you take the time to listen, you can sometimes hear music in the space around you?

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of visiting the Minneapolis Sculpture garden (the one with the famous cherry spoon and now blue cock) for the first time.

A typical touristy pose commemorating my first visit here. No trip is complete without it!

There, among one of the most eclectic collections of sculptures I have ever seen, they have an air sculpture in the trees comprised of dozens of wind chimes. The tones on the chimes were chosen from a John Cage chance music piece titled Dream (1948).

Standing a good distance away from the tree, it sounds like you might expect a typical cacophony of chimes to sound. When we arrived beneath the tree though, I could not help but notice a few low and mid range frequencies that appeared and produced a soothing yet eerie vibration. As these tones shuffled between each other, I could not help but feel the music that was being produced by only the wind and these suspended pieces of metal vibrating in my bones. The sound was beautiful. and not unlike Tibetan singing bowls in tone color. It was as if there were an invisible ensemble perhaps of faeries, improvising, creating this piece just for those patient enough to listen.

Though my phone did not do justice in capturing all of the colors, here is a video of the phenomenon to give you an idea.

A few minutes later, my friends and I took the opportunity to lay in the grass near the giant swing sculpture as it was a gorgeous day. It was there that I experienced a miniature symphony in the air. As the clock struck 6, the bells from multiple churches began to ring one by one and add melody to the gentle accompaniment created by the invisible faerie band in the wind-chime laden tree behind me.

Here is the video of this experience (and yes I shushed my very verbose S.O. so I could capture this magical moment of air music- ha!).

Though you may or may not not agree with me calling this music, I hope that you enjoy these sounds. Perhaps they will inspire you to create your own music in some way.

Composer Kitchen News May 2019- letting the cats out of the bag

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Hello Friends and Fellow Music fans,

It’s time to let the cat out of the bag.

Couch Potato kitty!

No- Not this one!

Not this one Either- though he will be important soon!

I am working on not one, but two big projects.

The First that I am excited to tell you about is a BRAND NEW Horn Solo. This one is going to be very special when it is done as it is being written in remembrance of a very special individual who made a positive difference at the Dana School for several people and was loved by many, as he loved all of his students: Mr. Bill Slocum. Bill Richter commissioned me to write a horn piece for his Master’s Degree Recital (where he is doing something fantastic and commissioning and premiering several new works from composers). This was the perfect opportunity to write this piece and pay my respects to this beautiful soul and gregarious spirit. There are other reasons why this is going to be an extra special piece and I promise to post more about it at a later date. For now, here is a preview video of the first bit as I’ m working on it.

Next, I am participating in the MnKino Film Fest again this year. It is this fantastic event (that I missed last year thanks to Snowmageddon) where composers are paired with independent film makers and you make a film together. The added bonus is that live musicians play the score to the film at the premier.

Fortunately, I was paired with the infamous Jason Schumaker and he is kindly allowing me to bask in his awesomeness (seriously though, he is a very humble and kind individual in addition to being extremely talented). I encourage you to check out some of his films on his website (LINK)

At this point, we don’t know if our film will get chosen to be screened, but, I can tell you that there’s going to be a Birthday party, Human Fire, a giant cat (yes the one in the above picture) and some crazy 12 tone music action (and other music filled awesomeness). Heck, we don’t even know what it’s going to be exactly, except for AWESOMESAUCE of course!

Shot of the cast and crew of this film in progress.
I am not in this picture because my car died on the day of filming, but I hope it inspires you to go to the film fest on July 20th.

Till Next time,

Happy Musicing!

The art of Improvisation at Brass Chix 2019

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Every year since 2014, Woman Brass players from the Minneapolis-St Paul Metro have been gathering at the end of January for this annual one day conference.

I have been attending this amazing shindig since 2016 (having moved here in March of 2015) and have had the opportunity to see it grow. This year was easily the best program that I’ve attended.

So, What is Brass Chix?

It is a once a year event where woman brass players of all abilities from High School age all the way to Seniors come together to learn from presentations by professionals in the field, and by talking to each other about issues ranging from performance on their particular instrument of choice, to the social aspects of being a woman in what traditionally has been a male dominated area.

Why do we, a group of Women from multiple generations who just happen to play brass instruments, gather for this event every year?

Sarah Schmalenberger puts it best when she says that what makes us unique is that “We as women, never have a straight path”. Because of how most of us are conditioned by society , we are more prone to sacrifice for others before our own needs and desires, and are expected to take a back seat instead of fighting for what we want, whether that be to stay home and take care of the family, or back down and compromise in order to keep peace when faced with conflict.

Men (in general) tend to plow through obstacles hard nosed while women, tend to go around these obstacles. It takes a bit longer for most of us to get where we are aiming to go as a result.

It helps to have this event to discuss these issues and remind ourselves that we handle things differently and are all very capable and powerful in our own ways. Empowerment builds confidence to work towards success. Also, there is just something very special and healing about getting together with others TO MAKE  MUSIC!

My own journey has been a roundabout way of getting to where I am and continues to be this way- but that is a topic for a future blog post or possibly a book someday. For now though LETS GET TO THE BLOG ENTRY OF THE DAY OF BRASS CHIX 2019!!

The day started at St Thomas Student center where I Got to help at the check in table with Sue ( a trumpet player) and noticed a few new faces. When someone asked Where the Horns were rehearsing, without a beat, Sue Responded, “OUTSIDE!!”- the lol moment of the day. (Note: remember, this was in the middle of MN winter, where the temperature outside is easily below zero).

We soon gathered in our respective brass subgroups; Horns, Trumpets, and Low Brass (aka the coolest chix who play Trombone and tuba respectively*).

*This is my opinion that may be a more than a little bit biased

Becky Haines, trombone superstar,  led us in a warmup and reading session, providing excellent advice on breathing exercises and focus techniques.

Lunch was filed with more conversations and LEGOS, meant to be a part of the improvisation theme.( Or maybe a ploy for advertising the then new Lego Movie ha ha). Some lunch conversations ranged from trying to figure out how Legos fit into the music theme to how our every day lives tend to be improvised, especially when trying to fit our passion of music into everything else that goes on around us. Our path around life obstacles tends to be improvised after all.

After LEGO LUNCH,  we gathered in a group and were treated to a Masterclass workshop on practical improvisation advice, led by Local Brass Superstars .

We talked about how jazz improvisation actually works, ways to do it effectively, and learned a little about Judy Gaunt’s (trumpet) experience going through University among some crazy analytical, genius jazz cats. When the presentation was over, several volunteers attempted to do a group improvisation with Oh when the Saints Go Marching In- with some live coaching of course.

After this we separated into our respective subgroups to put this advice into practice. Lauren Husting led the low brass session and introduced us to easy backing tracks with chord changes on YouTube.

ALL of us tried our hand at improvisation and by the end we were all sounding fairly competent. I even managed to “improv” Smoke on the Water when it was my turn during the Dorian chord changes. Thankfully, this got a laugh.

Then it was picture time for our annual group photo.  Heidi, Laurel, and I shared a special moment when we reprised the Oh When the Saints improv. exercise while riding on the elevator on the way down to this part of the shindig.

Our Grand Finale of every year is where we play pieces in a massive brass choir, and share the experience of Making this Music Together. This happened once again, but with the most amount of vigor I’d heard coming from this group since first attending. We always break from the day by reaffirming our bond as Musicians and Women, by doing the Brass Chix Salute.

Next year, the topic of focus will be….WOMEN’S HEALTH as it relates to brass playing. If you are or know a Woman who plays a brass instrument, please spread the word about this event. We learn something new every year, it’s a ton of Fun,  and we have a great time experiencing it together. I Hope to see you in 2020!

…….And now for my 2019 Music Goals

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Hello Everybody,

Last year I set some goals and mini steps to work on accomplishing them, along with reminders to update on my progress and it actually helped. If you are like me and need some focus, I encourage you to try something similar. Even if you have just one goal, set a reminder on your calendar or phone to evaluate your progress periodically.

If you missed part one of my post from yesterday: The yearly review, here it is.

Now For the list:

Big Goal: Continue to increase income

Mini Goal: Set up the rest of my online store:

The official launch is still a little bit of time away, but, I have learned how to integrate Paypal and have started updating my site. Thankfully, taking this job allowed me that small boost in income to justify upgrading my site plan to the next level so that I could do this. Given time, it should start to pay for itself and help me with this Debt repayment plan. Also, eventually the financial cushion to be able to allow myself to invest in composition lessons would be nice.

I will be using most of my “free time” to work on this with an aim to finish by March.

 

Mini Goal: Sell more music

This is self-explanatory. I like to eat food, darn it!

 

Mini Goal: Increase my teaching studio size

I am hoping to build to 5-8 students by the end of next year. It is a small number, but, given that I am now working Full time and want to avoid burnout, I would like to keep the teaching schedule to no more than one or two dedicated evenings a week. I’ll be emailing a few teachers in the area and asking around in my social circles to look for students.

 

Big Goal: Get out there even  more than in 2018

Mini Goal: Jam More

Luckily, I have made some Friends who wish to play for fun through the various music groups I’ve been fortunate to be a part of. Periodically looking at this list should remind me to call these people once in a while to play duets or make some noise.

 

Mini Goal: Go to more music gatherings and concerts- that are not my own.

The aim is to attend 1 a month. This should be easy, right?. If I can attend more, that would be awesome but, based on last year, 1 a month seems like a reasonable goal.

Mini Goal: Get better at this Marketing thing.

The last few years have been a study period with listening to podcasts like The Portfolio Composer and The Entrepreneurial Musician to name a couple and reading business blogs and books. This year is the year where I will begin to put these things into practice more than In previous years. Step ONE: Finish the store and Launch it through Emailing and Social Media Posts, along with not being afraid to mention it when networking.  Step TWO: while doing step one,  work on the goal of getting out to concerts and networking events, along with interacting with more people in general, whether ion the internet or in person.

BIG Goal: Get healthier

I know that this does not seem like a music goal, but believe it or not, it is. I would like to play my trombone to the best of my ability and be able to think clearly more often so I can focus on writing and accomplishing tasks.  This past year took a small toll on my health, mostly from the stress and eating crud like candy and ramen noodles a lot of the time. My level of focus and energy has gone downhill and I generally do not feel like I am in good shape anymore. Thankfully, I am still relatively healthy, but will be incorporating more veggies, even if I have to increase the food budget a bit and cut back somewhere else. Also, I’d like to try the gallon challenge where you carry around a gallon jug and aim to finish it by the end of the day. Having things in front of me to remind me to do the things seems to help. Come spring, since my new job is about a mile from where I live, I will be walking to work every day that it is not raining as well.

As a mini goal, I’m going to start getting up an hour earlier on work days to take care of me, whether that happens to be exercising or writing down ideas.

Big Goal: Write More:

Based on past experience, I Know that I NEED external motivators in the form of “homework assignments” from other people to be able to compose in this stage of life. Composing for myself just does not happen- unless I’m mindlessly jamming at the piano. There has to be a giving element in there somewhere for my best work to happen. By getting out there and meeting more people, this will likely lead to some more opportunities to write for others and more inspiration.

Also, as the urge to write seems to happen most often at night when I *should* be sleeping, I am no longer going to fight this- even if I do have to get up an hour earlier now with this self-imposed schedule. Bring on the Insomnia!

 

What are your 2019 Music goals? I would love to hear about them, so please don’t be afraid to comment. Happy New Year, Happy Musicing and Good Luck!

2018: The Recap

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At the end of every year comes the inevitable reflection of the immediate past. Last year, I outlined my goals for 2018, and wanted to take a moment (or hour +,  because that’s about how long it takes me to carefully construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct these blog posts) and evaluate my progress in the goals I set the last year.

This year was filled with many firsts and also a wholloping of forced changes, from an overnight move to a new job to name some.

Below are listed my goals from this past year and an evaluation of how I thought I did.

Big Goal1)-Create more income….

 

Mini Goal-Start Selling my Music

So, I technically succeeded with my first Official Sale! Fredonia Concert band was my first official patron and they premiered Of Wizards and Dragons in September of this year. Though I intended on pursuing this goal more aggressively, even taking part in The Portfolio Composer’s summer course on Copyrighting- until life got in the way of course- I fell short, simply because of my mental energy being spread in several different directions.

Did I Succeed? Kind of Sort of.

Mini Goal-JUST START TEACHING

……and I did just that. Though I did not get as many students in my studio this year as I would have liked (hey, maybe that’s a 2019 goal), I just did it. And you know what? I found that I actually enjoy it and might actually be somewhat good at it. None of my students have died from my teaching from the date of this post- though they do not always like it when I make them count rhythm-Ha!

Did I Succeed?:YES!

Mini Goal -Keep educating myself and pick up some side gigs.

I did keep teaching myself and learned…not very much. I learned what sorts of side gigs are available but, I ‘m still a bit too cowardly to try many of them- I.e. Craigslist. Next year though, I’ll have to employ these ideas. Anybody want to buy a custom Ukulele? Or- better yet, some new music?

Additionally, I did not do many paying side gigs, though I am starting to get asked to play my trombone more, which counts for something, right?

I did, however, put what little extra I made toward the student loan and FINALLY paid off my car. So, YAY!


Did I succeed: Not really, but at least I have some guidance for next year.

Big goal 2): Create More on a consistent basis.

Mini goal-Preparedness

I’m just going to put this out there. My life got crazy and borderline depressing at times. The calendar helped some and was a good reminder to get the important things done. However, the creation of new things on a consistent basis was more of creating things on a consistent basis for 2 weeks, stop for a month or 3 from a crisis, and repeat the process all over again until December 31.

Did I succeed?: In being better prepared: Yes. Creating more as a result: Nope-but It was a good try.

But….I did have more premiers of old pieces then I’ve had in a long time. Woot!

 

Big Goal 3) Work on anxiety issues associated with creating and becoming a member of my musical community.

 

Mini goal- Get over my anxieties related to looking for work

I am proud to say that I am breaking this shell. After being in denial for so long about needing to look for a new full-time gig, with full-time hours in an environment I can thrive in, I finally started looking. The fact was that, while I succeed in starting a teaching studio, I failed at building it quickly enough to justify staying at my old job. I brought home just enough on a regular basis to pay my share in rent and food and…not much else. Additionally, I was not growing much beyond the same skillset in my old environment, which, mentally, was not good for me.

Toastmasters helped with this. I promise not to go on like an infomercial- trust me, enough people in the organization do- I can tell you that practicing communication, improvised speeches and presenting on a regular basis gave me some confidence that was not there a year ago.

This coming year, I can continue this goal, and apply this confidence and newfound stability to my music goals.

Mini Goal-Get out and interact with the community more

Mission Accomplished!!!!

I started by playing in more groups like the Minneapolis Trombone Choir and GVO and by subbing in some Jazz bands and orchestras. While I did not make it to as many concerts as I would have liked to, mostly due to budget constraints, I did manage to meet some cool people and even write a couple of new pieces as a result. Luckily, I was able to attend one master class and concert from Michael Dougherty when he was visiting the twin cities  University of Minnesota and experienced an awesome concert. There was much networking to be had that day. Also, I’ve been a lot more active on Twitter with some awesome strangers (until I hopefully meet them in person someday at a New Music music gathering or Midwest clinic etc) in the music community and have learned quite a bit from them. 

Did I Succeed?; You Betcha!

To summarize, this year was a tumultuous one for many reasons, particularly from February to November. While the year did not go according to plan (ha ha- moving overnight for health reasons and job searching is never fun and tends to put a dent in things)  I did accomplish more as far as starting to get out there and MUSIC with more people. This year was about foundation building and next year will be more of the same with less drama–I hope. By June, I expect to be able to go from sauntering to walking, and finally running.

Also, while it is easy to dwell on the awful things, some successes did happen. Here are some recordings of three of them. I hope you enjoy!

How did your 2018 go with music goals go? I would love to hear about it.