I know it's been a while since I have posted, but lots of things have happened in the last few months. Here is a little taste of some of the things I am going through right now.
After devoting six years of my life to the study of music
and philosophy, achieving a Bachelors degree, philosophy minor, and Masters
degree in flute performance, and now attempting to enter the professional world
I have encountered many a raised eyebrow. Most people simply ask how I, a
semi-professional musician, expect to be able to repay my student loans. They
wonder why I would waste six years of my life on degrees that are unmarketable
except to very specific positions: orchestral musician, collegiate music
educator, freelancing musician, or private teacher. They argue that none of
these positions have job security, high pay rates, or the potential to support
me, my student loans, and on top of it all a car payment, insurance, rent, a
phone bill, and food. What a mess I have placed myself in, they exclaim.
And lately I can’t say I haven’t had moments where I agree
with them. Everyone suffers from moments of self-doubt, uncertainty, and to be
completely frank fear. As a classically trained musician who is questioning
whether that is the future she wants, I have definitely experienced many new
doubts and worries in the last few weeks. But through this turbulence I can
feel myself getting closer to my destination.
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I have recently started hiking and “climbing” at Vedauwoo,
an awesome rock formation near Laramie. I put climbing in quotes because I
haven’t been throwing on a harness and climbing up sheer rock faces, but I also
haven’t simply been walking around the awesome rocky outcrops. Instead I have
been hiking up them, climbing over and under massive boulders, and fighting to
reach the tops of the formations.
This is extremely rewarding both physically and mentally.
Knowing that I’m capable of pulling myself up and over a giant boulder,
climbing up a tiny crack and crevice, crawling under a huge rock, and
essentially just exploring and having a good time at 8000 feet above sea level
is a rewarding physical activity. But the mental rewards almost outweigh these
physical ones. In my time at Vedauwoo I have learned that sometimes to reach
the top you need to descend down the mountain, in order to get from point A to
point B you have to walk in a roundabout manner and land at point C first. I
have learned that you need to creatively assess the situation in front of you
and sometimes, often in fact, take what looks like the more difficult path in
order to reach the top. Sure the easy looking line might make it to the top,
but it often hits a dead end at a cliff or sheer rock face, so rather than take
that path, one might need to take the scary and impossible looking route
instead.
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I didn’t start climbing (yes we will call what I’m doing
climbing despite the linguistic complications of the word) with the intention
of finding some cliched sensation of inner peace, but this is exactly what I have found. I have realized
that, despite taking one path up until this point there is exactly nothing
holding me onto this path. I’m not saying music is a dead end, or a fatal drop
to the rocks below, but I have realized that I can stray from this path and
still make it to the final destination at the top.
My studies of music and philosophy have made me a complex
and unique person with many different marketable skill sets. My 8+ years in the
fields of customer service as a cashier at Fleet Farm, a cook, a server, and
ultimately a bartender have given me invaluable insights and life skills that
are essential for every field. All of the work I have devoted in the last
quarter of my life has brought me to an interesting new place and I can go many
places from here.
I have no regrets with what I have done with my life so far
and I am definitely not limiting myself in any way to this field. I will
continue to pursue music because I love it and maybe someday this will take me
somewhere extraordinary and unexpected. But I will also start to pursue my
passions in other fields: humanitarian efforts, cultural exchange and
discovery, and environmental concerns are all things that I have been
passionate about my whole life, so perhaps now is the time to tap into that
passion and try to find a career where I can have an impact on these elements
of the world.
Being a musician, a bartender, a teacher, and a student of
philosophy all have one main thing in common: the desire to alter the
experiences of others in a positive and impactful way. I have always wanted to
make others happy whether through my music, my service, or my educational
approach to students, and this desire is going to continue to mold my approach
to the world.
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So for now I’m going to make a list of what I have to offer
potential employers. This is a first draft and will continue to grow as I
reflect on my experiences so far, but it has been an intellectual exercise that
has helped me find peace with my current situation. I have been blessed to be
given the opportunities in life that I have and it is time to recognize what I
have to offer the world.
Here it is:
·
Minor in Philosophy
o critical
thinking and the ability to take complex texts and reduce them down to easily
understandable, less complex increments
o openness
to different ideas especially ones that conflict with my own, to analyze and
understand them in order to either agree or find specific elements with which
to disagree
§
creative and flexible mentality: able to suspend
my own beliefs for a period of time as I attempt to first understand the other
ideology and second to incorporate elements that I agree with into my own and
to have clear, explicit reasons for disagreeing with the other elements
o writing
and editing skills: the study of complex texts, unique philosophical
discourses, and other elements of philosophy such as the study of logic all
combine to give me a unique voice informed by many different styles
§
also the ability to edit comes from writing
dozens of large scale papers that need to be cohesive and clear while
simultaneously expounding upon often complex philosophical ideas
§
the ability to point out inconsistencies and
lack of clarity in my own papers is directly applicable to the editing and
revision of other texts
o the
drive to understand different cultures and the willingness to acknowledge that
my own perspectives and beliefs may be flawed
§
in our global world we are consistently
confronted with differing cultural beliefs and ideas and it is essential for us
to be able to not only understand and listen to others, but really make an
effort to understand their viewpoints and question our own
§
to avoid narcissistic and ignorant conceptions
of the world I think it is necessary to be able to question ourselves as well
as others
·
Major in Flute Performance
o Studying
music has many benefits in terms of creativity, teamwork, organization, time
management, cooperation, communication, and the ability to take a large complex
task and break it down into doable smaller increments
o The
self-discipline required to succeed in music, working for hours behind the
scenes for one brief moment of acknowledgement in a recital/concert situation,
is directly applicable to the type of work that one needs to do in different
facets of life
§
having the ability to see the future benefits of
the hard work your putting in now—often work isn’t instantly rewarding so one
needs to be able to look to the future where the hard work being put in now
will pay off
§
the individual self-discipline to hold yourself
to an extremely high standard in the music world has obvious applications to
ones work environment
·
the advanced musician can’t simply expect their
teacher and colleagues to hold them to a higher musical standard, instead she
needs to force herself to continue to work hard in order to obtain her goals.
o Teamwork
is essential for all facets of music performance, except for the occasional
solo instrument/voice piece
§
The construction of an orchestra or large
ensemble piece is really a unique and extraordinary social phenomenon: taking
dozens of individually talented and focused musicians and molding them all to
the pursuit of one specific interpretation and task, which many of them may not
agree with or have personally sought after, is an interesting social phenomenon
·
we are trained to have our own musical
interpretations, we all have different musical experiences and goals, and yet
when we are in an ensemble setting we are not only able but also willing to set
our personal inclinations aside for the work of the whole shows a level of
teamwork and emotional maturity that isn’t often awarded to such individually
focused people
·
this teamwork is also present on the small
ensemble (2-5 players) level and requires clarity of communication and
willingness to listen and understand the perspective of the other musicians
o Passion.
Musicians are extremely passionate about what they do and what they are
pursuing- this passion can be applied to many different facets of life, not
simply music, and makes a musician an excellent employee for organizations with
causes that the musician can resonate with and feel strongly about
§
this might also be why I, as a musician, am
loathe to enter a workplace that doesn’t have a mission that I believe in or
agree with. Working for a bank or something of that nature does not appeal to
me nearly as much as working for a humanitarian organization such as the UN or
UNESCO.
o Education!
As a student of music I have been effectively studying how to educate future
generations of musicians while also studying music as a student myself. Music
pedagogy courses, understanding creativity, and writing my Plan B paper for my
masters degree on education and the ways in which to teach young students of
flute have all enabled me to understand the complexities of music education
·
Working in customer service
o I
have spent the last 8 years of my life in the food service industry, thanks to
my wonderful family and the purchase of a resort and the construction of a bar
and restaurant. This means I have been in a semi-public eye for most of my life
and have had to represent the family business in front of customers and
strangers
o Working
as a cook, server, and bartender instills customer service skills of epic
proportions: one must do the best that one can do in order to keep the customer
happy and satisfied.
§
not only do we have to, but after so many years
in the industry, we want to. Seeing a customer satisfied, making sure that they
are happier when they leave than when they arrive, and doing your best to have
a positive impact on the lives of strangers are all personal characteristics
that are cultivated in the food service industry
o Multi-tasking!
One simply does not cut it as a server/bartender or as a cook without the
ability to multi-task.
§
A cook needs to understand how different foods
cook in different ways and balance out the timing, assembly, and presentation
of many different meals in order to have them reach the customer at the same
time and in a satisfying way
§
A server needs to be able to gauge each customer
and be able to anticipate who will need something at certain times. The
efficient server will make herself available when the customer needs her but
leave him alone when he doesn’t need anything. When balancing multiple
different tables at once this requires complex multi-tasking abilities:
understanding who exactly was given what at what time from each table and
making sure that each table has exactly what they needs is a complex process
§
A bartender often needs to balance all of these
things, making sure each customer has the drink they want, mixing it to their
specifications and to a high quality, being aware of all of the customers
present as well as the new ones that come in. There is nothing worse than a
bartender who is unaware of her surroundings and who doesn’t acknowledge you
when you are a new customer at the bar: effective bartenders are extremely
aware of their surroundings and capable of balancing the needs of everyone
present.
