Turning music into a chore is how I became a musician (2022)

Turning music into a chore is how I became a musician

06 Jul, 2022

In the summer of 2020, I took a 3 months sabbatical in order to finish an album. The experience deeply transformed how I make music – I now know I can make as many albums as I want without even needing to take time off work.

Settling into the sabbatical

I had been making music since 2005, but never released anything besides a first album, a charming work of youthful innocence and ignorance.

Up until that first COVID summer of 2020, I had finished two dozen songs, some better some worse, none great. Making a song always felt like a special accomplishment: something that would only happen if the stars aligned, not something repeatable; certainly not repeatable enough to put together 10 cohesive songs for an album.

In the first two months of my sabbatical, I managed to put together a around 10 songs and improve my technique, by sheer virtue of having 10 hours a day to focus and watch tutorials.

Turning hobby into chore

The real change however was turning music making from a hit or miss hobby into a repeatable, boring, "professional" routine.

In September, 2 months in, I was not only trying to make as many songs as possible, under the nagging time pressure of my sabbatical slipping away like sand; I also started working with other musicians.

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