lowquality.net

When I graduated from Berklee College of Music I moved back to Virginia because I didn’t know what else to do. I probably should have gone somewhere else, maybe New York or Los Angeles like every other Berklee grad does. I don’t know what I would have done there either, much less how I would afford it. I was in debt up to my elbows, burned out, jaded, and totally confused. Moving back here seemed like a good idea once I learned that I could teach bass at Alpha Music. Alpha was my old stomping ground so I was excited to be a part of, what I once believed to be, the best music store in Hampton Roads. That situation ultimately fell through because I realized there was no future for me at that place, as well as no interest from the management in the personal well being of the teachers. Upon this realization, I made a somewhat foolhardy decision and quit before I had anything else lined up. From that experience, I did learn that I love to teach music, particularly to kids. I now know I can, and always will, want to teach bass.

But, private instruction can be a hard business to maintain. When you live in a suburban sprawl like Hampton Roads its very difficult to promote yourself without the security of a music store. Also, a private teacher is a sole-proprietorship; when you take a day off, you don’t get paid. So no matter how much money it looks like you’re making, you’re really just affording the opportunity to pay for things like medical insurance, and vacation leave.

Sometimes teaching combined with freelance gigging can work out well, but the life of a freelance musician is not as glamorous as some may think. Not that I care about glamour, but at the professional level, musicians are required to pander to the masses. Not everyone gets to be a rock star. The typical working musician works in wedding bands, tribute acts, show bands, and very often “pandering to the masses” means “playing crappy music.” I am not immediately opposed to these kinds of gigs; I like the diversity GB bands display. Show bands can pay very well and be a lot of fun, so can restaurant gigs. However, in Virginia Beach, pandering to the masses means 10 year-old cover songs by the likes of Cracker, Bush, Dave Matthews and Sublime. In some places, expect to play “Sweet Home Alabama” or “Margaritaville” if you want to take your equipment home with you.

Rehearsal spaces are a premium in the Tidewater Area, so bands don’t really rehearse much around here. The result is playing bad songs with musicians who don’t really practice for a meager 50 bucks a night in a bad club. So, personally, working as a musician in Hampton Roads seemed about as rewarding as working retail. At least retail can sometimes offer decent benefits.

So I looked into retail.

Since my teens I have been covered with some weird pheromone that repels retail interviewers. I’ve had one real retail job in my life (KB Toys for the holiday season) and even they admitted it was because they were desperate. I don’t know what it is. Maybe they sense that I am too much of an individual or too intelligent to be a retail lackey (at least that’s what I repeat over and over again as I cry myself to sleep every night). Maybe they are worried my sarcasm will scare away the customers or perhaps they sense that I am likely to tell some old lady to piss off. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t seem to be getting better with age. So, retail is out.

Food service.

I’m not working around food. Forget it.

So that leaves one thing… computers.

It’s not my first choice, but if I can’t do music full time without scrounging pennies together to pay my bills, and generally being miserable, then computers it is. I love computers. I have had some meanial, IT related jobs and I have pretty much been a geek since we brought home our Tandy 1000 EX. The reason I didn’t consider this avenue sooner is that, in the IT industry, you are required to have some certifications to get your foot in the door and I just don’t have the formal education to get them. I briefly considered self-studying, but the certs are so expensive that it felt risky to do it on my own. So, I thought maybe I should just get a legit IT degree.

Both my dad and my friend, Joe, have degrees from a regional technical college called ECPI, and their experiences with the school have been highly praised. I know how much they each were making in their first jobs after graduation, and I am sure I could make at least as much. Entry-level network admin jobs in Virginia pay around 40k to 50k; naturally pay is much higher up north, out west, and even more when you are willing to travel. Some companies don’t even require you to live in the same state, and they will fly you wherever they need you. I know that I can live on 30k comfortably; whatever else I make can take a big chunk out of those debts. So I am currently making preparations to enroll in January in their IT / Networking & Security Management degree.

I admit that part of me feels like a sellout, but there is no freaking way I will ever get out from under this student loan debt doing music and music alone, not in Virginia, anyway. I can’t afford to move to a more substantial music scene, like New York, because I am over 100,000 dollars in debt. I wouldn’t even be able to make a month’s rent up there; all of my income would go into that black hole.

I don’t regret my time spent at Berklee, I got everything I should have out of it. It may be surprising to hear me say this, but I think it was worth every penny. Music is still my number one priority, though I plan to take an dilligent crack at IT. I am hoping the IT field will augment my music career. Having a job I can simply log on to would be a blessing. Did I mention that ECPI’s tuition for the whole three year A.A.S. program is 28k? That’s like a semester at Berklee. Yeah. You can laugh, it’s funny.