When I was in school, I actually wasn’t a music major—I studied Communication!
But music surrounded my life for as long as I could remember.
So instead of sticking to the standard course requirements needed for the music major, I found myself taking any and every music class that excited me: theory, piano, composition, instrumentation—I wanted to learn it all!
After one of my piano classes, my professor pulled me aside and told me that it would be best if I quit music...
According to her, I wasn’t naturally good at playing the piano, and pursuing a music career wouldn’t be worth it; that there were people who had been playing since they were kids, who were far better suited for a career in music!
I left that classroom completely heartbroken!
At that point, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with music. All I was trying to do was figure out how I could incorporate music into my life somehow.
The thought of giving it up felt like giving up a piece of myself but her words really hit hard. For a while, I took her advice to heart.
If I couldn't play piano, what else couldn't I able to do?
So I almost quit.
But the more I thought about setting aside my pursuit of music, the more I realized...
My strengths as a musician go beyond just playing a single instrument.
Yes, I love music as a whole, but I also love connection, I love leadership, I love collaboration.
It was my passion for music that drove me to take all those classes in the first place!
🎤 It’s what motivated me to become the music director of my college A Cappella and musical theater groups.
👨‍🏫 It's why I wanted to share my love for music as a teacher with kids who are just discovering their music interests for the first time!
🎓 It's what pushed me to earn my master's degree in composition and orchestration.
🎻 It's why to this day, I tutor and help students with their orchestral compositions through ThinkSpace Education.
I realized that my value as a musician wasn’t tied to just one performance skill.
I could incorporate all my other strengths that make me who I am into my journey as a musician!
This one moment helped me realize: composers aren’t a monolith.
We’re multi-faceted with diverse strengths!
We each bring something unique to the table, and that’s what makes us valuable and distinct.
That realization is what inspired me to create the Composer Strengths Explorer assessment and my overall Composer Strengths Framework.
It’s about helping composers identify their own strengths and use them to build careers that are not only successful but genuinely fulfilling.
That's why I’ve created the Composer Strengths Workshop—a deep dive into how understanding your strengths can transform your composing career!
I can't wait for you to check it out!