Rise...then Shine: Getting Started with Your Aspirations

Becoming what you want is better dreamed up in your mind than it is achieving. Ever since I started taking music serious in high school, I was asked the dreaded life question…”What do you want to major in college?” The answer was simple for me…Music!!! The sad thing is, everyone and I mean EVERYONE has the same thought. “What will you do with music? Teach?” Nothing wrong with teaching but that’s not every musicians dream job. Many of us aspire to be something else but teaching in a classroom gives us the “Stable Income Source“ that your caring family and friends want so much of from you. They don’t want to see you fail so as a safety measure, they require you to be put into a little cell so that you don’t step out an fall on your face. Well I’m here to say, go all the way for what you want. The best thing that you CAN do is fail. Failure hurts but the rise after the fall says so much more. Failure is where you gain experience. It is where you learn some of the best lessons. The only way to be found in life is if you are already lost. It’s no fun rising if you don’t have a closer look at what’s on the ground some times. Makes the stories more interesting to listen to as well from outsiders. No one can take you serious if you don’t have a scratch or a few bruises to show that you’ve been through the fight and the life you seek in your passion; the getting there isn’t all that pretty.

After telling people that I wanted to be a Musician, yes, everyone said choose something else. You get the same reaction as if I were Steve Urkel going out for the basketball team (for all the 90s kids; Family Matters fans). People didn’t want me to pursue music. They asked what else I had in mind? I said well I like to draw structures so I guess Architecture it is. Well I went to Hampton University, started out as a freshman in their 5 1/2 year program and hated it. Not because I didn’t like the program. Nothing was wrong with it. I hated the fact that I had no passion for it. I spent more time in the practice rooms in Armstrong Hall or more time hanging with my choir mates in Clarke Hall. I never got tired of music but I just didn’t have it for architecture. Fast forward to the end of the 1st semester of my sophomore year. I switched my major from architecture to music. My mom didn’t quite like the idea but I had to use her words on her for this one. Never find yourself stuck in a job that you do not like. In other words, its one thing to do a job because it puts food in your stomach and a roof over your head. It’s another thing to stay put in a job that you have no desire for and you know you wish to do something else. By all means, while you are at that job chipping away at your bills, make sure you are also focusing on the things that you need to do to be in the career you wish to be in. This is your rise.

For me, I went through the music department and it wasn’t until my junior year at Hampton that I realized I wanted to become a composer. I didn’t really have a strong performance background and I was a Performance Major…funny right? Hampton didn’t have a Masters Program in Composition like many schools of music or conservatories. I wished to pursue after my BA, a Masters in Music. I don’t have the resources to quite get me into grad school because I didn’t know at the time how to even craft a melody let alone harmonize one. It took a lot of time as well as patience. A part of the rise is being able to fight against the gravity when standing up. That means being real with what you have so far and knowing where you need to go. I knew that I lacked a lot of theory work as well as technical work on my own instrument. I started emptying my bank account each pay period getting books and they were all focused on what I want to do. I learned so much and because I read those books, I was able to practice and I can write full scores of whatever it is that I dream of. I am hoping that as you tour my site you will witness some of my arranged works as well as original compositions. I haven’t been able to shine just yet. This is just the Rise.

I hope that if you are reading this and you are looking to be something other than the everyday same ol’ same ol’, just know that you can do whatever you want. Appreciate the rise, keep looking forward to your future shine, but for right now, enjoy the view on your way up. You will not be disappointed.

Stay Faithful and Fearless