Mmmm...Huesos...

Spanglish pun explanation: "huesos" in Spanish means bones. It also is the word for "gig." Therefore, the title is funny.

Some people have a taste for the freelancing lifestyle, others do not. I'm certain it's related to age, family, financial situation, etc. but I think it may also be an innate personal quality. I think I have it.

I like variety; I like having a different schedule every day; I like being busy; I like being organized and efficient with my time; I like thinking on my feet, switching gears quickly, seeing lots of different people in one day; I like being tired when I finally get to go to bed.

Before I moved here my days often looked like this.

5:30 am: get up, walk to the coffee shop to open at 6 am.
11:30 am: finish at the cafe, go to Little Big Band rehearsal at UW.
2:00 pm: grab lunch, drive to first private lesson
3:00 pm: squeeze in rehearsal with accompanist
4:30 pm: go to teach second private lesson
5:30 pm: head to Dubuque for rehearsal-make some phone calls on the way
10:00 pm: leave Dubuque, listening to recordings of pieces for next week on the drive home
11:30 pm: arrive home and catch up on email, send off some resumes
12:30 am: crash into bed to do it again the next day!

Yep, sometimes I got really tired. But in general, I found I had a lot of energy because I really liked everything I was doing. When you are excited about everything ahead of you on any given day, it's easy to find the energy, which is one of the main reasons I'm so committed to being a musician.

Now, I'm not saying I don't like having time to cook complicated things if I so choose, ample time to watch The West Wing and have a beer or four with my friends, or time to actually maintain a blog. But I miss the pace of having more than one activity you do both because you enjoy it and to earn money. I think that's part of the reason I took a job teaching English right when I got here.

Fortunately, things are picking up, little by very little. I've had one gig since I've moved here (a fluke: special request for brass quartet at a wedding) but in the past week I've gotten two more. Hopefully these things do grow exponentially rather than...wait, what's the other one?

So, next Monday looks a bit like my old life, and I kinda like it.

10:30 am: press conference for chamber music concerts
12:00 pm: read through woodwind quintet arrangements for orchestration class at ESAY (music conservatory)
3:30 pm: brass quintet dress rehearsal
7:00 pm: english class
8:00 pm: string orchestra rehearsal-playing extra for some violin concerto

That doesn't even include my actually salaried job- we have that day off. (12 pm and 8 pm are gigs #2 and 3, in case you couldn't tell)

Other things possibly in the works...Mozart Horn Concerto No. 3 with the aforementioned string orchestra, Konzertstuck with the symphony, another horn quartet concert, another brass quintet recital (???) , a recital, soloing with my old high school Wind Ensemble...

I like scheming, I like planning, I like organizing, I like hurrying, I like doing.
Lucky for me, it's all necessary for what I want to do.