Wherever you are in your musical journey, you need goals to keep you motivated and excited to play. I’ll share my list with you! I hope you take some time today to write down your goals, too! Share in the comments if you’d like, I’d love to see them!
- Professional trombone player in an orchestra- The ultimate goal! My whole life I have wanted to be a professional musician and I am always trying to pursue that path through auditions, practicing, freelancing, anything to further my craft and abilities. This is a huge dream and I cannot wait to accomplish it!
- Compose great music for middle school band students- I taught middle school band for a few years and the thing I hated most other than admin stuff was music with terrible percussion and low brass parts. I have a million thoughts on middle school band music in general, but I want to create fun and motivating pieces for young instrumental students.
- Make an album- I would love to create my own album to tell a story through my own voice. Something that I created from start to finish.
- Teach at a University– I love academia. Whether I become a tenured professor or just teach as an adjunct, I would love to continue teaching and researching.
- Play 9 instruments super well– I can play 3 to a professional level; trombone, euphonium, and trumpet. I would love to add piano, guitar, mandolin, ukulele, sitar, and violin. I feel like I would have a good grasp on what different instruments are capable of when writing music, and I would love to accompany myself and others.
- Write a book about music- Music is fascinating. I have a few books about music that I absolutely adore and I hope one day I can write a book that others will enjoy and learn from.
- Record a soundtrack- How AWESOME would it be to play on the soundtrack of a movie? I don’t care if I am a studio musician or a musician in an orchestra hired to play, I just want to be part of a movie!
- Learn to improvise- One of the skills that I absolutely struggle with is improvisation. I had an experience where I had a director completely embarrass me the first time I ever tried, and from then on I have just refused to try. I have always wanted to try, but I just keep putting it off. NOT ANYMORE
- Make a podcast- When I start writing my book, I hope to make a podcast detailing all the cool research I have done. Podcasts can be a great way to reach a wide audience.