Developing many music industry talents

[Pat The Bassist]

So here's my story. I'm 23, and a recent music graduate. I find myself playing many roles in my work. By day I'm an AV tech and I'm currently budgeting and redesigning the hall acoustics where I work. I do studio engineering, live sound, and I play upright and electric in musicals. I work in every one of these fields fairly often.

I would like to get into a routine of studying up on each topic in my down time (basically time I'm not learning music/at a gig). Would this best be achieved by breaking it up day by day? Maybe make Monday the live sound study day, Tuesday the studio day, Wednesday upright bass etc...

Or, would it be better to dedicate a whole week or so to one topic and really crash course that into my head?

Any practice/research routines would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[pklima]

I don't know if you can make specific plans when your jobs, and probably working hours, are so unpredictable. You might have some downtime on a Wednesday but not be near your upright bass. But if there's stuff you can work on anywhere, like maybe ebooks you can carry wherever, you can always study that. Other things which are better studied when you need access to speakers, your upright or some other equipment, you can study when you have some downtime and it's nearby. If you need to read up on something specific for a specific job, prioritize that. So I'd make some study plans in a way that maximizes flexibility, and plan maybe a week or a week and a half ahead at most. But log time spent, so that if a whole week went by and you didn't do any studying on live sound at least you'll know you need to make some time for that.

 

[Pat The Bassist]

I don't know if you can make specific plans when your jobs, and probably working hours, are so unpredictable. You might have some downtime on a Wednesday but not be near your upright bass. But if there's stuff you can work on anywhere, like maybe ebooks you can carry wherever, you can always study that. Other things which are better studied when you need access to speakers, your upright or some other equipment, you can study when you have some downtime and it's nearby. If you need to read up on something specific for a specific job, prioritize that. So I'd make some study plans in a way that maximizes flexibility, and plan maybe a week or a week and a half ahead at most. But log time spent, so that if a whole week went by and you didn't do any studying on live sound at least you'll know you need to make some time for that.

Thanks so much. That really does make sense. I'm always afraid that I'll neglect one portion of my work, but you're right, things need prioritizing.