We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kvhondre Tinner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kvhondre, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?
It all started in February 2023 when I finally took a leap of faith and decided to do music full time. I use to work various jobs to make ends meet. Manager at Smoothie King to a ticket scanner at House of Blues. Though these were good jobs , music for some reason, has always reeled me back in for better opportunities and I would lose my job. Granted , I’ve never been able to keep a job for more than a few months anyways, I would work a job and then leave or some how get let go.
The last job I worked was House of Blue in Houston. I probably worked there for a few weeks. I was only working there because I had walked away from my Smoothie King job and needed money for my bills and what not. I was still gigging with music, but I had a dry month in January and needed to get right. I get the job at House of Blues and in a couple weeks, I walked away from that job. My music gigs started to pick back up and my calendar was getting full of dates. So I go to my manager and let them know what is going on and they didn’t like that. They tried to tell me that my own priority is the job, which was part time, and that I don’t take any opportunities outside of work. Well…me being me,when put in a position to make a choice, I choose to do my music gigs. Evidently, I lost my job of course but that’s when the magic happened.
No longer working a 9-5 I decided to pray and take a step of faith and do music full time. It’s only by the grace of God , that I’ve been able to take care of myself with music alone , while also being a full time student at Texas Southern University. I felt alive , as if I’m following living in my purpose. Show after show after, I was on a good run. I stuck with my price and ran with it. The ones who were able to afford my services, got what they wanted, the ones that couldn’t, well I wasn’t gonna do anything for free, so they didn’t get a note from me.
Now with all good comes the bad. This is NOT easy whatsoever. Being a full time band leader, gig worker is very up and down. I mean, everyday, I have to make some money and even days where I’m not gigging through music, I’m either door dashing or on YouTube studying something. This career will show you who you are as a person, I believe. It’s an everyday hustle, everyday routine, everyday planning, emails, writing music, paying other musicians, booking shows ECT. It’s a lot of work to handle on your own but that didn’t stop me. I need to pay my bills lol.
So I say all that to say, if anyone is looking to become a full time musician, have a plan. I’m not going to tell you to “take a leap of faith” and just go for it like I did. I didn’t have a plan, I was planning and learning as I go. Have a plan and make sure you have opportunities lined up before you leave your job. At the end of the day, we have to make our money to take care of our needs. Don’t let social media make you feel like you’re missing out because you aren’t. Make your money, have a plan and you will be fine.
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.
Music chose me…I didn’t choose music. I didn’t even know I’d be playing the trumpet at the 7th grade. Music just happen to say “hey , kid, you’re gonna play trumpet and be great at it. Good luck”. It all started when I was 12/13 years old. I didn’t choose a music class , I chose art but for some reason band class was chosen.
In the class we had to select an instrument to play. I figured since I knew nothing about music , I’ll play drums or something. Turned out that drums was already taken. So I had. To choose between flute and trumpet. It’s kind of funny how I’ve always associated flute with women, so I chose trumpet cause “girls play flute ” lol I was manish , what can I say. But the flute has too many buttons and I just Trumpet would be easier because it has 3 buttons, but that wasn’t the case. Trumpet is really hard.
Of course I do the whole school thing , from middle school to highschool, got in the jazz band, obtained a jazz award and graduated highschool in 2015(19 years old), I took my talents to the streets. I tried going to community college but I dropped out, wasn’t my thing at the time. With no direction or real technical training, I learned how to play my instrument and book shows as I go. I wasn’t like the other musicians that went to conservatories and gained all the musical knowledge, I learned everything I know from experience, trial and error, losing, winning , adversity and all. I have a very unconventional play style because of the park I chose. Moving around from city to city, state to state , this was how I was able to learn my music career.
Finally I move to Houston in 2021 and things were starting to click a little better. All the crazy experiences I’ve had back in Sacramento CA, I was able to apply to Houston but better. Right off the bat I started getting opportunities by going to various jam sessions and connecting with other artists/musicians and what not. I’ve been to get booked, started my first group APBOYS, and even put on my own events!
A little fun fact about me is that I’m into astrology and astronomy. I wanted to find a way to make a connection with music, astrology and astronomy. I did so by throwing Lunar Eclipse Parties, where me and my band would showcase our musical skills and celebrate the phenomenon such as the Lunar Eclipse. I’m the first one to do these shows in Houston and I found that a lot of people actually enjoyed this event. I’m planning the next Lunar Eclipse Concert in 2025, based on my astronomical study.
Currently, I attend Texas Southern University under a scholarship for Jazz Performance. I gig around Houston and travel for work. I do weddings, parties, pop ups, wherever the money is at , is where I’m at.
I started another trio, Synesthesia, where I play trumpet and piano. We do a fusion of jazz, hip-hop and cosmic electric music. We are coming to Houston with a different angle to the music because no one else plays this type of music we play. To my surprise we are growing a rapid fan base. So I’m just going to keep up the momentum.
As far as what I bring to the table of music. I have Albums out on all streaming platforms. The album I’ll focus on is “Vstronomy”(Astronomy). This is my celestial album where I display ambient, spacy sounds with a jazz twist to it. It has been played around the world so far and I’m now working on my second Vstronomy album as well.
My musical influences come from Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, Woody Shaw and John Coltrane. These are the guys I listen to DAILY and these influences have shaped the way I play today. I can do jazz and I can do RnB. Really any style to be honest. Since Houston is more of an RnB city , I play mostly RnB out here.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Currently I’m making a pivot from the whole jazz scene to the RnB scene. I’ve been playing jazz music for years and though it’s all good and challenging to play, it doesn’t make much money, unless you are already famous in the scene, most jazz cats are working for scraps.
Moving to Houston opened me up to the RnB scene. I get paid more money and I get a lot of work out here. Weddings , parties and private events and what not.
Another pivot I’m making is going back to school. I attend TSU right now and I figure if I can get my bachelor’s degree , maybe more musicians will take me seriously. So that’s really what’s going on with me.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
My first most rewarding aspect of being an artist was when I put out my first EP back in 2019. The EP is called Lucid Dreams EP. The EP is made of Celestial Sounds of Space with a twist of Jazz Elements. In creating the EP all I had was an iPhone and Garage band. No interface or laptop or anything. I was working a mall job in Georgia when I was creating the project.
During my breaks I would get on my phone record sounds or my trumpet in the back, sometimes on the floor. Good thing my manager at the time wasn’t a stickler at work , she was pretty lenient, she understood the whole “artist” situation and things like that, so I was able to work on the project and release it on my birthday, April 26th.
While I was working on the project, in the back in my head I would think that no one would be into the kind of music I was creating. You know? I’m competing with rap, hip hop , mainstream music , I mean who would possibly want to listen to some “ambient sounds and drums” ? It’s not a common thing in society, well at least that’s what I thought at the time. But to my surprise…. people actually liked the project. I’ve had people tell me the music helped them relax their mind, made them dance , helped them deal with anxiety and all that. It was good to see my work be appreciated.
Currently another project I put out is called ‘Vstronomy’. It can be found on all streaming platforms.
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