![\"ForestfortheTrees\"](\"http:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/ForestfortheTrees.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I got into writing about opera because I wanted to tell people about this very cool industry of mine. The art is enormous and stunning, and the people who created opera are extraordinary folks. I knew that most people my age didn’t have much exposure to opera, and it seemed like an obvious way to bridge the gap, to show just how fascinating<\/em> it really is.<\/p>\n Over the last year and a half, writing has become more rewarding than I ever anticipated; I’ve met way more artists, and seen many more shows. I started to look at my own industry differently, because I was able to ask *lots* of questions, and get lots of answers.<\/p>\n When I decided to give the writing thing my full attention, it was a positive plan. Yes, I wouldn’t be able to give the same amount of focus to my work as a pianist, but this decision was about pursuing something that had me truly excited, at a time when I was craving something new. I put the constant search for gigs on hold, and began to write, as full-time as I could.<\/p>\n So, when I realized that the last of my gigs (for the foreseeable future) was upon me, I really shouldn’t have been that surprised, right?<\/p>\n It was a strange revelation, to realize that I didn’t have anything on my plate to practice. I didn’t have<\/em> to get any music ready for a concert, I had no new opera to learn. The to-do list of practicing has been ubiquitous throughout my adult life, and the constancy was a comforting thing.<\/p>\n The work of any serious musician is ongoing and cumulative, and it becomes inseparable from her ongoing, cumulative life. For me, every spare moment would be spent tinkering with a few bars of whatever piece was currently taking up the most of my current mental space. I loved the evenings I had free, where I could dodge all social invites and spend a quiet, leisurely night of practicing my pile of scores.<\/p>\n I suppose we all get philosophical when change is in the air, and after that “last gig,” I philosophized on my now very real decision to trade the piano for a laptop (keyboard for keyboard, really). I went from being a student, entirely enamoured of music and opera, to a professional turning my passion into a business; at that point, I couldn’t help but start to ask new questions, which were mostly variants on “why do it?”<\/p>\n Now, it’s about getting these questions answered; it never occurred to me I could figure out the music business by stepping away from the piano for a while. I suppose that’s perspective, seeing the forest for the trees. Unfamiliar as it may be, I can’t argue with the clarity I’ve found, even in the infancy of my little blogging experiment.<\/p>\n #LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review\u00a0before anyone else finds out? Get our exclusive newsletter\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0<\/em>Twitter<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seeing the forest for the trees: Jenna Douglas discusses her gradual transition from full-time collaborative pianist to full-time opera writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":28190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,4967,4935],"tags":[4965],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/ForestfortheTrees.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-7kF","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28189"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28198,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28189\/revisions\/28198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28189"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=28189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}