I’m not sure how interesting me constantly sharing my list of things to do is, though it really helps me to figure out what to prioritize and get me in the mood to work.
Rather than a simple rehash, I try to play with the framing and context or focus on emotions to make each post more interesting than just a simple to-do list.
Let me try and frame this one in a day-by-day of where my mind goes as an independent “musician” or artist.
Since I am balancing work work, I will combine 2 days in one because that’s what I’d likely be doing in one day if I was able to focus more on music.
On Sunday I spent 5 hours reading/watching tutorials on adobe illustrator and Reaper to fix various problems I had formatting a CD cover and tracks. No music at all but very important work for an independent artist, gotta get your work ready to share.
On Monday, still in full “CD printing mode”, I was unable to focus much on the music itself which is, at times, frustrating. I spent 2 hours in the morning doing final formatting tweaks to submit our live album to the CD printing company, and writing emails to them.
Still stuck in bureaucratic mode I forced myself to practice for our show next weekend after my classes, but only for 30 minutes because a friend was coming to practice some songs from Mali (he offered to teach me African style gutiar for free so I did yes and have been meeting him twice a month for that).
At night I practiced scales for an hour.
I finished work at 7 on Tuesday and got straight to practice. When I organize the show myself I feel comfortable taking it easy because atmosphere is most important. Atmosphere cares less about a flawless performance and more about the relationship between people which you can build in the moments before after and between the music. You can build it by who you invite and where you play and how you plan your set.
But when someone else organizes the show, the atmosphere (who comes, other bands, schedule) is largely out of our hands so for those shows I want to play at my absolute best.
I practiced for 3 hours, playing each song about 4-5 times each. I haven’t practiced only songs for that long maybe ever. I often play that long only if I’m jamming or recording. When practicing I maybe split it up into morning session and evening session or over two days. But I want to get back to recording and I need these songs to be solid.
I focused mostly on getting the intro’s and outro’s solid and remembering the lyrics.
Then at night I practiced lyrics for another hour.
That was probably more than I’ve ever got done starting at 7 PM. Asides from dinner I worked right up until 2 AM
After class on Wednesday I messaged a few people about shows and made a list of places I’d like to organize shows and when the ideal time frame would be.
I practiced each song again for 2 hours,finalized the playlist for next weeks show and tested myself with the lyrics.
That’s all I did on Wednesday. I had class at 5 and didn’t work on anything after that.
I spent 2 hours between classes watching and editing videos from our most recent acoustic show. I prepared 3 short videos for social media and YouTube and posted.
Here’s some of the results ! (Likes and subscribes appreciated 🌞🌞)
Space folk and Tacos
At night I practiced lyrics to a song we won’t play next time but it’s song 7 on our album of eight songs and aside from the final song which is incomplete it’s the only one I haven’t learned lyrics to yet.
I practiced scales for an hour.
Then I brainstormed ideas for interludes to make the transitions between songs more comfortable since the track list is basically decided but I have some concerns about transitions.
I made a schedule for completing the album. Record 3 songs this month to completion and release one as a single by next month. Record 3 songs next month. Then record the last 2 songs in August.
To complete the first 3 songs I basically need bass and backup vocals so I will try to complete those before our show in between practicing for the show.
Today (Friday) is a bass day. I’ll practice the songs for the show once (30 minutes) and then work out a baseline for the 2 out of 3 songs mostly recorded already.
Most bands split the instrument, and signed artists will hire backup musicians (often at a great cost to themselves because labels will trick you into paying for everything). I do it all myself.
I hope we can record bass and do a test run on backup vocals but our neighbors are home so recording isn’t ideal. I want to go check out a venue and talk about organizing a show together with a friend.
This weekend I want to set two shows for July, in two different parts of the city. I want to keep this momentum going so two shows a month is ideal.
We will also get 500 copies of the live cd by 7/1 so the sooner we play shows the sooner we can start selling them.
I hope to sell 25 in the first month which would help us cover 1/3 the cost of production.
So for my own reference:
June
July
August
Everything is a month behind my initial plans but we also have a live album to show for it which wasn’t part of the initial plan. We are actually 2-3 months ahead of the plan the considered the live album since I worked hard to complete that early so I’d have time to work on the studio version of the songs.
🌞🌞🌞🌞
