Last Summer’s To-Do List
My first summer of being a full time composer was taken up mostly by preparations for hiking the Appalachian Trail, starting in Maine. Once I got home I decided to enjoy the remainder of my first summer of not having a marching show/school year to get prepared for by actually enjoying a summer vacation and relaxing.
My second summer of being a full time composer was taken up by moving. I don’t think I opened Sibelius (my music notation software) or sat down at a piano to write anything for 3 months straight.
My third summer of being a full time composer (this summer) was going to be the most productive time ever! I made a to-do list to line up all the passion projects I wanted to work on, all the business things I wanted to get taken care of, some networking things, and some other creative things.
Of the 38 things on my list I only accomplished 9.
Not exactly a barn-burner of a summer. But I’m happy with what I accomplished nonetheless! Though I didn’t get a ton of things checked off my list, I had a restful summer, the first truly restful summer I think I’ve had since I was in high school.
Even though this wasn’t a super productive summer in the composing sense, I still managed to accomplish a lot of personal things that made it an amazing summer. I was able to spend A LOT of time with Holly, which was fantastic! I ended up getting to hang out with friends a lot more than I expected. I played so much D&D this summer! After a lot of planning, reading, and test recording sessions, Alex Miller and I finally released our 2 Man Comic Book Club Podcast. I finally managed to get a performance opportunity for my new chamber group, “Thought Form Collective”, that we’re quickly approaching! I started playing trumpet in a new funk band in town, “Fry”. So there were still plenty of musical things that happened this summer, but they just weren’t on my to-do list when I started the summer.
But you know what? I’m cool with that!
I didn’t get a ton of music written, but I did get some! I didn’t get a ton of business matters sorted out, but I did get some! I didn’t tackle all of my creative to-do items, but I did take some! And the best part is that I am charged up to start my next phase of composing. I have a handful of pieces to work on and I can’t wait to dig into them! I suppose everyone needs a break from time to time.
