A year of music
My story of bucket lists, unexpected opportunities, and rediscovering myself in a post-academic world
I’m a 26-year-old who has been working full-time as a software engineer since graduating from university 3 years ago. Following a quarter-life crisis and determined to reconnect with an old hobby, I picked up my ukulele and set out to cross an item off my bucket list. One thing led to another, and I spent most of my 2023 building a new identity as a performing musician.
In 2023, I:
- busked for the first time
- became a licensed busker for Pike Place Market (in Seattle) and Translink (in Vancouver)
- performed at a restaurant for the first time
- became a house musician at The Story Cafe
- got cold emailed for gigs for the first time
- played at 8 other paid + unpaid gigs
- had 50+ friends and family members support me at a performance
- joined my first community choir
- performed at 4 Vancouver Pops choir concerts and sang my first solo at the Chan centre
- learned 70+ songs
- performed at my first open mic
- started my own social media accounts and website
- released my first Spotify album
How did we end up here?
Throughout my life, I was always heavily involved in extracurriculars. Whether it was Chinese cultural dance, playing in concert band, leading an a cappella group, or organizing hackathons, my extracurriculars were my source of pride that opened doors to opportunities, experiences, and friendships beyond what school could offer. I also loved being known as a dancer, clarinetist, a cappella singer, and hackathon organizer, as it gave me identities apart from being a student or software engineer.
In 2020, I graduated from UBC and started my first full-time job. On top of that, I went through COVID lockdowns, started a serious relationship, and moved out of my parents’ house for the first time. During this series of life events, I found myself letting go of old hobbies in favour of working, cooking my own meals, and contributing to my TFSA, amongst other “adult” things. Part of me was excited to embrace adulthood, yet I began to wonder if I was trying to be more grown-up than necessary. Eventually, I realized that I had lost touch with what truly made me happy, which was having passions outside of work. I reflected on my lack of extracurriculars over the last 2 years and knew this needed to change ASAP.
When considering which activity to pursue, music immediately came to mind— I‘ve played music for as long as I could remember and knew that I could brush up on it relatively quickly. I remembered always wanting to try busking since high school, but saved it on my bucket list for “when I finish school and have more time as a working adult”. That time is now, so I knew this was the place to start.
Busking in Seattle
I went straight to brainstorming how to make my busking routine come to life:
- What instrument will I play?
I decided to sing and play the ukulele — I‘ve been casually playing it since I was 13 and found it simple to learn. I wanted a routine that was easy enough that my nerves would be the only concern when I go out to busk for the first time. - What songs will I play?
I used to play music at senior homes and already knew a handful of classic sing-alongs like Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World. I’ve read somewhere that buskers only need about 20 minutes of good material so I learned a few more pop songs to complete my list. - Where will I play?
I was terrified of the thought of being spotted by someone I knew and it was a reason why I never busked in the first place. I was in a long distance relationship at the time and visited Seattle often so I decided to start there instead.
It was December 29th, 2022. With my ukulele case in hand and backpack slung over my shoulder, I paced back and forth along the water until I found a spot with good foot traffic to the Seattle Great Wheel and set up. Despite years of anticipation, I didn’t expect to feel so rusty and unprepared when the day finally arrived. I hummed for a few minutes in attempt to calm my nerves before forcing myself to start playing.
My mind was buzzing with distractions and I found myself being fixated on all of the things that went wrong— the wind was rustling at the pages, my fingers were getting cold, and people were starting to notice me. I was so afraid of messing up that I ended up skipping all of the new songs I practiced. Some people smiled and gave me money, but I ultimately felt deflated about the whole experience and considered calling it a day at around the 45 minute mark. However, towards the end of my set, a kind older man stopped to listen to my rendition of Leaving on a Jet Plane before handing me a $20 bill and wishing me a Happy New Year.
And that became the first of many more performances to come.
I busked at the Great Wheel a few more times before applying for busking licenses with Pike Place Market and Translink back home in Vancouver. My setup upgraded to include amplification, fairy lights, and a letter board. I grew to enjoy busking for its freedom to play whatever and whenever I wanted, for its low-stress environment to practice new material, and for its challenge in figuring out what songs people like listening to. It was also comforting and reminiscent of my high school days playing at senior homes, this time with the added excitement of varied audiences and monetary rewards.
An unexpected perk was that I got to meet and interact with so many kind people who helped me with my footing at the beginning. Some noteworthy ones:
- The couples and kids who danced along to my music
- The buskers who stayed around after their set to listen to me and give me their just-earned tip money.
- A Pike Place custodian who saw me having a particularly hard day and gave me a $20 bill, telling me that he used to be a busker there too.
- A musician who sold me his busking amp on Facebook marketplace. After discovering that I was new to busking, he has stayed in touch with me ever since and became my mentor for anything music, busking, or gigging related.”
- A runner who approached me busking in front of the Great Wheel. She explained to me that she used to busk at this very spot years ago before becoming a full time performing musician. She gave me busking advice and exchanged contacts with me in case I ever needed a music mentor in Seattle. Fun fact: She’s the musician featured on my Pike Place Market busking license!
Becoming a restaurant musician
It was February and I was dining at The Story Cafe to celebrate a friend’s birthday. There was a live musician playing and I couldn’t help but notice how her visual, sound, and song choices were so similar to mine. Seeing her perform inspired me to muster up the courage and ask my server if the restaurant had any performance opportunities. To my surprise, she informed me that they were hiring a Wednesday musician and handed me a business card to contact them with. A series of emails later, and I was invited to be their weekly Wednesday night musician with my first show starting in 2 weeks.
The shows were 3 hours long and I got straight to work with learning new material to expand my setlist, adding a variety of pop, classic, throwback, and Disney songs. I would busk for the sake of practicing new material and it quickly turned into the “easy” performance for me.
Playing at the restaurant was a very different experience from busking and it was quite stressful at first. I had to get used to feeling the bright lights on my face and hearing my voice echo through the restaurant sound system. I learned how to chat with the audience between sets and how to tune out the chatter (especially when it’s about me 😱).
Before long, the gig became a weekly highlight for me. It helped me grow my confidence, endurance, and identity as a musician. I would come home every night with an interesting interaction or story to tell my friends about. Even on slow nights, my staff friends kept me entertained with their shenanigans. I stayed and performed every Wednesday from March 22nd to the end of 2023, totalling 10 months, 32 shows, and 96 hours of music-making.
Some memories:
- Surprising my parents by setting them up for dinner at the restaurant
- A customer sharing that “Can’t help falling in love with you” was their anniversary song
- Sharing the stage with my guitarist friend
- Watching little kids dance along to my music
- Having customers stay for my entire 3-hour show.
- Getting my first $100 bill tip!
- Receiving tips in e-transfer, USD, AUD, and Euro
- 50+ friends and family coming out to support me at a show
- Having 6 tables worth of friends and family attend my final show
Other gigs that came along the way
Equipped with an extensive setlist and newfound confidence, I was eager to jump out of my comfort zone and pursue more performance opportunities around town:
- I was cold emailed by Metropolis at Metrotown to be a guest performer for their Music Mania event after finding me on the Translink busker page. They later invited me back to play at their Summer at the Met series as a fan favourite.
- I applied to perform at the Richmond Night Market on a whim and was invited to play two shows that summer.
- I started playing at the Mount Saint Joseph Hospital senior home where my grandparents live.
- I performed at my first open mic hosted by Chorus Studio.
- I played at OSI Maritime Systems’ corporate Christmas party at the Anvil Centre.
Bottom row (left to right): Summer at the Met, Richmond night market, Chorus Studio
Social media and management
Another area I was excited to explore was how to brand and promote myself as a musician. Initially, I had a private Instagram account, @aneetasings, with about 7 close friends as followers because I was (ironically) too shy to share it with others. It was only after being asked multiple times by patrons for my social media handle when I finally gave in and made it public. I pushed myself to post more consistently and publish at least one video per performance, even if it was a bad singing day. Through regular posting, I learned how to edit videos, be comfortable in front of a camera, and care less about what people thought of me.
I also had fun brushing off my design and coding skills and built myself a mini website.
On the admin and management side, I used Notion to organize everything including a song database, revenue tracking, artist bios, and future plans. This made it easy to apply for new gigs and build setlists on the fly, and to also track my progress and see how far I’ve come.
Finding a community with music
While gigging was great for building my performance skills, I was longing to join a community and work with people who shared the same interests as me. I spent 3 years being part of a hackathon club at UBC and was missing that sense of community after I graduated. Coincidentally, a mutual friend reached out and invited me to join her choir at Vancouver Pops as they were starting a new semester. I had heard of VPOPS before and was skeptical if it would be a good fit for me, but I gave it a shot anyways since I didn’t have any other groups in mind.
Fast forward one year later, and I’ve performed at 4 VPOPS concerts and befriended a diverse group of people who have a lot of fun together at socials like karaoke, picnics, and kayaking. I was given the opportunity to sing my first solo, a surreal experience where I sang accompanied by a live orchestra in a sold-out Chan Centre concert hall. As a bonus, I was able to brush off my dance skills by practicing choreography to go with the music.
Today, I’m taking on a new challenge and honing my teaching skills as the new choir assistant, leading the weekly choir rehearsals and warmups.
Live at The Story Cafe, Vol. 1
I had been playing around with audio recording my Wednesday gigs for the sake of improving the sound quality on my video posts and capturing some of the sweet customer interactions between songs. After recording a few weeks worth of audio, I realized that I probably had more than enough good runs to compile an album.
With that, I released the album “Live at The Story Cafe, Vol. 1” with the intention to publish more in the future. Through the process, I learned how to edit audio and navigate the procedures involved in releasing music on streaming platforms. Although the sound editing wasn’t the best, I decided to publish the album anyway as a milestone for how far I’ve come as a musician since starting months ago.
So what’s next for Aneetasings?
Busy schedules, changed priorities, and life events caused me to step back from most of my performing engagements since the end of 2023. Even though I had a good run with a variety of gigs, it was becoming unsustainable for me to perform 3+ hours every week. As I take a break from gigging, I’ve been redirecting my energy towards spending time with loved ones and growing in my role as choir assistant. In the future, I would like to tap into my creative side and take a stab at songwriting, crocheting, and drawing.
As I reflect on the past year, I’m still in disbelief at all the experiences and opportunities that have come my way, surpassing what I ever imagined possible for myself. I’m so grateful for my friends and family for believing in me since day 1, as well as to the patrons, new friends, and mentors I met along the way for inspiring me to keep going. Although I won’t be performing or posting as much anymore, 2023 will always have a special place in my heart as the year where I jumped out of my comfort zone and became a musician.
