Talking about Volodymyr Shymanskyi it is hard to determine where his professional activity ends and where his hobby begins. For over 10 years Volodymyr has been working as a system administrator, ensuring uninterrupted operation of the computer network of the entire Teteriv branch. Monitoring the operation and setting up the video surveillance system, radio stations, servers, personal computers and fleet of printers – everything under Volodymyr’s close attention. And, in his free time, our NIBULON colleague plays in the musical band “Maximus”, writes songs and does arrangements. But in fact Volodymyr’s professional education is precisely musical.
We asked Volodymyr about his IT-music career, what inspires him the most in music and do you really need to have talent to play musical instruments?
“I started playing music already as a child, I visited a musical school, and from the 4th grade I played the trumpet in a local brass band. I think that I realized then, that the music – is exactly what I want to do in my life. I entered the Zhytomyr Professional College of Culture and Arts named after Ivan Ohnienko. Graduated with a diploma “Conductor of a brass band and organizer of cultural events”. I play keyboard, guitar, saxophone and trumpet.
As in every educational institution we studied not only major subjects. There was a programming department at the college. This issue interested me a lot. What was given in the classes was not enough for me, I wanted to deepen my knowledge. I spent a lot of time assembling computers and configuring them by myself with classmates.
After graduation first I got a job in the local Officers’ Club. I worked with a brass band, but in the HR-department was listed as a radio technician. Perhaps then it was a kind of sign that there would be such an unexpected change of the specialty in my career! In 2012, Yurii Burkovskyi (the founder of the band I play in now, the person who actually inspired me to join the band) recommended me as a good system administrator when the Teteriv branch was looking for a specialist.
And in January 2017 the band “Maximus” was created, of which I have been a member since the first day. We started with 10 members – musicians, solo performers, technical staff. The band members changed from time to time. Currently, the band consists of three musicians, two solo performers and sound engineer. In the band I play saxophone and keyboard, arrange concerts and film all events.
We play all concerts exclusively live. Last year we decided to organize concerts in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The first one was held online for safety reasons and was quite successful. Our local dancing band also took part in it. Another charity concert and fair were held in the House of Culture. This event was also great! With the funds received from the fair, which we merged with funds from the local lyceum (they also held a charity fair) and from the volunteers, we were able to purchase equipment for our defender, who, by the way, works at our branch Teteriv.
We cooperate with local volunteers and transfer money to them if necessary. Or we purchase the equipment ourselves. Volunteers buy everything necessary for fighters from our region: tea, coffee, tactical gloves, thermal underwear, trench candles, sim-cards, tablets, a backpack with first aid kit, etc. The list is endless. The most difficult to collect are for drones, thermal imagers, and generators. We understand that we will not collect money for that with just one concert. Therefore, we use other resources, request large funds and organizations for help.
Everyone in our band has a job, so we don’t hold concerts as often as we would like but we prepare very carefully. The next one is planned closer to autumn, the plan of the event and the script are almost ready.
Before the war, we mostly played covers of well-known compositions. Now we focus on the patriotic themes and recording and performing our own compositions. Our goal is to introduce people with modern Ukrainian culture, to show how interesting, diverse, multifaceted our music is and in no way inferior to European music!
Music has incredible power! It is not just fun, it is a way to spend time with interest. Music can elevate, when it seems that you have no more energy, ensoul, relax, gather together or charge. It’s incredibly inspiring when we manage to convey to people the message and energy that went into a song. I wish everybody would feel these emotions!
If you ever thought about learning to play any musical instrument, do not doubt. In fact, if you have 10% of talent, the rest – is your work on the realization of the idea. Because you can have 90% of your talent and lose it without putting any effort into its development. Today there are many different courses, schools, teachers, and tutorials. Modern technologies allow you to acquire any instrument. Believe me: you just need to try and you won’t be able to stop playing!
Music heals the soul, and life depends on what song the soul sings”.
To learn more about the “Maximus” band and their works, to find out nearest concerts and support ours musicians by click the following links:
