I thought I would take a little longer than a minute to talk about what I do and what I plan on doing. It's counter-cultural. It's humbling because I have so far to go. It's also far-fetched at first glance. When I talk about my methods of learning, I have to talk out of both sides of my mouth. I support college education and think it is extremely vital to a properly functioning world... but I'm currently not going to college and have no plan on going back. I took classes for a year and a half. It was not a waste of time. It was extremely foundational. I use the knowledge I acquired during that period of time every day. So why didn't I go back?
Well, the easy reason was that I just couldn't afford it. When the time was right for me to go, the money was there. So lack of finances definitely helped make that decision. But remove the financial factor, and the decision was still not an easy one. I got a lot of counsel from different people in the particular field that I am pursuing and all of them agreed: college is helpful, but not essential. As long as I can prove what I know, there is opportunity. It doesn't necessarily matter how or where I learned how to do it. It matters that I can do it. So what is this "it" exactly that I'm trying to learn?
This is where it's a little embarrassing. I tell people that I'm independently studying filmscoring/songwriting. Think filmscore, and you automatically think major film. John Williams. No, I'm not trying to be John Williams. Think songwriting, and it sounds like I'm trying to be... oh I don't know... Taylor Swift. I'm definitely not trying to be Taylor Swift (although she is adorable). I'm trying to be the best I can possibly be, but I'm not trying to be famous. If a miracle happened and I got a chance to be a part of a major major major project, I'd take it. But for now, here are my goals:
I'll tackle songwriting first. I started writing songs about five years ago. Right now it's more of a hobby than anything else. It's an outlet for creativity, and so when a song is finished I feel a huge sense of accomplishment and release. If I had a goal with songwriting, it'd be to continue recording my own songs, independently, and hope that it encourages whoever listens to it. I write about my experiences, what God is teaching me, my relationships with other people, my hopes and dreams, and I realize that a lot of that is relative to others. So if someone else is able to identify, is encouraged, and is drawn closer to the Lord by listening to a song of mine, then I consider it a success. If God has bigger plans for my songs, then I'm open to that. If they're used in churches, then that would be incredible. If they end up on the radio one day, that'd be icing on the cake. If I go on tour, well that would just be a dream. But I don't expect any of that.
Film scoring. It's something I thought would be so cool. I originally wanted to study commercial music (in short, writing music for commercials. Correct title: spot artist) because it would help me gain experience in writing for different genres, thus helping my songwriting abilities. My parents have always encouraged me to add complexity in my songs... which requires more thought, time, and skill. I figured studying film scoring would help out in this area. During the process of figuring out how I would go about learning this, I discovered that I really did like film music and that, hey, writing for an actual film would be fun. It was also during this time that I met John Campbell, and once I found out more about what he does... well, I discovered my new dream job. In some ways music for commercials is very similar to film scores, but shorter (good for my short attention span). Down the road, if this was something I could actually get good at, I'd love to do scores for the independent Christian film world. If it went bigger than that... I'd probably accept. But again, that's dreaming big. I found out that life has many sound tracks... What about the music that they play at Disney World? Or Miami Sea Aquarium? Or even the mall? Granted, Muzak makes a lot of those decisions, but someone has to compose the actual music. It's the behind the scenes type work that I like.
My ultimate dream job? Wife and mother. Short and simple. I've thought and prayed about how to find a balance between working and starting a family. I feel like as long as family comes first, the two can work together nicely. I feel like God has given me passions and talents for this area, and that once I have a family of my own, it would not be glorifying to God to just throw them out of the window. Either career can be done at home, on my own schedule, and can work around having a family.
But since the whole family thing seems a loooong ways off, I'm satisfied to stay in my garage and learn.
My techniques for learning? Listening, Reading, Doing.
I don't have a fixed curriculum. I listen to a lot of music. I read books and blogs. I watch a lot of tutorials off of macprovideo.com. I youtube and google quite a bit. I take a lot of notes. Now doesn't that sound professional? I know, it doesn't. But again, this is a field where I just have to prove I know what I'm doing. If I need help proving that, I found out Berklee has certification tests I can take for a resume. I might do that.
I can get discouraged at times thinking nothing I'm doing is actually credible. But I feel like this is where God wants me, and that He's made that clear. And really, there's no better place to be than at the center of His will. He's provided opportunities to learn, to create music, and to study under professionals in this field. I am very blessed.
So until something changes, I keep writing.
My classroom.
