Meet Travis Dearden

What is your first music memory? 

My first memory was listening to tapes on an old walkman from the 90's with black foam padded flimsy steel headphones. From memory, it was some Robbie Williams album my parents had lying around at the time. "I don't wanna rock.. DJ"

When did you first learn an instrument? 

Around intermediate - early high school. At 11 I had piano lessons for a few terms and quit because I didn't quite click with the traditional music being taught. At 12 I switched to guitar and had lessons right through high school. Around 14 I taught myself the drums and also started recording myself with a play station sing star mic. I'd write songs playing all these instruments which sparked my passion for music production.

What drove you to practice and play when you first started out?

To be perfectly honest not a lot 🤣 I played purely for enjoyment and enjoyed hanging with other musos, so really just wanted to keep up with them. I guess disciplined practise came at a later age when I really started to see more potential in myself from my peers affirmation. I wish I had been more driven with disciplined practise from the early stages of learning.

Are you still excited about developing your craft? 

Absolutely. Growth for me is always happening regardless of age. In recent years I've just started playing percussion for a few artists so now I still feel a similar sense of excitement for learning something new that I had at a younger age.

When did you first start teaching?

I started teaching a handful of lessons from home in 2015. I hadn't exactly prepared much for it so it didn't last too long as I was working other jobs at the time as well. I went back and finished my music degree in 2017/18 after this I felt more confident and got my first job working for a school in 2019.

What is your advice for people learning music?

Be open minded to a range of musical styles. You don't have to like everything but to exclude yourself from styles and genres you don't like or to look down on them is really shutting yourself out to unknown potential that could open you up to a world of skills and opportunity that you might not always find in the confides of your comfort zone. Even if it's just listening to other styles you usually wouldn't.