TAYLOR ROSS™|MUSIC

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Today was less of a mess.

Because of yesterday I was able to prioritize my objectives and take action.

I'm also thankful that, "Making Art" can basically mean whatever one wants it to mean, as I'm thusly able to broaden my definition to the following; Any exercise that allows for the making of better art. Of course I don't mean this by way of indirect improvement, i.e. practicing an Edvard Grieg's Notturno Op. 54 No. 4 for my upcoming paid gig, but rather as it directly relates to my craft and to my work. 

For instance, while I did do my daily 10 minute object writing and composed 15 seconds of a jazz piano lick for fun, what I spent the majority of the workday on - approx. 4 hours - was the score study of my own choral piece, Psalm 23, TTT/BBB Ca. 3 min. - I took choral conducting and score study lessons from Dr. C. Michael Porter, who was a student of Robert Shaw's - This allows me a more refined execution in the final product of my art; a recording of myself singing through each part as a sextet - and for the simple fact that the revision of the Art, and the craft behind the revision of the Art, is just as much a part of the Art, as any singular flash of inspiration or insanity. 

My motivation for doing this is to record a video of myself conducting the work, import the video into logic pro, and record myself singing while watching my own conducting. I'm thinking this will result in a more thoroughly organic final product, and I want to utilize time spent on a technical exercise improving my own conducting and understanding of the work, rather than meticulously editing a fluid and morphing click track to sing to, and as an added benefit I was also able to identify several editing errors that I would never have noticed had I not spent the time studying my own score.

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I finished another book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Curry. This book threw insight like a flash-grenade down the corridors of my own daily rituals; waking at 4:30am, writing for 10 minutes, 20 minutes each of silent meditation and yoga, then the precious cup of black-hole-black coffee while reading 3 James Clear Articles, etc. More on my rituals another time.

I've been able to discern and clarify my core values during the past few weeks; 

• Passion- the pursuit of art as love and occupation,
• Determination-the stubborn and steadfast commitment to this passion,
• Excellence-or rather the pursuit of excellence concerning the craft and skill of my art,
• Discipline-the ability to hold myself accountable to these values over the long run, regardless of mood or motivation and,
• Creativity-the joyous exploration of these facets of my being, and of course regarding the art that I make.

Keeping these values in the forefront of my awareness as I operate has offered a more in-depth evaluation of the way that I spend my time, allowing me to actively engage in the practice of living life as an artist.

I'm looking forward to the work I get done tomorrow - more score study, and a video recording. Then I will spend the following days learning the vocal parts - and probably recognizing which parts are written well and which parts are written poorly as a result - and pondering ideas about a long-form work/album

See you tomorrow!