We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bruce Kirkwood a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Bruce, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Yes, I’m grateful to be able to say that I have! Although I’ve been playing the violin since age 6, I didn’t perform for my first paid gig until my freshmen year in high school. Locals would reach out to our orchestra instructors in high school, and they would pull from some of the most talented students to assemble ensembles for these clients. Fortunately, I was included.
Our instructors would let us know the appropriate, provide us with a black binder with the sheet music already categorized and organized, and even pick us up to ensure we were early and on time! Though I only did a handful of these performances in high school, I later learned that several fundamental components of professional musicianship were being instilled.
Those experiences laid the framework for me to later form my music business after enrolling in college at The University of Southern Mississippi as I continued to perform for pay while pursuing an Accounting degree, a music minor, and being a member of the USM Symphony Orchestra.
Half way through my sophomore year, I realized that the load of accounting and music was preventing me from getting more involved in college organizations so I made the very calculated decision to drop orchestra as well as my music minor.
After a brief IDENTITY CRISIS, I realized that I had created the opportunity for me to fully cross over into being a contemporary violinist and also now had far more time to devote to learning more contemporary songs and accept more performance opportunities. Though still on the road to being an accounting, I was unknowingly carving out my path of becoming a full-time musician whose business success would be largely attributed to the college journey of “becoming an accountant”.
After graduating with my degree, I immediately laid the foundation to continue music full-time as a post-graduate, Starting with creating my own business cards, website, and music social media accounts. As the dust of pivots and redirections settled, I was thriving as a talented artist who had the business and professional wherewithal to compliment and sustain the talent. This was the perfect path and outcome that I never could have planned! And it was all made possible by prayer, being open to receiving guidance from those that I trust, and stepping up to my pivotal moments and forks in the road as the future version of myself who’d already made the aligned decisions that best served me!
Bruce, 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?
I began as a classically-trained violinist at the age of 6 leading up to public school, where I carried my classical training throughout college at The University of Southern Mississippi. In addition to the classical training, I buried myself in videos of different musicians on YouTube and tapped into my love for music to help in developing my personal “sound” as a full-time contemporary violinist.
I perform for engagements ranging from celebrity parties to corporate galas, and from NBA/NFL private events to destination weddings. I don’t simply perform for my clients’ events during a specific timeframe; I provide them with an elevated and tailored experience that mutually aligns with our interests. My goal is to be able to walk away feeling happy about the pay I received in exchange for the value I brought, and for my client to be able to walk away satisfied with the experience they paid for. This is the barometer I use to determine when and by how much to increase my prices. Though many factors contribute to this goal being accomplished, it’s ultimately accomplished by going over and beyond to satisfy the client’s needs while also honoring my brand.
In addition to my talent, I believe that a high level of professionalism has set me apart most. My pursuit of an Accounting degree led me down a college journey that placed an extremely high priority of preparing college of business students for the professional world. This consisted heavily of professional workshops, business public speaking courses, courses and workshops on creating invoices and invoices, professional correspondence, different forms of professional dress, marketing, accounting, etc. These are all things that I received without realizing that it would benefit me as a musician, as opposed to someone working in corporate America. Personality and soft skills are other qualities that set me apart from others in the industry. Some may initially book me for my ability to play violin well, but returning clients book me because I connect with them on a human level, make them feel safe in their decision to entrust me with their vision and hard-earned money, and arrive confidently yet personably to events with the energy of a celebrity personality.
More than anything, most clients desire for their guests, colleagues, and staff involved to have a positive experience. This is why I’m intentional about ensuring that anything related to me, in regards to an event, is done with that in mind. I do this by connecting with A/V weeks prior to the event to discuss accommodations, hosting consultations with my clients to discuss details, arriving on site with 3x the necessary amount of preparation time so that I can make casual connections on the front end, set up my equipment, and have time to spare to offer last minute assistance t0 others who may need it. I can’t express how vital doing this has been to the success of my business and client’s event!
When I think of what I’m most proud of as a business owner, the answer that comes to mind is that I lead with integrity and self-respect. There’re infinite ways as a business owner to get over on clients, operate from greed, and do just enough to satisfy the contract rather than the client. Having a mindset to avoid practices like these and maintain integrity while doing business is how I show myself self-respect.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is that I have the amazing opportunity for everything that I create, express, and embody to be reflective of me and in alignment with the essence of who I am. We don’t have that freedom within the corporate world or when working more traditional jobs.
As a creative, your business will always reflect and extend from you as the creator of it. It will either reflect and be an extension of things that you’re proud of or things that you aren’t. Either way, having the freedom to decide is the rewarding gift in and of itself.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Going into college as a star athlete and concert master in the orchestra, I was at a fork in the road and had to make the extremely tough decision of either pursuing football scholarships or music scholarships. As a teenager who’d been fully committed to both worlds my entire life and had tremendous support systems on either side rooting for me to go down either path, this was a lot of pressure to stand under. But I understood how important it was to make a life decision that I’d be happy with longterm.
After ultimately choosing music, I recognized how let down many of my football coaches and supporters were. But one thing about true supporters is that, more than anything, they want what’s best for you. This led me down a path that later brought me to another fork in the road after becoming overwhelmed in college with time-consuming accounting degree courses, the demand of practicing several hours a day to practice music for orchestra, small chamber music, and solo recitals, and the lack of time I had to even process how I felt towards everything that I was doing.
This fork in the road represented two directions. The first being plowing through the overwhelm of everything for the sake of desperately holding onto my 13-year long identity as an orchestra violinist. This was out of fear of leaving orchestra and my music minor and watching my entire journey as a violinist slowly fade away or amount to a side hustle at most alongside a bland but lucrative full-time accounting career. As someone whose always leaned towards fulfillment, that sounded like a life of misery.
The second direction it represented was me choosing to risk seemingly throwing those 13 years down the drain by letting go of my music minor and orchestra. This would allow me to reclaim enough time to dive into the world of college involvement to build an impressive enough college resumé to secure scholarships, accounting internships, and the top entry-level jobs upon graduating. At the time, I was a year and half into college with little-to-no college resumé experience and that terrified me because of how aggressively everyone around me was joining clubs and organizations to build their resumés.
This was the most identity-shattering decision I’d ever made, but I soon after realized it to be the most identity-forming one. I was shedding the things that served who I’d been but no longer served the person I was becoming.
After choosing the second path, I discovered that the tradeoff of letting go of my old identity as a classical violinist in the orchestra was solidifying a new one as a contemporary violinist. This allowed me to sink into what was actually for more aligned for my life. Being a part of a collective orchestra sound was great, but to be able to express music freely as an individual without the mechanical and rigid confines of classical sheet music was *chef’s kiss*.
I found the most involved person I knew on campus and asked if he could meet me at the library, look through all of the college clubs/organizations with me, and help me to decide how to pursue the ones that made most sense for me. After only one semester of building one of the most impressive resumés I could’ve ever imagined, while swinging a thriving business as a travel violinist, I secured a very prestigious accounting internship. Though this accounting firm only accepted junior and senior interns, God had other plans. With an impressive resumé, newly-polished public speaking skills, and freshly-refined professional etiquette, I had everything I needed to be accepted as their first-ever sophomore intern. For the first time ever, my future career path was becoming clear, REAL, and unfolding right before my eyes. So I thought.
This summer accounting internship paid extremely well and gave me the insight and experience of an entry-level audit accountant. Along with it came a great deal of racism, micro-aggressions, burnout, and for the first time ever… depression. Though this wasn’t the outcome I’d hoped for, I learned that though I was great with accounting work, I’d be absolutely miserable if I had to do it every day for the rest of my life. So what now?
It was the beginning of my junior year and I felt as though I was back to the drawing board. I knew that I no longer wanted to be an accountant, but I had seemingly shot myself in the foot by being so excited to be an accountant that I began my degree-related classes my first semester as opposed to the typical route of only taking core curriculum classes for the first two years and saving your degree-related courses for your last two years. If I were to switch majors, I would have wasted so many credits pursuing a degree that I hated. This led me to my next fork in the road.
There’s something special about high hopes being shot down. It stops you in your tracks and keeps you stunned and still enough to see things more clearly. No hype. No busy-ness. Just you and the quiet realization that life still goes on. This was the moment that led me to realize that I’d been unknowingly accruing all of the music, professional, and business-related skillsets and qualifications I needed to be a full-time musician! I’d been so set on one path all along that I’d never stopped to consider the path that God was carving all along. In that moment, I pivoted away from the idea of becoming an accountant to the dream of making a career out of doing what I’d always loved since age 6. Music.
I’ve now graduated, and relocated to Phoenix, AZ to further pursue music and expand beyond it to incorporate other passions of mine (Mindset coaching, singing, producing, and public speaking). It’s been a dream come true to have done just that! I spent three and a half years of my 4.5 years here in Phoenix learning tirelessly from a legendary producer, I’ve released violin and vocal-centric songs recorded in my home studio, I’ve secured several speaking engagements to share my story and inspire others, and I’m building the foundation of becoming a mindset coach. And this is somehow just the beginning!
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned so far is that there are no inherent “right” decisions in life, it’s about being willing to course correct and pivot towards what feels right in each moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://BruceKirkwood.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bruce_the_violinist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BruceTheViolinist
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-kirkwood-ab8472198/
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7DEYcn5PNJZN26ElHcrIdg?si=FQ0PsTMSQ3yfoVRUmVOJFgApple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/bruce-kirkwood/1474459606
Image Credits
– Jasmin Kirkwood
– Alessandro Biehl
– Taylor Evans