Monthly Archives: November 2020

Go confidently – and be nice

Posted on by
Reply

So, there’s still a dread disease across the land, there is still very little work for musicians, and we’re all getting tired of sitting in front of our computers creating/consuming/enduring content.

Sigh.  What’s a harper to do?

I saw something online this morning (of course, because where else am I gonna go?) that really stuck with me.

Self confidenceYou see, I spent pretty much ALL day yesterday working on something at the intersection of my harp and my computer.  It was a struggle to figure out where to start.  But I shouldered all my perfectionistic professionalism and got on with it.  And after hours slogging through (and I mean h-o-u-r-s), I learned that I had gotten absolutely nothing usable!  Then I spent even more hours trying to save what I had, only to recognize that it would be faster (and probably more satisfying and less frustrating) to start over again than to continue to try to salvage it.  It was disheartening (and worrisome – I have a deadline!).  I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to do this.

But the words I saw this morning were spot on.  They spoke of continuing on, and staying confident, even when you’re not sure where you’re going.

I hope you feel confidence when you’re playing – especially when you’re struggling with a particular piece or technique.  It’s very difficult to keep confidence front of mind when you have had a bad rehearsal or when you make a video of your playing (like I frequently suggest) and see something you didn’t think you would (I’m pointing at you unclosed fingers, dropping elbows, craned necks, and bent wrists!).  It would be so easy to become disheartened and to set it aside.  But like so many setbacks, there are lessons to be learned – about the music, about your playing, and about yourself!

Don’t let your self-confidence take a hit when you have setbacks or challenges.  It is easy to go down the path of loss of confidence – especially with our music.  And while you’re being confident, that you’re nice to you as well.  But it’s important to remember a few important details:

  • Typically our lack of self-confidence has nothing to do with reality. Your perception of your performance is usually far different from your real ability.  If you have received kudos in for your playing, those people are not lying!  So stop lying to yourself.
  • Remember to praise yourself – and mean it.
  • You will have challenges.  As you work through them, be nice to you!  The mental health pros say “practice kindness and compassion” – do that with yourself!
  • Finally, realize that you can say no to yourself.  You wouldn’t accept unreasonable requests from others, don’t make unreasonable requests of yourself!  Of course strive to learn and grow, but don’t ask yourself to do things you don’t want to do are just aren’t ready for!

So, today I’m redoing all the work I did yesterday.  Am I feeling less confident?  Nope, not anymore (of course I wallowed for a little bit – I AM human!).  Today I’m going to use everything I learned yesterday and get it done!  Do I know where all this will lead?  Nope, I have no clue.  while I do all that, I will remember that I am doing the best I can and I will succeed, although it might take me a little longer than I thought.

If you hit a rough patch, I hope you’ll continue on, stay confident, and persevere.  You may not know where you’re going…until you get there.  Anyone else in this spot?  What are you doing?  Let me know in the comments!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on by
Reply

Thanksgiving isn’t really a harp holiday – or even a music holiday.

Happy Thankgsiving!It is a great time to think about our blessings as harp players – we are so fortunate!  We play a forgiving instrument that gives us pleasure.  Harp also allows us to share with others.  And let’s be frank – we play an instrument that doesn’t ever sound like a constipated goose fighting with a cat in heat!  That’s an awful lot for which to be thankful!

But wait, there’s more!  We are part of an incredible community of like-minded musicians.  We know loads of tunes!  And we have opportunities to play together, even when we’re apart.  And it’s relatively easy to play – no matter how many slices of pie you have!

So I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving and can take a moment to be glad of all the gifts our harps bring us.  One thing for which I am thankful?  You sharing your valuable time with me here each week! 

What are you thankful for?  Share in the comments –

 

When SHOULDN’T you practice?

Posted on by
Reply

You’re not going to believe that I’m about to tell you this!  You might want to be sitting before you read on.

There are times when you SHOULDN’T practice!

I did say that you that you wouldn’t believe I was going to say that.  But it is true.

When shouldn't you practiceOf course, you know that you need to practice.  You know that if you want to move yourself toward playing more, better, faster, stronger – you need to practice.  The quality time you spend on the bench is directly related to your progress and development.  And even in those times when you not “feeling” it, you still know you need to do it.

But there are a few very specific times when you should not practice.  Times when practicing has the potential to make the situation worse, or to derail all your hard work.  What are these very specific reasons to not practice?  Here are six:

  1. You are in pain – this should be a no brainer, and yet, I feel compelled to include it anyway.  If you feel pain when you are playing, no matter where you feel it, no matter what type of pain it is, stop.  Visit your physician, and have the pain addressed. I know, duh…but it had to be said.
  2. You are injured – this is like the above, but slightly different.  If you are injured, you’ll likely have had pain (ref 1 above). But at some point in your recovery, you might have little to no pain.  And because you are beginning to feel better you might try to get back to practicing, even though you know you’re meant to rest a little longer. But failing to give yourself that resting time might result in further injury.  Again, duh.  Don’t do it!
  3. You are exhausted – I don’t mean you’re tired, I mean you’re really really really tired.  You know the kind.  Not the, “oh I wish I had gone to bed a little earlier” kind of tired.  More like the “I haven’t slept for days because I’m over-stressed and I’m barely keeping it together” kind of exhausted.  You probably already know that being this fatigued will result in reduced cognitive performance.  You probably also know that it will be frustrating and annoying.  Neither of these emotions will help you deal well with the rigors of practicing.  Being so fatigued also means that you probably won’t really learn anything from your practice time.  So you’d be better off using the time getting some rest and returning to practicing later.
  4. You are really busy – here I don’t mean your normal everyday busy, but more like when you’re crushed with way too much to do and no time to do it (and likely not getting enough sleep – ref 3 above).  With that kind of mental load, you won’t be able to focus on the work you need to do in your practice.  And you might also spend your valuable cognitive practice energy fussing about not doing the things you should be doing rather than thinking about your practice – not very productive.  It would be better to forego practicing so you can concentrate on what you are busy doing and come back when you can be deliberate with your playing.
  5. You are experiencing exceptional stress – again, not everyday stress.  By this I mean you’re experiencing significant life changes or events.  You might, because you’re diligent, feel that you must, regardless of other things going on in your life, insert a practice.  But be open to not practicing, especially at the height of the stress.  If I wasn’t writing about when you should consider not practicing, this is where I would also suggest that you could, in this instance, play but not practice.  Your harp could provide succor in tough times, but just play, be with your harp and your music, don’t practice.
  6. You are stuck – we all go through times that we get stuck – when we just aren’t concentrating on the music we want to play.  Simply stepping away may give you the clarity to get unstuck.  Take a walk, meditate, or do something that you know will help clear your head.

All of us have had experienced these things at some level.  And when we do, a bit of a break can help.  The real trick is to give ourselves permission to give our practice a miss briefly to gain clarity.  The other trick is to ensure that we get back into practice quickly after a tiny break so we avoid drifting into not practicing at all.  Use your practice journal to help you get through the break and get back on track with your practicing when you come back. 

Have you taken a brief break in your practice for these (or other) reasons?  Let me know in the comments!

Veterans Day 2020

Posted on by
Reply

Veterans Day – the holiday with no big celebration, special foods, or symbols.  The US Military is the biggest employer of musicians in the world!  This Veterans Day – thank a Vet!

Veterans Day 2020

Happy Veterans Day to our sailors, soldiers, and airmen past and present. We owe you our thanks, but more than that, we owe you our freedom

There’s always a curve

Posted on by
Reply

There’s been a lot going on this year – for everyone.  It can be challenging to remain positive in the face of so much stuff.  But still you must…because there’s always a curve. Possibly just around the corner!

We’re running up on the holiday season.  There are weddings and carol sings and church services.  There are a million things to practice for – including those that we can’t see on the calendar, but we do know will happen again soon (after COVID).

Amy is sporting a fancy brace that allows more movement – but we might be limited to left hand only play for a little while. Good thing we know what to do!

But what happens when something happens to you?  When life throws you a curve?  Just this week I have learned of two people in my harp world who are recovering from injury – one has suffered a broken arm!

But that doesn’t mean no playing! However, it does mean taking time for injury recovery. There are plenty of ways to continue with music and plenty of reasons to persist*

First the reasons:

  1. You can be your own therapeutic musician
  2. You can only watch so many Christmas movies as you recover (or whatever your mindless guilty pleasure is!).
  3. You know you need to practice (and you know that there are ways for your to do so, even without playing your harp)
  4. You can gain a new skill – you could be the only one at your next harp circle that can actually pull off what will look like a party trick – playing an entire tune in one hand!
  5. You know that it will just make you feel better to spend a little time with your harp!

And now, the ways:

  1. You’ve only injured one hand/arm/shoulder – but the other one is fine.  You can’t go wrong by keeping that side playing.  Work on skills that are more prominent in that hand – drill frequent finger patterns, work on rhythm, focus on articulation – there’s loads to do!
  2. Don’t fret over what you can’t do – focus on what you can.  You’re fortunate that this is an injury from which you will recover so you will be able to get back.  Your best bet is to not lose ground through inaction and atrophy.
  3. Dust off your theory – if you’re only using one hand, you will need to leverage all your understanding of chord structure to build a harmony in that hand.  You can use simple harmony, practice more complex chords or maybe explore jazzier harmonies.
  4. Dust off your basics – you might have gotten away from fundamentals – basic technique, strengthening, and stretching.  Add this back into your routine so you don’t end up with another injury to overcome. 
  5. Dust off your other basics – you might have gotten away from structural work on intervals in one hand.  So, work that in – do the exercises to work your thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, etc.  You will be making all your harmonies from these intervals, so you might as well focus on making them as good (and solid) as you can – no fumbling around!  It’s never too late to open Sylvia Woods’ Teach yourself book, Maria Grossi’s book, Sue Richards’ exercises, or whatever your favorite basics book is**.
  6. Dust off your musicality – here’s a real opportunity to focus on the tune and rendering more musically.  Without all the other stuff to focus on (two hands mostly!) you can really hone in on your musicality.
  7. Work on (and write down!) your arranging skills.

You can see that focusing on one hand might be a bit of bother while you recover but it can open your eyes to some other important aspects of playing.  You might even consider giving it a go before you’re injured!  And it can’t hurt to have a plan in the event of injury – and you’ll have something to look forward to!

One final thought on recovering while injured – be very careful to monitor your posture and technique while you’re recovery – no need to develop an overuse injury on top of everything else!

Have you been injured and needed to modify how you play or practice?  What did you do and how did it work for you?  If you haven’t been injured, do you have a plan just in case life throws you a curve?  Let me know in the comments below.

 

* please don’t do anything dumb – I’m not that kind of doctor, this is not medical advice.  If you are recovering from an injury or surgery, follow the instructions of your physician, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and other health care providers.  But don’t forget to ask those same providers to help you recover by explaining that you are a harp player and you are keen to get back to your harp – for your mental, emotional, and physical health.  They can’t give you useful advice if you don’t tell them you need to play your harp!  Be prepared to explain what you need to be able to do while you’re playing.

** Not a paid endorsement and there are lots of books – I like these and I think you might too.