Victor McDermott is a busy guy, musically speaking.
The evening we talked, he was already scheduled for three shows in and around Jackson: a djembe performance with the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, a jazz gig for a local charity event, and an urban arts festival event at Bucky Harris Park downtown.
Vic says if you're serious about music, you'll treat it as a job.
"You have to put in a ton of work," he says.
And put in the work, he has, since he was young, surrounded by songwriters in his family
"The first chord I learned, I wrote a song with it. Being creative was the first thing I did."
Later he took guitar lessons at Playford Music, performed with a jazz group at Jackson Community College, and played with the African drum ensemble.
But what to do with all this music, professionally?
"Music therapy redefined my definition of success in music," Vic says. "I could improve lives and help people. That was an epiphany."
Now he teaches at private school for special needs kids at the Ann Arbor Academy. The lesson for Vic was that it was hard to predict where his music background would take him.
"There are ways to make a living in music that you wouldn't expect," he says. "You can create your own venue for what you want to do."