How to Take your Passion and Pay the Bills

1. Decide
2. Commit
3. Start talking
4. Start walking
5. Be flexible
6. Be patient
7. Get help
8. Act as if
9. Use what you know
10. Share what you know
11. Repeat

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Alright, I have to acknowledge that I’ve been procrastinating.

(Yes, again. Sheesh! *eye roll*)

Several weeks ago, I jotted down the list above about how to turn your heart thing into a smart thing. These are things I’ve found myself doing as I make way from publishing professional to musician.

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So Friday before last (in a nod to #3) I posed a question about taking your passion and using it pay the bills. But since then, I’ve been hemming and hawing. Should I write a series of blog posts? Should I write an ebook? Should I wait until I’m smarter? Richer?

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One of the things I practice over and over (and over and over and over) again in improv is trusting my instincts. When you sing spontaneously, you edit in the moment. You have to learn to rely on your instincts to show you what has potential and what’s just “shiny.”

I think this has potential. So here’s the list. It might become a blog series or an ebook.

(It might just be this list. *smile*)

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P.S. I’ve posted the 2009 Fall-Winter (shudder) Songtaneous schedule on the Events page. Hope to sing with you soon! ~sg

“Fear has no place in play.” — Tim Brown
(He says more about creativity and play in this video.)

and …

“It is never about how good your voice is; it is only about feeling the urge to sing, and then having the courage to do it with the voice you are given.” — Elizabeth Berg, American Author

(Thanks to R, for the second quote of today’s post! *smile*)

The entrance to HANC

This weekend, we were Songtaneous at the annual Wild Rice Festival in Roseville (MN). This annual festival supports the efforts of the Harriet Alexander Nature Center (aka HANC) and featured all kinds of fun family activities, from traditional wild rice harvesting and honey extraction demonstrations to a pancake breakfast.

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I hadn’t been to HANC before, so I was delighted to walk from my premium parking spot through the parking lot to a tree covered path a few yards away. To the right was the area where the Native American dancers would perform. (Sadly, our schedules were in conflict and I only got to see one dancer from a distance as I was leaving.)

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Flute player and storyteller Duke Addicks

Crossing the parking lot, I followed the sound of flute music through the woods to the small outdoor ampitheater to the right of the path. (The word ampitheater was somewhat grandiose for the friendly intimate entertainment space that appeared to my left.)

On stage, flute player and storyteller Duke Addicks coaxed haunting and spritely tunes by turns from a variety of Native American flutes. Between the tunes, he shared a ton of Native American stories and lore, including how the flutes were made. In his last set, he played a huge drum — “the heartbeat of Mother Earth” — while he told stories.

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New singing friends: Morgann, Kara and Taylor. (And Spices’ member, V! in the background.)

Shortly after I arrived, my singer friends began to arrive. Some have sung (or currently sing) with me in my a cappella group. Others I know from the Saturday Songtaneous sessions. One I went to music school with and I met and sang with three new friends for the first time.

Taylor, Kara and Morgann responded to an invitation I sent to McNally Smith through my friend Judi. (Thanks, Judi!) We hadn’t sung together before, but each of them dived right in. During our second Songtaneous, I met a mother and daughter who came up “on stage” to sing with me. My favorite way to meet new singers (and players *smile*) is through making music together.

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Each singing session was scheduled to last 45 minutes. I taught the audience — which included my singing friends — a number of chants, including the rainforest chant I learned from Ysaye Maria Barnwell. I’d invite different friends to join me on stage to help sing. We sang songs and chants and created some spontaneous inventions as well. I watched time well in the first set, but by the second set, the music just carried us away.