Supporting Artists

Lately I have become an avid fan of the books, presentations, and paintings of the acclaimed and inspiring visual artist/author Mako Fujimura. Two principles he has introduced to me include the opportunity and responsibility of churches to support the efforts and even livelihoods of local artists. Being a lifelong artist who desires to serve my Creator using my gifts, these concepts immediately resonated with me; and as a minister of music at my local church, I look for concrete ways to make a positive impact upon fellow artists.

One faith-meets-art initiative I launched last year was hosting a local authors’ book fair at my church. I started by inviting church members who had authored books to participate. Then I expanded my reach by inviting others in my circle of friends and acquaintances that I knew were published authors. It felt refreshing to reconnect with fellow authors I have met along my journey and to invite them to my church for an event that ultimately honored and benefited them. We charged no fee to participate or to attend, and all authors were encouraged to sell their wares and keep 100% of their sales. Not even library book fairs do that.

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The intersection of art and faith occupies not only my work hours, but also my weekends, evenings, waking thoughts, and even dreams. Since these delicate crosshairs mark two indispensable continuums of my life’s work and play, I endeavor to pen some musings. My aim is not to persuade so much as to invite others to discover that beauty itself resides at this sacred intersection.

Motivated by the writings and speech of author Makoto Fujimura, the founder of an artist movement he calls “culture care,” I undertake this project on which I have ruminated for many years. Caring for culture is, for the Christian artist, a divine responsibility. We minister through music and the arts to our communities, neighbors, friends, colleagues, and families by acting as agents of collaboration, re-integration of beauty to our surroundings, and positive change. Beauty is a God-given gift to all mankind, exhibited in a million different ways and creative endeavors. Artists are the stewards of beauty–we make choices each day whether to add or withhold beauty from our artistic efforts and creations. Beauty is at the heart of not only great works of art, but also acts of compassion, peace agreements, great sacrifice for the good of others, and physical healing through the medical arts. Strengthening a child’s confidence at a critical moment of frailty is an act of beauty, where faith and art intersect. Pressing onward towards virtue amid difficulty illustrates the beauty of perseverance.

My point here is that we are all artists when we creatively solve problems or offer something good to a neighbor. At the same time we are all ministers when our actions bless the world around us in some way. Embracing this reality, that our planet and societies being leveled by destructive forces can be healed and stabilized by culture care led by artists, I move forward into this exploration of beauty at the intersection of faith and art.

Welcome to a new year and my new book! Jazz Singing: A Guide to Pedagogy and Performance (Rowman & Littlefield 2022) was written as a culmination of my years of pursuing a dual career as a touring musician and a professor of voice and jazz. Still teaching and singing, I continue to love learning (and will apply those future gleanings toward my second edition of this book). JS has several target audiences: working singers, teachers of singing, instrumentalists who teach singers, student singers, choir directors, and jazz aficionados. The book may be used to fill in gaps in one’s education related to voice science; microphone technique; teaching jazz to classical singers; helping classical voice teachers navigate jazz style when singing and/or teaching; mixing to create authentic jazz, music theatre, CCM, opera, or classical styles; crossover singing; and finding one’s own natural, healthy voice. The book amounts to 90,000 words dedicated to singing well and teaching others how to do it with a jazz sensibility. Illustrations and images contribute visual aids to the written text (I am particularly proud of my freehand sketch of the anatomy of the ear!). My Mix Continuum, which I have used since the mid 1990s in lessons and singing classes, teaches singers to balance resonance and tone color options for maximum efficiency, vocal comfort, and authenticity in any given style. There are scores of exercises peppered throughout the book that will give singers and teachers new ideas for exploring concepts in a jazz context. 

One facet that sets this volume apart from all the rest is the descriptive segments (featured in several chapters) that illustrate techniques and approaches used by the greatest jazz singers of the past century, including Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, Nat Cole, Tony Bennett, and others. Readers are encouraged to listen to the artist described to hear a specific stylistic choice or technique for themselves. Several different sub-genres of jazz and various jazz styles are discussed, and several types of vocal improvisation are explored. There is also a chapter on the use of Dalcroze Eurhythmics as a means for growing musicianship in both the voice studio and the vocal jazz ensemble rehearsal. Topics of mindfulness, expression, stage presence, phrasing, and stage etiquette round out this comprehensive volume in just under three hundred pages. 

I am overjoyed that this labor of love has finally been completed and is being introduced to the world! Readers are encouraged to ask me questions or invite me to teach a workshop in their region so that I may work with your students and elucidate any concepts that may invite demonstration. If you like what you read, I warmly encourage you to leave a favorable review on Goodreads and Amazon so that other seekers may also find this book. It took a village to prepare this singer to write it, and now I’m grateful for the honor of sharing what I have learned. Happy reading! ☺

Where there is joy in our work, there is God. That said, times like these invite us to find balance by embracing acceptance. Things will never again be exactly as they were. Living in the present is so much healthier than getting tangled up in the past or future, and the present is the only moment we can truly control. That is where we LIVE. Embracing this truth helps me prioritize those things that are rewarding in some way, either for my career, for my well-being, or for the sake of someone else I am looking to help. This means that I must prioritize time to write one of the articles coming due, or a chapter for my next book, or a song arrangement for an impending concert. This is the hardest responsibility of all. Saying not yet to the work I see around me, like laundry and dusting, or the emails piling up in my account (which are generally not urgent if they arrived in the past hour or so) will help me to spend the needed time on my ACTUAL JOB the act of creating. Until I have acknowledged that being a creative spirit IS my job, other distractions will ultimately prevent me from making progress on that song, book, or conference presentation.

Routines tend to help some people accomplish their goals. One routine I have tried to stick with is designating blocks of time each day to devote to various tasks. Another method is simply to decide that I will spend any two hours of the workday writing, one hour updating my website, one hour practicing, and one hour planning a conference presentation (for example). This allows my artist the time she needs to get creative work done while embracing her need for variety and freedom. I find that I have to vary not only my daily schedule, but also my work approach in order to keep my creative artist engaged. This is not an easy task, as any successful artist knows.

Artists are aware that there are two paradigms of time we can inhabit. Living according to chronos, (by calendars, clocks, and deadlines) is what the world generally expects us to do. We turn in work by a certain date, meet for lunch at a specified time, and keep to a carefully scheduled routine dictated by the clock. A more eternal, inspired outlook of time is kairos. In kairos, we lose track of time; find ourselves ‘in the zone’ as we write, create, or practice; enjoy the timelessness of a romantic evening; and lay down our stress and strain that is chronos-driven. Chronos is heavy traffic making us late for an appointment. Kairos is hours spent hiking or beachcombing that felt like only a few minutes. In kairos we accept the gift of the present moment and stretch it to encompass a lovely interlude of creativity, unrushed time with loved ones making memories, or spiritual refreshment. The artist’s challenge is to find ways to balance chronoswith kairos‘ we must have kairos to create, but we often have to operate within the world’s imposed deadlines. Learning to meditate can be a helpful tool toward cultivating kairosin our daily round. Carving out undistracted time to do the creative work while the world is knocking on my door represents the single most challenging task for this artist/writer. Only when I give myself permission to let chronos slide a bit can my artist feel free to inhabit kairos long enough to finish those creative tasks.

         Balance will always be elusive to the busy person. Our lives may perpetually seem out of balance to us, while to others, we may possess poise and wisdom as we wend our path through a variety of responsibilities. Most important is to give yourself permission to do the work first that will bring the most lasting benefit to you. This is rarely the ‘urgent’ work which is lying in your email box or voicemail (since you turned off your phone during your creativity session). It is more likely the book, song, or invention you would create if only you had the time…