If you're asking if I've SUCCESSFULLY gotten into a career like that... Well, that's still up for debate!
My big dream is to make a living composing music. Don't care how or what--I could write a symphony, a film score, or co-write songs with a band, and anything else from one end to the other. Music is what I do.
But how to make the big bucks? That's what's gotten me in so much trouble over the years. After I finished my master's degree in composition, I took a job as a middle school music teacher. That was a disaster! My second job was middle/high school general music and instrumental music. Not only was the discipline better, but I was starting to understand kids who grew up radically different from me. At first I had a lot of support, but my first-year principal got shipped off to Afghanistan and the next guy didn't really care to try to understand my situation. I don't feel so bad leaving that school since apparently that system had a pattern of running off the BD's. The new guy after me lasted one year, and now that band program is basically finished.
I got picked up by a private school after that. The problems I was faced with there had to do with it being the polar opposite of the schools I'd previously served (wealthy parents vs. minorities). I didn't fit in with the mostly impoverished families, nor did I fit in with the snobby rich kids. Ultimately I was blamed for not increasing participation in a school with drastically falling enrollment. Simple mathematics, people!
What I ended up doing was starting my own private piano teaching studio. The advantage is that I deal one-on-one with students instead of wasting time maintaining discipline in a classroom (which is mostly what classroom instruction is all about, anyway, NOT the subject matter!). A typical trait of AS is that it's easier to relate to people much younger because they naturally tend to respect older people. This has at least been my personal experience. My reputation got around and I was asked to teach after-hours non-credit piano on a local college campus to include adults as well as children. I'm still an active performer and composer. This particular lifestyle helps me avoid a lot of uncomfortable social situations though I do make the effort. I still try to network and meet famous people from time to time so I can still maybe get that dream gig. And I do play in a couple of local bands--which performing live has never been a problem because I don't have to be that aspie guy! I can be whoever I want or feel like being. The exposure is the reward for all the hard work I do in isolation.
As far as what this has to do with you: You might find working one-on-one with tutoring, art therapy, or your other interests to be what you succeed at best. I reserve the right to go back to band directing if or when I feel ready. But the solitude of my present occupation has really seemed to help me grow more than having to put myself on the front lines like I did when I first started working.
Oh, I almost forgot: One of my first jobs right out of high school was as engineer for a small radio station. I was able to do a lot of things from reading ads, public service announcements, to the weather. And at one point I was recording my own background images for those. I also worked behind the desk for sports events, religious programming, or whatever the owner needed me to do. No one had to see me, hear me (except on recordings, see above), or even know I was there just as long as I made things happen. It would have been a lovely alternative career if I'd chosen that path!
28 Aug 2009, 8:30 pm
