MY LIFE AS A SONGWRITER AND MUSICIAN
I have been writing, sharing and singing songs since the summer of my 14th to 15th year. But shortly after I started writing songs, I picked an oboe.. (I had been a clarinetist for 8 years prior.) My life became a bifurcated experiment between classical music (with an oboe) and “pop” music (I was writing). This continued long into my college years (as a music major) and into my 30s. I never stopped the duel lifestyle until I was in my mid-40s when I put the oboe aside and concentrated on songwriting.
The coffeehouses and living rooms
I’ve played a LOT of coffeehouses, churches, and small concerts over three decades. I prefer intimate settings to anything large. Perhaps it’s too many years of classical music and the large demarcation between the stage and the audience? But for one, smaller events are more casual; it’s easier to connect and actually HEAR the music. Second, there are less distractions, interlopers and rude people. It’s a win-win for everyone. (I like to think of it as “Salon” music.)
recording and stuff
I started recording songs in the mid-1980s with a self-published album I made with a friend-producer and a friend-studio owner. They helped greatly. Without them, it never would have happened. Ultimately, that album got lost to the technology of time.
In the early 1990s, my spouse (who became my producer) helped to get an EP created of about 5 songs. This was available on some sites (last I heard). I haven’t done a great job of keeping track of it. But I still have all the masters. 🙂
Into the 2000s, I started recording songs in earnest (after I’d quit the oboe, see below). My first long playing release — “Ain’t About Me” — came out in the late 2000s. This IS available for streaming on music platforms.
I spent another 5 years creating another release — Doin’ Fine. And then another — Alarms. And I’m working on another release now.
You can see all the releases on Bandcamp.
Oboe - my other job
As an oboist, I freelanced for nearly two decades around the Los Angeles area making money playing for lots of regional orchestras and events. I played live events, recorded events, chamber events, radio events. I was all over the Los Angeles basin — up to Santa Barbara and down to San Diego. I toured for around four years (off and on) with Yanni and his orchestra (as the oboist, of course). I could be making all of this up with an A.I. right now. But nah! Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
Eventually, I tired of the driving, the hand-to-mouth existence and the constant scrambling for jobs (a.k.a., gigs).. I wanted a real job. So, I became a systems, business and (ultimately) quality analyst.
Sometimes, I pull the oboe out of the closet and try ‘er out again. After about two weeks of it, I remember why I quit.
Reasons: REEDS, the back-pressure, my jaw, the archaic fingerings, the embrouchure (pain!) and the rib cage soreness that follows playing when I’m coming back to it. Oboe ain’t for sissies.