I have arrived to the spot in my yearly calendar when I spend a month or so recharging and redirecting. Following last season’s busy schedule of out-of-state performances, hundreds of different songs arranged and performed, two new albums recorded and produced, contracts negotiated, tours managed and planned, artist residencies given, and many hours of music practiced… a month or so of “Whew! How did all that go? Where do I go from here?” time is not only a relief, it’s much needed.

So the month involves recharging my batteries and resting from jam-packed daily activity. As difficult as it may be for me (and how it is!) I force myself to pick up a book of classic literature which, don’t get me wrong, I ADORE reading. The forcing comes in because many years ago I gave up reading for pleasure and other non-essential activities in order to spend more time working. There is always more work I could find to do, and there are several projects that I have tabled in favor of more urgent matters, so in the “old days” I rarely permitted myself to take a few minutes to lose myself in a Jane Austen novel… but now it is part of my annual routine. This year’s choice is her Persuasion, and I’m loving every paragraph.

Recharging also involves resting my singing voice for a few days following my final tour performance–no practicing or humming or singing in the car (which I rarely do anyway because it is unhealthy for the professional voice user–all that road noise to compete with). Resting the body and mind are important, too, given that I am prone to the post-performance emotional crash so prevalent among performing artists. Nutrition, exercise, sleep and vitamin supplementation are crucial during this time to properly restore oneself to peak performance condition, so I take this very seriously. I have found that truly caring for my physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs is far more challenging than maintaining a full concert schedule! Finding ways to ENJOY this part of the work has been a steep and worthy challenge for me, masochist that I am.

Redirecting after the recharging period is absolutely essential. This is the time during which my inner artist evaluates how the year has gone, what is going well and what could use some tweaking. Once that career audit has taken place, it behooves me to find ways to maximize things headed in a positive direction and redirect those not working as well. How to redirect? Well, as one example, I have hesitated programming one particular concert I have performed many times over the years because of its intense difficulty. Now I am beginning to see interest in it again–it seems to still have magnetism for concert presenters, so to re-orient my practicing to include that difficult material is necessary six months in advance of the first revival of that program. Not redirecting my practice patterns now would not only be unwise for me vocally, but unwise practically as well, since I could likely book several other iterations of that concert for the same month and create a tour. This approach would help me justify all the time, energy and preparation it costs to pull something that challenging out of my past catalogue and perform it again, and it gives me multiple opportunities to enjoy performing it. In this case, redirecting for the music’s sake is necessary.

Not only the inner artist is involved in this audit process, however. There is also room for an annual life balance audit which requires looking at my life priorities and goals. This inner work is more important than the career audit work! I assess how contented I am with different aspects of my life which are important to me (for example, family, friend relationships, finances, faith, etc.) and make changes accordingly to support the redirection of my priorities. This is an amazing, peace-giving exercise, and is something I recommend to everyone. In fact, I’d recommend doing it monthly if you have the time! For me, the value of taking precious hours to assess how effectively I am meeting my goals and attending to my priorities cannot be adequately measured. For the effective entrepreneur, this is essential work, and, in my experience, for the happy human it is as well! That said, I wish you all a wonderful and restful summer. Happy auditing! 🙂

Over the past month I have spent many hours churning out arrangements for a new live show and a new studio album… Neither project duplicates any songs, so the volume of new material I am performing while in southern California this month may well be setting a new record! My new tribute show, “Going My Way! The Songs of Jimmy Van Heusen,” contains sixteen arrangements of Van Heusen goodies like “Swinging On a Star,” “Moonlight Becomes You” and “It Could Happen To You,” as well as practically unknown songs from the various films to which Van Heusen and his best-known collaborator, Johnny Burke, contributed scores of ditties and tunes. I highly recommend all the “Road To…” movies that Bing Crosby filmed with Bob Hope for those seeking to enjoy these beautiful and witty songs in their intended comedic medium. “Going My Way,” “The Bells Of St. Mary’s” and “And The Angels Sing” are other golden oldies with timeless Van Heusen songs embedded within…

This material admittedly bestowed upon me many moments of delight as I discovered new songs that uplift the downhearted spirit by their wit and kindhearted humor… This innocence and universally kind intent is sorely needed in today’s music, I think, and so my hopes are high that the pendulum will swing back soon–that modern art and music will once again improve the mood of the consumer, add beauty and grace to the world (as opposed to vile alternatives), and inspire those who partake toward greater levels of thinking, feeling and being. At one point in time, artists (painters, musicians, writers, poets and the like) assumed the responsibility of being the caretakers of humanity– essentially life coaches, cheerleaders and wise sages for the masses. Few are the artists today, I fear, that view their responsibilities toward society with such serious and noble vocational vision. It is with this reality in mind that I came up with my list of contemporary jazz pieces to record next week on my fifth album…

The new project features songs by living jazz composers (all friends of mine) having something worthwhile or witty to say, or simply having penned a wonderful song. I am thrilled to pursue the recording of this worthwhile project which highlights some incredible songwriters (we are still in need of financial backing–please get in touch with me through my website if you share my vision!). My mission for each performance and recording I endeavor to complete is to impart something positive and beautiful to my audience. Life is too short for art to not add beauty, optimism and truth to one’s existence! Holding fast to this belief I continue to strive forward…to bring something good to those who wish to hear it.

Having experienced the joy of singing with the Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra over Valentine’s weekend, and looking ahead to March 22 when I will perform in Virginia with the Williamsburg Symphonia, I am ever so grateful for the career path I have found. This morning during my prayer time I was faced with a decision–to record a new jazz album while on tour in April or to put it off for another several months, a year, or more? The frequent traveling and touring with constantly different musical repertoire places a limitation on the amount of preparation one can devote to arranging and producing a new album (I do all the arranging myself), but the financial question is usually the primary deterrent to spinning out a new recording every year or so. I am an active enough writer and arranger to have plenty of material that I wish to record, but alas–I am not independently wealthy! I gave up that possibility years ago when I gave up microbiology as my chosen profession… or medicine… after all, have you ever known a poor microbiologist? But I digress…

I came to the conclusion this morning that the recording dates will indeed happen as scheduled. Many times in my life God has led me to a point that seems like a precipice. My dilemma is whether to turn around and go back (which sometimes is the wise thing to do!) or trust that this is what He is leading me to do and take that step into the unknown… He will never push me over! I have to take the step of faith myself because He respects my free will. As long as I am sure that what I mean to do is within His plan for me, taking the step will assuredly result in more life growth and worthy challenges, even though the path may be fraught with difficulty along the way. However, dreams never risked will never be even partially realized… How I wax philosophical in these blogs! 🙂

All that said, I am thrilled about the new project, the details of which I am keeping under my hat for the moment… but I can say that it will include wonderful songs by contemporary jazz composers as well as yet unrecorded music by Grammy-winning jazz legends. These fantastic songs have either never seen the light of day (never been recorded) or have not had their due attention by contemporary singers. I am honored to have the opportunity to assemble the first hearing of music of such high quality for another historically important and relevant album that will broaden our contemporary Great American Songbook and shine light on deserving jazz composers–many who happen to be personal friends of mine. Furthermore, the band lineup for this project is so stellar that I can hardly believe my good fortune… word is getting around Los Angeles about this recording and I am receiving offers from “A-list” musicians who are asking me to be part of the project… I never thought I’d see the day!

If you would like to join our project and contribute as a financial backer, please be in touch with me at contact@www.tishoney.com. We will need several backers to make this happen, but since I detest crowdfunding, I have decided not to pursue that avenue. I will leave it to you, dear readers and friends, that if you feel so inclined to assist with the production of a recording that will preserve high-quality music of some of the most outstanding composers of our time (and of the 20th century), and you would like to help defray costs for musicians who cannot possibly recoup the costs of recording music anymore (given the ubiquity of internet piracy and the devaluation of recorded music via free downloads and streaming services), we would GLADLY and THANKFULLY accept financial backing of any amount to preserve these pieces of American culture. The many musicians in L.A. that are excited about our project believe in the value of preserving and releasing this music, as I am sure do many of you. Thank you so much for your support and for helping us keep the music playing!

Ah, winter snowstorms… having grown up in central New York, I am no newcomer to the world of snowy travel, snow shoveling, snowblowing, snow and ice removal from cars, sidewalks, driveways, roads and roofs. It’s a bit idyllic at times, in a way, pausing from shoveling one’s driveway from large (4-foot or taller) mounds of snow to notice the sparkle of the sunshine dancing through ice crystals on the lawn, on the shrubs or in the trees… it sometimes brings a sense of quiet, peace and acceptance that we are part of nature and subject to its large-scale activities. Watching the birds engage with snowfall is an education–they do not act stressed–they simply take it as it comes, gather food as usual and delight us with their energy and vivid colors–flying, perching and foraging against the new whitewashed backdrop. Winter is a truly beautiful time! Then we snap out of our dazed reverie and get back to straining our backs with the snow shovel for another hour or so, knowing we will repeat this cycle indefinitely until we are out of the snow tunnel and into spring once more.

Living in the south I no longer need to fixate on crafting my weekly schedule to work around winter weather reports… or do I? At this moment I am waiting to hear whether or not my next symphony performance will take place as originally planned due to the threat of impending snowstorm Jonas. To pack or not to pack? Sometimes these plans are changed just moments before (or even after) one is scheduled to depart for the performance destination. Okay–so flexibility is also a virtue that is most helpful in this business! Today I am grateful for my snow-surrounded upbringing which taught me not to fear or be anxious of natural phenomena, but to respect them, and to accept what comes. Hopefully, if performances are postponed, they will be rescheduled and enjoyed at a later date. In the meantime, I wish to pause and enjoy the beauty of this season! That, my friends, is Plan B when snowstorms close everything down for a weekend, bringing your best-laid plans to a screeching halt. Rest now, work later. Unless you have to shovel. 😉