Today we’d like to introduce you to Phil Circle.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up the son of a musician and writer. My mom, Lilias Circle, was a violist, vocalist, pianist, and the co-founder of an operetta company that is still in operation today, years after her passing. She also wrote for various publications and books during her lifetime. I guess it was just natural that one or two of her six children should end up in the arts. I’m the only one whose sanity was questionable enough to pursue music as a full time career. My oldest brother plays music professionally, but only when he’s not being a psychologist.
I aspired to be a singer-songwriter-guitarist from the start. I would work several jobs at once to pay bills and try and get ahead, while booking and playing shows. I’d practice late into the night and rarely get enough sleep. In 1988, all my hard work led to fatigue and illness from overwork and ended with me in the hospital. I knew something had to change and that it may require a leap of faith… in myself as much as anything. I continued to push, however. The cycle continued to repeat. I continued to hope for an answer.
One day, as I was walking out of Lincoln Park Zoo, I turned to the woman I was with and said in a very matter-of-fact tone, “I think it’d be cool to be a teacher. I think I’d be good at it, too bad I lack any qualifications.” About a week later, a fellow musician called me to ask if I’d be interested in teaching music appreciation at a local school. Another friend was moving to a better position and the school was desperate. Their desperation was my salvation. In a matter of weeks I was teaching kindergarten through 8th grade music two days a week at a private school. I loved it. That was 1993. It took about a month for me to realize I was in over my head, but I hunkered down.
One day some months later, I was strolling passed Columbia College down on Michigan Avenue. I stopped, looked up at the sign, and thought, “Maybe I should get a degree.” I walked in and saw some kid at a desk. I asked him where I should go to see about classes. He pointed at a line just in front of me. I had come by during registration! Two weeks later I was in class. Slightly more than three years of intense work later, I graduated Summa Cum Laude. While attending classes, I also worked in the music department in various roles that included a teacher’s aide, a tutor, and a production assistant.
By 1997, I was teaching a full roster of private students in guitar and voice, along with working in classrooms and performing as a singer-songwriter. That same year I released my first CD to plenty of press attention. This attention didn’t come solely from the quality of the music, although that was given high praise; Every media outlet that featured my work also focused on the fact that I was a musical entrepreneur. I used no agents, managers, promoters, or producers, unless I had no other way into a venue or event. I managed, booked, and promoted myself at a time when most people were still seeking someone else to do it for them. I was DIY/Indie before the terms were adopted. And it was working for me. I was receiving attention for my work, including radio play and regular write-ups.
Most of all, however, I was in charge of my every creative move. It wasn’t long before I also found myself to be a strong advocate of Chicago music and someone whom others would come to in order to develop their own careers on their own terms. I’m still not sure if this was intentional on my part or simply happened as a result of my tendency to be unbending at the time; i.e., there’s a good chance no record label would have picked me up with such an eclectic repertoire and being a pretty demanding and fairly stubborn young man. Whatever the case, I was doing what I loved. I was writing, producing, performing, and teaching music.
Today, while I do still hire out, most of my teaching is done at my private home studio in Rogers Park or on house calls for individuals or groups. I have produced eight albums and received a fair amount of critical acclaim for my work. In 2017, after much harassing from friends and fans to write down the stories I habitually share at shows, parties, dinners, and occasionally in articles, I completed and published my first book. “The Outback Musician’s Survival Guide; One Guy’s Story of Surviving as an Independent Musician” was received very favorably with a first review that made me wonder if the critic had crawled inside my heart and mind. It was exactly what I had hoped someone would find in my story; and what I had hardly dared to dream. Available in print or ebook in all the usual outlets, this book was, of course, self published.
Some teach out of necessity. I truly enjoy it. I’ve watched many students achieve greater commercial success than myself and I couldn’t be more proud. I’ve had students join me on stage and out-play me. I love it when that happens! Educate comes from a Greek root that means “to open” and that’s exactly what I strive to do with every student. Whether I’m working with a total beginner, a hobbyist with some skill, or a working professional like myself, I strive to bring every aspect of my decades of work in music to bare. It’s the love of the work that makes it work.
Has it been a smooth road?
For a time, I felt that the greatest challenge to my work was getting any. That feeling changed when I changed my outlook on things. One day, I remembered what a Buddhist mentor of mine said: “If you chase anything, it will run away.” He was speaking especially about money. I find that when I worry about money… I just worry about money. It’s far better and more effective to simply pursue my work, to focus on what’s immediately in front of me. My energy is more efficiently spent when I’m relaxed and free to be creative in my ideas. I’m pretty good at the creative thing. So, why not use it in the business end of things, too. Building a business requires a creative use of money and ideas. All of this, however, was just a change in mindset that has worked for many entrepreneurs. My biggest challenge was somewhat more unique, I think, to the world of the arts. Had I not surmounted it, I’m not sure I’d be doing this interview.
There came a point somewhere in the last decade where I became at odds with the business side of music. It didn’t seem to matter whether it was related to teaching or performing or producing songs, I was getting bitter. I was finding myself jaded. Then, when the economy took a spill, so did I. It became difficult for me to motivate because I was losing my edge, that optimistic outlook I had survived on for years was fading fast. I went on three short tours to try and get out of my head and simply enjoy the music. But, I toured a nation that seemed to have fallen into a malaise. Most every venue I played was struggling to get people in the door. Even Bourbon Street in New Orleans was quiet! I returned to teaching and continued to play local shows, but they became fewer as my motivation dwindled and my frustration grew.
I managed a release of music that covered several lesser known Chicago songwriters in an attempt to garner attention for the world of the independents. It went largely unnoticed. I fell deep in debt. As things continued to decline, I began to drink too much. In the world of music, this is pretty easy to do. It’s usually free or nearly so. Include the fact that this problem (alcoholism) runs in my family and it should have been an obvious possibility. Add the depression that comes with not knowing your direction and the feeling of losing ones passion, and it may as well have been a death sentence. It wasn’t until I realized that I’m not in total control of my industry, of everything that happens to me, and especially of an illness that takes down the best of us, that I realized what had happened. I began to sit back and let my life catch up with me. I had confused the industry with the art.
My job isn’t to make millions of dollars. My job is to create art and to make sure that absolutely every student that comes to me enjoys the same passion to the best of their ability. Mine is a purpose driven career. And it’s true; do what you love and the rest will come. I switched off my inner control freak, quit drinking, focused more on the Buddhist teachings I hold dear, and found a more relaxed approach. I stopped mourning something I never had (millions of dollars), and started celebrating something nobody can take from me (my creative self).
There’s a great anecdote about a man who’s always working, working, working. When asked why he’s working so hard, he says he’s chasing his fortune. The response he receives is great: “What makes you think your fortune is ahead of you? How do you know it’s not behind you, and if you stop and breathe, it may catch up?” Even when I worked various jobs prior to music becoming my full time occupation, I held each one to a purpose. In each case, I looked for something I could gain from the work I was doing, something I could utilize in my future endeavors. When I occasionally found it difficult to figure how painting a curb or cleaning a gas pump was building my skills for a career in music, I was at least able to see the value of the discipline developed in doing tedious work.
And certainly paying my bills was helpful. To have lost sight of why I was in music is somewhat astounding, but we can’t often see our own suffering when we’re deep in, when we’re scrambling alone to escape. Something I’ve been reading a lot about recently is the value of reaching out for help in the work place. Combine that with creativity, improvisation and purpose driven work and we’re onto how these “new” trends are all just part of humankind’s intrinsic motivation. Since my shift in focus and overall healthier approach, I’m more productive than ever, with less work. It’s uncanny how a little trust in oneself and the creative process can remove so much erroneous work from the day.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I’ve taught both privately and in the classroom (in schools from Pre-K to College, in classes and through workshops), and have been a working musician for more than 30 years, and teacher since 1993. I have a degree in Music Composition and Performance from Columbia College Chicago (Summa Cum Laude). My students have included everyone from absolute beginners to working professionals like myself. Many of my past intermediate and beginning students have gone on to careers in music. Many have come to me after establishing themselves professionally.
My approach in private instruction involves tailoring the lessons to the specific needs of each student, while making sure that he/she has the knowledge and technique that’s most useful to succeed in their creative endeavors. Whether you approach music as a hobby, a potential career, or are already working in the field, I seek to leave nothing out. I also strive to help each student develop their own unique creative voice; that special something that sets them apart, their own style. This has been something that many students have pointed out as a bit of a specialty on my part.
As a fairly prolific songwriter, I’ve had many students also come to me for advise in this area. As with much of my teaching, I draw on my own experience in this area to help them find the best approach for the way they create, while giving them basic skills and disciplines needed to be an effective songwriter.
I’ve always preferred to pursue my career on my own terms, mostly by disregarding the much sought-after “record label” in favor of my own, booking more intimate venues that appreciate the musician and his work, and receiving radio play on stations all over the country and world that look for independent talent.
I’m not really your ordinary songster picking away quietly on an acoustic guitar. Most listeners will say that I’ve managed to blend elements of rock, jazz, blues, folk, and even classical, to create a style of my own. I tend to be pretty lively on stage, too. One local radio personality commented after an appearance on here show, “So, you’re not boring on stage.”
My debut release in the 90s received some great press. In The Mix Magazine said it was “just what the doctor ordered” and they pointed out that my music “defies rock, jazz and blues” saying my songs were “from the master class.” More recently, Illinois Entertainer referred to my latest full band effort saying “Phil is one of our town’s most unique voices.” I’ve been incredibly fortunate in the responses I’ve received to my work on all fronts. I’m deeply grateful.
I’m proud, and a little surprised looking back over 30 years of this, that I’ve been doing what I initially set out to do; make a living in music. I’m proud because there’s been a lot of hard work involved and a pretty wide learning curve. I’m surprised because I could’ve fallen on my face a number of times and somehow landed on my feet, ha.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Chicago is am amazing town for music. This is where Mahalia Jackson and Muddy Waters changed the face of American music by altering peoples’ tastes in it. If you take Chicago music out of American music, it wouldn’t sound the same. As just one person among millions who has grown up around the music of this city, I can see the evolution and I can see the original germ. They coexist. You can hear our music everywhere, in all its forms, more than any city I’ve ever visited. And I’ve been to all the big ones in this country and several outside it. We have the most vibrant, living, and evolving music scene around. The thread may change colors, but the fabric remains.
There may be no better and more welcoming place to begin a career in music. Our community is very supportive of itself. it’s also a great place to cut your teeth. You’re surrounded by tons of talent. Can you make a great living playing? Not so easily. The scene gave that away a long time ago by not demanding good pay, or by demanding too much pay, I’m not sure which. But we all tend to come together to fill bills with quality musical acts and make our best efforts to support each other and get live bodies into the rooms we play.
There’s no question that various venues could do more to support these efforts. And out fair city could be doing a great deal more to promote the overall music of the neighborhoods. We’re much more than our symphonies, big bands, blues clubs, festivals, and downtown area tourist venues. By all rites, Chicago is the original music city. I’d love to see it pushed this way.
Of course, I’m pretty biased. But, once again, I’ve been to all the other big cities and I keep coming home.
Pricing:
- One Hour Private Music Lesson (Guitar or Voice) $55 when paid individually.
- One Month of Lessons (Four Sessions of One Hour Each) $200 ($50 per hour)
- Two Hour Weekly Private Music Class (Instruments, theory, business) $300
Contact Info:
- Website: http://philcirclemusic.com
- Phone: 773-936-4953
- Email: philcirclemusic@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/philcirclemusic
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/philcircle
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/philcircle
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philcircle/
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
