Music & Me

I've mentioned in my profile that I'm I professional musician, which may have people thinking "Wow, this guy's cool, I want to know more about him". Well, you're right, I am cool, but for anyone under the illusion that I'm leading a glamorous lifestyle and posting from a beach house or some contemporary apartment with views of a city somewhere, let me set the record straight.

I am indeed a professional musician. More specifically I'm a percussionist who specialises in orchestral percussion, hand percussion and drum kit. I also play cornet/flugelhorn/trumpet, organ, keyboard and bass guitar. By now half of you will be thinking "wow" and the other half "smartarse", but that's just pretty much what I've done with my life so far.

I did a music technology based degree so spent a lot of time in the studio learning about recording and production. Since then I have been lucky enough to work as a freelance musician.

Now that still sounds an exciting prospect but there are plenty of downsides to all of this. I did a few years "on the road" playing with orchestras, brass bands, wind bands, big bands, theatre bands etc. These generally paid well and were a lot of fun, but they can be few and far between. Not knowing when your next paycheque is coming or how much it will be is not exactly fun.

I played for, with and alongside various rock and pop bands and artists, some very famous but most not. These experiences ranged from amazing to an absolute freaking nightmare and the pay...well, let's just say that it was nothing to write home about and that you'd struggle to buy the stamp if you did.

When I wasn't out gigging I was trying to make a name for myself as a composer and or sound designer in the world of film and TV. It never quite happened, and although it was fun writing music for independent films and seeing my name on a credit it was also time consuming and exhausting.

The nail in the coffin was when I submitted work for a film that would have paid very well and potentially been seen by millions and didn't get it. As a musician you get very used to rejections after auditions but being as the movie in question was a full on hardcore porno and I didn't get the, let's face it, very easy job of writing "musak" I decided to focus my efforts elsewhere. I still write occasionally and sometimes submit scores for filmmakers, but without the hopes and pressure that I used to.

All the time this was going on I had a fairly well paid job in a college as lecturer of percussion. For a while this was great, then good, then soul destroying. Problems arose with various pay cuts and management takeovers and then towards the end I became quite seriously ill and was spending time in and out of hospital and physically unable to play music. I won't go into the ins and outs of the illness, maybe some other time, but for the worriers among you I am now much better thanks to medication — and no, it's not contagious.

I left music altogether for about a year and a half. I did a nine to five job working for the government. I was a secret agent. Ok, well, maybe not, I did a stressful office based job that I hated, even though it turns out I was very good at it, and I was getting a regular income for the first time since my paper round.
That all ended when the new government got in and told me my contract was ending — oh, and by the way, can you train your replacement? I'm not bitter, I bloody hated and yet at the same time bloody loved working there but alas it was not to be.

So at the end of last year found myself back in music again. Most of the work I do now is teaching. It's not the most reliable thing in the world but I enjoy it more than I remember. I travel to a school to teach steel pans which is pretty awesome, I'm musical director of a junior windband which I do voluntarily because at least once a week I decide to be nice, and I'm trying to build up the private tuition side of things this year too. Hopefully this year will also see my return to the orchestra as I've been asked to play timpani in a John Rutter requiem, and with a bit of luck that might even get my name into the right circles again.

I don't know what 2011 holds musically or if indeed I'll still be working in music by the end of it, these are troublesome financial times for those with a regular income so whether the economy will be my downfall remains to be seen.

I'll leave you all with a video to watch of a trailer I re-scored towards the end of last year which unfortunately never came to anything as the production folded, but at least now I'm blogging someone other than myself and my family will get to hear some of my work. It's not my best or worst work but you may as well take a listen. Damn it Jim, I'm a musician not a blogger!