January 4, 2016
As 2016 begins, many of us take some time to reflect on the last year and start making plans for this upcoming year. Today I’m writing my annual “Goals” list for the year, breaking it down by month and by music vs. yoga goals. I’ve been doing this for a number of years – writing out my goals and ideas for the next 12 months helps me get organized and see what lies in the next year. Today I looked over my goals from last year, and was pleased to see that I had crossed many of them off the list as “complete.” However, there are some that always end up in the not quite complete box and casually move their way over into the new year’s goals (like writing a regular blog!)
As a composer, many of the goals get checked off the list right away (follow up with so and so on a project, finish that edit on that piece that got premiered in the fall). Others take a little more planning, like the idea of recording a new CD, or cultivating that relationship that eventually leads to a new commission down the road. So what I know and have learned is that these goals are fluid, and that the mark of the new year doesn’t mean a hard and fast rule for starting over. Anyone who works as a musician, or even as an independent contractor, knows that work ebbs and flows, projects come and go, and there’s always something that you can be working on. And that’s what I love about being independent – it’s the chance to constantly re-examine what’s important and meaningful in my life and my career and make informed and thoughtful decisions about what comes next.
So today I’m asking myself – what’s next? My world intersects at music and yoga (for those of you who don’t know, besides being a composer/conductor/mezzo-soprano, I’m also a 500 hour certified yoga teacher), where I find a happy balance of writing, teaching and practicing yoga, leading yoga teacher training, and singing both on and off my mat. I’m working on a variety of writing projects (stay tuned for updates on those very soon) as well as actively teaching 8 plus classes of yoga each week. I think what’s next is somehow combining these forces together for a project that speaks to me on the different levels of being a composer, a singer, and a yogi. Something that was on my list last year and has fluidly moved to the top of the 2016 list is to make a CD that combines my worlds of composition and yoga – a yoga CD that explores music for the mat from my point of view. This is a departure for me from what I’ve been involved in during the last few years- I’ve been honored to work with many great musicians who have recorded my music on their CDs (check out my CD page) but it’s been a while since I made my own CD (See Songs of California for my first independently released CD of chamber music – I’m quite proud of it!). So – I’m putting it out there – 2016 is the year I make my next CD, yoga focused with some singing, some new music, and fulfilling a goal a while in the making!
I’ll keep you posted – there may be a chance for you all to be a part of this CD, too. But in the meantime, I hope your goal making and dreaming and project creations are off to a great start in 2016. Happy New Year, and check back often as blogging is at the top of my “goals” for 2016!