"Wait, wasn't her blog called Musically Notable? What the hell is The Music Shark?"
Me. I am the music shark.
No, I haven't posted since June. My bad. Life has been...insane. A couple weeks after my last post, Brexit hit, and 2016 has been solidly downhill from there.
Brexit. Deaths. Another angry political campaign. More deaths. Stress. Lack of creativity. Electing a sentient tangerine to the oval office. Ennui. Despair. 2016, in short, is a flaming dumpster fire for many (most) creatives around the world. We're all tired, angry, and waiting for something that feels like hope to return from wherever it went on vacation to.
I've been hard at work on my other life over at GamerCrafting, selling hand-dyed yarns, designing patterns for magazines and the blog, and working my "day job" for a yarn company. I can't complain: my career in the craft world is rewarding and sometimes the only positive thing I can find.
I started this blog back in 2012, about four years ago when we were living in Canada. It started off as a cutesy music history blog with fun facts, silly posts, and weekly news recaps. We moved to Ireland, and I was posting at least four times a week (because I had nothing else to do, awaiting immigration). We moved to the UK, and I got a full time, hardcore job. The blog died down, the new craft blog started up, and things got crazy. When I posted, it was about social issues within the music community rather than cutesy music history posts. It was more about my struggles as a musician than it was about being informative.
I spent a long time contemplating the change, deciding whether to keep the blog here on this platform, host it somewhere else (which I still may do), or start all over with a new blog on my professional website.
Here's the truth: I've really fallen down on the music front. It bugs me that one facet of creativity is overshadowing my music self to such a huge extent. I get very existential about it, get depressed, vow to fit more music in, and then don't do it: rinse and repeat.
My relationship with classical music is a fraught one: it's nearly impossible to break through as a composer to a sustainable extent. I make about $75 a year selling my music on Sheet Music Plus, because here's the thing: no one wants to buy original music from a no-name composer. They buy arrangements from us folk. I've written a few arrangements for flute choir, but it's not where my passion lies.
I've been talking about getting more into the digital front for like, 10 years. No lie. I want to write music for games on a regular basis, which means getting my chops up and learning how to mix like a boss. I bought Reaper, a book on game audio design, and I'm slowly (verrrrrryyyyyy slowly) working my way through it. It's a process.
My vocal stage fright still looms: I can barely even record music without getting so nervous that I want to throw up. Thanks, university! I've always had nervousness, but since graduating it is NEXT LEVEL. I'm working on some projects quietly, but I need something to keep me accountable.
Hence the name change. My music-y Instagram is called @themusicshark, so is my Pinterest (not very musicy, mostly crafty), and so is my YouTube channel (currently empty).
I am the music shark, and this blog is now about my stumbles through learning where my place is in music.
Join me (she wrote, not creepily at all).
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