As a working musician, I am fascinated by the many ways one can make a living in music. I used to think you had to win American Idol or be “discovered” in order to make it. But ‘making it’ can take thousands of different forms, and I like talking about that. I’m hoping to interview some of my smart and cool friends in the near future and get their thoughts on how they make it, but I thought I’d start by sharing what my version of making it looks like. I’ll use this month (May of 2024) as an example!

Teaching (Weekly)

I honestly do not generally enjoy teaching, but I have a few people I’ve been working with for a few years who understand what I have to offer and it’s a great fit. So on Fridays, I teach. This makes up a very small portion of my income, but it’s consistent and I enjoy the folks I work with. For most working musicians I know, teaching is a very common way to supplement income.

Church gig (Weekly services and rehearsals)

I’m fortunate to be part of the music team at Vine Street Christian Church. I sing with the choir, help lead hymns as part of a quartet, and occasionally provide ‘special music’ during the offering. Vine Street is our church home and it’s a joy to be part of this community. Church also makes up a very small portion of my income, but it means I can write off the mileage on choir Sundays! We also have rehearsals on most Tuesday nights, but this month was a bit atypical with the schedule. Again, church gigs are a very common way for musicians to supplement income—especially in Nashville!

Recording (May 6th)

May was special because I had the opportunity to record in-studio with some of my favorite musicians. Ever since the pandemic started in 2020, all the recording I’ve done has been remote—as in, I record my parts from home and then send it to a pianist or a bassist, etc. and piece things together from there. I’ve released several songs I’m proud of in this manner, but it often takes months to finish a single recording.

So I decided to try something different—I booked a pianist (Kelli Cox) and a bassist (Katie Blomarz) for a day at Chris Leidhecker’s studio. It was more expensive up front (paying for a full day for piano, bass, and engineer), but ultimately an incredible value as we were able to knock out 5 songs with vocals and 1 without (I will record vocals for that one on my own later). I also lucked into receiving some birthday money at the end of April, specifically earmarked for music. I used that money to hire a fantastic drummer (Luke Woodle) for a half day, and he added an incredible amount to the session.

I was feeling well and my voice was strong on the day of the session, so I ended up recording live vocals on 5 of the songs. When you’re all in the same room, there’s mic bleed (ie the microphones used to record the drums pick up a little bit of the piano and vocals, and vice versa) that prohibits you from doing much editing after the fact. It means you have to accept what you get instead of counting on re-recording things later. I have never recorded vocals in this way, but I’m surprisingly delighted by how it turned out! While there are imperfections in my vocal tracks, I think there’s enough good in the recordings for listeners to enjoy it. AND it means I don’t have the mental load of recording from home and trying to get the perfect take.

Now that the songs are recorded, I’ve sent them to a mix engineer, and he’ll send them to be mastered, and then I can start planning my releases.

Jazz in the Park (Monday afternoons)

For the first time in my life, I have a regular gig, and it’s an incredible opportunity. On Monday afternoons, I join Nate Felty and Alec Newnam (usually, though when they’re touring they bring in subs) for “Jazz in the Park” at Church Street Park in downtown Nashville. It’s a one-hour set, which is pretty incredible since most jazz gigs are close to 3 hours. Playing with other musicians means more and different growth than just playing by myself, but the fact that it’s one hour means it’s never overly tiring or stressful. Not to mention that I meet interesting people there all the time and get an opportunity to advertise for upcoming performances! The only downside is that it’s an outdoor performance, which means we sometimes get canceled due to weather, and in the summer it will a very sweaty situation. Still an incredible opportunity and a highlight of my week!

Wedding reception (May 11th)

On May 11th, I had the honor of providing dinner music for an incredible wedding at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. I got to hire some of my favorite musicians to play jazz standards in an elegant, elaborately decorated (albeit sometimes warm) tent on the grounds. We did my usual tunes, so there wasn’t a ton of preparation involved in putting together new music or song requests, but between parking, unloading, re-parking, setting up, playing, tearing down, and loading out, it ended up being about a 6 hour commitment for about 90 minutes of playing.

Quaver

One of my favorite things to work on is music for Quaver, an educational company that uses music to teach a variety of topics. Over the years, I’ve been able to write, record, produce, and edit music for Quaver as a freelancer. This time, I was just doing edits to a song I had recorded vocals for previously. I once considered asking for a full-time job at Quaver a few years ago, but ended up feeling that the freelance relationship was just right for me, and it has ended up working really well for our family as we welcomed our son 2 years ago.

Nicole Zuraitis show at Rudy’s

This wasn’t an earning opportunity, but I decided to include it because 1) it was an amazing experience, and 2) it is an important part of my work life. On May 13th, I went to Rudy’s Jazz Room (a wonderful local jazz club that you must visit if you’re ever in town) to see Grammy-winning vocalist, pianist, composer, and arranger Nicole Zuraitis. I could go on and on about the show, but I’ll just say: I’ve never been so quick to give a standing ovation at Rudy’s. It was an incredibly inspiring performance. Attending live performances is part of my job because it spurs me on to create more and better and with more courage. This particular performance was also important to me because I want world class performers, especially women, to have a great experience when they tour in Nashville and feel motivated to come back. Connecting with artists like Nicole is part of investing in the health of Nashville’s jazz community.

ISJAC (May 15th and 16th)

The International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers held their bi-annual symposium at Vanderbilt University in Nashville this year. I was invited to sing with Music City Big Band as part of a Kenny Wheeler clinic. We rehearsed on May 15th at the Musician’s Union, and performed for the clinic at Vanderbilt on the 16th. I’ll write lots more about this, because it was both a huge success and a huge failure for me personally, but it was honor to be given the chance to sing for such an incredible audience of professional composers, arrangers, and performers.

Music City Without Borders at City Winery (May 16th, May 18th)

After the performance for ISJAC on the 16th, I headed over to Diamond Sound Studios to rehearse for “Music City Without Borders”, a fundraiser show that my friends James Richardson and Kristian Dambrino put together. Throughout the process, I was blown away by James and Kristian’s efforts. James managed most of the musical organization, arranging songs and communicating with the band. Kristian managed most of the fundraising efforts and show logistics, raising $15,000 for NICE (Nashville International Center for Empowerment), an organization that assists refugees resettling in Middle Tennessee.

I sang background vocals (BGVs), along with Therry Thomas and Bridget Moses. Therry and Bridget are incredible vocalists, and it was an honor to sing with them on James’ gorgeous arrangements. The band was absolutely stacked, with some of Nashville’s very best instrumentalists playing.

In the end, I made one big mistake during that show that has sort of haunted me ever since, but all I can do is make note of it, try to figure out why I made the mistake, and do better next time.

Parenting so Quentin can work

An essential part of my household ‘making it’ is being the on-duty parent when my husband is working! We knew, when we decided to have our son, that daycare wasn’t going to be the best fit for our family for a number of reasons, so we decided to juggle work and childcare ourselves.

Before our son was born, we could both say yes to as many work opportunities as we wanted with minimal consequences. Now that we have our precious boy, we have to be more thoughtful with our scheduling. My husband and I are both so fortunate to do work that feeds our souls, so we make a concerted effort to say yes to as much as we can handle. While I don’t get musical fulfillment from being the on-duty parent, I do get the joy of spending time with my son and supporting my best friend in his musical pursuits, and he does the same for me.

Self-directed work

Between all these random gigs and assignments, I have what I think of as ‘self-directed work’. It’s the stuff no one is making me do, but it advances my career. This includes things like making arrangements to sell on my website, recording my own originals and arrangements, learning new songs to work into my performances, practicing improvisation, sending booking emails, writing new music, posting on social media when appropriate, learning new skills online (like watching YouTube videos for how to use my recording software more efficiently), and listening to new music as inspiration for my songwriting assignments. All of these things come at the bottom of my priority list because there’s no deadline and no promised income, but they’re essential elements of my career.

Now, the month isn’t quite over yet, so more random assignments or gigs could pop up. But this is a pretty good snapshot of what work life looks like for me right now! In the coming weeks, I’ll be asking some of my friends to share what ‘making it’ looks like for them, in the hopes that others might be inspired or informed on how to pursue their dreams in similar ways. For now, I’m off to practice!