I'm thinking of 2 strategies, On one hand, I got started in college by meeting folk singers who already had cafe and farmer's market gigs. Some of those connections became friendships, which became collaborations, which led to my playing with them for free on one or two songs on their gigs, which led to being part of the 'band' and splitting the earnings together. I probably earned about $200 from flute playing in a year this way. Also in college, I met a few music teachers and a flutist in the local community orchestra, and would sometimes get paid to join high school student bands for school concerts, musicals, and a local Easter music production in cases when there weren't enough flutists to fill the ensemble. I probably earned about $200 from that in a year also. To me, this strategy could be summed up as: find others who are making money from their music and join in. Find a train that's already running and hop on. In 2020, I started a duo ensemble with a friend who plays piano. We played music at one wedding for a personal friend, then we played music for a retirement party for a friend's parents. We relied on word-of-mouth and personal referralls for a few events in the first year or two, and we went to play at open mic events for free several times. In 2022 we made a website and started reaching out to restaurants and malls to play background music. We rehearsed 3-4 hours together every week in 2022-23 to build up a big repertoire. We have 60+ songs in our repertoire now, and we don't rehearse as often. Now we do 6~8 gigs each year, and I probably earn about $1000 a year from this ensemble. That could be a big or a tiny amount, depending on how you look at it. To me, this strategy could be summed up as: start doing your own thing for family and friends, and then keep doing it, and you may find a bigger and bigger audience. Lay your own track, start your own train, and see where it takes you. Even though $1000 a year translates to a horrible hourly wage for my flute playing; 80+ hours of rehearsals, plus solo practicing outside of rehearsals, plus upkeep on my flute, plus upkeep on sound equipment (we usually have to bring our own sound system), time spent coordinating and scheduling gigs by email, formal dress clothes, website costs, transportation and other costs, I'm still happy and proud to be earning this money and being an 'artist' this way.

I am part of a duo that does restaurants, weddings, and private events. That's where most of my flute playing effort has gone in recent years, www.eastendpianoandflute.com. I volunteer at my church 2-3 Sundays each month, mostly flute but singing too. Also I play electric bass and sing background vocals in a cover band, pop and dance music. I'm not doing any recitals this year, but I'm hoping to record a bunch of short duets with different collaborators.

@Sheri Hudgins thanks! We use the hymnal "Voices Together" at my church, which has notation for all the hymns. There are also chord symbols for some. It has over 700 hymns, but we use about 80-90 over the course of a year. I don't have any music on Spotify or anywhere else, just a few videos on YouTube on my duo partner's channel. We started the duo in 2020. First we did a wedding for a friend, then we started reaching out to restaurants, the airport, applying to city parks events, and made our website. It gradually grew from there. We want to do one event a month, but haven't reached that yet.

It's often therapeutic for me, yes! Sometimes I'll watch cartoons, play video games, get exercise, snuggle with my cats, or draw pictures to relax and recharge after a hard day, and putting my flute together to make some noise is right up there too.

I won't find it here until April at the earliest 😖

This group is great! I'll work up to Maestro too!!