Who here is a musician?
I get the impression from reading the blog comments and forum discussions that there might be quite a few musicians in the JoCo Legions (which, to me, speaks rather highly of his music ).
Personally, I'm a singer/choral conductor who got burned out on teaching music in public schools and became an accountant to pay the bills. I got my BA in music at UCLA. I'm still singing at a church gig and conducting a community children's chorus. I would love to sing full-time, but I'm not a songwriter. I don't have the voice for a professional opera career, and the jingle/studio singing scene appears to be very cliquish and hard to break into.
OK - enough venting. I was just curious about the other musicians who might be out there, what your thing is, what sorts of projects you're working on etc. I'd also be interested in hearing stories of folks who have managed to develop a fulfilling career in music, or how some folks balance music-making with other aspects of their lives.
Thanks.
Personally, I'm a singer/choral conductor who got burned out on teaching music in public schools and became an accountant to pay the bills. I got my BA in music at UCLA. I'm still singing at a church gig and conducting a community children's chorus. I would love to sing full-time, but I'm not a songwriter. I don't have the voice for a professional opera career, and the jingle/studio singing scene appears to be very cliquish and hard to break into.
OK - enough venting. I was just curious about the other musicians who might be out there, what your thing is, what sorts of projects you're working on etc. I'd also be interested in hearing stories of folks who have managed to develop a fulfilling career in music, or how some folks balance music-making with other aspects of their lives.
Thanks.
Comments
Also, I enjoy writing song lyrics, although they're far too frequently crap. I think the coolest thing in the world would be to write a musical someday. Like that's ever gonna happen.
I've sang with a madrigals group since HS for like 3 to 6 months, but haven't done anything else. I really need to get back into it.
These days I play acoustic guitar for fun and finger exercise, and electric guitar in a very loud 'stoner metal / noise rock' band.
Personally, I treat it as a hobby, but an essential one. I used to be learning instruments, specifically piano and trombone, but I fell out of piano and lost interest in band, favoring choir. In college I considered majoring in music, but when I realized I wouldn't have time for ANY other pursuits if I did, I quickly decided I wasn't insane enough (and that's saying something ;) ).
These days I have spent my time looking for the opportunity to join or create a singing group that fits my musical tastes. I've gone through a large number of community and school choirs that haven't quite fit. I expect I'll eventually get back into piano, since piano and guitar are the most useful instruments, and I already have a 6-year head start on piano (though I am out of practice...)
Currently I'm big into musical theater, but in writing respectable musical theater music, as opposed to the Rent-esque music that is often ascribed to the field. My big thing is using elements of polytonality in music that's still accessible enough to survive in the theater world.
I got more into Alto sax though after that, I rented one last month and had a blast playing it again, mediocre at best :D
I used to do video editing work and that involves a lot of work using music with scenes, making sure it fits with the overall look. That was almost always my fave part. I am just now trying to get started up again doing some projects, hopefully they'll turn out good :)
Anyone up for starting an intercontinental Jonathan Coulton cover band? ;)
(JoCo seems to be a tenor or baritone... and his songs are often in a bad key for an alto like me. That and I love singing harmony.)
Speaking of not being a musician, I foolishly signed up to write a piece for piano as a project for my novels class illustrating the theme of "power vs. powerlessness" found in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in spite of the fact that I've never actually written any music of any value whatsoever except practice exercises and such for my music theory class last year which was pretty much a joke anyway because nobody in there knew anything. So yeah, it's due tomorrow. Whatever. It's fun playing with Finale NotePad.
Khavall: I auditoned for Oberlin many moons ago. Obviously, they said no, which is how I ended up at UCLA.
Iirish Lion: Ain't nothin' wrong with Guitar Hero! I'm an avid player, although I can't play beyond medium. :-)
Bry: I'm totally down with the JoCo cover band. I think to be fair, we should rotate the vocals so that we all get a chance. :-) I love me some harmony, but I can also sing all but the lowest of his songs at pitch. I can growl out Famous Blue Raincoat at pitch first thing in the morning before I'm warmed up - which I think hits the low G, two below middle C. Not bad for a soprano who has been known to sing a high E on occasion, huh?
Shruti: Good luck sticking with music after high school. It's the rare breed that can keep it up as a hobby without actually studying it in college. And your composition will probably get a good grade whether or not it's great, simply because it will be the most original and creative endeavor that the teacher will see. Having been a teacher, I can tell you that we go ga-ga over that stuff. :-)
So nobody here is making money with music, huh? As an accountant (auditor, really), about 1/3 of my income still comes from music. I'm still struggling with how to balance all of my interests. As of a couple of years ago, I started cutting out all music activities that didn't pay just because I was running myself ragged. I wish I could pay the bills as a musician, but it's more of a risk to go that route than I'm apparently willing to take. (Go JoCo!)
Deal - singing harmony is one of the most fun things to do in the world, specially if you can get the spine tingling :D
Colleenky: I beat GH2 on Hard, got halfway through expert - Freebird is so damn lonnnnggg!
Though interestingly enough, even though I've had the most success in terms of reviews and comments and recognition as a Composer, I've made a total of $0 as of yet from composition. Crazy world. I'm really kind of hoping that'll change eventually.
Oh right, and dibs on keys.
www.myspace.com/meyersjen
On another note, this myspace music thing is excellent! I am so behind the times on this shit.
http://www.myspace.com/caleplute
(Offtopic, I know, but this doesn't really merit its own thread.)
I must get clearance to do this. Especially since JoCo is how I learned guitar. It'll be like, an alternate teaching method.