I spent yesterday evening upgrading some things on my Macbook, buying new software, etc. Yesterday morning was an amazing yoga class and work was been pleasantly slow compared to my first day back on Friday. It's a much mellower return to routine than I expected. And now I'm getting ready for the upcoming year. Scheduled some time at the mastering studio for next Thursday to master the audio for the licensing agency and I have a couple of rehearsals with Lacy next week as well.
It seems just like any other post Christmas run up to the New Year in that I'm thinking about resolutions, as you do. Yet, I'm feeling so much more optimistic about 2013. I got thinking about it after a general suggestion from my yoga teacher to not simply make resolutions but to decide what you wanted to bring with you into the new year and what you wanted to leave behind, i.e. what worked and what didn't. 2012 was probably the best year since I moved here and I can't think of much that didn't work except for a tiny bit of personal stuff. I started the year out a little tame, not really being so aggressive and then, after that first voice gig (well the two in one weekend) came through, I realized what I had the potential to do. So, I started taking charge of things and managed to get 8 more VO jobs, on top of scoring two shorts, three potential feature lengths that ultimately didn't pan out but showed that my name was getting out there, a promo, a PSA, another potential PSA that didn't pan out but helped me forge another connection, and a contract to license my music for film and TV. At first, I was merely dragging myself through, saying I had to just keep at it. But somewhere around halfway through the year, I started to realize that it was momentum and that I had to step it up and capitalize on it, not simply persevere despite how harrowing it can be waiting and waiting for that next gig.
So that's what I decided 2013 should be about. Capitalizing. Becoming more proactive with these opportunities. Things I have happening for the first part of 2013 that I could capitalize on?
The 7 songs that I have going to the licensing agency are almost ready and their release will mean a lot of exposure. Besides the opportunity for my work to appear in TV and film, producers looking for custom scores will be exposed to my music and may consider me for their projects as well. Plus, it's a non-exclusive license so there's no saying I can't submit these to any number of other licensing sites. I came across a great resource that reviews a ton of these sites and will start looking into placing my music with them as well.
Lacy and I are forming a band and planning concerts for the CD release party and beyond. More full sets, more fully electronic performances, hence my delight at getting my laptop closer to being ready for live performance (finally!). Meeting new musicians and getting out and playing live more will encourage me to start performing my own stuff once I'm more comfortable using my laptop to do so. And those who knew me back in high school and college know how much more alive I feel when I'm playing music. It's one of the things I enjoy most in life. I am most comfortable in my skin when I'm performing and in my element. The prospect of doing it again lights me up like you wouldn't believe.
The voice over world is about to get smacked upside the face by my voice. My promo demo is the next step. Once in the can, I will finally be ready to start testing out voice over agents in earnest. And if I can keep up the momentum from last year (even from these last few months of auditioning and people finding me on the web without me having to do much marketing), I'm sure I can make some strides even in just the first few months of the year.
And not as talked about is the fact that I scored two great films last year that I'm really proud of and as soon as they are done, I have even more material for the film scoring reel. That'll be five solid films that I've scored, plus one promo and a PSA just this year, since I moved to NYC four years ago.
Yes, I said four years ago. I'm rounding up. I'm still not used to saying "three years ago," to be honest. Time is just flying by it seems. Just under four years ago I'm came to the city and unceremoniously fell out of a Uhaul truck onto the pavement on 42nd Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn not really knowing if any of this was possible but being extremely excited to be trying it out. And four years later, I still love this city and wouldn't rather be doing this anywhere else. Not even LA, where so many people have suggested I should be for film scoring.
But I digress. Tomorrow's New Year's Eve and I'll be here at work until midnight thirty, at which point I may head to some as yet undetermined bar where I will ring in the New Year Central Time. Or something like that. And welcome a new year which I will predict will be as awesome as this one or better.
Showing posts with label new years day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new years day. Show all posts
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Friday, December 31, 2010
Progress and Resolutions...
It's always nice to find evidence that you're making progress. I'm sitting here late on a Thursday night, early on a Friday morning, too exhausted from work to do anything but sample a homebrew from last year to see if it's drinkable still (it is) and peruse old blogs and/or facebook...God save me from the black hole that is the latter. Anyway, I stumbled on this entry and it was kind of cool to read how frustrated I was back then with how much work I had to do just to stay afloat and how it was interfering with my perceived ability to work on my own music.
The blog was from October of 2009, days before I heard about the full time position at NY1 and I was going on about how I had made tons of contacts but I had no time because of the day job(s) to churn out new material to showcase for these contacts (Not that that's the only reason I'm writing, to impress potential clients, I'm just saying it's always good to have fresh music to show people...I'm not going to get away with showing stuff from grad school all the time for much longer).
Anyhow, nowadays, I've not only stabilized my job situation, but I've also learned, probably as a result of that stability, to manage my time so much better. I can actually sit down, like I did this morning, and write, even though I only had a few hours before I had to leave the house. In that way, I'm not waiting until I get two full days off to dive into a project. Just polishing off little bits of work per each sitting and not worrying about making great strides.
What I'm working on now is the notation of Collapsing Elbows for Tania, so that she can perform the piece and I can process the electronics when we perform the piece with Jahna's dancers in April. Back when I wrote the above mentioned blog entry I might have quailed at the thought of notating an entire eight-minute, unmetered improvisation (I honestly still quailed a little bit upon considering the task). However, this time, I took one look at the piece, split it up into manageable pieces and decided to just go section by section measure by measure. Such a practice even gives me built in stopping points so I can take much needed breaks during what has turned out to be some very tedious work. I remember what I played for the most part but the rhythms (being unchained to bar lines for the most part) are really difficult to parse out. And I'm met with decisions like how strictly should I stick to the original rhythms, should I even bother notating with bar lines, if I do notate it as such how do I decide where to draw the bar lines. Luckily, my graduate school thesis was on polyrhythm and the notation of thereof. So, I'm well-versed.
I must say it's coming along and I'm quite proud of my methods here. As I look into the new year and back at the old, I realize that I've really come a long way. Granted, I'm not where I wanted to be exactly, but I'm certainly not where I expected to be. I've managed to finish some works and totally change directions on others (I'm thinking of the piano pieces which are done and the orchestral minimalist piece that I decided to make into an electroacoustic piece, here, respectively).
I know I wrote about New Year's Resolutions the other day but while we're talking about music again in the new year, I think I'd like to lay down here what I wrote in my personal notes today:
Finish two chamber works
Start a new one
Submit electronic piece to a few competitions/festivals
Submit at least one other piece
Get electronic music gig rolling
Publish piano sketches
Beyond that, I think I wrote that I wanted to keep up yoga and take dance classes as well. So, I think that's pretty good for now. I'll think of tons more stuff that I want to do though, I'm sure. For now, I'm dead tired and I want to sleep for a very long time now. Good night.
The blog was from October of 2009, days before I heard about the full time position at NY1 and I was going on about how I had made tons of contacts but I had no time because of the day job(s) to churn out new material to showcase for these contacts (Not that that's the only reason I'm writing, to impress potential clients, I'm just saying it's always good to have fresh music to show people...I'm not going to get away with showing stuff from grad school all the time for much longer).
Anyhow, nowadays, I've not only stabilized my job situation, but I've also learned, probably as a result of that stability, to manage my time so much better. I can actually sit down, like I did this morning, and write, even though I only had a few hours before I had to leave the house. In that way, I'm not waiting until I get two full days off to dive into a project. Just polishing off little bits of work per each sitting and not worrying about making great strides.
What I'm working on now is the notation of Collapsing Elbows for Tania, so that she can perform the piece and I can process the electronics when we perform the piece with Jahna's dancers in April. Back when I wrote the above mentioned blog entry I might have quailed at the thought of notating an entire eight-minute, unmetered improvisation (I honestly still quailed a little bit upon considering the task). However, this time, I took one look at the piece, split it up into manageable pieces and decided to just go section by section measure by measure. Such a practice even gives me built in stopping points so I can take much needed breaks during what has turned out to be some very tedious work. I remember what I played for the most part but the rhythms (being unchained to bar lines for the most part) are really difficult to parse out. And I'm met with decisions like how strictly should I stick to the original rhythms, should I even bother notating with bar lines, if I do notate it as such how do I decide where to draw the bar lines. Luckily, my graduate school thesis was on polyrhythm and the notation of thereof. So, I'm well-versed.
I must say it's coming along and I'm quite proud of my methods here. As I look into the new year and back at the old, I realize that I've really come a long way. Granted, I'm not where I wanted to be exactly, but I'm certainly not where I expected to be. I've managed to finish some works and totally change directions on others (I'm thinking of the piano pieces which are done and the orchestral minimalist piece that I decided to make into an electroacoustic piece, here, respectively).
I know I wrote about New Year's Resolutions the other day but while we're talking about music again in the new year, I think I'd like to lay down here what I wrote in my personal notes today:
Finish two chamber works
Start a new one
Submit electronic piece to a few competitions/festivals
Submit at least one other piece
Get electronic music gig rolling
Publish piano sketches
Beyond that, I think I wrote that I wanted to keep up yoga and take dance classes as well. So, I think that's pretty good for now. I'll think of tons more stuff that I want to do though, I'm sure. For now, I'm dead tired and I want to sleep for a very long time now. Good night.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
2010, begin again...
I've just spent another afternoon and evening working on music and man, does it feel good to be working. I've got this piece up to about 7 or 8 minutes, 36 pages and I'm now starting to run up against the typical issues you get with a piece this size. Namely, transitions from one section to another, dynamics of the whole ensemble and second guesses on orchestration choices.
I was about to post another blog a few days ago about how I can hardly believe that I'm still here. But I just decided that's not what I want to talk about tonight. I've said quite enough about that lately and though my thoughts on the matter feel new each time, I really think it's just an impulse that I have to define things every time I pass a milestone.
But what would New Year's Day be without a recounting of my accomplishments and some good old-fashioned resolutions?
My biggest and most obvious (obvious because it's one of the main subjects of this blog) accomplishment this year was moving here. The scope of that, from my perspective, evidently still hasn't hit me because I'm still blathering on about it. Second only to moving here was finding not one, not two, but three jobs and several freelance film gigs in the months that followed. I also made new friends easily, landed a full time job out of one of those freelance gigs, managed to pay rent, managed to score a few composing gigs, managed to start up a few pieces and revamp a few old ones, managed to keep my sanity despite the pressures of it all, and still managed to keep this blog up.
All of this writing in the past few weeks has really pepped me up and given me the feeling that if I just get going on a few things I could totally start the year with the kind of momentum I had back in 2007, three years ago. I wrote prolifically that semester in school and managed, at the end of it, to get my first paid commission. So, with that having been said, being a composer and being in the place where I have wanted to be for so long for the express purpose of putting energy into my career, it only seems appropriate, and it almost goes without saying, that my first resolution has to be to write prolifically again and maybe even surpass myself.
Beyond that, with the prospect of working overnight shifts, losing some sleep, being tired a lot and everything that comes with that, I think the next one would have to be the tried and true favorite of people seeking to better themselves: to work out more. But I'm going to approach this in a way I never have before. I'm actually going to join the YMCA, and take some yoga classes. I have a friend here who goes to classes and has agreed to take me to one or more of the places she goes to. The YMCA is something that will get me actually lifting weights and doing cardio on a regular basis instead of when the mood strikes. I have to first find out if my bum knee is really too bum to be jogging on before I consider any cardio routine but that shouldn't take long. I have a doctor's appointment next Wednesday and I think we'll go over the results from my MRI.
I don't think there's many other resolutions that I have other than career and general well being. I suppose those are the two biggest categories than anyone could lump their resolutions into, other than social life and personal life. I feel like I'm doing pretty well in those areas. Dating in this city is a subject that could fill an entire other blog and thankfully for you guys, I don't have the time to get into it but I will say that I've been lucky enough to make a lot of friends here in the past few months and haven't had much trouble getting dates. I still miss everyone in NC but you guys know that and I'll always be in touch.
By the way, I'm coming to Raleigh to visit with my parents post Christmas in February. Dates TBA.
For now, though, I think I shall go and veg out. I didn't sleep much this morning, only about 5 and a half hours, and I had been up for 22 yesterday. Tends to drain one's energy. I'll be blogging all my efforts with this piece and as soon as it's ready I'll try and post a bit of it. It'll hopefully get submitted to several competitions. So long for now.
I was about to post another blog a few days ago about how I can hardly believe that I'm still here. But I just decided that's not what I want to talk about tonight. I've said quite enough about that lately and though my thoughts on the matter feel new each time, I really think it's just an impulse that I have to define things every time I pass a milestone.
But what would New Year's Day be without a recounting of my accomplishments and some good old-fashioned resolutions?
My biggest and most obvious (obvious because it's one of the main subjects of this blog) accomplishment this year was moving here. The scope of that, from my perspective, evidently still hasn't hit me because I'm still blathering on about it. Second only to moving here was finding not one, not two, but three jobs and several freelance film gigs in the months that followed. I also made new friends easily, landed a full time job out of one of those freelance gigs, managed to pay rent, managed to score a few composing gigs, managed to start up a few pieces and revamp a few old ones, managed to keep my sanity despite the pressures of it all, and still managed to keep this blog up.
All of this writing in the past few weeks has really pepped me up and given me the feeling that if I just get going on a few things I could totally start the year with the kind of momentum I had back in 2007, three years ago. I wrote prolifically that semester in school and managed, at the end of it, to get my first paid commission. So, with that having been said, being a composer and being in the place where I have wanted to be for so long for the express purpose of putting energy into my career, it only seems appropriate, and it almost goes without saying, that my first resolution has to be to write prolifically again and maybe even surpass myself.
Beyond that, with the prospect of working overnight shifts, losing some sleep, being tired a lot and everything that comes with that, I think the next one would have to be the tried and true favorite of people seeking to better themselves: to work out more. But I'm going to approach this in a way I never have before. I'm actually going to join the YMCA, and take some yoga classes. I have a friend here who goes to classes and has agreed to take me to one or more of the places she goes to. The YMCA is something that will get me actually lifting weights and doing cardio on a regular basis instead of when the mood strikes. I have to first find out if my bum knee is really too bum to be jogging on before I consider any cardio routine but that shouldn't take long. I have a doctor's appointment next Wednesday and I think we'll go over the results from my MRI.
I don't think there's many other resolutions that I have other than career and general well being. I suppose those are the two biggest categories than anyone could lump their resolutions into, other than social life and personal life. I feel like I'm doing pretty well in those areas. Dating in this city is a subject that could fill an entire other blog and thankfully for you guys, I don't have the time to get into it but I will say that I've been lucky enough to make a lot of friends here in the past few months and haven't had much trouble getting dates. I still miss everyone in NC but you guys know that and I'll always be in touch.
By the way, I'm coming to Raleigh to visit with my parents post Christmas in February. Dates TBA.
For now, though, I think I shall go and veg out. I didn't sleep much this morning, only about 5 and a half hours, and I had been up for 22 yesterday. Tends to drain one's energy. I'll be blogging all my efforts with this piece and as soon as it's ready I'll try and post a bit of it. It'll hopefully get submitted to several competitions. So long for now.
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