NOVEMBER 3rd, 2017

So, you’re a musician and a filmmaker and a magician. Can you tell us a little bit about that, how you integrate these three aspects of your creative character?

I began as a musician. My parents got me started off with piano, and eventually when I got to high school I decided to focus on the violin. And in middle school, I picked up magic, and there’s a lot of similarities with magic and music. Magic involves a lot of finger dexterity, but it also is a performance art. You’re trying to convince your audience, or make them feel something using something that isn’t necessarily tangible.

Then in college, that’s when I started to get into filmmaking. I borrowed a mixer from an a capella group that I was a part of, and I was like, “Hey, I’ve seen all of these YouTube covers, I think we could do one, too.” And so in a day, we just recorded and filmed the video, put it out, and we got a huge positive reaction from our college community. And that was kind of the catalyst for it all.

I used to think that you needed really expensive cameras in order to shoot YouTube covers, but as I did more research, I realized that all you needed was a DSLR camera and a set of lenses, and you can get professional-looking videos. And so I created a YouTube channel and combined all my passions: magic, music, and videography. My handle on social media is “SleightlyMusical.” It’s a play on words – “sleight” is actually from “sleight of hand.” I try to combine slight of hand with violin playing, all the while shooting in really scenic type of areas and venues. And so I’m hoping to continue to do this in some greater capacity in the future.

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?

To string players or classical musicians who are trying to “make it” in this current decade… I think social media that is relevant to your audience is more important now than it’s ever been. Classical music is very, very competitive, and there’s not a crazy amount of jobs. It’s important to diversify your skill set and not just try and get orchestra gigs. Think about doing recording sessions with an artist, doing sessions recording scores for video games or short films, and putting out your own content on the internet. You have YouTube, you have Facebook, you have Instagram, Soundcloud… you have all these different platforms that you can use to showcase your talents. If there isn’t that niche for you, you need to carve it out for yourself.