I love to perform. Performing is kind of engraved in my soul. I love writing my own pop music and showing it to the world. It continues to amaze me how much people can relate to both my music and lyrics (I am also astounded at how much people love my lyrics; I don’t really consider myself a lyricist!) and it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside whenever somebody compliments me on my music. I miss performing and touring, but I’m making much progress with my nodules and will hopefully be able to do some shows this summer (if I’m not in Ithaca taking piano lessons and studying music theory! I’m such a music theory nerd!)
SIDE NOTE/ I’M A MUSIC THEORY NERD/ MIKA: Can we talk about how the minor i chord at 2:04 in this song makes everything better? And the transition into 2:20? Holy crap. That is a theorist’s dream right there. End side note.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I actually want to do with my life. I prefer to be a jack of all trades, not a master of one. That is to say, there are a lot of things that I’m pretty good at, and I’d like to be able to use all of them in whatever career I choose. I love to write, arrange, and orchestrate classical music. I love to teach and donate my time to children. I love to perform. I love to analyze both classical and pop music. I am an average guitarist, violinist, and ukuleleist (is that really how you’d spell that?) I am a great pianist and singer. I am an actress. Apparently, I’m a comedian, too (I’m pretty sure people mistake me saying ridiculously offbeat and stupid stuff for intentionally being funny. I’m really not trying to be funny. I’m just an idiot sometimes.)
I really want to teach high school music, namely orchestras and choruses and direct musicals. I’ve known it for a while, but I was too caught up in the whole composition thing to realize that it’s what I should have pursued in the first place. No regrets, I’m planning on getting my BM in music theory, then doing a masters program in music education. It shouldn’t be that difficult, and I’m really excited to finally do what, in the back of my mind, I’ve wanted to do all along.
That being said, there is something else in the back of my mind. A voice. It’s not a scary voice, it’s an excited voice! It’s the voice saying that I should really try going all-out for the whole pop star thing before I settle down and be a teacher.
(Not like being a teacher is a bad thing or a disgrace or anything. I recently told one of my adult friends that I’ve decided to be a teacher and she said something to the effect of “Why have your ambitions gone from really high to pretty low?” I was a little bit put off by that. I don’t think being a music teacher is a low ambition at all. It’s doing what I love, and giving back to the community and to the next generation of musicians.)
I think there is something really special about my pop music- actually, I sometimes think that it’s too special. Though it’s really relatable by all, it’s really off the beaten path. I can’t picture hearing my music on any radio station (probably partly due to the fact that it’s been recorded in my basement…) because it doesn’t fit in with anything else on the radio. I can’t even describe it to people who ask. I usually say something like “Well it’s… uh… um… er… uh… piano-pop-musical-belty-ballad-upbeat-somethingorother?” As much as it’s a mouthful, I LIKE that about my songs!
So, where am I going with this? In the spring, I’m going to be recording an official demo featuring several of my best songs (and several of my best friends!) and sending it out to a bunch of record labels, producers, whatever. I mean, Mika is pretty much as far from cliché as you can get, and he’s done it. Why can’t I do it, too? Hopefully something will pan out. If it doesn’t, I will be a music teacher. There’s no shame in that.
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