What have I been doing for the past two years?
Well, aside from applying for jobs at first, I started streaming on https://twitch.tv/cazgem as a means of generating income for myself and my wife as I was unable to secure employment by the time September rolled around in 2019. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and subsequent school closures/budget cuts, I had to make the (at the time hard) decision to focus on streaming video games for nearly two years. I reached early success, even reaching the point where I had a partnership application in hand, and regularly had (for a while) 100+ viewers per stream across MULTIPLE channels. This success was beneficial both from a financial AND mental standpoint for myself. Ashlie and I lived comfortably, I had confidence despite a worldwide pandemic, and I had built a fun, friendly community that persists to this day.
However, after nearly two years of unemployment I'm happy to announce that I've accepted a temporary position teach ing Music Theory, Music in Humanities (Music Appreciatioin), and Choir at Harding Charter Prepatory High School. This temporary position (for someone's maternity leave) was a very fortunate find as it will give me the financial backing to back away from full-time content creation. Although I LOVE the community I've built over at Twitch, have a great Discord family going, and have made life-long friendships as a result of my streaming career, I think it's time to try and push forward by any means necessary. With this in mind, I've pushed hard on the Polyphony Web Engine (Need a website btw?) and other aspects of Divisi Labs including its' newer Twitch services as a means of expanding my skillset as a programmer and web developer.
Music, with a side of web development. That's the future.
On the performance side of things, Covid stopped all my performance AND private practice on Double Bass, Cello AND piano. However, with a recent gig as part of the Oklahome Chamber Symphony I've decided that I want to dedicate much more time to Double Bass, as doing so will give me yet another avenue into the University environment. This blog, minor website overhaul, and other changes are meant to help push toward this goal.
Others have asked (particularly over from my Twitch community): "Will you keep streaming?"
To this I say, Of course! It will just no longer be a top priority consuming 60+ hours a week. I have an opportunity to break out, and I plan to take it! I reached very quick success in streaming by just putting my mind to it. This, along with my burning desire to get re-engaged with the world of music, gives me 100% confidence that I can overcome this pandemic's pitfalls for academia and pursue my life's goals.
I'm excited to see what this temp position opportunity brings to the table in the long run, and cannot express my excitement to be back in the world of music enough.
What are your plans post-pandemic? (comments below)
Zachary C. Daniels