So, I know February is kind of late to the “New Years Goals” thing, but it’s my belief that we are allowed to make big goals for ourselves whenever we would like. 2019 was a tough year for me emotionally, physically, and especially musically. At this point, I would really like to start working towards balance again. To do that, I gave myself 5 goals for this year.

1. Attend at least 3 live concerts

It’s actually really sad, but I think I only saw one live concert last year. I was so burnt out that for my own mental health I decided to take a violin break. Without realizing it, that also put music as a whole near the bottom of my priority list. On top of that, it’s hard to make time to go see a concert, let alone find the money to pay for it (the outrageous prices of some concerts is a topic for another post). But, I’m ready to be inspired again! So this year, I’m going to hold myself to this. My boyfriend and I already have tickets to see The Planets on Leap Day played by the Battle Creek Symphony, where I have two friends playing that I’ll be able to meet up with. 

2. Triple the amount of Students I have

Last year, I started teaching at Allegro School of Music. I love working with kids, and getting back to teaching is one of the best decisions I made in 2019. My passion for music is renewed every time I see one of my students succeed, which has helped me with my depression and makes me want to keep playing. I want to dedicate more time to teaching because it makes me happy, so I will be working very hard to market myself and find more students to share my love of music with! My thoughts were to contact local schools and see if they keep a list of violin teachers on hand for their students, so I will be starting with that.

3. Complete Suzuki Unit 1 Training

This one is exciting! I have wanted to do Suzuki training for probably 5 years now, but the time was never right when I was in college. Especially now that I’m starting to get more students, I want to learn how to teach them better. I’m also a firm believer in constantly learning, and attending Suzuki training will of course help me do that. Now that I have taken the Every Child Can course, I will be able to attend Suzuki Book 1 training in June at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity and look forward to sharing my experiences, and I’m literally saving my pennies to make this happen!

4. Double the amount of performances I play

I took almost an entire year “off” of violin last year to focus on my mental health. I put “off” in quotations because I was still playing a gig here and there, but I probably played about 9 different performances last year, which is a huge drop from what I have done in the past. With renewed inspiration, I am ready to take on more weddings, services, and other gigs to get back into the swing of performing, but will pay attention to my needs when I’m booking events.

In order to meet my goal, I’ve been putting a huge effort into promoting myself. I’ve joined a few Facebook wedding groups local to my area, and I’ve contacted local venues to see if I could be put on their vendor list. I always thought it would be difficult to market myself, but it’s actually just a lot of work and it’s time consuming. The time consuming part can make it difficult to fit into my schedule, but the job itself is actually not too hard. Because of my efforts, I’m already halfway to my goal! And it’s only February! ♫

5. Say no when I’m starting to get overwhelmed and maintain balance

This is the most important one for me and I know it will be the hardest. One of my biggest struggles is setting boundaries for myself. In music school, they force so many things on you that you don’t even have enough time to sleep, and during my college years I developed some unhealthy habits. I often take on too much and then I get stressed, and it affects all aspects of my life. Balance is my top priority for this year and I want to maintain it, so I’m going to need to be proactive with my needs this year and try to be aware of my anxiety levels (which is difficult! …but possible.)

What are your music goals this year? I would love to hear from you!