2017: Plans for this Page

So 2017 is here! A whole new year for concerts, albums, projects, and musicians to enjoy! I thought I would take time to outline some goals that I have for this blog.

Basically, this thread has served as a dump from my previous Wordpress site and a list of playlists spanning 2 fall seasons. The content that migrated over to this page initially was geared towards articles promoting collaborations I was involved in at the time I was studying at Grand Valley State University. This ranged from contemporary classical ensemble concerts to improvisatory house shows, serving as way to highlight the diverse talent that I was grateful to be working with at the time. It then moved to playlists built around musical exploration and taste, beginning with the overly ambitious "album per day" weekly playlist and recently spawning the "track per day" playlist.

While it definitely helped to condense the content into something more digestible, I thought it wouldn't necessiraly make for an interesting read. Many sites and musicians cobble together music to listen to, but with so many platforms auto-building playlists and discovery tools into their platform, it's just another thing to compete with on the internet. There are opportunities for more conversation and more room to educate with descriptors with more personalized arrangements of playlists, and I enjoy making them. However, I can't ignore the fact that weeks have either been rushed to the deadline, missed the deadline entirely with too little context on the song, or have been missed entirely due to my schedule.

Now, what 2017 gives me is an opportunity to properly start, a chance to craft a wider variety of articles not just for my own catharsis, but to grow as a writer and deliver more interesting write-ups for this website. This will include playlists and details on current collaboration projects, but I also want it to be a platform to try out different styles of content related to music and other interests. Consistency is key, so I'm looking to more effectively organize my time and efforts around daily writing habits.

I was once told that a website can easily turn into a shrine to self-image, and when I initially made this site on Squarespace I definitely took that wrote without realizing it. If you couldn't tell between the photos and sprawled layout, it was set up poorly and overloaded with too many ideas and too many ill-formed concepts. Now, as I go into the second half of my second year owning this site, I hope to stretch and test the value of renewing this domain. I'm excited to better connect with people that visit this site and spend less time shouting to myself in my own little corner of the internet.

So let's enjoy 2017 together, and delight in new possibilities and career ventures!