Featured Work in Maryliz Smith’s Private Performance Series
Points of Light | LIVE
This live performance features select works from Maryliz Smith’s Points of Light album, intermixed with reflections and stories exploring the power of authenticity and the collective. Each composition was improvised and then transcribed in collaboration with a different individual, capturing that individual’s distinct way of being in the world. Together, these audio tracks become a symphony of voices that spark new insights on how, individually and collectively, we bring ourselves to each situation.
“What a beautiful experience to attend one of Maryliz’s private performances! Not only was it exploratory, but the manner in which she presented her program captured the very essence of the story she was conveying.”
June Goldsmith, Founder of Music in the Morning Concert Society
Interview with Maryliz Smith
What was the inspiration behind Points of Light?
MS:
I have always been amazed at the uniqueness of every person I have ever encountered. A fingerprint, a voice, a heartbeat. We each have our distinct signature that some might call one’s essential self.
Mark Nepo calls this essence “an unencumbered spot of grace.” Martha Graham describes it with these words: “There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open…”
We often co-mingle with one another without paying much attention to these distinctions. Or if we do, it is often because of the friction caused by reason of our differences. To pay tribute to these distinctions is to pay tribute to this “life force,” to this “unencumbered spot of grace.” And, in turn, to be seen and heard deeply by another human being.
How do you intend to engage audiences with live performances of these compositions?
MS:
The way forward in this world is together, using the power of the collective. However, this will only work if we are first bringing our authentic selves and our true gifts into our personal and professional lives.
By listening to each composition in Points of Light, each a musical expression of a different individual, and hearing these compositions find resonance with one another and with the storytelling, I hope to carry audience members into a relationship with their own voice and what is theirs to do.
My aim is that by the end of the performance, each audience member can look at everyone else in that audience and, feeling the power within themselves, recognize the power of coming together in this authentic way.
How was each composition in Points of Light created?
MS:
I have the privilege of working in an organization called ELIA (embodied leadership, innovation and artistry). Our premise is to enhance the leadership of individuals and groups who want to make a difference in this world. One of the many ways we do this is by identifying a person’s distinct signature approach and thus where they can create the most value within their organization or community.
Every piece in Points of Light came from an ELIA project in which one-on-one song-making sessions where used to capture this essence of an individual. Each song becomes a reference and a reminder for how this individual can bring the best of themselves into any given situation. The process was so enlightening that it inspired this album and performance experience. I’m so grateful for those who generously gave me permission to use their piece in Points of Light.
Before I meet with someone for a song-making session—online or in person—I give them a “journey line” to consider. With this graphic document, they are invited to recall pivotal moments in their lives when they have “come alive” and have made a difference.
In our session, we speak of these experiences and others. I’m listening, looking for what connects one experience to another and for what makes them who they are. I observe their speed and cadence of speech; mannerisms; how they describe what they are passionate about; where they keep returning to over and over again.
At some point during the conversation, we begin to bring more definition to what’s theirs to do, naming their gifts and how these gifts play out in their professional and personal lives.
In my mind, there is a musical language for all of this. I go into my studio with that interchange still alive within me—all the stories and energy, the rhythms and harmonies that emerged. I move through a series of intuitive improvisations at the piano to compose a musical piece for their feedback. We adjust and tweak until it embodies their essential nature, allowing it to become a musical tool for returning to themselves.
Learn about the Conversari Series
An digital, self-guided alternative to live performances.
Listen to Maryliz’s Audio Blog
A taste of Maryliz’s nuanced ways of combining ideas and music.