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aberkok · 09-26-2005, 07:14 PM

Cool idea for a thread! I have two jobs and one career.

First job is working part-time (3 or 4 days a week) at the Royal Conservatory of Music bookstore. I sell scores and sheet music to the students and faculty there. It's open to the public so we get a lot of music afficionadi and wannabe American Idol contestants buying opera or pop-music song sheets. It's been good to me and has supported my living costs while at the same time taught me much important music trivia (important trivia?).

By night I am a jazz musician and even this has two sides to it. There's the side that will one day become all of what I am: composer, performer who plays what I want and hopefully can develop an interesting and vital body of work. I call this side the "artist." The other side is the guy that's slowly learning hundreds of the old standards, who plays in a quartet here, a trio there. This side of the musician (the "jobber") is how I make the rest of my living and over the last two years, this has grown to cover about %30 of my living costs. Hardly enough yet, but it's not like there's a shortage of professional piano players.

Right now I'm on leave from the bookstore and the "jobber" is dominating as I am doing a well-paying hotel gig in Hong Kong. In November I go back and the "artist" is going to start making his mark...

09-26-2005, 07:14 PM	#13 (permalink)
aberkok “Wrong is right.” Location: toronto	Cool idea for a thread! I have two jobs and one career. First job is working part-time (3 or 4 days a week) at the Royal Conservatory of Music bookstore. I sell scores and sheet music to the students and faculty there. It's open to the public so we get a lot of music afficionadi and wannabe American Idol contestants buying opera or pop-music song sheets. It's been good to me and has supported my living costs while at the same time taught me much important music trivia (important trivia?). By night I am a jazz musician and even this has two sides to it. There's the side that will one day become all of what I am: composer, performer who plays what I want and hopefully can develop an interesting and vital body of work. I call this side the "artist." The other side is the guy that's slowly learning hundreds of the old standards, who plays in a quartet here, a trio there. This side of the musician (the "jobber") is how I make the rest of my living and over the last two years, this has grown to cover about %30 of my living costs. Hardly enough yet, but it's not like there's a shortage of professional piano players. Right now I'm on leave from the bookstore and the "jobber" is dominating as I am doing a well-paying hotel gig in Hong Kong. In November I go back and the "artist" is going to start making his mark... __________________ !check out my new blog! http://arkanamusic.wordpress.com Warden Gentiles: "It? Perfectly innocent. But I can see how, if our roles were reversed, I might have you beaten with a pillowcase full of batteries."