career planning
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:55 am
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.
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.