Music and… Construction!

Some of you may have noticed that my blog posts have been scarce recently. It’s because I picked up a second job… in construction! Even though it’s only part-time, the days can be very long; sometimes more than 17 hours if you include the commute. The priority has been to balance teaching, practicing and of course my  construction shifts – it’s been a bit of an adjustment for me.

Should a pianist be doing construction? Probably not!! I have to be very careful with my hands. And very careful about how I practice the day after construction. My hands, wrists and arms are always sore and tired. I have to spend a lot of time warming up with slow, careful practice, being sure to gently stretch the fingers. 

When I was growing up, my piano teacher was very unhappy about me doing gymnastics and basketball- the risk of damaging the hands is too great! If only she could see me now 😅

Why work construction? Put simply, I have to support myself. I’ve been looking for part time work for the past year or two- even applied a few places, but nothing seemed to either be available or fit right. It’s been difficult building up a business in a new city during a pandemic, and teaching piano is not sufficient just yet. A childhood friend of mine, Stephanie Oram (who took piano lessons from the same piano teacher as me growing up!), owns a construction company (Orcon Infrastructure). She had offered me work there for some time. I was trying to avoid it because of the risk, but finally broke down and tried it out. Turns out I love it!! It’s hard work, but it’s certainly something different. I like working to overcome the challenges we face, and I get to be outside (which can be difficult in winter sometimes), and move around more. Much of my life is spent on a piano bench, which can be exhausting in its own way. I am diligent about exercising to stay healthy and (somewhat) fit, but it’s hard to get it all in. Construction offers an excuse for me to get out of the house and go do something, without the guilt of forfeiting practice time! 

I sort of feel like I’m going back to my roots with this one, too. My Dad was always fixing things around the house- my parents almost never hired anyone to do anything because he could do it all himself. I used to sit in the basement with him for hours, hammering nails into pegboard 😂 while he worked away on whatever project was on the go at the time. Even as I got older, I was always interested in learning about what he was doing and helping out when I could. I even went to his work on ‘take your kid to work day’ and drove the forklift with him!

Balance in life is very important to me. Piano always comes first, but I’m always up for trying new things. I organize myself so I can do the things that keep me feeling good, and stay open-minded about new opportunities that may arise. The way I look at it is: everything that I do helps me to become a better teacher and musician! It’s all about the way I approach and apply these new experiences when I sit down to practice. Any new point of view can always be put to good use if looked at in the right light 😉