We were lucky to catch up with Sable Snyder recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Sable thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us 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?
I have always considered myself to be a creative, a musician and a performer. My parents will tell you that as a young child I spent most of my time in some sort of costume, putting on a show for any poor willing soul who had time to be an audience member. As I grew up, became an adult and went to college I fell into the trap that so many artists do. I thought I needed to find a way to use my talent to make money and I needed to make my art fit into a more profitable box. I became a public school music teacher. I found so much joy in teaching music, but I hated the barriers that working for the state put around what teaching my art form looked like. In 2017 I had my first child and that opened the perfect door for me to find a way out. I quit teaching public school music classes for a more flexible schedule so that I could stay home and teach privately. This soon turned into an entire business for me, and six years later I find myself freelancing as a professional musician and private music educator. I teach group music classes, private music lessons, have my own studio space and play with my own band on the weekends. It is definitely not easy, and sometimes it is more work than I ever put into public school music, but I feel myself slowly turning back into that little girl who danced around in her parents living room in the early 90s. Every year I lean more and more into what feels right as a creative and I am discovering that it absolutely is possible to make a full-time living from your creative work. More than that, it is what we creatives need and are deeply called to.
Sable, 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?
My name is Sable Snyder and I am a full-time freelance musician. I have been making music my entire life and can’t remember a time when I wasn’t singing or performing for my parents growing up. My mom made me take piano lessons as I learned to read (starting at age 5) and I picked up guitar in high school. I learned to play the mandolin when I traveled to Romania in 2007. In the fall 0f 2007 I started attending Georgetown College where I received a Bachelors of Music Education with an emphasis on Voice. Throughout college I performed in a number of operas and classical concerts, but continued to make rock and folk music on my own. When I graduated in 2011 I took a couple of years and worked part-time while getting a Masters degree in Education and then got a job teaching public school music in 2013. I quit my job in the public school system in 2017 to stay home with my newborn and begin to pursue a career as a freelancer.
I now run a business called Sable Snyder Music. Sable Snyder Music offers music education and music-making community building opportunities to all ages. I teach everything from newborn music and movement classes to adult group classes. I teach pop-up music classes, Music Together classes, various music camps, group instrument classes, and classes at local private schools. I also have a large studio of private voice, guitar and piano students and one additional teacher who also works with my business. The goal of Sable Snyder Music is to bring music making to the community through play and encourage folks to remember that we are all born musicians, it just takes the right amount of exposure to find that music inside us. Our goal at Sable Snyder Music is to create a musical community — whether you are listening, learning, experiencing or performing we want to help you find your relationship with the music that has been inside you all along!
I also have a band, The Mingled Oaks, that I play with on the weekends. My band consists of my husband (Kyle Snyder), our good friend (Phillip Harris-Davis) and myself. We consider ourselves a folk jam band and have been playing together at bars, restaurants, music festivals and private events for almost ten years. We play original, traditional, and cover songs with instrumentation such as guitar, mandolin, harmonica, bass and cajon. Our sound infuses folk, classic rock, and soul to create a unique and raw musical experience for listeners. We currently have two songs on all major streaming platforms – Song to the Moon and Keep Walkin.’
I also am part-time staff and lead a choir and congregational singing at our church, Georgetown Baptist Church. I do a lot of freelance performing in addition to what our band does.
I think what makes me stand out as a musician and music educator is that I successfully do both. I am teaching people to become life-long musicians while I am currently acting as a professional performing musician. This helps me to be able to better understand the industry and to continue to engage in making art (my favorite part of my career) while also teaching others to do so.
I am currently most proud of the work I am doing with my band. I feel like this is my creative outlet and the place in my artistic career where I feel the most seen.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Being a creative is hard work, especially one who is a full-time professional. Creatives are lucky to be able to do work that they are passionate about each day. For many of us, me included, it feels like we have to do this work. That it is calling for us so deeply that we can’t find joy doing much else. With that said, it is still work. I think a lot of non-creatives find it difficult to understand creative work fields and that misunderstanding actually makes it really hard for creative professionals to create thriving businesses in our society. This sort of misunderstanding effects how often people will invest in our art or the prices they are willing to pay for the services we offer. To them, at the end of the day, we are doing “secondary work” or a “hobby” as a profession and therefore we should often provide our services or our art simply because it is joyful to us. I would like non-creatives to be able to really step back and take a hard look at how much time, training, talent and hard work many artists apply to their professions. We are highly skilled and often highly trained professionals who provide very unique services and art to people. This sort of art can often not be replicated by anyone else. If creative work was looked at through this lens more people would settle into professions in the creative arts. I think there are a lot of people out there who are immensely capable but choose another route because they were told that this is just a hobby and they won’t make any money doing it.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I think this answer is pretty similar to my last one. I think if society can reshape how we see creatives and artists and how we identify them in society and value their work then we can create a more thriving ecosystem. The idea of a “starving artist” really has to end. Artists and creatives really need to be able to ask for fair compensation for their work and should never feel like they have to settle for less. This also has to change in the artist community. So many artists are willing to do their work cheaply and that puts others in a tough spot. We, as a creative community, need to work together so that we are all valuing our work and asking for fair wages for that work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sablesnydermusic.com/
- Instagram: @sable_snyder_music @music_together_with_sable @themingledoaksband
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/sablesnydermusicllc/ https://m.facebook.com/musictogetherwithsable
- https://m.facebook.com/themingledoaksband
- Other: Folks can look up The Mingled Oaks on all streaming platforms to listen to our music!
Image Credits
Photo Credits: Devin Harris-Davis, Sydni Jones and Guillaume Cozzi