career planning

[kensuguro]

The extra time during the holidays has got me thinking about my musical career planning.. well, there currently really isn't one except "start with the Intermetro set in January and see where it goes". Of course, the plan is to get some sort of release during '09, and to embed myself into the tiny electro scene of NY. So that's where I was at. Can't say it's the most fantastic plan, but it was a start.

But then my wife suggested why not I use the extra time I have and finish up my master's degree instead. Well... I hadn't given schools much thought since I escaped Florida International University. Frankly, it's been a horrible experience, but she does have a point. I've got 1 semester down. Only 3 more to go. And that's actually not too long.

So, it's been 2 years since I started doing the flash thing, and seriously switched gears to a "hobbyist musician". Still seriously studying outside of work, but pretty much put music on the back seat. It's becoming more and more obvious, that the situation is not good. I don't plan to take over the world with my music, but spending so much time and effort on something I'm not very passionate about is not very efficient. Recently I'm seriously starting to ask around to see if I can jump ship, or at least get a feel of what's out there.

I still don't want to give up on the school idea though. At FIU, I was turned down on every possible occasion to learn the orchestration, theory, piano lessons, etc.. and was stuck with classes where the majority of the students got away with not doing their final projects. But I'm sure not all schools are like that. And I guess it depends on the department too. So while I instinctively try to destroy any notion of going back to school, I'd like to keep an open mind about it.

I guess the question is, "what is the end goal". It's hard for me to say... and to some people it's not a good enough answer, but I just want to become better at making music, and I want to make lots of good music. I really don't know how else to put it. Many people ask me, "who's your favorite composer", or "who would you want to be?".. I don't really care too much... Maybe I don't need one in terms of artistic directionality, but perhaps it's important in terms of planning a professional career.. (or maybe just so that I can answer convincingly when someone asks) It's really hard to say. Maybe I'm just not fit for the industry, and I'm okay with that. I don't need for music to be my career. But if I will be better at it if it were my career, than that's cool too.

It just seems to hard in terms of film / tv music since that's a pretty intensively "well schooled" world. Especially at this point in life, since there are already so many hard core hobbyists.. so being "semi schooled" like me, puts me in a very strange position. And that's always what's been driving me towards schools.. I really don't care much about graduating, there are just certain sets of skills I think are better learned in an academic setting. (which are needed to write good music be it job or personal)

The thing I'm not sure about is the "end goal" part.. perhaps I do need a specific someone I want to be like? Not necessarily artistically, but career wise? I'm not really sure what it means. Maybe it just means I need to have a clear picture (so clear, it's a person) of where I want to be. That makes a little more sense. I always have a tendency to be very receptive.. like, 1 is cool.. 30 is cool, 500 is cool too. As long as it's not 9, everything else is cool. That's the sort of person I am. Maybe I need to be more specific.

[astroman]

... It just seems to hard in terms of film / tv music since that's a pretty intensively "well schooled" world. Especially at this point in life, since there are already so many hard core hobbyists.. so being "semi schooled" like me, puts me in a very strange position. And that's always what's been driving me towards schools.. I really don't care much about graduating, there are just certain sets of skills I think are better learned in an academic setting. (which are needed to write good music be it job or personal)...

you may not care much about graduating, but for your career it may be(come) a crucial factor...
I'm loosing a high 5-figure Euro amount each year for not graduating, because smart a** self once considered all that stuff stupid and not on par with personal expectations. Ok, that's cruedly simplyfied, but sufficient in this context.
People are people and if your (bo-peep ?) diploma increases your fee per hour by a factor of 2 or more... then who cares ? We aren't young forever and one got to be prepared for the not so easy times.
I never thought I might write that sentence one day, but now it just happened

on the other hand I wouldn't overestimate the process leading (eventually) to graduation too much regarding your 'artistic substance'
of course you're learning methods and techniques there...
but imho those 2 sided swords as they can easily keep you under a kind of glass bowl of the 'established', as they might provide the wings to fly your own way.
As usual your mileage varies...

to mess things up even more, the place of the graduation may be a focus for personal relations possibly leading to business contacts at a later point in time.
It's no secret that the 'someone knows someone who' paradigm works much better than graduating with excellence.

Imho you should really care about the 'business' aspects, suck up (just) as much skills you need, be a nice chap - and aside from that develope your very own style of work (in whatever musical domain)
After all the other 'preconditions' may open doors, the latter will be the only thing to actually make you sign the contracts.
Of course this is no big news and you've already thought about it yourself...
I'm just writing from a perspective of someone a few years later in the process - though not strictly music.
In that context I can only add DON'T CARE - release whatever sh*t you consider 'yourself'
I once didn't dare to even think of making a record because I considered myself 'not good enough'...
A handful of dudes from the neighbourhood didn't mind and later made millions as Kraftwerk.

cheers, Tom

[kensuguro]

thanks for inspiring words.. I guess I really need to get my musical career in perspective, and set aside my personal ideals. I think I kept them glued together, or at least let it be in one un-identified mush since I didn't want to deal with it, didn't want to disappoint myself, etc... But as I learned in my flash career, though short, that we all suck at the beginning anyway. It was easy for me in flash to handle the disappointments, since I already knew I sucked, and knew that it'll take a bunch of years to become good at it. For music, it's harder since I've already got some experience under my belt, and so there are self imposed expectations. Something everyone struggles with I guess.

But as you say, even if the beginning sucks, once I'm in it's up to my work quality, work ethic, and to a greater degree, my personality that plays a big role in paving the path. I will start asking around to see what options I have for my studies, and also think about how to learn what I need to learn without roundabout tricks. The whole music technology thing (my former master's program) was sort of a loophole trick that was supposed to allow me to use my past stuff to get me in, and allow me to take other more general music courses... which failed quite blatantly. So I probably need to rethink my approach.

Fortunately a couple of people I know have been through to the process, (my jazz teacher being a former faculty at berklee) so getting first hand info might not be too difficult. I screwed up with Miami, so I want to be very careful in how I research my next move.

[dawman]

Nice Topic....

I believe in connections made myself.
Also believe to follow your heart and what ever motivates you so your efforts are not half assed.
Also believe that having a fallback plan is crucial.
Music Theory and Composition along with dedicating practicing of Classical music since it is highly regimented by nature, does incerdible things for having a photographic type of memory.
Is there another career where this ability can be applied?

For example, here in Las Vegas they build high rise towers around the clock and during the Night the shifts are in need of people who can spot mistakes as they are being made so the consecutive shifts flow smoothly. This requires knowing the blueprints and plans.
I memorized several pages at a time and would supervise the different trades and coordinate their work by looking at what was completed from the previous shift.
Having this type of comprehension from my love of music was important.
One cannot tell all of the shifts to stop working as that person goes down to the trailer to look through 1000's of pages of prints.
These particular skills brought me all of my final mortgage payments, XITE-1 and Solaris last Spring. My band parted our own ways and I wanted to make some big cash quick, hence the City Center. I will not brag about what I made but having something to fall back on that pays well is a sound idea as music can cause starvation at times. It;s a feast or famine business.
Your wife is also wise to encourage your diploma as she is a mother who is concerned about the well being and financial state of your children. BTW, she's a babe, you already have the Tiger by the Tail IMHO.

Connections will keep you going longer than strangers who wish to find faults with you so they can pay lower salaries.

I can only say from a musicians standpoint............have a back up plan.
But doing what you love for a living is crucial. You can dedicate your entire heart, and soul and the rewards are life long. Just make sure you have an escape route.
This is important as you will see later on.
Our brains occassionally need a break from music as it is our love. So walking away from it every now and then just gives you more motivation on the next musical cycle you involve yourself with.

For me, I shall always perfrom. It is what I love and have always done. It never ends.
I have brainwashed myself to enjoy other types of work and income, as I tell myself while I am taking a giant check doing something I find boring but necessary........This check is for XITE-1, this one for Solaris, this one for my house, etc.etc.
So you see it never really ends, and the life long pursuit of happiness is just so righteous.