D Rusak
Jedi Council Member
Not sure if this belongs here as much as the swamp, but I've finally decided to move out of the town I've been living in to a new one 3,000 miles away. I've been talking with many of my mentors and colleagues and it seems like everything is coming together right for me right now to do this. But, there is a small bit of nervousness in my mind since the town I am moving to is none other than Los Angeles, which is possibly like moving into the belly of the beast, and a geologically unstable one at that. I live in a major east coast city in the US right now so I know what city life is like, though I'm sure LA will be much different.
Why I have decided to move:
The main reason is that based on my experience (and checking again and again with colleagues living both in my town and away from the scene) is that my working situation is not likely to change any time soon in the town I live in. I am a freelance musician primarily for a living and there are very few opportunities now, and the scene is shrinking. It seems I really have been trying as hard as I could (I always felt I was somehow not working or trying "hard enough"); now it seems, after getting some feedback from colleagues, that the opportunities simply aren't there. LA is a larger town as well so more things seem to be going on there in general.
I will be studying with two teachers who are major artists and plan on staying there until next summer to try things out. Then I hope to travel to Eastern Europe to really get into the music of several countries there, which is my main passion and something that not as many people are really doing on my instrument. Saying that the move is not for the rest of my life necessarily seems to help me be less nervous; and it's keeping the future "open".
I have met many people at this summer program I am at who are either in LA or who have good contacts in LA; I'll be going there with probably close to 100 people to contact about gigs, playing, teaching, other work. I don't know if I even have that many people where I live now. My teacher in particular is being really helpful about this and telling me who I should definitely meet and groups I should try to play in at his school, even though I am not an official student of his through the university. I've never had teachers who really tried to help me at all find success working as a musician so this also seems like a good sign.
I've also always wanted to move somewhere very far from home. I think I've been taking the idea of "it's not where you are, but who you are and what you see" in not the best direction- I kept thinking, a move isn't going to change everything, I needed to figure things out where I was. I think that hopefully I am at a point now that I can do this clearly, I feel pretty calm and rational about the decision, even if I'm also nervous/super excited at the same time. I think now is also as good of a time as any to try to chase a few life dreams such as living far from where I was born, to experience something different. With this in mind, another goal that came to mind was that I'd always wanted to live on a boat. I have found that while it can be super expensive, it's also possible to do this very cheaply, and I do happen to have the money available through the sale of some instruments I am not using anymore. The marina where I hope to live is a nice area not far from the university, with lots of places to find a job at (I have some leads already for a waitressing job just to start out at). Hopefully it won't be as smoggy as downtown on the water. I realized it's somewhat comforting to know if things got really wacky there, I could just take off in my boat for somewhere else. Not really sure how that would play out during an earthquake though....At least it's further south and away from the Gulf Coast....
Anyway, I know that I already have made the decision to go to this town (the move will not be until November), but it seemed like it would be a good idea at least to network and see what comments people had about making the best of this situation, which already seems an improvement over my life where it is.
Why I have decided to move:
The main reason is that based on my experience (and checking again and again with colleagues living both in my town and away from the scene) is that my working situation is not likely to change any time soon in the town I live in. I am a freelance musician primarily for a living and there are very few opportunities now, and the scene is shrinking. It seems I really have been trying as hard as I could (I always felt I was somehow not working or trying "hard enough"); now it seems, after getting some feedback from colleagues, that the opportunities simply aren't there. LA is a larger town as well so more things seem to be going on there in general.
I will be studying with two teachers who are major artists and plan on staying there until next summer to try things out. Then I hope to travel to Eastern Europe to really get into the music of several countries there, which is my main passion and something that not as many people are really doing on my instrument. Saying that the move is not for the rest of my life necessarily seems to help me be less nervous; and it's keeping the future "open".
I have met many people at this summer program I am at who are either in LA or who have good contacts in LA; I'll be going there with probably close to 100 people to contact about gigs, playing, teaching, other work. I don't know if I even have that many people where I live now. My teacher in particular is being really helpful about this and telling me who I should definitely meet and groups I should try to play in at his school, even though I am not an official student of his through the university. I've never had teachers who really tried to help me at all find success working as a musician so this also seems like a good sign.
I've also always wanted to move somewhere very far from home. I think I've been taking the idea of "it's not where you are, but who you are and what you see" in not the best direction- I kept thinking, a move isn't going to change everything, I needed to figure things out where I was. I think that hopefully I am at a point now that I can do this clearly, I feel pretty calm and rational about the decision, even if I'm also nervous/super excited at the same time. I think now is also as good of a time as any to try to chase a few life dreams such as living far from where I was born, to experience something different. With this in mind, another goal that came to mind was that I'd always wanted to live on a boat. I have found that while it can be super expensive, it's also possible to do this very cheaply, and I do happen to have the money available through the sale of some instruments I am not using anymore. The marina where I hope to live is a nice area not far from the university, with lots of places to find a job at (I have some leads already for a waitressing job just to start out at). Hopefully it won't be as smoggy as downtown on the water. I realized it's somewhat comforting to know if things got really wacky there, I could just take off in my boat for somewhere else. Not really sure how that would play out during an earthquake though....At least it's further south and away from the Gulf Coast....
Anyway, I know that I already have made the decision to go to this town (the move will not be until November), but it seemed like it would be a good idea at least to network and see what comments people had about making the best of this situation, which already seems an improvement over my life where it is.
