About Me

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Atlanta, GA, United States
When I suffered a lip injury that ended my career as a classical trombonist, I thought my life as a musician was finished, but I fell in love with music all over again when Santa gave me a guitar for Christmas in 2003. Even as I was struggling with my first chords, I was planning a new performance career. As a trombonist, I performed with the Heritage of America Band at Langley Air Force Base, the Ohio Light Opera, and in pick-up bands for touring acts that included Rosemary Clooney, George Burns, and the Manhattan Transfer. Reborn as a jazz guitarist, I sing and play my own solo arrangements of jazz classics, am half of the Godfrey and Guy duo, and hold the guitar chair in the Sentimental Journey Orchestra. I have been a freelance music copyist since 1995, served as Director of Music at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation from 2011 to 2017, and currently serve as Contemporary Band Director at the same congregation.

Monday, December 31, 2012

2013 Goals

Every year, I review the previous year's goals and set new ones. I usually come up with quite a list, but I'm narrowing it down this year. Here are my goals for 2013.

  1. Land higher quality gigs. For the first time since picking up the guitar, I've been satisfied with the frequency of my gigs. In 2013, I'd like to have about the same (or slightly more) gigs, but with a higher percentage of good paying jobs. Nearly all of my gigs are for pay now. Many of them are restaurant gigs that pay okay, but not great. I'm certainly not complaining about the restaurant gigs. It's nice to have steady work. I would just like to find more corporate gigs in the next year.
  2. Recruit a roster full of students. I have a handful of students now. I've been teaching from home, but now I'm signed on to teach at Tessitura. I'm the first and only guitar teacher at Tessitura, so I'm in a good position to pick up new students with no in-house competition. Twenty students sounds about right. I enjoy teaching, and twenty students would help provide steady income while still leaving enough time for practicing, gigs, and my church job.
  3. Increase my hours at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation from 10 to 15. Currently, my duties are to run the choir, to provide music once a month myself, to coordinate music for Sunday services in general. Based on conversations I've had with congregants, there seems to be increasing interest in forming a children's choir. Having the extra hours would allow me time to do so. I'll need to convince the board and the congregation that this is a good idea.
  4. Find a guitar teacher. I'm happy with the progress I made as a guitarist in 2012, especially in the area of improvisation and general technique. As usual, there are a lot of things I want to improve, but trying to get better at everything at once can make you feel scattered and overwhelmed. Working with a teacher again will help me refocus. This year, I'd like to find a guitar teacher to 1) help me develop more comping ideas, 2) help me develop more improvisation ideas, and 3) kick my butt in the area of repertoire, especially memorization.
Things went pretty well in the second half of 2012. I just want to keep doing more of the same in 2013, but with my sights set a little higher.
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1 comment:

  1. Greg LJanuary 1, 2013 at 10:09 AM

    Good luck in reaching your goals. They are all within your reach. Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete

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