As a Renaissance Girl, I wear a lot of hats. The piano teacher/business owner has taken center stage. My inner artist has been applauding from the bleachers, and getting a little restless. "When is it my turn?"
I hear you patient artist, and I'm sorry you have had to be silent so long. Now that I want to coax you out of hiding, I find that you are shy and out of practice.
It's wonderful to be multifaceted. I miss creating. My creative self fights with my financial survival self. I'm quite sure every artist experiences this inner push-and-pull.
Teaching helps me encourage artistry in others, as well as share the artistry I've already accomplished.
I do not limit my students to pure music transcription. We learn from playing music created by others, but we take our learning deeper when we apply it to creating our own songs, expressing our own voices.
It's time to remember how to practice what I teach!
Dare I video and post my current songwriting efforts? The years have changed my appearance and my voice. I witnessed ridicule of Madonna's recent performance at the Grammy Awards. Yikes. She doesn't move the way she used to. I may not sing the way I used to. But -- do any of us do anything the way we used to? Why should that be a barrier to finding new ways to do what we are gifted to do?
I'm not the new kid, the ingenue, etc. I'm experienced. And it is a privilege to help shape a new generation of musical artists. I think I will serve them better if I'm still active in my own creativity. Even if it does not look the way it used to.
If it's true, it will look as it should. Courage is ageless too.
