6 Tips for Balancing Home and Work Life as a Professional Musician
Written by Grace Hong
Some people tell me that I am a superwoman or supermom, as I put on multiple hats throughout a day. Do I agree with that title? Maybe... (Maybe is the problem.) I am the oboist of Fifth House Ensemble, a freelancer, teacher, wife, daughter and a mother. I get asked a lot about balancing work and life from young musicians, especially during our Fresh Inc Festival, which happens every summer for 2 weeks with participants coming from all over the world. Some of the participants are newly married, thinking about starting a family, or already have a family and struggle to find the perfect balance between work and life. I really wish I could tell them, “here are the list of things you need to do and you will have a perfectly balanced life,” but it is not that simple. I do not have a black and white answer. The answer to this question changes depend on the current stage of your life, so this post is from a working mom who has two beautiful children, 5 and 3, sharing a few things I’ve learned while juggling work and life.
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How to Scout New Performance Spaces
Fifth House Ensemble’s mission is to create engaging performances and interactive educational programs, forging meaningful partnerships with unexpected venues, artists of other disciplines, educational institutions, and audiences of every type.
Speaking to the unexpected venues part, Fifth House Ensemble has performed in a wide variety of spaces, ranging from bars, a lake in Tuva, aquariums, supper clubs, libraries, and museums to concert halls and convention centers of all sizes. How do we find these places?
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A Reflection on Collaborations with Non-Classical Artists
It's late summer and Fifth House Ensemble had a few weeks off, affording me time to properly reflect on the whirlwind that was our past season. In this space, a project I re-live fondly is our collaboration with the Tuvan throat-singing ensemble, Alash.
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Welcoming Tad Gray: A Letter from Our New Board President
We are very excited to announce the election of Tad Gray as president of Fifth House Ensemble’s board of directors!
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Conductors Hate Him! This Method of Counting Will Revolutionize the Way You Count Rests
Let me start with a scenario: You’re at a rehearsal where the group is reading through a new piece. You just finished a complicated technical passage, and now you’re faced with 28 bars of rest. Using your free hand, you count to 5 over and over until you get to 28…or is it 23?
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CONCERT REVIEW: IMPROMPTU FEST
Impromptu Fest 2019, presented by New Music Chicago, opened Thursday night in the unlikeliest of venues. Guarneri Hall is situated on the third floor of a chilly corporate Loop office building, where a narrow hallway and labyrinth lead to the tiny venue.
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Five Tips for How to Make a Sale
There is a ton of strategy, research and prospecting, massive outreach, and marketing material design that goes into making a sale. Once you get a presenter on the phone, here are five tips to close the sale:
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The Art of Losing Your Self
Each of us has our own “creation” story about how we started on our instrument of choice. Perhaps it was a popular friend who played the piano, so you started studying to be just like her. Or, it was a performance you experienced live, on TV, or on a recording that made you say, “WOW – I want to be able to do that!” Or maybe, as with some of my younger students, the answer is a sullen, “My mom made me do it.”
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Issue 13.1
It looks like it's about that time. September means a new season for Fifth House Ensemble (the 13th new season as a matter of fact)! We hope you all had a nice summer and that you're ready for some exciting new content from your friends at the Augmented Fifth and Fifth House! Alright, before we get to the fun stuff, we have some business to go over:
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Fresh Inc 2018: Issue 1
Well well well, did you miss us? Good news, Fresh Inc 2018 is here and we are super excited to bring you the Fresh Inc Special Edition of the Augmented Fifth! We had an exciting start to our festival and we'll be posting some of our most notable moments here.
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Issue 30
I'll save the mushy stuff for later, but hey guess what, you've survived an entire season of reading the Augmented Fifth! We do enjoy your company and hope you've enjoyed your experience. The calendar might say we're done, but Google doesn't own me yet so I have a feeling we'll be back fairly soon...
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Issue 29
Can you believe it? Only two weeks to go until we arrive in Kenosha for Fresh Inc! In the meantime, we've got projects wrapping up left and right here at Fifth House Ensemble.
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Issue 28
Wow, what a great week! Deborah's Place had a fabulous final performance, Seward students wowed Ravinia administration, and NBJ had one of the best single visits we've ever had! Not only that, but we have a ton of things to look forward to for next week!
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Issue 27
We've got some real exciting changes coming to Fifth House Ensemble very soon! We've got the first of our Spring residency final performances this week!. Can you believe that Fresh Inc. is only a few weeks away??? The Augmented Fifth will be changing formats soon and we can't wait to bring you even more great content as we head into our festival weeks!
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Issue 26
Well, here we are! Today marks the last of our artistic performances for the 2018 season. But don't you worry your pretty little head, there will be plenty of opportunities to see Fifth House Ensemble before the end of the season with our multitude of educational shows happening within the coming month!
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Issue 25
I think we have all recovered from our performance-a-thon last week and we are all set and ready to do it again! For those of you who missed Degenerate Art last week, we sincerely hope to see you at our show this week!
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Issue 24
And you thought that a concert day would keep me from writing the blog. Shame on you! I know some of you missed Degenerate Art today, but don't fret! We will be certain to see you when we perform it again on April 29. Right? Right.
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Issue 23
What's that? You say that we can't possibly have the time to perform three shows at once? Well that's where you're wrong, bucko! We've got some old and some new this week so feel free to bring something blue for us to borrow when you come see our shows this week!
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Issue 22
After a week off and some time to clear our heads, we're excited to announce that we will be renaming Fifth House Ensemble to eighth JACK Bang On A Can Will Sound Ensemble. We feel it really embodies the totally original chamber music group we would like to be. Wishing you a happy Easter and April 1st from eJBOACWSE!
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Issue 21
Hey everyone! It's Spring Break! Get ready for a vacation-tastic edition of the Augmented Fifth!
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