If it’s possible to be an accidental musician, Jaime Lawrence is one.
She tripped into several musical practices: flute, guitar, singing, cabaret performances, even her music therapy profession.
It started in church at a young age. Jaime started playing the flute in her Methodist church after hearing a flute player perform.
“I asked if I could go to Sunday school later so I could hear the music,” she says.
That led her to play flute in high school band, singing in the church choir, and performing at gigs with Brent Cryderman, her high school music director.
In college, at Michigan State, Jaime was almost a science major. Since music came more naturally to her, she switched to music education, but didn’t enjoy it. That’s when she heard about another option for her talents: music therapy.
"It was appealing enough to stay one more year at MSU," Jaime says.
Eventually, after not getting a job at her internship location, she accidentally started Harmony Garden Music Therapy in Jackson – a growing business she worked hard to establish in town.
Through her work, Jaime learned how to play a variety of instruments. Though guitar playing, she found musician friends, who asked her to play in bands. So she wound up, accidentally, in a few bar bands.
She knew how to play the flute, which landed her in a jazz band. The jazz band performed at the now-closed Bon Ton Room in Jackson. There, she heard cabaret performances, so she accidentally became a cabaret performer.
"From there, I made all the connections, and I'm still making music,” Jaime says. “I'm lucky I'm a good ear player - I can fake it until I make it.”
What isn’t accidental is her love of music. While she makes music for her job, the public performances – those cabaret and band shows – are just for her.
"I do music for other people all the time. I perform because I enjoy it."