Life is What Happens When You're Busy Making Plans
How on earth does a person decide to go back to school at 66, rather than reach for the pipe and slippers and sit watching the world go by?
My songwriting career didn't start until a few weeks after I went busking on my 47th birthday to overcome a lifelong fear of singing within earshot of another human being. I would have been content with just one song that I could call my own but, once I wrote the first, it was like taking out a stopper and the others just fell out. By my 48th birthday, I'd written over 50 more.
Having left school, just short of my sixteenth birthday, I was happy to put that bad experience as far behind me as I could. I had an interest in photography and, while I managed to make it a career for almost 30 years, pay my mortgage and support my family, I had no love for the business and felt that I still hadn't found the right path for me.
They say that when you find what you love and can earn a living doing it, then you'll never have to work again. For six years, from January 2000, I did just about make a living as a 'Wandering Minstrel' but the writing stopped as I was out everyday trying to earn enough to survive and so, once my debut album reached the 7,500 copies sold, (gold status in Ireland) I looked for a job to cover my living expenses without occupying too much of my head.
In June, I had enough to survive for the few weeks, until I reached pension age in late July. My plan was to record my first 'broadcast quality' songs one an EP and travel the country, delivering it to radio stations along the way throughout September and busk along the way to cover my expenses. I'd found a small studio with contacts to some musicians who would back me - for a reasonable fee - planned to do an album in the same studio if I found my songs were getting airplay and then.....
....out of the blue, I heard that University of Limerick were doing a Masters in Songwriting course - starting in September. I told myself all the reasons I didn't stand a chance of getting a place but then applied anyway. I got and audition/interview. I was fairly relaxed about it as I didn't think I had a hope of getting it and was glad to have gotten this far. It was difficult to decide on the two songs I would perform and eventually decided that, as it was for songwriting, the two would be chalk and cheese. To Be One or To Be Two is a love song that has always been popular when I've played it (it will feature on the EP) - and Eat Your Greens is a non-patronising song for children of ALL ages. I did ask the interviewers to try and become their nine year old selves for the few minutes of the song and they obliged.
The next day, to my astonishment, I was told that subject to me sending in a sample of my writing - other than a song - to show them I was up to speed - and it seems I was.
I sent two. One, something written for my Facebook page a few years earlier, and another, written just for them. I will post them in separate post here as I feel this post is long enough by itself.
Academic writing is new to me and I'm lucky enough to have a daughter who was ably to 'vet' my writing and make some suggestions as to what is expected before I actually hit the 'send' button.
My songwriting career didn't start until a few weeks after I went busking on my 47th birthday to overcome a lifelong fear of singing within earshot of another human being. I would have been content with just one song that I could call my own but, once I wrote the first, it was like taking out a stopper and the others just fell out. By my 48th birthday, I'd written over 50 more.
Having left school, just short of my sixteenth birthday, I was happy to put that bad experience as far behind me as I could. I had an interest in photography and, while I managed to make it a career for almost 30 years, pay my mortgage and support my family, I had no love for the business and felt that I still hadn't found the right path for me.
They say that when you find what you love and can earn a living doing it, then you'll never have to work again. For six years, from January 2000, I did just about make a living as a 'Wandering Minstrel' but the writing stopped as I was out everyday trying to earn enough to survive and so, once my debut album reached the 7,500 copies sold, (gold status in Ireland) I looked for a job to cover my living expenses without occupying too much of my head.
In June, I had enough to survive for the few weeks, until I reached pension age in late July. My plan was to record my first 'broadcast quality' songs one an EP and travel the country, delivering it to radio stations along the way throughout September and busk along the way to cover my expenses. I'd found a small studio with contacts to some musicians who would back me - for a reasonable fee - planned to do an album in the same studio if I found my songs were getting airplay and then.....
....out of the blue, I heard that University of Limerick were doing a Masters in Songwriting course - starting in September. I told myself all the reasons I didn't stand a chance of getting a place but then applied anyway. I got and audition/interview. I was fairly relaxed about it as I didn't think I had a hope of getting it and was glad to have gotten this far. It was difficult to decide on the two songs I would perform and eventually decided that, as it was for songwriting, the two would be chalk and cheese. To Be One or To Be Two is a love song that has always been popular when I've played it (it will feature on the EP) - and Eat Your Greens is a non-patronising song for children of ALL ages. I did ask the interviewers to try and become their nine year old selves for the few minutes of the song and they obliged.
The next day, to my astonishment, I was told that subject to me sending in a sample of my writing - other than a song - to show them I was up to speed - and it seems I was.
I sent two. One, something written for my Facebook page a few years earlier, and another, written just for them. I will post them in separate post here as I feel this post is long enough by itself.
Academic writing is new to me and I'm lucky enough to have a daughter who was ably to 'vet' my writing and make some suggestions as to what is expected before I actually hit the 'send' button.
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