In the past I've recorded video versions of these messages. This time, I'm doing something special and sharing an hour-long lesson geared towards young freelance musicians. In it I discuss my activities over these past two months, detail my techniques for creating music, and provide general advice for people interested in music freelancing. I also speak candidly about things I wish I'd done differently and lessons I've had to learn the hard way. The video is divided into sections for easy viewing. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/80HodshwQ4M

Winter Break and Covid

The second half of December and the first half of January was a frustrating dry spell. Work at Ballet Austin, Armstrong Community Music School, and Premier Music Academy all essentially stopped. This was according to the schedules laid out by each of these institutions, but I didn't plan appropriately for the resultant loss of work and income.

Covid rates spiked across the country from the second half of December onwards, which led to fewer gigs and performance opportunities. Unfortunately, I also got covid myself on January 1, which extended this time off even further. Although this "vacation" was nice in some ways, it was a blow to the wallet that I'm still struggling to recover from.

Looking back, this was a problem I should have anticipated. I even said last year that I was looking forward to things "slowing down" after a busy November. I need to handle this better next year. To cushion the blow, my plan is to 1) pick up a few more students overall to boost my income, 2) find a place to live with a lower rent to lower monthly bills, and 3) rearrange my schedule to travel less, saving on gas costs and car repairs.

Four Hands Christmas Concert

All that said, some good things still came out of this period. On Christmas Eve I did another four hands performance with Graham Yates, a local performer and composer I worked with last year.

We performed three of his arrangements. Two of them were duets featuring classic Christmas music, and the third was an arrangement of his original Christmas song "Holding On For Christmas". The performance was at the Wellspring United Methodist Church in Georgetown. You can listen and watch here: https://bentibbetts.net/yates_christmas.html

It's Not Gonna Kill You

Another thing that came from this last month was an original song, which I wrote and recorded as a hobby project, called "It's Not Gonna Kill You".

The inspiration for this song came from a Latin phrase: "memento mori", which translates to "remember that you will die" or "remember that you are mortal". The song highlights a couple anxiety-producing scenarios--meeting a cute person at a bar, speaking your mind in public, and even singing a song for people--and it reminds you that they aren't actually dangerous, but that on the other hand you only get one chance to live your life how you intend. You can listen to the song here: https://bentibbetts.net/not_gonna_kill_you.html

Timbral Music Studios

In January, I began renting a music office four days a week through Timbral Music Studios, a music school Graham has founded in Round Rock. I've been sharing the space with my friend Keith Allegretti. Keith composed Good Country, the opera I participated in recording and performing last year (https://bentibbetts.net/good_country.html).

Since getting the office space I've used it for rehearsals, lessons, and general music freelance work (including this mailing list). It's been an excellent investment, providing a healthy separation between work and home as well as a useful space for working with other musicians.

Timbral is expanding and looking for more instructors, so if you're interested in joining us please visit timbralmusic.studio for more information.

Trinity Church

Also in January I become a somewhat long-term substitute pianist at Trinity Church of Austin, and I've been playing there every Sunday--when they're open, that is. For a few Sundays, they've been doing remote services only. The silver lining of this is it's provided an opportunity to create new piano recordings.

Subscirbers to my website can also see "Synthesia" video recordings of some of these hymns.

The Muffin Man

Back in 2012 I did music for a short horror animation called The Muffin Man. It was a dark, gruesome cartoon about an old man who captures and eats children, thereby staying alive a little bit longer.

Last year Seth Johnson, the original creator of the short film, approached me again with the prospect of scoring a revamped Muffin Man. This time his aim was to develop an animated series. It looked great and I was excited to work on it again. Over the next month I wrote music for the trailer, which was just released. You can watch it at https://bentibbetts.net/muffinman2.html (mature/adult viewers only).