Monthly Archives: April 2021

Zoom!  Bang!

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As a harper, I have been reading with interest the “sudden” spate of articles on the ills of working from home for over a year.   As a Human Factors Psychologist and Systems Engineer, I am only surprised it took this long for the articles to hit.

Everyone who couldn’t get away from me has received lectures (from my professional perspective).  I have related the importance of chair height and table height, arrangement of keyboard, monitor, mouse, lighting, and other elements of the workspace.  I have hectored friends, neighbors, and people I don’t even know about drinking enough water and not drinking too much coffee; the importance of avoiding incessant snacking; building a schedule; getting some outdoor time; and keeping work-work and home-work separate (not trying to do household chores between meetings) – all things I know from my professional specialty and as a person who has worked from home for over 15 years.

But now, I’m going to direct all that energy at you … and suggest a way forward!

I know you’re used to me prattling on about injury at the harp, but one thing you might not have thought about is what our current altered reality has done to us.  There are so many things we either did differently before or things we haven’t been able to do at all over the last year.  That that time away can build the potential for losing focus and technique…all of which may result in injuries – at the harp or away from it. 

Just this week I have learned of harpers who have sustained injuries away from the harp that are impacting their playing – ugh.  One is a student who fell off a skateboard.  Even if that wrist isn’t broken, it will need to heel.  And that will be weeks away from the harp.  Another was telling me about a big work project – at home, on a laptop doing work that would normally have been done at the office on a desktop – with its ergonomically designed desk and much bigger keyboard.  So now we’re working on caring for the overuse injuries from typing in this new position – injuries to the same structures that are central to playing the harp. 

As we have all languished at home, it has also been easy to allow our basic skills slide.  If you don’t have in person lessons, your thumbs might fall, your shoulders might cave, your chin might jut, and your spine might crumple.  In addition, so many of the cues teachers can pick up on from in-person lessons are missing or are flattened online.  So, it is likely that there are elements of technique that are dissolving from your daily practice and are not highlighted in your lesson.

And that’s not good – ragged technique and poor posture are not just a challenge to overcome – they can be a gateway to injury.

So, what can you do?  Have a zoom call……with yourself!

If you’re not familiar with zoom (zoom.us) it is a free application that allows you to have a video interaction with others. *

At the beginning of each day I do a zoom meeting with myself to verify my cameras are pointing in the right direction, that the lighting is good, and that everything is set up before my first student.   As I’m teaching, I watch my student.  That means that if I need to look at my harp, I would have to look away.  But, I can see my harp on the screen which means I can still see both my student and my harp.  After all, I want to be sure they are able to follow and understand what I’m doing or to verify that I need to do it again.  One day while teaching, I noticed (and was really pleased with) my hand position (I know, silly things make me happy).

And that got me thinking about how on the screen I could see things I can’t see from “behind the harp”.  Moreover, I could make small changes and see the effect right away.

You can do the same thing.  How?  You just have to host a meeting with yourself.  Yup – host a meeting, but don’t invite anyone else!  You have the full screen, you can see yourself clearly, and while you watch, you can make small adjustments.  As you make these adjustments (move to the middle of the string? raise your arm just a tiny bit? create greater space between your thumb and fingers? actually preplace or use the fingering you worked out? the list could go on…) BANG! – you can immediately see the effect of each change.

And seeing can certainly be believing.

I often suggest that you video your practice so you can see what you’re doing…and what you’re not doing.  It gives you a different perspective (and may make teacher comments mean more to you).  I also always remind you of the big red delete button…because the point of the video is to learn, correct and go on, not to hold it for posterity.  However, I also know that many of you still don’t do this.  So this similar (but completely ephemeral) idea seemed like a good one.  Watch yourself play but don’t record it.  See what you’re doing (from the vantage point of your teacher) and make small adjustments until what you see matches what you’ve heard in all those lessons – high thumb, relax, close, place…breathe!

DO ALL THE THINGS!  SEE ALL THE THINGS!

I also find that the meeting view is better – clearer and brighter – than on the video.

So, are you willing to zoom with yourself to help be bang on?  If you do, let me know how it goes and what you learn.  And if you’re not willing to try, I’d like to hear that too.  I’m always looking for better ways to teach and I learn so much from your comments!

 

* And no, of course I’m not getting any compensation – but this is also not an endorsement.  I have used zoom, skype, facetime, and messenger – as long as you have the function without actually having someone else on the line, it’ll work.

 

 

 

What Will You Do on Your Summer Staycation?

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With all this pandemic-ing going on and on and on, it’s easy to let planning for summer to fall out of your head.  But that would be a mistake!  While not everything will be happening this summer, there is a not-to-be-missed harp event that I would commend to you –

The Ohio Scottish Arts School will be online again this summer!

OSAS 2021Now, you might think that it might not be as fulfilling as the in-person experience.  You’d be wrong.   Ask last year’s attendees – we did many of the same things we do when we’re in person.  There were notable exceptions, but these were slightly ameliorated by being things we would have had to replace anyway.

Why would we need to replace things anyway?  Because next year (fingers crossed) we will be in our new location at Baldwin Wallace University.  We are very much looking forward to this change…and not just because it is air conditioned against those June-in-Ohio heatwaves!  We will have to find new things to replace singing under the tree, wandering Gibson’s and the Ben Franklin, and going to the Bead Shop.  And we will – we will have a new place to explore and enjoy!

But first – this summer. 

This summer we have are so fortunate to have an amazing collection of teachers. Rachel Hair and Rachel Clemente will be with us again.  And I’m so excited that we will also be joined by Sharon Knowles too!  Oh, and me!

We are all excited about seeing everyone from near and far.  We were so excited to have students from as far away as Europe but we can try to break that distance record!  We’ll be like the Brady Bunch again with happy faces in small windows.  And the tunes we’ll be teaching – Ace! (as we have learned to say from Rachel Hair).  We will have teaching sessions and lecture sessions and fun sessions.  There will also be opportunities to learn from the other arts (Pipes, Drums, Fiddles, and Dance).  The evening activities will include the Instructor Concert as well as some new goodies the Thistle Family are cooking up.  And – we will get to start each day as we traditionally have – with the piper!

If you’ve not been to OSAS, you have missed a treat!  But you can fix that!  OSAS is intended to provide students with comprehensive instruction in their chosen traditional art – Harp in our case.  All the instructors in each art are nationally and internationally recognized.  You will learn theory, skills and technique, and new material. 

You do not need to be a significantly accomplished harper, but OSAS is not pitched to rank beginners – you should have some knowledge of harping.  However, if you are comfortable learning and playing, come join us!

OSAS will be Monday, June 28 – Friday, July 2.  Registration is now open – go to https://ohioscottishartsschool.com for all the details.    

Please note that the class sizes are limited, and registration closes June 11th.  Don’t delay – get your spot!  We were pretty full last summer.  Have harp specific questions?  Planning to be there this summer?  Let me know you’re coming in the comments below.

Plan for a Productive week

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You have a crazy busy schedule.  Ok, I may not know you, but since most everyone does have that kind of schedule, I’m going to take a guess that you, like so many others, do too.  People with busy schedules usually have a strategy to keep all the plates spinning and balls at the top of the arc (a strategy from juggling). Plan a Productive WeekNot having a strategy can be a problem, because – you know – life.  Do you have a strategy to assure you get to play throughout the week? Here are ten things to do on Sunday to be ready for the coming week so that n-o-t-h-i-n-g gets in the way of your harp time!  PS – There’s nothing magic about Sundays.  Do this on the day of the week that you think of as the day before the start of the week.  PPS – if your mother is anything like my mother, nothing on this list will surprise you!  My mother is a master organizer, and this is the sort of thing I learned at her knee.  But if you weren’t raised by a logistical genius like I was, now you’ll know what you need to do, so go do it…

  1. Peruse your notes. Whether it’s your lesson notes or your practice journal, figure out what you need to be thinking about while you’re practicing.  The only thing worse than not being ready for your lesson because you didn’t practice is not being ready because you practiced the wrong thing!  And trust me, your teachers don’t write those notes for their own health – use the notes!
  2. Review your practice from the previous week. What worked?  What didn’t?  What derailed you?  What do you need to carryover working on?  Did you practice the things you meant to?  If not, why not, and what did you do instead?  There’s good info in reflecting on these questions!
  3. Write down your priorities. Even if you’re not gigging, you probably have some place you’d like to go on your harp.  But you already know that you can’t do everything all at once.  And we know that preparing music (from selecting to analyzing to learning to polishing to performing) doesn’t happen in one day or even one week.  Figuring out what you should work on this week to make progress.  Writing it down will help move you along even more.
  4. Look at your planner. Which day this week are you definitely not going to get to play or practice? Oh, come on, be honest.  There’s always a day where everything else takes priority and you know you’re not going to get to your harp. Know when that is and modify your plan to fit your life.  I sometimes have days where really, I’m driving all day.  For those days, I plan for “head practice” – load the tunes to be learned and listen listen listen (and sing along to know you’re getting it).  Or use time when you’re walking or running (a great time to think about rhythm while you enjoy your own metronome-ness.  You might not make it to your harp, but you will still get a little bit done.
  5. Plan your practice days. If you know what you should do (see 1 above), and what you want to do (see 2 above), and when you have available to do it (see 3 above), then it makes sense to figure out what each day might look like.  This is a concept I stole from body-building – even if you workout every day, you don’t go hard on everything every day (or you will crash).  Which day will be your hard-core technique day?  Which is going to focus on learning and repeating? Which day is your “play date” with yourself?  Don’t wait for the day you feel like doing the thing you need to work on most (or you’ll never do the thing), make a plan.
  6. Do the Laundry. No really, get your chores sorted before the week begins.  Maybe you don’t do laundry on Sunday night but having a plan to get all your “responsibilities” taken care of throughout the week means you won’t have to give up your precious harp time to do something uninteresting like cleaning the bathroom.  This stands for everything that might take up time you would rather spend playing and includes all those chores that you know will eat up the time you have if you wait to do them (I’m looking at you meal planning!).  
  7. Prep your space. No matter if your studio is a 25 ft x 25 ft room dedicated to your music or a sliver of floor between the couch and the wall, maintain it!  If you need to, neaten it up, make sure everything you will need is close to hand (for instance, I’m currently going through stickie notes like there’s no tomorrow, and all my pens had gone walkabout, so I had to restock –).  Tuner need batteries?  Tuning key under a pillow in the other room? Get it all sorted so you’re not spending the few moments you have looking for stuff.
  8. Load your music stand. As in 7 above, make sure the sheet music, notes, or other references you need are on there.  And that the other stuff is not.  By the end of the week, I have so much paper, so many music books, and paperclips, clothes pins, pencils, etc. on my stand that if I didn’t do this, on Monday my first task would always be to pick up all the junk I dropped. 
  9. Get yourself ready for Monday. It won’t do any good to spend all this time prepping for playing if you aren’t ready for the rest of your Monday.  Be sure you spend a little time getting yourself sorted to have a good week.  Get your bag sorted, plan your clothes, put gas in the car.  Of course, most of this list will suffice for that as well – just make sure you also have yourself organized and ready to go for the week.  Then you’re less likely to have everyday disasters eat into your harp time.
  10. Be nice to you. This is a great time to remember that you need to do something nice for you.  Give yourself a manicure and massage your hands and forearms.  Find some decadent emollient cream (and use it, don’t wait for a special occasion!). Breathe while you do this, relax, and you have a mini-spa session!

This list is not exhaustive of course.  But if you take a little time out of your Sunday to prepare for the week, you will find that you have more time to play and practice.  And because you spend that time on Sunday, the rest of the week’s harp time can be less stressful because you’re ready and not fighting fires during that time.   What do you do on Sunday to prepare for you harp week?  If you don’t have a regular routine, did you give this a try?  Let me know in the comments!

FEEL the beat!

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Last week we talked about the metronome actually being your friend.  In the excellent and lively discussion, the concept of innate rhythm arose – as in not having one!  As you might imagine, not having an innate sense of rhythm could hamper your ability to then use the metronome.

I’m not sure that it is possible to have absolutely no sense of rhythm.  After all, if that were the case, it would be difficult to live.  We all have a heartbeat.  That’s even called a sinus rhythm!  And it would be difficult to accomplish even simple tasks without some rhythm.  For instance – walking.  Walking has an embedded rhythm.  So does chewing.  And breathing.  Now, I’m not saying it’s impossible to have no rhythm.  But it kinda looks like it would be.

More likely, it is possible to have a very weak awareness of rhythm.  And possible to have a weak awareness of externally imposed rhythm.  (Think I’m making this up? Try to rapidly read through a strathspey with loads of flag/dots and dot/flags (not to mention the triplets!) – it’s really easy to build up a resistance to external rhythms when you’re internal ones go to war with them!).

Feel the beat!I hope you’ve been as lucky as I have been coming up as a musician.  I have had amazing teachers!*  Some of the best stuff I ever learned was to work on rhythm away from the harp.  That could be by clapping or snapping my fingers.  It could be slapping left knee for the down beat and right for the up.  Or it could be walking around in a circle, keeping the beat with my feet while clapping the melody rhythm in my hands.  Or slapping Boom Sticks together. Or banging on wood blocks.  Or coffee cans.  Lately, I’m enamored with vocables for rhythm elements (while walking in circles).**

I love this systemic way of getting to the rhythm.  Because rhythm is organically simple while being conceptually complex.    Sometimes, it’s hard to keep all the thinking and doing going in order to get the tune to come out.  Breaking the rhythm out and working on it separately is helpful.  But really feeling it in your body (not just in your brain) is a valuable additional way to bring it together. 

Because, after all, you don’t just send your brain and your fingers to the harp!  You have to bring all of you.  So you might as well get all of you into the act.  You can make it small and timid (like I’ve described above) or you can make it big and bold like Eurhythmics.  But, like so many things, you have to make it what you need it to be.   You have to FEEL it!  And you must practice it!

So, the next time you take on a rhythm, try getting off your bench.  Get out of your head.  Move your arms and legs to the beat and to the rhythm.  Feel it – in your bones (and muscles!).  Be free and enjoy it.  And you may be surprised by how you can now appreciate (and render) the rhythm differently, easier, more freely.  I also like that when you move, you can also build a mental image of you moving – so if all else fails, you have yet another way to remember how it goes.

All that movement also helps heighten your awareness of the rhythm.  If you have a weak sense of rhythm, try making big swinging arm movements for the rhythm or big stomps for the beat.  Or both.   When you’ve got it (and are in fits of giggles), then sit back to the harp and start putting the pieces together (putting the notes into the rhythm).  And don’t be afraid to get up and do it again – when you’re first learning something, it can be fleeting, and you might have to repeat to get it back again. 

Have you tried moving around to get the rhythm?  If so, how’d it go?  If not, would you try it now?  And if you wouldn’t but are intrigued – I give lessons on being silly!***

*If you ever have a lesson with me and you think I am rolling my eyes while you struggle, I am not!  I’m thinking, vexed with myself that I’m not making something clear.  I’m furiously working through my list, wondering, “what would (Mrs. Edberg or Marianna or Sue or Kris or a number of other teachers who have been so patient with me) say or do at this point?  How can I get a different perspective and share that!”.  I’m not rolling my eyes, I’m seeking inspiration!!

**Now some of you are rolling your eyes because you’ve had to do this stuff with me – but it worked, didn’t it?!

***OK, that’s dangerously close to selling, which I try very hard to not do here.  But it is true and if you’d like a one-off lesson to explore this or a coaching session, just let me know!