We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zoe Johnson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zoe below.

Zoe, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I am a private violin and viola teacher at a local music store. I am a freelance musician; I have gigs at least once or twice every month. I have recently performed my first original song. I am currently working on my second song for this charm school event in December. I hope to have a project of songs by summer of 2024. I am also planning to start my non-profit of teaching free music lessons to the underserved children of Memphis.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. I come from a musical family, talented in many instruments. My first instruments were voice and piano. Then, I started the violin in the 6th grade in my middle school orchestra class. In the 5th grade, the faculty allowed us to choose an elective class in middle school along with choosing regular classes. The elective choices were orchestra, band, choir, art, and physical education. I knew I did not want to play an instrument in which you have to use your mouth, and I was already in a choir at church. Along with gospel and my parents’ childhood music, I listened to a lot of classical music as a child. My favorite composer growing up was Vivaldi. I loved listening to his work with strings and concertos like “The Four Seasons.” Therefore, I chose orchestra. The first year was difficult, but the next year, I chose to stay with violin. My parents actually bought me a violin instead of renting. I loved it ever since.

I was able to qualify and participate in selected, regional orchestras all four years of high school such as All-West, Austin Peay Honors Orchestra, and Memphis Honors Orchestra. I was in the honors orchestra all four years in my high school. I was able to assemble my own personal chamber ensemble, and we performed around the town in multiple places. I was in the Memphis Youth Symphony Program for my final two years in high school. I have worked with local music programs such as Prizm and Summer at the Scheidt with the University of Memphis. I have taught violin and viola to students whose ages range from kindergarten to mature adulthood. I played as a paid musician alongside my brother for the Collierville representatives for the NAACP. When I was 15, I did a violin instrumental on a song with my brother; that was the song we performed at the NAACP banquet. His name on music sites is M.K.J, which one could find on social media and YouTube, Malik “M.K.J” Johnson. The song is called “Free Indeed.” When I was a senior in high school, I participated in the 2018 All-State Tennessee convention in the 11-12 division. I was blessed to achieve all of these accomplishments before I graduated from high school.

I am now a recent music student graduate of Austin Peay State University. I was able to connect with them from the high school honors orchestra festival they held every year. I was a scholarship student as well. During my time there, I was able to hone a few passions that make me the artist I am today: passion for the youth, performing, and originality. I am back home in Memphis teaching at the Lane Music store in Germantown. I have youth and adult students, and I teach both violin and viola. In college, I landed my first, professional wedding gig. Ever since 2019, I have been receiving gigs increasingly more often. It used to be every few or couple of months. Now, I get at least one or two every month. Another income I hope to have soon is through my own, personal music. I have recently performed my very first song at the Ordinary People Servant Awards on October 14, 2023. The song is called “Dawn,” and I hope to release it publicly as soon as January 2024. Composition is a passion I never thought I would have. I get a lot of my inspiration from classical music, specifically the Romantic and early 20th century eras. I also get inspiration from the acclaimed hip-hop duo, Black Violin. As of now, my works are instrumentals, but I am gaining the courage to put my singing voice in my music as well and start writing lyrics. I am also passionate about languages. The ones I study now are Spanish and Hebrew. I aspire to acquire those into my music as well.

I am most proud of the original compositions I have done this far and my identity that I put into my music. While I have a lot of inspiration of Black Violin, I am not trying to be a copycat version or take after them. I am coming into my own sound, and I am trying to spread my message of identity to my people and all who listen. When people see me as a violinist, I hope they see my passion and detail to my craft. I study and play all genres, and I am always in support of going outside the comfort zone. I believe God has called me with my gift to share to the world, and that is all I aspire to do.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I can say that I used to view myself as a non-creative. My first instrumental experience was piano. The piano is a great instrument to start and learn – easy to start and difficult to master. It can be fun, but when your mother is your teacher, it can taint the experience. The violin was like coming into my own. In my family – particularly my mother’s side – we have multiple pianists. Two are famous, touring jazz pianists. No one in my family plays violin. It was something uniquely mine. The music world is small, and it can be soul-crushingly competitive. They showed that to us at early ages with All-West auditions and music programs that we had to audition to get a seat. Also, our parents had to pay tuition for them. In the beginning, it was about getting masterful as something no one else in my world was. I wanted to strive to be better – to be one of the higher chairs in class. I was being classically trained. I did not think much about creativity. I never gave it much thought until I discovered artists like Lindsey Stirling, The Piano Guys, and Black Violin. Then, my brother gave me an opportunity to show off my skill and creativity when he asked use my violin as the instrumental to one of his songs. When we actually did the recording, I admit I was not prepared. I had no sheet music, just ideas in my head. Everything I did in the song was improv. It turned out well, but I realized how it set me apart from all the other kids. I had something even the top prodigies of every school did not have. Then in college, I got the urge to do violin covers. Instead of getting a track to play over, I did acapella covers. Instead of popular songs, I did covers to my favorite gospel songs. They ranged from contemporary worship to gospel rap. I even did a couple to gospel rock.

What I am trying to say is that for something to be original, it has to come from you first. Find a passion or even a personality trait about yourself is yours uniquely. You can have inspiration, but to come up with something of your own, you have to dig deeply. Never sell yourself short. Get yourself in a quiet space, and make a list about your inspiration and what makes you special. Do not be afraid to go outside the status-quo. I thought during college this: After I graduate, I can become a professional orchestral musician. Either that, or I can become a soloist if I practiced hard enough. With that, I can make a chamber ensemble to perform gigs and do freelancing from time to time. I never thought I would be able to become an artist performing my own compositions, but here I am. I am currently working on my second song, and I hope to have an album or EP next year.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

According to the world, I am considered a Gen-Z; so like many people of my generation, I have social media accounts. I have used many platforms, but as of now, I only use InstaGram and FaceBook. I first got social media in the 6th grade, and I mainoy got it out of childhood blindness. I wanted to be accepted from my friends and classmates, and I was able to make it under parental supervision. As I got closer to high school graduation, my presence on social media waned. I only posted whenever I performed the song I did the violin instrumental with my brother; even then, he would mostly do the posting. From my junior year of high school to my freshman year of college, my social media presence was almost completely dormant. I came back on in a new way starting March 2019, which was when I was wrapping up my freshman year. One of my favorite gospel artists, Canton Jones, posted a competition he was doing on InstaGram. He stated that you can do a cover to any of his songs, and he would choose a few that he would repost on his page. I was one of the covers he posted; I did a violin cover to his song “Holy,” which was from his album “God City USA.” My brother showed the post to me, and it was spring break. I did the cover while I was home. When it was time to go back to school, I saw that I was one of the winners on the ride back; I was elated. Almost overnight, I gained many followers on my InstaGram. After that, I started thinking if I can do a cover to that song, why not keep going. After that, I posted 60-second covers to gospel songs weekly. I did it straight for over a year. Not every cover blew up like my first, but there were a few artists along the way that I covered that were gracious to repost my cover on their page. That even includes Black Violin.

While I was building my social media profile while posting music covers. I kept the posting about other things minimal. I also had rules of posting only upcoming events and milestones. I never posted about everyday life or let the world know my location. I never had a need to share my life with the world; I have only wanted to keep it professional and share about my faith. One of my ways of sharing my faith is through the music covers I did; that is why I chose to do gospel covers.

My advice to newcomers to social media and artists when it comes to social media is this: keep it professional. Never feel pressure to please the world. The world is not entitled to intimate details of your life. As an artist, social media should be about promotion; people can see that you mean business, and what you are doing is successful. It is also a great platform in which new “clients” can find you. Many of the gigs I have landed have not been from people meeting me locally, but because they saw my work displayed on social media. There is nothing wrong with showing your personality or even milestones, but there has to be balance. Do not let social media consume you. Use it for your benefit and spreading your message. Other than that, use discernment and wisdom.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @avidviolin
• Facebook: Zoe Johnson 0r Zoe ‘Avid Violin’ Johnson
• Youtube: @oneavidviolin3041

Image Credits
Nicole Johnson, Malik Johnson, Elizabeth Vander Veen