We were lucky to catch up with Brandon Chun recently and have shared our conversation below.
Brandon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I am happy as an artist. The funny thing is that I kind of do have a “regular job” since I have a full time job as a music teacher at public schools. Despite that, my career isn’t as clear cut as typical 9-5 jobs. Right now, I feel like my balance between my teaching job and my gigging/creative life is great right now. I work from 8-3 during the week doing something I love, I get health care and a retirement plan, and I get holidays and long breaks off in between it all. All that considered, the thought of what it would be like to have a regular job still crosses my mind from time to time. Teaching elementary school is exhausting especially with myself being an introvert and having to be “on” as soon as the first class walks through the door. Managing classrooms of anywhere from 4-11 year old kids is stressful and draining and, especially in that age range, there can only be a semblance of routine. Any teacher knows – no matter how much you plan, your students will (whether intentionally or unintentionally) derail some, most, or all of your lesson plan. Sometimes the thought of just sitting down at my own isolated cubicle to complete tasks for the day sounds really nice. Sometimes the thought of making more money to support my family and friends sounds really nice. However, the two things that reassure me I’m making the right career choice for me are A) I wouldn’t get nearly as much fulfillment as I do from teaching music and B) I think I would die from being overworked if I worked a 9-5 while trying to gig and produce all while only getting two weeks of PTO. The way I balance my life currently, I am able to make a decent living from teaching while still getting to perform and write music for fun!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started getting into music as a whole when I was 7 because I really liked The Wiggles. I absolutely wanted to play my guitar with Murray and that I did. Shoutout to my 2nd grade teacher Mrs.Watanabe for talking to my parents about how I would always do air guitar in class and asked if I was interested in taking lessons. As it turned out, her husband teaches private guitar, piano, and voice lessons. That was my “canon event” if you will. I think my passion for guitar and music really kicked in around 5th grade. I started getting really into The Beatles and Green Day and throughout the course of middle school, learned just about both bands’ entire discography. From the time between 5th grade and the end of high school. I was involved in about every school music ensemble I could be part of and in doing so, I learned about 10 instruments. I knew I wanted to have some kind of career related to music, and it was by 10th grade that I realized teaching would be what I would pursue. I had the middle school pipe dream of becoming a famous rock star, but I didn’t have the right friends at the time to start a band with and I was also naive to the workings of the music industry. That being said, I never “settled for” teaching. It was a genuine passion that I realized I had when I join the leadership team in my high school’s marching band. I love helping others see the beauty of music for themselves and reach their potential in music. At the same time, half way through college I realized I didn’t want to give up performing and writing music. I still had a passion for that part of music as well. My band, EV133, helped me realize that when we formed right before the start of the pandemic. Since then, I’ve been exploring how it can be possible to do both, and I’m happy to say that I’ve found that possibility. I’m still fine tuning and figuring things out every day, week, month, and year, but I’m happy that I’m able to live a life where I can find fulfilment in my full time teaching job, as well as creative fulfilment through performing and writing in the bands I’m in.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One thing I had to unlearn as I started entering the space of playing with other people and being in a community of other performers was the competitiveness that I had ingrained in me since high school. I’m grateful for my high school music experiences, but being in marching band made me very competitive when it came to music. As I started performing with EV133, I was entering a space where performers and musicians do it just for fun. It’s not for a medal or a trophy or a championship title. Not everything needs to be absolutely perfect all the time. I struggled with this a lot at first as a perfectionist. Eventually I started to let go of that view, but I still struggled with it because I wanted to have fun in the band and wanted my bandmates to also have fun without feeling like there was extra pressure of high standards and expectations. Overtime, I’ve been finding the balance to it. I’m realizing that, like with all things, balance is the key. You can be laid back and have fun playing, writing, and performing, but you can also have high standards and expectations for yourself and the people you do those things with. All that considered, if you’re trying to balance that in a band or any kind of group, it’s all about everyone being able to communicate their goals and what they want out of the band, ensemble, etc. so that everyone knows what to expect when they get involved.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
On one hand, non-creatives sometimes think my career choices are questionable because I could be making so much more money if I was doing x-y-z. “Why aren’t you doing gigs AND teaching private lessons in addition to your full time job? What other free lance work can you do with music? You don’t make that much as a teacher.” I’ve been met with this sentiment before and there are two problems with it: 1) Not everything is about money. I gig and perform and write not to make money but because it’s fun and I enjoy it 2) I would hate my life if I occupied all of my time outside of my full time job with side hustles. I also feel like there’s a misconception about teacher salaries. When people are critical of how much teachers are paid, it’s mostly because the pay is not proportional to the work. The issue of median salaries in America being too low is another issue entirely, but all things considered, I actually make decent money as a teacher. As a public servant, teacher salaries are available to the public. Full transparency – I’m going to be making around $70,000 this upcoming year. It’s not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it’s also important to remember that I get summers, one week in the fall, two weeks in the winter, and one week in the spring as well as all those Monday holidays off.
On the other hand, I think there are some would-be-creatives that don’t pursue their art because they think it has to be all or nothing. And it’s simply not true. The way that I’m living my life with my career is an example of that. The idea of plunging into your art to try and “make it” is scary and, to be honest, not entirely healthy. If you have the means, go for it. But not everyone can just quit their job and start a band. Art takes time and resources. Unfortunately capitalism has made it impossible for us to have easy access to either of those things, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up on our dreams to become corporate slaves. You can have stability while pursuing your art.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/bb_brandon
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bb_brandon918/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrandonChun
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bb_brandon918?lang=en
Image Credits
Vincent Cablarda
Sebastian Bongiovanni