90 Day Musician: Day 1

Morning guys!

This morning, I woke up bright and early at 6:30 am. Since I promised my 90 day plan, I thought I would at least give y'all an example of my first day of this plan, since a full 90-day plan seems a little extreme.

Currently, I am doing an online class with Berklee College of Music. The course is called The DIY Musician, and what's supposed to happen is that I learn how to better my lyrics, produce my music, and effectively promote myself! This class is everything that I'm looking for.

I'm a bit shaky right now, because I just posted a cover of a song by Paige called Waves. She's not a super well-known artist yet, but is very talented! I posted my cover on my real instagram. That is-- not my music-only account. Which means, everyone who follows me on instagram can see it. Of course, I did post it at 9:30 in the morning... on a Sunday... when no one's really on instagram... But for some reason, I still have this random voice in my head that constantly tells me I'm not good enough or my work isn't clean enough for people to enjoy it. I'll attach the video here :)

I guess I felt... well, i still feel like it's not really good enough to get people's attention. But it's a step in the right direction and I want to keep taking these steps to better myself and further my music abilities. Of course, it's super easy to get caught up in the game of instagram--trying to flex the numbers of likes and comments you get. I've never been one to care about likes and comments and stuff; unless, of course, I'm comparing myself to other people. Although, we all know that never ends well.

For music though, the number of likes and comments I get is more personal. Probably because music is who I am in my most vulnerable state, and while that's scary for people to judge the form of (what I believe to be) my truest self, it's also invigorating and freeing to let people see me for me.

Ew. That was cliché but it still reigns true.

I'm not really a tik tok person, or at least not one that enjoys posting videos on there. To be honest, I get intimidated by all the AMAZING singer-songwriters I see on there. It can be kind of disheartening to watch singers/writers get effortlessly noticed by thousands or even millions of people, while your own videos get about 100 views at most. Of course, any artist has to have tough skin and keep pushing, despite any setbacks.

Here's a layout of how my first day went:

6:30-10:30: Morning guitar and vocal warmups; Post cover of song on instagram; meditate (No self-doubting here!)

1 hour stretching break to clear head

11:30-1:30: Working on Berklee College of Music Course

At the moment, what I've learned from this Berklee College of Music course has been strictly lyric based, and knowing how songs are typically supposed to be formed and formatted. I've been writing my own songs since I was 9 years old, so at this point, lyric writing isn't my biggest concern. Therefore, it was difficult to get myself to read the books they suggest for the course.

There are 3 books for the first section of the course: Writing Better Lyrics, Pat Pattison's Songwriting: Essential Guide to Rhyming, and Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure. All these books are written by a professor of Berklee College of Music, Pat Pattison. Knowing his skill and ability to teach artists like John Mayer and Charlie Puth, it's my dream to learn from him. So while I typically would skip the reading part of most classes I've taken. Although, for this class, reading seems very much worth it.

Obviously, I can't devote every hour of my day to music just yet, since I'm still trying to make money and have other commitments, but I'm going to try and devote at least 3-4 hours of my day, everyday, to music.

See y'all tmr ;)