Percussion, Habits, and Home

In May of this year, I graduated from the doctoral program at the Frost School of Music. This completion of a doctorate has been a goal for over a decade (since I was an 18 year old percussionist at ECU). It feels good to see “Dr.” placed unironically in front of my name. It feels earned and it feels satisfying.

…but…now what?

I don’t mean professionally—I now have a wonderful job teaching percussion at Florida International University and continue to freelance in the South Florida area as I have for the past few years—but “now what?” from a creative standpoint. What am I doing with my summer (when FIU is out of session)?

The way I see it, at the time of writing this (according to Squarespace’s analytics), I have had a grand total of 5 unique visitors on my website (yes 5). My audience hasn’t been this small in a LONG time, as school artificially seems to create a bubble of an audience for you that pops upon graduation (professors who are paid to hear you perform and read what you write, and your peers who are required to attend to not fail their own studies). Don’t misunderstand however, I consider this new-found anonymity fresh and exciting.

What an ideal environment to experiment! No one expects anything of me at the moment and a lack of expectation leaves space for risk taking in ways that I never would have done in school.

Which brings me to this blog.

I am not a writer…presently. I have struggled with writing my entire academic career and would like to be better. I also am experiencing the largest change to my life since graduating high school and moving away to college back in 2010. No more school, no more easy access to practice rooms, no more private lessons (as a student anyway)—oh, and not to mention I got married a month ago and adopted a cat. So, what a great time to hit the reset button on some habits, routines, and approaches. No more driving to school to practice, I need to practice at home. No more private teachers to guide me, I am on my own.

This blog serves two purposes: (1) to give me practice as a writer in a non-formal format and (2) to discuss my “experiments” with my newly found freedom. I honestly suspect this blog will come into shape more as I write, but for now the first few posts will be about my journey exploring establishing new practice habits at home and what I find that works for me.

And so, time to throw some stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

- Dr. Colin R. Williams