A year ago I published my intentions and aspirations for 2014 in a short post about New Years Resolutions. If you ignore all the waffle about why gym membership is a waste of time, the conclusion in my article this time last year was a resolution to do less! I obviously figured at the time this would be a far easier resolution to keep than setting myself wildly ambitious targets to conquer the world by the end of January!
on the basis of now running 4 choirs, 2 companies, and being a part time organist at Christ Church in Bath (at least for a few months anyway), I have decided my New Years Resolution is to do less…
Looking back, I don’t seem to have done very well with that resolution either! Currently I run 7 choirs, I’m even busier with my location recording company and now full time Organist & Choirmaster at St Thomas a Becket Church in Bath.
One other thing perhaps I should mention is my intention last year to cycle more. In 2013, I managed to cycle 23 miles and the plan was to do at least that, if not more, in 2014. I’m afraid, dear reader, I have failed. The last time I actually got on my bike was about August, at which point the computer thing was reading somewhere in the region of 36 miles. So, that’s a measly 13 miles cycled during 2014. Before writing this post I went into the garage to just double check my facts, only to find that my bike has been so neglected the battery in the trip computer has gone completely flat!
So what of 2015?
I am really looking forward to the year ahead. I spent a lot of 2014 setting up new choirs. Some worked, some didn’t. But what I did achieve was finding my ‘niche’. Or at least something that I enjoy doing and therefore want to do. I certainly don’t pretend to be the world’s greatest choir leader. I’m probably very far from that. However, I take a great deal of comfort from choir members who, not only keep turning up to rehearsals week after week, but actually tell me they miss choir when we don’t rehearse such as over the Christmas break.
My ‘resolution’ for 2015, if it can be termed that, is one of consolidation. For the first time in many years I am actually reasonably content with my life. I always said right from my school days that I could never do a desk job. I would go insane just ‘going to work’ day after day, in some tedious mundane job which no one valued, and other than paying the bills was utterly soul destroying. I always knew I wanted to do something which gave me variety and enabled me to be free to get out into the world, rather than being stuck in an office building. Most importantly I wanted to be involved in Music.
The balance I now have between my Recording Company and my work with Choirs is to me the perfect combination. Don’t get me wrong, it can be hard work. The recordings often involve me getting up at 3am and working an 18 hour day, whilst the choirs mean I rarely have an evening at home. But I enjoy every minute of everything I do – and I get paid for it as well! I’m well aware that nowadays very few people work 9-5 and there are lots of pressures on people to work at home and at weekends. I think, although I do tend to work 7 days a week I have it fairly easy compared to many people, and for that I am grateful.
Looking back at everything which happened in 2014 that I didn’t predict, or even know about this time last year, I am not going to make too many ambitious statements about the year ahead. My first intention is to focus on where I am at the moment. I will continue to develop all my choirs, setting them new challenges throughout the year. I am also planning to do a lot more recordings with choirs in 2015. We already have 8 recordings in the diary for the next few months. Anything else that comes along will be a bonus and can only further enhance the very fortunate position I currently find myself in.
Whatever your situation and whatever you are planning for 2015, I hope everything works out and you have a fantastic year!