A new year means it is time for a new keyword.

One of the things I like about selecting a keyword each year is that it gives me an opportunity to look back on the previous year and my other keywords.

In 2009, I chose DISCIPLINE. I had graduated recently and was taking the first steps in building my music career. I had been blogging for about 6 months and was looking for footholds in teaching and gigging.

The next year, I selected NOURISH and it helped me banish burnout by remembering the importance self care. I also began to really understand and accommodate the energy cycles being self-supervised involves.

After that, I picked EMBODY.  I had just returned from Tenerife in the Canary Islands and I wanted “to spend the next year becoming what I glimpsed about music and improvisation in Africa.” (Three years later, I’m sharing some of those glimpses in Between: A Journey Through the Middle.)

2012’s word was CREATE. And it led to year of business-building activities like re-launching my workshops and private lesson studio.

And, that brings us to last year.

(With reluctance *smile*), I acknowledged that START needed to be my keyword.

I was beginning work on my grant-funded vocal work and had no clue where to begin. The energy of starting has rarely inspired me. I can go like gangbusters once I hit the home stretch, but corralling the myriad details and threads at a project’s beginning has always felt overwhelming.

Honestly, I don’t know how much spending the year starting has changed that, but in choosing START, I no longer let myself avoid starting. And, I noticed as I worked through the details of Between, that while the starting didn’t seem to get much easier, it did seem to take me less time to move through my resistance to it. Between’s schedule simply demanded (demands *smile*) that I keep moving. I couldn’t stay stuck at the start.

So even thought starting still isn’t simple, I seem to move through it more quickly.

…

That brings us to this year.

When I’m dreaming up my keyword for an upcoming year, the goal is to find a word that will work for the entire year.

With Between on the horizon, my attention kept being pulled toward words that applied well to the February shows — focus, calm (don’t panic!) — but it felt like these words wouldn’t have a lot of relevance after Feb 7 & 8. I needed a word with staying power, something to get me through my shows in February and then still work for the rest of the year.

So after picking up and discarding a number of words (and slogans), I chose PRESENT as my keyword for 2014.

“present adj. – being, existing, or occurring at this time or now; being with one or others or in the specified or understood place; mentally alert and calm.”

“present v. – to bring before or introduce to the public; offer for consideration; to furnish or endow with a gift or the like, especially by formal act”

“present n. – an item given as a gift”

…

My mom told me she wished the word “joy” for me this year. (Thanks, Mom *smile*) For me, PRESENT is part of that.

I want to be present enough to savor the experiences  — the good and even the more challenging ones — of creating my first large-scale work. I want to revel in the rehearsals and performances with “my” wonderful artists.

In short, I want to notice and enjoy all the parts of the first show that I conceived, produced and will perform.

…

And the last definition of present, a noun meaning gift. That seems really important, too.

I want to share this experience with others. I want to share it with you. *smile*

So, on that note, may I PRESENT …

Between: A Journey Through the Middle

A vocal journey exploring multiple meanings of being in the “between” spaces.

TWO SHOWS
Friday, February 7th – 8:00 pm
& Saturday February, 8th – 8:00 pm
Mixed Blood Theater
1501 S. 4th Street
Minneapolis
Tickets: http://between.bpt.me