The Year of Vibrancy
2021 you sly little fox. We all knew going into this year it was going to be a tricky one. The pandemic is in full swing still in most parts of the world and no one knows when it will go back to some sort of normalcy. Quite honestly, I think we are all a little skeptical about making any big decisions to do anything right now for fear our plans will be changed, cancelled and we will feel the disappointment we felt in 2020 all over again. We are concerned we will catch Covid-19 right before we are able to be vaccinated or we have felt the effects of Covid-19 by getting it ourselves or watching loved ones struggle with it and even lose the battle. With all this in mind and possibly because of all this in mind, I decided 2021 was going to be my “Year of Vibrancy”.
Every year, my sister Whitney challenges me to set a theme to what is coming next and write out my goals. I always try to put something together, but I am just not as disciplined as she is. As luck would have it, my friend Kathleen asked me to join her for a virtual vision boarding workshop and the word VIBRANCY popped up. So, I created a vision board, which you can see at the start of this blog post, around the theme of vibrancy. In the grey of January, Mark Limacher and I recorded his new work for Trumpet, Flugelhorn and Piano “Perceptions: Before and During” inspired by being the virtual artists in residence for Music Scores 2020 as part of the Festival of the Sound. This is when I realized how vibrancy can be transmitted to others even in this time of isolation. How amazingly wonderful.
Perceptions Before and During composed by Mark Limacher with artwork by Ms. Moorehouse’s Grade 5/6 Class
Then in February, my friend and teaching partner Walter Macdonald White Bear and I were asked to join the community of Edgemont school as their artists in residence. I remember feeling overwhelmed with the idea of a month-long virtual artist residency for Kindergarten to Grade 5 with 800 students but as I was creating my lesson plans, I looked up at the vision board I had created and thought, “Right! This is my year of vibrancy, so if we can just keep in mind that what we are really offering the community Is JOY and MUSIC then we are going to be ok.” Every morning before we taught Walter and I would check in with each other and it became our mantra – JOY AND MUSIC – and then off we would go to teach.
You know what is crazy about that? When you put vibrancy out there in any form you get it back 10-fold. The staff and students were absolutely amazing. They shared their joy and music back and the grey of February melted into the promise of spring in March. Adding to my year of vibrancy has been my workout team, the McRock Wonder Twins, Whitney Rockley and Scott MacDonald.
We have faithfully met two times a week, even throughout the artist residency, to work out with the ever-vibrant Coach Koe and cheer each other on. Mary Sullivan has continued to teach yoga virtually and her sessions afford me time to recalibrate. Last night Mary challenged us to check in with our body right after our practice. She said if we were having to make a decision about something/anything in our lives we can listen to what our body answers. I thought that is a great way to think and it reminded me of a quote that I had included on my vision board.
“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen. Rumi”
Just this week Calgary Pro Musica’s Young Artist Development Program launched all their musical body breaks that I co-produced with Dean O’Brien in the fall. Emil Agopian did such a wonderful job directing these videos and filling the screen with colour. He encapsulated the vibrancy of the talented young musicians in our program. I have watched all 11 episodes with a huge smile on my face. That project reminds me, once again, that the vibrancy we put out into the world comes back to us ten-fold.
Calgary Pro Musica’s Young Artist Development Program 2020 - 21
So, 2021 if you are indeed a sly little fox, you are reminding me to keep my senses heightened and my awareness sharp. It will be interesting to see where the journey takes us in this year of vibrancy.
How do you bring your vibrancy into the world?