I just returned to Michigan from a lovely trip to my hometown of Branson, Missouri yesterday. It was a wonderful trip, and I have to say that it was better than usual. With the planning of the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra, I have considered the idea of turning this nonprofit organization into my job or career. This is the only time in my life I have ever considered moving home. I always wanted to be a professional musician, but as a classically trained clarinetist, there are zero job opportunities for me in Branson. I recognized this at a very young age as my father reminded me of the challenges my future career presented me. Now, there is, and I am creating it myself.
The Ozarks have always spoken for themselves--such a beautiful landscape is hard to resist. I suppose I took it for granted while I was growing up, but since then I've learned to see those lakes and hills in a new light. I had a great time sailing with my family as well. My father purchased a Catalina 250 last year, and it has been a wonderful way to spend time together. Because I am rarely home, though, I don't posses the skills needed to sail a boat of this size...it's quite a step up from the Hobie Wave (as much as I loved that boat).
However, it is not only the lack of job opportunities that have discouraged me from returning home--that strange conservative, Bible-Belt culture is so disagreeable to me. I am a long-time agnostic, and I don't appreciate the smothering nature of Branson's Christian culture. This always made me somewhat of a misfit in school and difficult to understand. I know everyone means well, but damn! can't they just leave me alone or keep their beliefs to themselves?
On the other hand, that ambiguously southern culture is something that I always miss while living in the cold, white North. I do not know why Michiganders are like this, but I have found that it is extremely difficult to meet new people here, and when you do, there is a very wide gap between acquaintance and friend. In other words, friendship is not easily won. My best friend from kindergarten is still my best friend--she keeps me grounded, in touch with reality, and we always pick up right where we left off despite our extremely different life-paths. When I return home to Branson, I tend to meet a lot of new people, but they also tend to fall into the category of Bransonians that I don't particularly care for (conservative, bible-belt smotherers). I can, however, appreciate that these people do care and do mean well. During this last trip, though, I met a good handful of wonderful people that I hope to know forever, that don't consider themselves part of the regular Branson culture, and that have made me reconsider my prejudices against my home town with a desire to come home and run with the career opportunity presented by the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra.
So, at last, I feel like I could not only have a job that I love in Branson, but I finally feel like I might fit in. I have a while to make this decision. I still want to pursue a DMA, but perhaps it would be reasonable to take a couple of years off from school to really try to make this work. By then, I may have someone who I'd trust to run many aspects of the festival for me. The more I think about it, the more I really want to embrace the opportunity to get some real-world experience between degrees and spend a couple of years just practicing the clarinet and working on fundraising and planning.
Decisions, decisions...
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