It is hard to grab a “typical" day, because days are all quite different for a musician. Or at least for me. But this particular Wednesday in December was a pretty good representation of the kinds of things I do in a given day.
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My alarm goes off at 6:15am, but my project meeting last night went really late, so I prioritize some extra sleep instead of extra practice this morning. Sometimes sleep is the best practice.
7:45-Awake and out of bed. I go up to our roof for a few minutes of yoga to wake myself up.
8am- I turn on the news to listen to while I get ready for the day and answer a few emails (gigs, students, projects, mom, etc ;)
8:20-I'm off to run a few errands, then meeting my duo partner for a breakfast meeting. (The orchestra season finished for the year last week, and University is over for the semester, so I don't have those this morning.)
9am-We start talking business, over eggs and jugo (juice). I think this is one of the best ways to conduct business—with delicious food. There is a lot to go over, and we plan out some of our main projects for 2016.
10:45am-We head over to Casa de Cultura for a dress rehearsal for our concert tonight. Things go well and I feel ready for the performance tonight.
1:00pm- Usually I would head home for lunch and siesta. It's a nice time to refocus and recharge. But today there wasn't enough time to head home with traffic and make it to my next commitment. So I grab a bite to eat out, and try to relax and take a few deep breaths at the restaurant.
2:20-Back out for coaching the youth orchestra. I work with the kids once a week, and really enjoy doing it. They are working on music for the last Christmas concert of their season, and are feeling quite festive today. During their break time of our coaching, they decorate a Christmas tree for the classroom, and we talk Star Wars.
5:30pm-I drive to the concert space. We set up, run through some things, and then I do my "pre-concert ritual". It's just a thing I do. Every musician has their own "thing".
7:30pm-It’s show time! Elda Nelly and I perform the set, and I feel good about it. I think we worked out any little kinks we had on Sunday, and today felt more comfortable and sure. I like this venue for its artistic and intimate feel.
8:45-That's a wrap. I greet people after the concert, which is one of my favorite things to do. I love to talk to people about music, and why we both enjoy it. One extra special moment was that the son of one of the composers we played was at the concert, and we were able to visit and talk with him about his father, and the music he wrote. After everyone left, we pack it all up, and head home.
9:30pm-I answer more emails and texts, which seem to be never ending. I try to keep on top of them throughout the day.
10pm-Time with my wife. We make a little snack, cuddle up, talk, and then watch part of a documentary before getting sleepy and heading to bed.
11pm-Sleep time! Getting some zzzzzs so I can start again tomorrow. My schedule and projects will be quite different tomorrow, which makes life fun and exciting.
Such is life for me right now. It surely will change eventually, as things always do in life, but for now that's a glance at a day in the life of this musician. I really like what I do, and feel like the luckiest guy to be making music such a daily and integral part of life.