Bridget Risemberg got comfortable in her small office that serves as a classroom for guitar lessons to prepare for an interview.
Her office is located at the Los Angeles Music and Art School in east Los Angeles. As one of the few schools that offers music, art and performing arts lessons, LAMusART provides after school lessons Mondays to Thursdays and on Saturdays for children and adults. The school often shares the auditorium of East Los Angeles Community College for performing arts skits and events, and serves mostly low-income families throughout east LA.
The walls of the small office were covered with music-related posters and pictures. She began remembering where her music career all began.
Risemberg attended St. Louis Community College to study music and guitar. She completed her Bachelor's of Arts in Music at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.
Thinking about her time there, she said, "It's very rich in music courses."
Once she completed her degree, she took a year off to work and earn money to attend the University of Southern California. There, she studied music composition while adjusting to the new area.
"I worked in a couple of places and came out here and started USC. Culture shock," she said. "Los Angeles is so spread out. I couldn't believe how far away everything was from the other part of your life."
Finding a place to live near or at USC for her graduate degree added on to the culture shock too. She lived in Highland Park, and later went on to regret not spending more money to live on campus.
"The commute was just a pain. I would tend not to stay late to things that would have been a benefit to me...just so far from home," she said.
After her year at USC, Risemberg moved on to—watch out USC fans—the University of California Los Angeles. The fundamental question that presented itself was: did she leave USC to attend UCLA?
"I left because I ran out of money and I wasn't doing well," she said.
Risemberg worked at a book store for about a year and enrolled in night classes at UCLA for film scoring. She said it was fun and that it was a chance for her to do a lot of writing.
"I didn't get my feet wet in the industry. I'm not a good shmoozer," she said. "I just wanted to do the work. I didn't want to be phony with people and meet people just to see if I could get ahead."
She added that there were many instances that required her to talk to "so and so" and ask them "this and that" because they can get you "here and there."
"I couldn't do it," she said.
Risemberg saw people in her classes and area of interest changing and conforming to get ahead and make a name for themselves—something she had no desire in partaking. It was because of other people's experiences that she knew she didn't want to take that path.
"I was more interested in writing music for its own sake and not adapting it or pulling it back to make it for a particular scene for a producer or television."
She doesn't think music shouldn't be available for film and TV, but it wasn't for her. She didn't like the outcome of the people who succeeded in the business. She found them less sincere and caring less and less about music and caring more about career and money. It was also a stressful path to a career. Music is supposed to sooth and relieve, not be something stressful.
"Some people weren't even talented. They just hooked up with the right people," she said about the others' success.
So then, it was off to UCLA for her master's degree. There, she worked at the research library. While working there, she saw a flier for someone at USC seeking a composer; and like that, she met her husband who was an english major at Pepperdine University. Though they are no longer married, she said her ex-husband was not a composer, he was a "supportive listener of music."
Risemberg began looking for music-related jobs during this time.
"I ran through the phone book making calls and landed here," she said.
She never completed her master's degree.
Though she didn't complete a graduate degree, Risemberg's joy for libraries stays with her. When Risemberg isn't teaching students music lessons at LAMusART, she is working at the UCLA music library. She enjoys bringing music ideas she finds in books and records to her students. Apart from teaching her students classic rock and more modern songs, she also infuses Greek and Indian music among others to diversify their knowledge about music.
Risemberg does not plan to retire from teaching music any time soon.
"I would retire from the library before music," she said.
Though her son is now a grown man working as a lawyer, Risemberg said she tried to get him involved with music somehow. She tried teaching him piano as a child, but he wouldn't listen to his instructor because it was his mother. Her son later went on to learn how to play the drums at LAMusART.
Her son straying away from piano and guitar didn't stop Risemberg from teaching others privately. When the time comes for her to retire from the east LA school, she will begin giving private lessons.