Getting Old and Work - 4

Continuing our discussion of getting old and work, we come to composing.

Remember what we're considering here: Those who have finished (retired from?) their regular paying jobs and returning to what we labeled a "first love." Last time that first love was writing. This time, it will be composing.

To be sure, let's acknowledge that such post-paying-job work doesn't have to be a return to a first love. Some pick up writing, composing, other endeavors after exiting the work-for-pay world. Some create a kind of "job" doing charitable works - throwing themselves into activities pursued for one or more charitable organizations - not just dabbling, but putting in a full schedule of actual work. But here we focus on this next "first love" of composing music.

And it's one close to my heart. Music was my first choice for my life's work when I graduated from college. I had performed in bands through my high school. I continued to play my instrument (guitar) through college and beyond. For now, we'll preclude getting tied up in the details of an ultimately failed attempt to make a good living at music. In the end, I had agreed to find a full-time job in some non-music area when we had our first child. And thus ensued decades of trying to earn a living to support a family.

I think I was in the vanguard of those who wound up working at a number of what we today call "careers," rather than work for one company or in one industry my whole life. (Back then there were no careers - just jobs.) Again, a story, perhaps, for another time.

So as age began to weigh in, the recollection of that first love began to manifest itself in concrete acts. First, after almost 20 years, resurrected my guitar from a long sleep. And why bother unless you're going to devout real time to revive those chops. It became a little side job.

Playing was one thing. But the real joy of my music was composition. In that first bout of trying to "make it" in music, I wrote songs, made demos of them, etc. I knew I could write back then. And naturally, began to wonder if I still could. And if I could, why not resurrect writing songs?

Now, playing is one thing; composing quite another. My style of writing back in the day was a disciplined process of sitting at a keyboard and plunking our melodies, along with lyrics. To do that, I devoted every morning to just that. But how to manage this when I had a full time job?

It took some years, but eventually I wound up leaving corporate world and starting my own little business. And the business took all my time an energy for quite a few years - 15 to be exact. But eventually the time came when I thought I could take a stab at composing again.

Over those 15 years I had developed ways of running my business that allowed me to do a lot more in a lot less time. Indeed, I've shared many of these ideas in blog posts over the years. There's nothing unique about them. But I managed to sift through various ideas until I found those that suited my business, my skills and my temperament.

And with that, the time finally arrived where I could devote a chunk of time to composing.

Now, it wasn't a matter of flipping a switch. But I had that experience of sitting down at a keyboard and plunking out a melody or two, and marrying them with some words. That would be the natural way to begin.

So I sat, plunked for many days, weeks, months, until things started to click. 

And through it all, I took all I had learned from the Rule of St. Benedict, my reading of Scripture, good spiritual works, the study of my Catholic Religion and combined it with a sincere desire to do all for the greater glory of God. 

It's a work in progress as it now stands.

So there it is - a personal example of how getting old and work combine in a particular way for yours truly.

Perhaps we'll circle back to this and share some of the results of getting old and work.