I play music for a living.
I play it every day. I write tons of original music. I record most of it. I spend hours obsessing over minute chord progressions and lyrical decisions so that my work will be unique and different from that of any other artist. I spend too much money on the best gear so that my sound maintains its professional quality. Why? Because I play music for a living.
But it's not my job.
Music has never put a morsel of food on my plate, it's not on my résumé, and I never studied it in school. I practice, toil, and wring every bit of emotion out of every note of music I play and sing all for an audience of one amateur musician: me.
I've been in a band. I've gone on tour. I've played for crowds across the country and loved every single minute of it. So where am I now? Graduate school. What am I studying? Mass Communication. Why? Because I play music for a living.
Living this way has taught me one thing-- I'm not alone. This blog is for anyone like me who can't get any work done if an instrument is within eyesight or earshot. This blog is for anyone like me who hears a hit song and thinks "I could have written that." This blog is for anyone like me who would give anything to be a professional musician, except a lot of things, namely food. Like the title says, this blog is for anyone who's ever thought "I could do this for a living," but doesn't.
I play music for a living because I can't live without it. It's an unavoidable part of my chemical structure. I want this to be a gathering place for anyone who shares this blessed curse. Whether it's sharing music, trading ideas, or bashing the Auto Tune, I hope this blog can be an effective forum for any and every amateur musician who plays music because we don't have any other choice.
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