NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

If you haven't made a goal (or goals) for this year, and you like to do the "New Years Resolutions" thing, today is your last day in 2012. I have a few suggestions. I'll be following these, too, so we can keep in touch and share our successes and our challenges along the way. Michelangelo had an interesting perspective, which is in this quote: “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” ― Michelangelo Buonarroti How many of us have achieved our mark that we knew was beneath our talents and abilities? This quote will mean much more when you read about the life of Michelangelo and how he pursued his artistic creations. He was prolific. Another quote: “If you knew how much work went into it, you wouldn't call it genius. ” ― Michelangelo Buonarroti This one shows humility and the reality of what it takes to do the highest level of your abilities. People who are doing their art with a backup plan for life will do the backup plan, almost without exception. There are exceptions, though. Some people are able to do "both", are able to have "both" but make no mistake; they did not neglect the arduous road to great art. The singers who do not put in the time with musicianship, vocal technique, and artistic imagination have set their aims too low. It doesn't sound like genius because too little time and too little effort went into the preparation. There have been many variations on the idea of a person reaping what he/she sows. Michelangelo's was this: “AS YOU GIVE OUT SO SHALL YOU RECEIVE.” ― Michelangelo Buonarroti For those of us who have lost our edge by being overly critical, there is this advice: “Critique by creating.” ― Michelangelo Buonarroti How good can you get? If you hear the faults in others, that does not make you a genius. It makes you a critic. It does not make you an artist. If you look for the bad, you WILL find it. Congratulations! You have moved over to the dark side, if you mostly focus on the bad. If you want to be a true artist, use the things you do not like in others to motivate you to try harder and to be better, not to make others "wrong", but rather to move yourself to a higher and higher standard of artistic creation. There is a story of a young coed who met Albert Einstein for the first time. She asked him what he did. He answered, "I am a student of Physics." She replied, "Oh, I took that last semester." Einstein profoundly understood that he did not know it all to the extent that he recognized that learning is a lifelong endeavor and that no one can know everything. Without putting himself down, he called himself a student. I am also still constantly learning and studying music, singing, the medical side of the voice and still consult with physicians to learn more and to verify my own theories having to do with the safe utilization of the voice and the elimination of myths and other false premises. My last Michelangelo quote: “I am still learning.” ― Michelangelo Buonarroti With all the work completed at the time of that quote, he was so brilliant as to state that he was still learning. Keep his wisdom in mind as you make your New Years Resolutions and may it be the best year yet.