Composition Plus Diversifying

AS the old man on here, I love bring up conversations to help people in their jobs.

What is your secondary and tertiary skill in music?  If it's not in music, what is it?

Me, I am a conductor in jazz and classical as a well as a low brass performer .

For me, I write music because I play music. Being a jazz instrumentalist, and having original music to perform are (to me) one and the same.

My other skills in graphic design and web-development have bled into a full-time day job. These were borne out of my musical endeavours out of necessity - what independent jazz musician has the resources to hire someone to design gig posters, album covers and build websites! 

More important, perhaps, would be proper business & marketing skills. I've picked up a lot along the way, but do wish I had a better understanding of that side of things.

Many of us have branched into software development, not only because of necessity but because the skill sets for I.T. are similar to music composition. We take something nebulous, which at the outset seems impossibly large and complex, and we break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks. I have heard anacdotally that some employers will hire ONLY musicians as programmers!

My secondary skills are in music theory and music history and teaching those subjects. A tertiary skill would be singing and conducting choir. I plan on getting my teaching certification as a back up plan. 

Robin, I love the music you post by the way!

Robin, I love the music you post by the way!

Thanks! ... can't say I've posted anything in YEARS, but I appreciate you mentioning it ;)  

I started playing music at 10, in rock bands, by 14...  Unlike almost everyone here.. I was brought up on rock and english  pop...   I split my teen and 20's between doing art, writing poetry, writing songs, and play rock'nroll..

I made a living doing photography for a while. Taught myself, Photoshop, Quark, Illustrator, and did CD cover art for a while..  Art and photography came easy for me. But by my mid 20's I focused much more on music.. Much harder for me, but there is no greater thrill for me, to hear one of my compositions coming thru a great pair of speakers..  

I started playing organ in church, then  joined a rock band in high school.. I studied Hammond Organ and learned from 30's - 60's Fake books..  Then a tremendous amount of self taught, and working in recording studios.  I quit bands at 30 just to work in recording studios.  I got heavily involved in analog modular synths, and thru the years worked for several hardware synth companies, and then at music software companies, as a demonstrator, de-bugger.

I was the most musician, the code writers were more engineers..  I took several  online courses at Berklee.. So I spend a significant amount of my life, making a living as a musician..  For the last 10 years, now I only write for myself.. It's experimentation, and fun.. Although I've worked and made records,  a lot of it was me working for someone else..  Now at 67, it's 'me' time..  Got too frazzled over deadlines,, too many producers, and people wanting to be in charge.. 

My secondary skills are in music theory and music history and teaching those subjects. A tertiary skill would be singing and conducting choir. I plan on getting my teaching certification as a back up plan. 

ok, I also agree with your reviews