cutting my teeth
Tonight was great. LMS LA 2 went really well, though you could certainly tell that it was Friday the 13th since the power transformer for the entire school decided to explode before the concert started resulting in a outdoor, gas generator powered concert taking place.
I do have to give it up to the Dream Drumline. They literally have had the (finished) music for the closer for 1 week and they not only learned it, but they played the snot out of it tonight. Even though I am constantly berating them and letting them know that I am not happy with the way they are performing, I could not stop saying that the closer literally KICKED MY ASS tonight! I am very proud of them. And I am glad that I spent a lot of time on the closer because it came out as the grooviest, most jamming drum parts I have ever written. WOW!
Now on to the explanation of the title of this post….
I never thought about it before, but I am literally cutting my teeth with this corps. I have talked about this very notion with Alyssa before because, aside from the college degree in percussion, this is what I am doing with my life. Of course it will grow and morph as I figure out where the money is, but ultimately, I am going to be teaching marching percussion and writing as a career (I may be drunk or that may be the dumbest thing I have ever said). The wierd thing is, after almost 2 years with a DCA drumcorps, I am again at a crossroads (not just because I am going to be having a baby) and I must decide how my career is going to play out. A lot of times, I wish I had stuck with it during college and finished like Alyssa and got my degree because I feel in a lot of ways, carving out your own path is a lot harder than the work I was doing in college (please Alyssa, Crystal, Kim, Ricky, and everyone else don’t kick my ass for saying that!!!).
I must say that on paper it seems like an easy task…
1. Get job teaching small drumline
2. Make them good.
3. Get attention of other bigger drumlines
4. Move up in the ranks.
5. Diversify my “name” in the percussion community through writing and rake in the dough (the writing is where the real money is in this field).
But saying and doing is a whole different ball game. Not to say that I am not enjoying every second of it. I guess I am just afraid of doing what I have heard so many others do in this field…move up too fast. I think I keep myself grounded by constantly measuring my success against the successes of people who have been doing this for many years and who are in much more established programs than I am. Comparing yourself to the greats is an excellent way of destroying your self-esteem but in my case, it always makes me work harder and hopefully that rubs off on the people I work with…
Anyway, I am drunk, enough rambling, I got to wake up in 4 hours to go kick a bunch of drummers asses around the field. Damn I love my life.