Midsummer musings

Welp, I got a liiiitle behind and didn't have time to post last month, but I want to take a moment for an update! I have always loved June in North Carolina, and despite not getting quite as much downtime as I perhaps should have taken (my wife and I have been fantasizing about being able to spend a few weeks on a secluded beach doing as little as possible...soon!!), last month certainly did not disappoint! Once we got past all that rain, I got to enjoy tons of sunshine while working from home, and had some pretty awesome musical moments that I would love to share; if you want to hear about them, please do read on! Creative Music Performance (CMP) was the main focus of my time last month, and I must say that I’m pretty proud of this year’s session! The student band, She’s Not Here, was comprised of students from last summer’s second session, so the format of the camp was a little different; we were able to dig into certain topics a bit more, and these kids really blew me away with their talent and professionalism! You can check out their self-titled EP, which was all done in roughly 20 hours over a few days (🤯...thankfully, that's more time than last year's sessions, at least), on Bandcamp. Please also be sure to follow their other band, Alive at 27, to catch the latest from these incredibly talented young rockers! We were able to raise $242 for TABLE from the release show at The Station, which is SO helpful during these summer months—thanks to everyone who came out in support, and to Heat Preacher & AZULZ for helping make the show such a success! I'm also thrilled to share the news that there will be more from CMP year-round, starting with a workshop series this fall! Please check back (and be sure to like the CMP Facebook page!) to hear the announcements for new events over the next few months and beyond; I can promise that there will be really, really awesome things coming to fruition very soon!! If you are interested in learning more about a particular topic (eg marketing for DIY musicians, using a synthesizer, setting up a home recording studio) or are interest in sharing your wisdom as part of the new workshop series, please do get in touch! Additionally, CMP may bring counselors on board for future sessions. If you might be interested in working together as a part of CMP, please drop me a line so that we can talk further! On top of really enjoying the CMP session, running the camp for the second year while working on everything else for the business also helped me gain a bit of perspective on what I’m able to do…versus all the things that I want to do, and feel that I need to do! 😬 With that in mind, I’m retooling a few aspects of my business to allow for a better work-life balance. To start, I’ve stepped back from my professional social media presence to help create a bit more free mental space, and more time for life in general…you can head over to my Instagram page to get the lowdown on that move; I’d also love to hear your thoughts on how maintaining a social media presence affects your personal life, whether you are a music professional or not! I’m also working on automating as many processes as possible in the hopes of taking more of my “work” time for creative endeavors, which is why I’m doing this in the first place…right? I’m thrilled to be making a living sole from music, and now I’m hoping to shift more of that income toward the songwriting and production arenas, which come a bit more naturally to me than the more left-brain, entrepreneurial aspects of running a business. Are you a professional musician looking to make a similar move, or just aiming for a better balance of time & energy between aspects of work and personal life? I’d love to hear your thoughts, goals, and strategies!! In support of this shift, one of my goals has been to work through some of the creative backlog that has piled up while working on making a decent living. I mentioned in the last post that I aimed to get roughly 6 demos done over the Memorial Day break…did that happen? Well, no…BUT over the 4th of July holiday I did finally finish the arrangement for Carrboro Rag, which is an instrumental song that I started waaaay back in 2015! I may even post a recording of it up here, so please check back next month for that and more!! There are some REALLY, REALLY exciting things on the horizon, and I can’t wait to share them with you; and, with luck, by the time I do, I’ll be living a life that is not so busy…because what’s the point in working towards your goals if you never get time to savor your successes, let alone the moment-to-moment joy of being alive ? 🤔