A sneaky way to find time for creative endeavors

How to fit a little more music or art into a busy life

When I ask people what they’d like to spend more time doing, creative work tends to come up a lot. People want time to practice musical instruments, or write, or paint, or work on scrapbooking projects. But between family and work commitments, it can be hard to find the space.

But not impossible. I’ve been thinking of this recently as I’ve been practicing the second soprano lines from Bach’s B-Minor Mass.

Longtime readers know that singing this work has been on my List of 100 Dreams for a long time (I mention it in my 2010 book, 168 Hours!). It has been a tough one to pull off. While you can buy a plane ticket to a place on your bucket list, arranging for an orchestra, a chorus, and a performance venue isn’t really an individual endeavor.

But this fall I got a chance to sing with a Philadelphia chorus that is performing the work, so I’ve been going to weekly rehearsals. As part of that, I’ve been re-learning the work. This requires a lot of practice (it isn’t easy!). So, where to find the time?