I guess I want to format this sort of like a bio or an artist profile, in a sense. Give some background for my life, skills, and musical inspirations. I have a lot to share, and much of it feels important for describing myself and the music I make.
Hi. I go by Tower (they/them), I'm 23, I'm currently in the Twin Cities, MN, and I grew up with substantial instability in my life has informed much of my life-long musical experience (I'll explain and fill in details as I go).
I was born in Connecticut, and I moved around to many places in the US, but was primarily raised in South Florida.
I've always loved music and I taught myself to read and play nursery rhymes by ear on the piano. Many throughout my childhood caught on to my interest and affinity for music in many forms and helped to nurture my ability to learn and grow musically. I've received some music education in academic settings, and even been gifted instruments and equipment from people who believed in me and the music I was making. However, I've been mostly autodidactic through my whole music career. I played primarily low brass when I started getting serious about music, but I've learned most brass, some woodwinds and percussion, and transitioned to playing more keys, guitar, bass, as well as singing and beatboxing in my adult life. I've been in everything from percussion ensembles to symphonic wind bands and jazz bands to orchestras to choirs and singing groups to bands in more contemporary styles of music later on. I also write and compose music, and I'd like to focus primarily on songwriting and producing as I continue to develop in my musical journey.
While I had many gifts and opportunities from a young age, there were also many setbacks and obstacles. Many of which came in the form of severe long-term trauma, abuse, and other instability that limited my ability to make the most of my abilities. Chronic mental and physical health problems, along with bouncing between several dozen houses and other living situations in childhood made it difficult to stay in school and in the musical groups I was a part of, and especially difficult to hold onto many material things, including instruments. Much of the support and the musical equipment gifted to me was just as readily taken away, whether it was left in loved ones' homes and storage units, broken in various tragic ways, or otherwise lost to time. While I'm fortunate to have the range of interesting musical and life experiences I've had, I'm certainly making up for lost time, health, and equipment in my adult years.
As I've transitioned from living with family to leading a more self-sufficient life, I'd eventually get diagnoses and start treatment for various health conditions I've been dealing with for most of my life: DID (dissociative identity disorder), complex PTSD, OCD, autism, ME/CFS, and FND with non-epileptic seizures, among others. I'm living with my partner now and working on getting Social Security Disability. As I receive the proper financial support to aid my health and live a relatively self-sufficient life, I've really embraced how important music is to me. I've wanted to invest in myself and the music I make with any disposable income I have.
My major goals with music right now are to write original music that synthesizes my various musical skills and my greatly varied life experiences in a way that's meaningful and relevant to other people and the sociopolitical climate of the modern world. In terms of gear, I'd love to have a home studio and be able to create my own music by myself (or at least have the ability to). Right now, I have a Yamaha Pacifica 112V (a budget strat-style guitar), a ukulele, a basic audio interface set up with a couple of mics, and my voice. My next priorities for instruments are a bass, an acoustic guitar, a MIDI keyboard, and a computer that can support a DAW.
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