I find myself in a new city\/state\/region for not the first time in my career.\u00a0 A family & career decision has landed me in Seattle, a place I had never considered moving to prior to this opportunity, but have already fallen in love with.\u00a0 The support not only for local professional music and arts organizations, but also for music and arts in the educational system here makes it an ideal place for me to dig into the two things I am best at and enjoy the most: performing and teaching.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have a methodical approach to finding work in new places, and it is slowly but surely beginning to bear results.\u00a0\u00a0 There is this swanky new website to help publicize myself; something that, if you know me, isn\u2019t exactly something I am terribly comfortable with. I have identified my audience and designed and implemented a corresponding marketing strategy, to reasonable success to date.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve delved into every musician\u2019s favorite pastime\u2014networking. If there is one thing that moving around has taught me, it\u2019s that despite the competitive nature of our profession, the musical community is a supportive one and most musicians are more the willing to help the \u2018new guy,\u2019 for which I\u2019m grateful.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, all of that is moot unless I adhere to what one of the true legends in my field once told me.\u00a0 Some years ago, during the course of my dissertation research, I spent a beautiful spring morning with George Roberts.\u00a0 He was very open with the story of his career, sharing anecdotes about how he had been in the right place, met the right people, was doing the right things, at the right time.\u00a0 It was astounding how one small decision, to switch from tenor to bass trombone, changed the entire trajectory of his career.\u00a0 His timing, on both the micro and macro level, was incredible in the truest sense of the word.\u00a0 That said, it doesn\u2019t really give those of us in the midst of the fray, attempting to make something of our careers, much to go on. As we were finishing up our visit, however, he also imparted these words of wisdom that, I believe, apply to all of us, wherever we may find ourselves:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Show up early,<\/p>\n
Shut your mouth,<\/p>\n
And play your ass off!<\/p>\n
Some sage advice from one of the true masters of what I aspire to do.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard this proverb said in other ways and from other distinguished people, but none of those held as much meaning or weight as to hear it directly from Mr. Bass Trombone himself. And so, as I find myself in a new place, with new colleagues, attempting to solidify my place in what is a seemingly endless music scene, when the phone rings and the gig is set the only bit of advice I really need to remind myself of in order to be successful: show up early, shut your mouth, and play your ass off!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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