There’s only one way to find out if you like the touring life.
Get out on tour. Find out on the road. That was the message Steve Zegree gave us many times, knowing that a good percentage of our group would be working tours in some capacity after college. He also gave us the experience with real working tours – our tour of Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, for example, included 22 performance in 21 days. We got the feel for the day-to-day grind of a touring gig.
There are some gigs you don’t need to do to know whether they’ll work for you. I don’t need to try dentistry to know I wouldn’t enjoy being a dentist. I don’t need to gig with a professional vocal group to know I’d love that work.
Other gigs, you’ve got to get the gig, do the gig, and hope it works out. To be sure, you’ve followed a passion to get there, and that’s a good sign. But there’s a lot more to the gig than the passion, and the only way to know whether you like the experience is to have the experience. Find out on the road. (This type of gig might be a full time teaching gig, stay-at-home parenting, or any number of other types of work you need to experience to know whether it’s for you.)
It’s a hard truth that you might have sunk a lot of work and time getting to that first gig, only to find out you don’t like it. The good news is that the work isn’t lost, even if you don’t love the gig. There are other related gigs that you may love, gigs you don’t even know exist.
The only way to know is to do. So go do!