About this blog:

My name is Barry, and I am a junior at the University of Redlands, studying Music Composition. Fall semester of 2011, I will be studying at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the Netherlands. This is the story of my adventure...

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tuesday, September 27th. Day 31

For some awful reason, my body decided that it needed to be awake at 7am, which is highly unusual for me. The good part of that was that I was able to practice without anyone else around. And yes, that does make a difference to me. I dont like to practice when other people are around, even in other room. Yes I know I'm weird...

In Dok we heard from a musician turned fund-manager that spoke on how to get paid in the Netherlands. A very important topic indeed, and one that is all too often ignored. The just of the conversation (from the point of view of someone that does not intend to live in the Netherlands nor be a self-sufficient professional musician) was that the traditional means of getting piad in the Netherlands (government subsidies and funds supported by these subsidies) are becoming increasingly hard to come by, and fewer entry level orchestras, projects, and studios will be open at all. Therefore, the young musician has to work extra hard on the business side to compete for fewer and fewer opportunities on the musical side. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, considering my current crisis, but it was what I needed to hear: my financial fears are not founded on myth.

After class I went to the ABC (the American Book Center). This place is amazing! It has like 4 floors, and has such a cool feel. It also helps that I found two really awesome books for stupid cheep (Innovation Nation by John Kao, and What Should I Do with My Life by Po Bronson). Even though I spent a lot of money (on cheap books, yes), I cant wait to go back!

I also had my second drum set lesson today. While I was not incredibly pleased with my performance, my teacher was excited to get into the niddy gritty with me and we made some real progress. On top of it all, he said I was a good student! HA! Fooled HIM! But seriously, I dont know if anyone has ever said that before, or at least in that manner. Despite all of this, I was still more excited to get out of there and check my holdings than I was to even listen to music. Think I know what needs to happen...

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