This is the continuation of my story...

The previous one can be found in this link

My Story

---

Music was my release. There were days when things don't turn out the way you want it to, music was my solace and when things are going well, again you feel like celebrating with music. I paid for my music lesson during my undergraduate days. I initially took up guitar thinking its quite a cool way to impress the girls, but went into the wrong field and started doing classical music, but it wan't before long when I became hooked to classical music.

Everyone have their own heroes and mine came in the form of John Williams. He is touted as one of the best technical modern classical guitarist.

Hard Times

---

Money was scarce. At that time I didn't have enough money to eat out so I will ensure that I take my breakfast at home and be back around 3 p.m. to take a late lunch. That way, I can save more. My parents refuse to have anything to to do with my guitar fees. I gave tuition around my neighbourhood and after 1 year of teaching and paying off my guitar, that income suddenly seemed very lucrative to a college kid.

I still remember the days when I choose to board the bus that is packed so that I am least discoverable. Those days there was still the conductor that sells manual tickets. I would avoid paying because the conductor takes some time to move from the front to the back and to sell the tickets.

During my college days, I try to balance between my work, music lessons and my studies. It was no easy feat. Because I was more inclined towards music, I spent most of my time doing my musical practice rather than on my studies. So my marks were just enough to get by.

Wish there was Steemit

---

There was no blockchain, social media or steemit during my time. So, it was difficult to connect with the community. Usually it is through the normal networking. What more to expect gaining monetary income through music is almost like a distant dream. So although music was progressing better than my studies, I really didn't have any choice but to take up law as a full time job rather than being a musician. I guess the tide may have changed if there was this social media platform much earlier.

I started my legal career that didn't pay much initially. I save the unnecessary expenses of going for dates to attend more classes. I took up flamenco playing from @zhusatriani for a short while and it was very entertaining. But the work commitment was just too much to spend some serious time practicing.

Source

Why I choose Community Building

---

To me, I consider myself a hobbyist. I play music for leisure. It is my escape and I believe many musicians out there are like myself. They either drum at home, sing in the bathroom or entertain their family members. We do not have our community and sometimes we don't even perform to others. It was through steemit that I started to know people in the music community and immediately we clicked. It is just like a group of people who are attention whores like myself and although money is important but to get that word of encouragement from fellow kinsmen from the musical fraternity means a lot.

It really takes one to know one. There are some struggles that are specific to musicians. The late night practices may not be to everyone's liking, fortunately there is the earphones and line in these days. There is bound to be some unhappy neighbours and that will be our conversation in our music steemit meetups.

I really can't say much for others, but the community building through this platform is more meaningful because not only you try to establish one sustainable ecosystem of your own among like minded people but there is also consistent effort to improve and strive for better delivery.

In short because we are here, you need no longer sing in the shower room, play guitar in the basement or whistle alone during cold and lonely nights. We are here for you and lets have fun, through music and be paid for it.

credit to @zomagic