Passion or Paycheck (Part 1 of 2)
Paulo Tirol’s passion for music was already clear when he started schooling in Ateneo. Self-taught in playing the keyboard, he played for morning masses and retreats at Ateneo High School while he was a core member and choir head of Ateneo College Ministry Group (ACMG). He even considered majoring in music in the university. However, after his graduation 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications, Paulo Tirol had to situate his musical passions in the sidelines to focus in working in the corporate world.
He worked as a segment business manager and internal communications head for Globe for six years, a brand assistant manager for P&G for three years, a director for marketing communications for Golden ABC Inc. for 8 months, then finally a brand operations manager for P&G for two years. Still, he became a singer, pianist and composer in the vocal organization Hangad, playing and arranging for the group’s multiple albums.
In 2012, he left the corporate world to pursue a full-time musical career. He moved abroad to study in prestigious music schools such as Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and NYU Tisch School of Arts in New York. In Boston, he took his first formal classes in music while being cantor at the Paulist Center of Boston. He also became a musical scorer and vocal arranger for several plays including Avenue Q, The Wedding Singer, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Reefer Madness all under the MIT Musical Theatre Guild productions. When he received a full scholarship at NYU Tisch School of Arts, he took a Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program and moved to New York. During his stay at NYU, he wrote songs for On This Side of the World as well as a musical entitled The Forgetting of Snow with Kathleen Wrinn.
At the end of the day, Paulo Tirol’s story tells a lesson or two. For one, success chases those who chase their dreams. Driven by pure passion, he has led a life devoted to something he loves - his music that even roots back from his years in Ateneo de Manila High School. He had to leave a stable life in the corporate world to gamble for a musical career - a choice he never regretted. Secondly, one must hold onto patience while chasing the dream up that hill. His years in the corporate world added to the years he spent building his musical career is everything but simple. He could have stopped and become contented at any point in the past but he still pushed through. In fact, he continues to push through. Music has always been an evolving field, and so for Paulo Tirol, the dream necessitates perpetual honing of one’s craft.
*Edited and Published by Joseph Lumba Photo taken from <https://www.paulophonic.com/about>