For the past 20+ years I’ve been a professional software developer, and I love that. I truly do. I love the creative aspects of it so much, but there are plenty of things about this business that I dislike. I love writing software for myself. I love learning new technologies. But it’s not what I absolutely love.
What I DO absolutely love to do, is create music.
I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching and thinking over the past year, and I think I want to shift my priorities more into taking some risks to possibly take my music, and actually make a living at it. You may have noticed some of this transition on my blog site here, and my social activity.
They always say, do what you love, and I think I’m at the point in life where I can start turning that love and passion into something.
A trip down memory lane
My renewed focus is truly more than just a trip down memory lane.
In 1982, I was finishing up Junior High. I spent all my Christmas money to purchase my very first keyboard/synth. The Casio VL-1
Man, does this thing bring back some memories. Remember that song “Da Da Da” used in the Volkswagen commercial? Yep, that’s the VL-1 Rock-1 Rhythm playing in the background.
I would bring my VL-1 with me to school every day, as I was in Band playing Saxaphone at the time, and when i wasn’t doing schoolwork, etc…You’d see me in the corner of the band room, playing this thing all the time. What did I play on mine? The various themes from Star Wars, ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters (Yep, All John Williams soundtracks), Superman, the John Carpenter movies, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, etc.. I think it was this year that solidified in my head, that I wanted to do soundtrack work.
Blade Runner was released and Vangelis once again amazed me with his amazing soundtrack. I just could not figure out how to get the VL-1 to mimic those wonderful sounds :).
I absolutely loved playing with that little wonder.
High school rolled around, and our band instructor let me check out and take home the schools Moog Prodigy all the time.
So many compositions recorded on tape lost in history. It was heaven for me.
Soon I started investing in my own hardware. As a teenager without a lot of money, I relied on birthday/christmas cash gifts and what little money I had at the time from working odd jobs to purchase my own synths.
The first synth I ever purchased was the Casio CZ-101
I would spend hours creating new sounds and songs.
When I had a decent job, I saved every paycheck I had (Well most of it) and invested in the Korg Poly 800.
During all of this time, I knew what I wanted in the end. I just didn’t act on it.
For nearly all of the 90’s and the early 2000’s I didn’t do any music while I focused on family, etc. The mid 2000’s I was able to pick back up my passion.
Over the past few years, I’ve tried to work on my craft in a bit of a hobby fashion, but I’ve come to realize that what I do on a day to day basis is not truly what I absolutely love.
I’m moving past the feeling that self marketing myself is like a stigma. That’s always been tough.
Trust me, I’ll still be doing software development for my primary source of income for some time, and keeping up with technology. I can’t just “up and change career focus” on a dime, but expect to see my virtual presence focused more on music from now on. But from now on, I want to start truly doing what I absolutely love.
So, what’s next? Stay tuned, as there are many things in the works, and do what you absolutely love!
To an interesting future!
– Keith
Keith Richie 