My 2009 Music Business Homework: "Personal Inventory"

It’s December 27, and we’re officially in that strange unmentionable gap between Christmas and the New Year where it’s difficult to remember what day it is or what we’re doing with our lives. After having been sick and tending to the sick for so long, I’m just finally getting back at my desk, replying to emails that have been outstanding since before Christmas, and wrapping my mind around the timeline of events that leads to my album’s release in February. In just two months and two days, it’ll be here.

In the meantime, it’s still kind of the holidays, right? So I can keep relaxing a little longer. After the flu that swept through our house, I think I deserve a little more downtime - especially since my cold just finally reached the constant sneezing and nose-blowing phase (and the book I’ve been reading has just started to get really good).

So, what better time than the holidays to take a little stroll down memory lane? Here’s another piece of old homework from the Music Business program I attended in 2008-2009 when I lived in Halifax, rediscovered in a bundle of old memorabilia delivered by my parents last month. I only cringed at some of this one. At first glance, I was struck by how unexpected my responses to these questions were. I would answer them very differently today. That’s the thing about preserving your words through the years - these little vignettes and observations remind me where I come from, and, in the words of Elliott Smith, the people I’ve been before. It’s nice to sit with them, every now and then, and hear the (sometimes strange) things they have to say.

Assignment #2 - Personal Inventory

Crissi Cochrane
January 28th, 2009

1. Who or what events have influenced your goals, hopes, dreams, ideals?
   My biggest influence is, without a doubt, my parents. These are the people that raised me, that molded me, they’re responsible for so much more of me than I will ever know. My father has worked at “the telephone company” for about two decades now. My mother changes jobs periodically, like a hermit crab changing shells. They’re a perfect balance of adaptability and consistency. I got my desire to work hard from my mother, who has taken pride in every job she’s worked - be it a produce manager or a MacDonald’s cashier, and my musical ambitions from my father, who picked up the guitar when he was a teenager. He has been the biggest influence on me musically, inspiring me to pick up the guitar and other instruments, and being the first one to prod me to perform.
   My dreams and hopes have been dictated by myself, but, edited by my parents. I remember once announcing to my parents that I would like to be an astrologer, which was met with a lot of laughter and ridicule. I have since grown the sensibility to understand that not every wish and whim is possible, probably, or even profitable - I have dreamed of having a career in music since I was a child, but I’ve also understood that you can’t always get what you want.
   

2. What work have you done? Paid? Unpaid?
   My first job was at the Grand Pre National Historic Site, working as a puppeteer in the summer after ninth grade. I was only fifteen, and the job guidelines were pretty rough - in the end, I got paid $10 an hour to say hello in English and French, eat a lot of ice cream, and spend a lot of time sleeping in the field.
   I got my second job in eleventh grade, when I wanted to buy a puppy for my boyfriend. I worked at Greco, taking on as many different roles as possible for minimum wage. I stayed there until I graduated, never getting a single raise, although they trained me to be a supervisor (I don’t know why you would trust all your security codes to someone without ensuring some kind of fidelity). After graduating, I moved to the city and worked at Minacs, a call center on the waterfront, cold-calling people for $10.60 an hour. Not so bad, but you couldn’t pay me to put up with all those angry insults now.
   I’ve performed a lot for free - case in point: Halifax Pavilion. I’ve performed there about 40 times or so, and I’ve only been paid twice - once for playing with Faber Drive, and once for playing with Ill Scarlett. Elsewhere, at first, I only made enough money to cover my gas. Eventually, I started getting a bit more - $70 each time I play in Berwick now. I’ve played several festivals and outdoor events for $100-$200 each, which is great, but as of late I’ve mostly been playing for free. (Sigh.)
   

3. Have you been involved in domestic activities? Child care? Elder care? Sibling care?
   Not really. My elders have proven quite self-sufficient, my brother is older than me, and I’m not at a stage in life where I’d be considering starting a family. I’ve babysat in the past, it used to be my main source of income in middle school. There were mostly only two families that I babysat for on a regular basis, but every now and then my parents would drive me out to the middle of nowhere to take on some new kids. (One of them actually ate soap.) It wasn’t really a very profitable venture, however - one of the girls I babysat had ADHD, and her parents only paid me $15 for an eight hour day!
   

4. What kind of courses, conferences, workshops, or seminars have you attended, both inside and outside of formal schooling?
   I previously had an inclination towards creative writing, and took to writing ridiculously imaginative novellas on my parents’ computer. I once attended a workshop at a nearby school for creative writing, but my love of writing evolved into poetry, and eventually, songs.
   My middle-school had a program where students would sign up for Exploratories - sessions relevant to our interests - at the beginning of the school term, and attend them every Wednesday afternoon. Through this program, I’ve taken many music related classes, babysitting courses, and textile classes (I wanted to be a fashion designer for a while there, too.)
   Since beginning classes at NSCC, I’ve attended conferences through the Halifax Pop Explosion and Nova Scotia Music Week on subjects such as Campus/Community Radio, Satellite Radio, Songwriting Workshops, SOCAN Explained, and Legalizing Filesharing.
   

5. What hobbies do you participate in? Do you play music? Do you participate in music in other ways?
   I perform as an acoustic singer-songwriter under the pseudonym, “Save September”, as I’ve been doing for the last four years. In sixth grade, I joined the school band. Initially, I didn’t want to play some nerdy instrument, but realized that all the kids who weren’t in band were a little slow and generally lived in trailer parks. I joined several months late and surpassed the other flutists within three weeks. I remained in the school band until graduation, and still play the instrument on a regular basis.
   In the summer of 2008, I joined the Gamma Gamma Rays, an indie-pop/rock band established in 2006, where I play mandolin, flute, and sing back-up vocals.
   As far as hobbies go, I enjoy reading, writing, practicing my musical instruments, and doing artsy things, such as painting, sewing, crafting, or recycling things (I made a really sweet speaker out of an old keyboard once).
   

6. What unique topics do you know about or what special skills do you have?
   I’m sure there’s plenty of random knowledge that we all have. I have a pretty good knowledge of useless homemaker things, like how to cook and mend clothes and clean things. It doesn’t sound complicated, but wait until you rip your pants or pop a button. I’ve been operating a sewing machine since I was about eight years old, and consistenly schooled everyone in Home-Ed classes.
   I also have a good knowledge of…
   - Bird Flu, which I once considered to be the absolute end of the world (it still might be).
   - Astrology, and used to be able to draw up birth charts, calculate the relationships between the locations of the planets, and interpret people’s personality traits.
   - Nutrition, thanks to my mother going to University for it and pummelling the info into my brain on a regular basis.