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Aimee Chapman: Hairbrush to microphone

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Aimee with "cocktail" band Mojito

In the decade between 1995 and 2005, I completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts, a Diploma of Music Performance at Box Hill Institute and the second year of the Bachelor of Music at Victoria University. I completed the journey with a Bachelor of Arts (Music Industry) at RMIT.

Tallying up my courses this way, it is a shock to realise that I had been studying for so long. Considering the average wages earned by professional musicians, I would have been substantially better off (money-wise) studying medicine or law. In hindsight, I would not have changed any of those study choices, as they all played an integral part in my development as an artist and a person. Ultimately this creative life of music is the most satisfying occupation I could choose for myself. The challenge, however, has been to connect the conceptual artist with the business woman.

Throughout my childhood, until I graduated from secondary school in 1995, I believed that I was going to be an actress. I performed in any community play going around, got myself an agent, and had parts in film and television throughout my teenage years. In year 12 I slaved over my drama performance exams, but as I reached the end of Year 12 and all focus turned to university places, I found my aspirations shifting.

Parents, teachers and well-meaning friends advised me to "get a real job" or at least find "something to fall back on’. I thought perhaps I should at least spread my creative risk by enrolling in VCA’s Creative Arts Degree, a broad-based program offering streams of study in Theatre Studies/Drama, Creative Writing, Visual Art and Media Theory/Production.

Upon entering the course I still believed that I would complete a major in drama, but when I explored the other creative areas in offer, I found myself spending more time in creative writing, film production and media theory. By my final year I had switched to a double in these areas.

By giving myself the opportunity to explore new areas, I was able to develop skills I never knew I possessed. I think it is important for high school graduates to allow themselves this leeway, as it is far too easy to pigeonhole yourself into a career path that, once established, does not live up to the childhood dream.

After a few "study breaks" which I spent backpacking round Europe, I graduated from VCA in 2000, leaving the college with no real sense of a career path. By its own admission, the College of the Arts concentrates on developing the conceptual skills of the artist. I felt very capable of creating, but with no real idea of how to apply my skills in the workforce.

I spent the next year working full time in soul-destroying jobs that atrophied the right side of my brain. I found my only joy in playing guitar, singing and writing songs. By now, I had started recording my original songs. I was also getting small solo gigs around town as a distraction from the nine-to-five grind. Soon I was daydreaming of sick days just so I could have more time to make music. Realising how much music was driving me, I took a huge punt and auditioned for a place in the Diploma of Music Performance at Box Hill Institute. To my enormous surprise, I was offered a place.

Embarking on this new course of study solidified my ambitions and fuelled all of my movements to follow.

I found the TAFE environment so different to University. The classes were extremely hands-on and it was a constant struggle to grasp all the information. Terrifying for an ex-drama queen who’d barely learnt a scrap of music theory. I worked very hard to get up to speed with my fellow students, who had already done music theory up to VCE.

The discipline that was instilled in us by all of our teachers pushed us to produce quality in our performances and take risks beyond our conceived capabilities. We were constantly reminded that only the hardest working, most reliable performers would survive in the highly competitive music industry.

Consequently, only half the students returned for the second year of our course.

I found my two years at Box Hill Institute and the following year at Victoria University to be a huge turning point for me. I was able to plan a career path while being able to accept that it would not be a clearly defined road. Success and longevity would only come as a direct result of my own education and efforts.

It was hugely inspiring to work with the calibre of students and teachers (who I now consider team mates) in our unique work environment. Musicians expect the same commitment and ethics from each other as you would in any other workplace, and we have been able to create a network of support and resources for each other in what is for many an isolated occupation.

I decided to complete the Bachelor of Arts (Music Industry) at RMIT to consolidate all of my experiences in and out of study, and to help to focus on the future, bridging any remaining gaps that I may have had between art and commerce. I was impressed with RMIT’s commitment to teaching students the practical skills required to realise their work/life goals. Thus, when a lecturer asked "What do you want out of this course?" I found it dismaying that eighty percent of fellow students responded ‘A piece of paper.’ Students have vastly differing motivations for undertaking a course, but I feel that with the resources and enthusiasm of staff, these students would benefit so much more from linking the study they are doing with short term goals in order to have a clearer sense of purpose or direction or to instigate a change of direction. Well meaning parents instilling the need for this piece of paper in their children should perhaps realise that a piece of paper that qualifies you to do A is not much help if you really want to be doing B.

Ultimately what I have found throughout my various courses of study is that the old cliché "you get what you put in" chimes with perfect pitch for performing artists. You need to do your own study constantly, and use it as a reliable taste test for my ambitions. One musical avenue might be acidic for some and a sweet spot for others. For me, the tried and tested day job for musicians - teaching - was too sour for me. I tried it on for size and maybe I'll find myself back there one day, but for now I'm trying some other musical flavours. Managing and performing in a corporate/wedding band, singing in a hardworking jazz quartet, donning wigs and fairy wings for children’s music performance and undertaking office administration for the Musician’s Union all combine to make for a hard but satisfying day job, leaving me free to create original music in my outfit osh10. For now, I am both creatively and economically stable; far from rich, but satisfied.

Aimee with osh10 - the true artist always dresses to match the furniture

I think that it is too common for people in performance-based degrees to assume that you study, you finish your degree, and then you embark on your wonderful career. That may be true of more traditional degrees- you study law, you become a lawyer. But in music, the exception is the norm. I acquired and honed a lot of my management, communication, administration, promotion and performance skills outside University walls, through my own efforts. Music courses offer a time for building skills, networks and knowledge, for experimenting with ideas, for making mistakes and learning from them, for getting heaps of work experience across all areas, because you never know where things will lead, what opportunity might send you in a completely new direction.

Eighteen months later, and while I find the path I took was the right one, I’m pretty sure it has a lot more twists and turns yet to come. Despite my own sense of discovering my most comfortable combination of music work, non-musicians still want to know when I’m going to get a real job. This question once really infuriated me. I thought I had to reassess my goals to appease everybody’s unease at my inability to be classified. Whether it is the wisdom of old age, or that I’ve just learned to ignore the ignorant, but now I define "success" as never wondering if I made the wrong choice, and a ‘real job’ is one that doesn’t feel like a job.

So when people ask what I’m doing now that I’ve finished studying, my answer is ‘exactly what I have been working and training for throughout my course, only more of it, and getting better.’

Find out more about Aimee's original, function and jazz vocal bands.

Hear a sample of Aimee's music:

Going...gone

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Sales network?

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The problem then became, that since everyone could record and distribute, everyone did and the market became completely flooded. The old record company system (which, of course, still exists) does not consist solely of a distribution system. There is also a very significant promotional aspect (not the least important part of which is the mysterious way certain recordings get airplay). The new internet method does not provide an equivalent to this.

The internet gives you distribution but not promotion. There is an almost unlimited number of recordings on the net, how will anyone find yours? There has recently been a lot of talk about "social network" sites where people discover new music by reviews and references from other consumers. I have yet to see a single well documented case of this occurring to any significant extent. The vast majority of music that people buy from the internet is music they are already familiar with from traditional media.

There is one advantage in placing your music on one of the well known sites: the confidence that comes from familiarity. Telling punters at your gigs that they can buy your band's recordings from iTunes is likely to result in greater sales than directing them to www.ourband.com.au

Of course you still have to add up the financial pros and cons!

Uncle Terry

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