In the beginning, I was a trained, and well paid professional singer.
The bulk of the music I sang, came from the first half of the 20th century, from composers like Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington, Billy Stayhorn, and the Gershwin brothers, George and Ira. My side gig was singing with the New Orleans Opera. Performing all these historical pieces, meant always thinking about the past. History and mythology are woven into a career in music. The entire culture of the West is.
In my heart, history was always my real gig.
Once I became a mom, I didn’t want to be on the road, going from gig to gig. I found a day job as a teacher of voice and speech for actors. My new side gig was working at my husband’s car dealership. Flash Gordon Cars was my business school. For fun, I danced with historical dancers. That’s when the seed was born to create a business of my own.
Historical Resources was born on the dance floor. It began with an educational video package (video, audio, book of instruction) for people who want to learn 17th century dances. Next up were books (3) on speaking Early Modern English. (My years in the theatre were finally paying off.) Between teaching and publishing, I produced events. I was busy! For 17 years Historical Resources was good to me. In 2014, I became a grandmother. So, I sort of retired, wrote more books, and plowed into storytelling.
And then the pandemic hit. Kids stayed home. They needed extra help in history and English. Thus began my online career in teaching. Being entrepreneurial, I came up with ideas for products in history, and English for ESL students. So here I am. I left the retirement life to return to the business life. It’s all good, because whenever I teach anything from this canon of Western culture, I have a rollicking good time. It truly is a party.
Join in at any time.
Laura