@@musicroom7185 when you get a chance, I'd be interested in knowing a bit more of your background. A retired band director? What grade(s)? Marching Band, concert, etc?

@@solitarymusician When it comes to teaching in public schools, I pretty much did it all at some point over 36 years. Taught at every level from Pre-K to College, instrumental, vocal. general music/music apprec. & did lots of piano lessons. In many situations I did K-12 schools so I did them all at once. Also did 13 years directing church choirs. What I can say (hopefully objectively) is that I am "good" at most areas of music education & performance, but "outstanding" at none. Does that make sense? It made me very employable and flexable in most situations, but in hindsight, I might have been better served to concentrate & excel in one area. I have been retired since 2020 & struggling to keep musically motivated. My fear as of late is that I will eventually stagnate to having little or no music in my life, as I already find myself playing & composing less.

@@musicroom7185 Very impressive. Your career is similar to my mom's. She was a concert pianist off and on, but her main jobs were teaching school. As you, from pre-K to college. General music, music appreciation, piano, vocal and taught privately. She was a church organist/choir director much of her life. She also worked for a time selling pianos. She also composed/arranged. She composed the Alma Mater of her high school. When she retired, I would say the last few years of her life she experienced what I would call major burnout. I think part of her situation was that she always had to be in "performance mode", largely in terms of the personality that goes along with that, public face etc... she played occasionally near the end, sometimes volunteering playing the piano at a local nursing home. She'd also play a Christmas party here and there. It was a quandary with her. On the one hand, she really missed being "in the scene" as it were, but on the other, she'd had enough.

@@solitarymusician I relate to all of that SO much....😉my gig at the nursing home is every Wednesday afternoon, playing out of old readers digest music collections because they are from the right era & are spiral bound so the pages turn easily. (I love how appreciative the nursing home crowd is...plus, in my 60's I am still young to them). I play for community theater auditions because I sightread well...but I don't like being tied down for 8 weeks to do the entire show. I still play/practice at home quite a bit because I am not quite ready to be "done" with music...still hoping to "bounce back" ,,,anyway, thanks for asking & sharing 🙂