Building My Portfolio

When I quit teaching to become a composer I envisioned waking up every day, going to the piano, toiling all day long writing the most beautiful melodies the world has ever heard, and sending my finished manuscript off to let other people deal with editing and selling part while I just live off the royalties.

Now I look at it much differently. I still view myself as a composer first, but that’s not all I do. I compose my music, I engrave and edit my scores and parts, I print them, I sell them, I mail them off, and sometimes I even go and work with the ensembles playing my music.

That’s just the actual writing part. I’m also in charge of marketing my music, seeking out commissions, researching the best and most economical means of printing and distributing, and tending to various channels of social media.

After working on those aspects for a little over a year I decided I needed to find some supplemental income sources until my composing career becomes established enough to be my primary income source. So I do some occasional substitute teaching, give some lessons, do some infrequent adjunct teaching with local school bands, and I’m currently looking into a few part time jobs to fill a day or two a week, while still focusing the majority of my time on composing.

But one thing that I never expected to call myself in addition to composer and teacher was a performer. I have always enjoyed playing my trumpet in bands as a member of a section, and I feel like I am pretty good at it. As for piano, I have played since elementary school, and back when I practiced regularly (sort of) I was confident enough to play my solos when the recitals rolled around. I’ve never really focused on performance as a “front man” or “band leader”. I never expected to want to! But soon after starting my full time composing journey I started realizing how amazing the new music community was, and all the cool non-standard instrumentation filled groups there were out there. It made me want to be a part of that scene.

After doing some thinking about it, I put out some feelers and connected with a few people who were also interested in getting into that scene. Now, 9 months after our first formal meeting, and establishing ourself as a “drum-set/vibraphone/guitar/synth” ensemble, the “Thought Form Collective” just had its first performance, but with a drastically different instrumentation. We played a percussion trio for “prepared bass drum” I wrote on a local TV show and it went really well! In just over a week we will have another performance of a piece we have collaborated to create. An hour long percussion sextet filled with all kinds of aleatoric sounds and strictly written out music as well. It’s all coming together and I can’t believe it. We are making plans for our next performance and have a few solid leads. It is an exciting time! It is an awesome outlet to have outside of the concert band world! (Which, of course, I still love dearly!)

In addition to the “Thought Form Collective”, I’m also a trumpet player in a funk/pop/jazz band called “Fry” (as of about a month ago) and we just had our first gig a week ago and we’re about to have another. It’s a totally different style than I’ve ever played in. Sure I’ve played jazz and funk before in jazz bands, but in this group I’m the only trumpet, with a tenor sax. (and theoretically another sax and a trombone) So I have to pay way more attention to my styling since there isn’t anyone to hide behind. So over twenty years after I started my Weird Al tribute band “Absolutely Nothing” with my friends, Daniel and Nathan, (even though we never made it past naming ourselves) I can actually say I’m in a band. And I mean a band-band. Not a concert band, or brass band, or jazz band, but a “band”, with drums, bass, and keys! And I have to say, after a month or so with Fry, I really think everyone should play in a band at some point in their lives!

So here I am, about 13 years after my senior trumpet recital in college, where I talked with my teachers about how I loved playing so much that I wanted to keep doing it at a high level, and I am. Not only am I playing again, I am doing it with a realistic goal of making it into a viable income stream.

Now my freelancer portfolio consists of many things: Composing, Self-Publishing, Teaching, and now Performing.

It is a wild place to be. After existing with a steady routine, with a steady paycheck, with health insurance and other benefits for a decade, I’m re-educating myself on what it means to make a living. Some days the future looks scary, some days it looks bright, some days I go to bed before 9, sometimes I don’t get in from a practice or gig until 1:30 in the morning, sometimes my schedule is so hectic I don’t know if I can even take a break to breath, and sometimes it is so peacefully calm that I feel guilty for not doing more, but even with all those ups and downs, it is always rewarding!

And by the way, in case you’re wondering, it’s never too late to start practicing your instrument, so go start a band!