We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jarrid Hollander a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jarrid, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My most meaningul project so far has been opening up a private lessons studio (Cadenza Performance Academy) in Owensboro, KY.

Being able to make majority of my income by teaching what I love doing is a thrill. I started Cadenza with my bandmate in Kentucky Shine, and a dear friend, Steven Stewart, who has taught longer than I’ve been a professional. After I joined Kentucky Shine, and accomplished several individual, and band goals, the next logical step was: “What else can we do?”

At the time, I started teaching again professionally, and Steven was tecahing out of his house. He looked at me one day, unprompted and said “What if we opened a studio for both of us? Like co-owners.” Being in Owensboro meant two things. He didnt have to move out of town, and we had a great platform to start on, with Owensboro being the Bluegrass capital.

Shortly after, we started putting the peices together, with several bumps in the road. We’ve been open for 5 months now, and we are actively looking for both in person and online students for Violin/fiddle, Guitar, bass, mandolin, beginner piano, and music theory.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started music around 5 years old. Primarily self taught, I was able to cut teeth in school bands, open mics and jam sessions around the Southwest Indiana region.
I joined the pro scene at 16, starting to make some pocket change and growing as a musician, instead of just a guitar player.

After a few years of hard work and paying the “new kid” dues, I started playing with bigger shows and festuvals with bigger bands and tecahing casually on the side. Getting mostly “fill-in” gigs allowed to me to meet and hang around alot of different people quickly, and consistently. From there I just kept looking for the bigger and better thing and have been slowly climbing from one to the next.

I actively fill-in and for local, and regional acts, and I have even had the fortune of playing with some smaller international acts. On top of that, I have some session/studio/guitar and bass tech work under my belt, as well as 3+ years teaching both freelance, and under businesses.

I pride myself on flexibility. Being someone who gets alot of calls that are for hardly ever the same thing twice, you have to be flexible, with proficiency. In teaching, everyone learns differently, and everyone wants to learn different things. In a studio or live setting, you have to be able to cover, rearrange, and write parts if theres a space open, as everyones needs and preferences are different. Even behind the work bench, everyone who plays any instrument in any style, in any environment has different wants and needs. Understanding how to accomplish those goals, with constantly changing variables is important.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

1. As audience members, other artists, enthusiasts, etc. Saying you support someone and their work, and doing NOTHING else, is only harming the person you support. Dont say you’re gonna go to the show tonight if you’re not gonna go. If you’re not in close proximity, or things keep coming up and getting in the way, sure. But dont lie to/ghost someone. SUPPORT LOCAL MUSICIANS

2. Dont ask how much merch is, and then get grossed out and upset that someone would charge that much for a t-shirt. We HAVE to. I understand the affordability is important. With that, you have to understand that we also have to afford water and electricity. SUPPORT LOCAL MUSICIANS

3. ALLOW YOURSELF TO DISCOVER cool new music and experiences. Just because the guitar player is someone you knew in high school and they couldnt play a lick then, doesnt mean you’ll have a bad time or that you wont like the music. Sophomore year was 5+ years ago. SUPPORT LOCAL MUSICIANS

4. (This one is a bit larger than local) Quit being SO strict on imagery. If someone who looks like me, and lives where I live, wants to go play with Dua Lipa, can do the job, and brings a both physical and non-physical vibe that benefits the act catering to a larger audience, they should be on Dua Lipa’s call list! I know I would be inspired by seeing someone like me do that. Im not saying let anyone do anything. Obviously, Kerry King wouldnt work for a Dua Lipa gig. However, letting someones image be the BIGGEST determining factor of value is discouraging to many great musicians who deserve way more and way better opportunities. SUPPORT LOACL MUSICIANS

4.5. If someone doesnt fit YOUR criteria, send them wear they MIGHT fit the criteria.
“Hey, sorry, Dua is not into it. However, we all think you might be a good fit for Charlie Puth’s camp.”

5. DONT BE AFRAID TO TAKE LESSONS. YOU CAN ONLY GET BETTER

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

Not my thing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cadenzaperformanceacademy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madbeanz.co/profilecard/?igsh=ZWc5czlvMWZ2Y3g3
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits

Haley Miller – Owensboro, KY

Erich Stranger – Owensboro, KY

Taylor Graves – Owensboro, KY