Monday, July 21, 2014

Updating the Resume

A true lesson in humilty: updating your resume(s).  

As a freelance pianist, it can be difficult to maintain a steady presence in any one area.  Many times*, one will take the jobs that are offered/found - and then adapt as needed.  Here are some examples: taking a church gig (without knowing how to play the organ), taking a theatre pit band job (never having dealt with keyboard patches/volume pedals/Mainstage), or accepting a piano teaching job (yet having little experience with an expected age group).  These are fairly typical events, and the good news is: over time, a freelance musician ends up building many different skill sets.  

On the other hand, a freelance musician can watch skill sets go completely unused.  That's what I realized after putting together an updated set of rep lists and CV info.  I have learned way more Musical Theatre repertoire over the last five years than Classical Voice rep - just because those were the jobs that fell in my lap.  Now I have the luxury (in many senses of the word) to ask - what do I want to do?  As I ponder this question, please enjoy (and critique if you like) my resume/rep lists as they tentatively stand. Keep in mind these are resumes, not CVs, so I prefer to keep them to one page. Getting a new headshot comes up next. God help me.  




*The situation of employment opportunities differ from pianist to pianist, from city to city, and can hinge on that frustratingly elusive element - luck.


1 comment:

Nick Starr said...

I like the two-column format for the rep list! Nice way to keep it from getting too unwieldy.