Today we’d like to introduce you to George Heathco.
Hi George , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Where I’m at today is that I’m a husband, father, composer, guitarist, educator, and arts administrator. I grew up in Houston and have been a musician for most of my life, beginning when I was in elementary school noodling around on an old Casio keyboard and some homemade woodwinds. Like many, I joined the band program at my middle school, where I played trumpet (which I continued to play throughout my college years). Around the same time I picked up trumpet, I also began a lifelong obsession with guitar and writing my own music. Coming up as a trumpeter and guitarist, I’ve found myself in a huge variety of situations, including: playing with bands in bars and clubs late into the wee hours of the morning, performing as a pit musician for dozens of musicals in one of Houston’s many theaters, playing extremely challenging contemporary classical music with the likes of the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Da Camera of Houston and Aperio, and playing experimental music in some of the city’s most interesting settings and venues.
I’ve composed and contributed music for television, radio, theater, jazz and chamber ensembles, and rock/pop acts. As a collaborative composer, I’ve written numerous works for dance and theater, most recently on an evening length collaborative piece called Testimony with choreographer Toni Valle and composer-singer Misha Penton, both of whom I’ve worked with since 2014.
I earned two music degrees from the University of Houston (a B.M. in Music Business and an M.M. in Music Composition) and have had the extreme fortune to be able to return to occasionally to teach classes as an adjunct faculty member. Also of note, my wife and I met during our freshmen years of music school at UH.
With a day job as Operations Projects Manager at Houston Grand Opera, my world is a perpetual balancing act. Outside of music, I’m an avid reader, I love running, and have become rather immersed in spiritual practice.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been anything but smooth. However, some- most(?)- of my biggest struggles have been self-imposed. Very early on as a young musician, I found that I never wanted to pick just one path to follow. As a musician, I wanted to be able to do anything: perform, compose, teach, produce, direct… Even as a performer, I was never interested in just a single style of music. I wanted to play classical, jazz, rock, funk and soul, etc… So this naturally led to many sleepless nights trying to practice, compose, record, gig, study, or whatever was needed. The result is that I developed some poor habits with regards to my own mental health, my relationships with family and friends, and just professional demeanor. Saying yes to so many things meant I had to say no to others, and the things I found myself saying no to were often the very things I needed most at the time, whether it was a great professional opportunity, time for my family, or just time for myself. My path was often very scattered, unfocused, and fraught with lots of second guessing and regrets. It’s taken many years of work and care to build better habits, routines, and practices. I’m by no means “there” yet (and there likely isn’t a “there” to be had), but I feel like my current path is clear-er.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
For me, “play” is at the very center of my world. The world is often not nearly as serious as we are led to believe, and the more we can recognize that it all exists for us to freely play with, the more we find joy in being alive. I pride myself on still retaining what I feel is a childlike sense of wonder and play. I always want to know more about a “thing,” or to see what I can do with that thing.
Something I’m also proud of is the very thing I’ve often been the most self-conscious of: the scattered and wildly varied musical career I’ve made for myself has given me a tremendously broad palette of musical experiences to apply to my art. This has made it near impossible to nail down any sort of specific genre for my music, not because it’s so uniquely my own, but because it refuses to sit still long enough in one spot. Seemingly with the direction that the wind blows, my musical sound might tend towards a progressive, hard rock element, or maybe a post-minimalist chamber music flavor, or perhaps even some experimental electronic excursion. Despite that eclectic bag of shi…stuff, it still somehow comes out of the wash with a fairly unified and cohesive sound. It’s taken me many years to realize that my sound is very much a reflection of my own journey. I’m comfortable writing classical music, just the same as I’m comfortable producing a driving rock track, just the same as I am comfortable dropping in and supplying guitar parts as a hired gun.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Risk is interesting to me, mostly because I rarely think about it actively. I’m sure that there is an internal mechanism somewhere in my body that is the result of 10,000 years of evolution that can assess the risks of a situation to allow me to make the best decision for the moment. I know that I have taken (and continue to take) many risks throughout my career. Some of those have been calculated, while many were simply the result of not knowing enough to recognize the particular risks of a situation. I rely heavily on my own intuitions. and like to just let pieces fall as they may.
Risk taking is often just fulfilling the commitments to difficult or challenging decisions. Sometimes saying yes to playing music in a situation that I’m not the most qualified for is a particular risk. I’m not very adept at playing jazz, but I’ve been plenty stupid to agree to play numerous jazz gigs with a range of results!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://georgeheathco.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgeheathco/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@studioheathco/videos
- Other: https://studioheathco.bandcamp.com/
