Written by Mary Catherine (BA ‘10, Music & Drama)
Five years have passed since I collected my Honours Arts degree in Music and Drama from UWaterloo. A year after graduating, I left Kitchener-Waterloo to pursue a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto. After receiving my second degree in 2012, I realized that I missed the strong sense of community that Kitchener-Waterloo has. I also ached to reignite my passion for singing and performance. I came home, eager to get a job that could support my passion.
One day, walking home from an interview at a high-profile local company, I realized that the 9-5 life was just not for me. I envisioned myself sitting in a cubicle, making phone calls and answering emails regarding products that didn’t remotely interest me. I felt like the musician part of myself, the part that I was proudest of, was taking a back seat. And I didn’t even have the job yet! On that walk home, I recognized that I had the skill set for making my passion into a career. I had graduated from UWaterloo with a Music degree and I had received much encouragement from my professors during my time there. The open, supportive attitude in the UWaterloo Music Department made it seem like anything was possible! I viewed myself as a musician. Now, I just needed to trust myself.
From that day on, I dove head first into making myself a marketable, self-employed musician. If I didn’t want a “normal” career, I knew that I would need to work hard to create the jobs for myself. I channeled my certified teacher status into a private voice studio, which now has 25 students. I reawakened my passion for vocal jazz performance, which had laid all-too-dormant as I pursued my BEd. I started booking more high-profile jazz performances at local venues and events, like The Jazz Room, The Registry Theatre and the Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival.
As I began to gain a more prominent local profile, I realized that I wanted to give back to the community that has given me so much over the years. Last year, I started a program called “Jazz in the Schools.” It is an in-school project dedicated to bringing the ideas of community, collaboration, and musicianship together through student jazz performance. Our pilot project school, Cameron Heights Collegiate, was a success, and we look forward to expanding in the months and years to come.
