We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andy Degan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andy below.
Alright, Andy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you 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?
I’m very fortunate in that all of the work I do for money is related to music in one way or another. I think a common misconception is that most full time musicians only do one job the way many people do a 9 to 5, but the reality is that my work is often many smaller jobs that add up to a full-time job. The skills I use the most to earn a full time living are singing and performing, vocal arranging for a cappella groups/small ensembles, and teaching both private voice and piano. I wasn’t always able to make money doing all of those things. I’ve worked a number of retail and restaurant jobs in the past to make ends meet. But by doing so I was able to slowly build up valuable skills over time. As your skills grow and you meet more people, you become more in demand and you’re able to raise your rates and/or find work that will compensate you more in line with what you’re worth.
Andy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
As mentioned, my main work can be organized into three different sections. singing/performing, arranging, and teaching.
My singing work can be broken down further into choral/classical music where I sing in professional choral ensembles and act as a soloist for a Lutheran church, pop/rock music where I sing wedding and corporate gigs in bands of various sizes, a cappella music where I tour with my vocal jazz/pop group M-Pact, and other miscellaneous gigs and studio session gigs that come along the way.
I got into music arranging through my a cappella performance work. Primarily my work has been choral and contemporary a cappella arranging and I’ve worked with all different levels and ensemble sizes. Recently though I’ve gone a bit outside of my normal work doing some work with instruments (gasp), writing background vocals for artists, and composing choral music.
Teaching came about for me around 5 years ago or so. I started teaching primarily private voice and piano lessons (and that still remains my main focus) but I have also taught contemporary music at Performing Arts High School CSArts in Duarte, CA and group classes at the Kapena School of Music in Honolulu HI. While initially I picked up teaching as a way to stem the tide from the volatility of gig culture, now it’s hard to imagine a reality where educating isn’t part of my weekly routine.
Getting into music was a bit of an inevitability for me. Both of my parents are church musicians and educators and for a while I was on a path to become a public school teacher. I ended up joining a professional summer a cappella group after my sophomore year of college called Hyannis Sound and it opened my mind to the possibility that I could make a living making music and performing. I ended up switching my major to vocal performance and business management and ended up using my Hyannis Sound connections after school to start me on my journey after that.
There are a lot of different stops here, but some of my favorite performance highlights include fronting a party band for a Carnival cruise ship, moving to NYC and singing in professional chamber ensemble Choral Chameleon, singing a christmas show for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, moving to Los Angeles and joining M-Pact which has taken me all over the US and internationally, singing in an Opera Chorus with the Los Robles Master Chorale for the Ojai Music Festival, singing at the Pitch Perfect 3 premiere with pop caroling group Snowfall, and moving to Honolulu HI and doing wedding gigs in the most beautiful places imaginable.
All of these opportunities came about through an abundance of saying yes and belief in myself to figure out new skills. I’m in a new chapter of my life where I get to be a bit more selective with what work I take, but I only got to where I am now by walking through open doors that I thought felt compelling at the time. Even still I have some other musical things I’d like to get into, most notably songwriting and choral conducting, and so I have to choose carefully which projects bring me joy and make me excited to make music versus the projects that feel a bit more like work.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think the thing that non-creatives don’t understand about my specific journey is the amount of change or instability that I’ve gone through and am relatively comfortable with. Not that I like those things all the time, but I’ve learned to fall forward into opportunities that would broaden my horizons or go on adventures others might be afraid to take. I’ve learned a lot of independence through moving around the country and although stability is definitely important, I’ve gone on so many adventures and met so many amazing people by not being afraid to try something completely new. I don’t think it’s something just anyone can do, but I have benefited greatly by having a little “instability” in my life.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
As on the nose as this answer might be, it really is making other people happy. Don’t get me wrong, international travel, getting paid to do what you love, and the diversity of projects I get to do are all huge perks but ultimately I really love contributing to a performance and watching people truly enjoy it. Just this past week I sang a duo set at a local restaurant and an older couple got up and slow danced during a song. It’s something little, but my music helped someone have a nice moment and that’s a really great reward for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.andydegan.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andydegan/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andydeganmusic/
- Youtube: @andydeganmusic