I can usually see myself doing anything for a career. That is always easier to envision while I’m actually doing it. Examples: during my flight training, I could see myself as a commercial pilot and still would, in fact, enjoy flying for, say, FedEx or any other company that does not involve neurotic passengers or their screaming children. During discussions with medical friends over the years, I could see myself as a surgeon. During funerals, I could easily see myself as a funeral director or grief counselor. And during the arduous work of cleaning out my mother’s house, I could see myself as a mover or crime scene cleanup agent. It’s not that I’m thinking of jumping ship on my current career. (But don’t push me, because teaching is no longer a picnic for anyone anymore, and the performing front has never had much room for more than a handful of recurring names.)
The ‘hey-I-could-do-this’ thinking works on several fronts. I have discovered many times that I might actually have something to say in other ways. Sometimes I feel I could write a fine novel, compose a fine musical, compose a fine opera, conduct an opera, or direct a film. But those senses are strongest when I’m actually reading a novel or listening to a musical or opera or watching a decent film or directing music for a production.
Most of the great composers came from musical families and had strict formal training at early ages. They tended to have family support or outside recognition of their abilities. All they needed after that was encouragement to pursue their careers. (Of course, we shouldn’t overlook the fact that most educated people in centuries past were educated in the arts as a matter of course. My, how times have changed.) Anyway, I see that in modern times, our kids still tend to do what they already know. The ones with parents who listen to pop or were potheads in college tend to gravitate toward starting their own garage bands. The ones with parents who took them to concerts and operas tend to stay in those spheres, even if avocationally. The ones who grew up in the church tend to sing, play, or compose church music or at least sing in a choir regularly. I wrote a couple Gospel songs in teenage years (they were what I grew up with), but I quickly moved on to hymn reharmonizations and a couple octavos (they were also what I grew up with). After many years’ saturation in classical and opera, I might actually have something to say in those spheres now, too. Better late than never, I suppose, but Mendelssohn, Mozart, Distler, and Schubert were long dead at my age...