Reinventing Your Artistry

The question I have is what techniques do you use for REINVENTING YOUR ARTISTRY?

I have been challenged in each new decade with reinventing myself.

In my twenties, when I began performing for a fee, I utilized my youth and vitality and fulfilled my need to absorb the purpose of musical studies - self-expression.

In my thirties, I concentrated more on building a repertoire of pieces I could sing and play; and on rehearsing and performing as much as possible with good musicians.

In my forties, I pursued my Master's degree and toured for eight years. When I returned from Europe, I knew I had to be able to do something besides sing, so I studied HTML and website design, while writing articles for Travel & Style magazine and grants to teach about Women in Jazz and Blues to thousands of Broward County students through my corporation, FYI Communications, Inc.

In my fifties, I learned HTML and website design and I owned an art gallery and, near the end of that decade, I began compiling my 9 books that I completed and published by the end of my sixtieth year, along with several concert reviews written for a local newspaper.

Now, at 61+a half (smile), I'm the founder of WOMEN IN JAZZ SOUTH FLORIDA, INC., a non-profit organization, in the position to receive grants and sponsorship that could make my dream of WOMEN IN MUSIC MUSEUM in South Florida a reality.

From keypunch operator to legal secretary to touring vocalist to composer to entrepreneur to educator to author to IT specialist to executive director to museum founder, I've reinvented myself, my purpose and my artistry.

What's your story, Morning Glory?

Diva JC

[This entry will be published in the book Forever Young at 50+ by Nina Hart of Six Hearts, Inc., and released in 2010]