Author Archives: Jen

Merry Christmas

Posted on by
2

Happy Holidays to you and yours!   I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that you get to enjoy sharing music with those around you (or in Zoom distance!).  Those who receive your gift of music will be delighted…and there’s no need for a return policy!

This has been a “different” year for all of us – good and bad.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten to learn a lot.  As part of that – please join me and Donna Bennett performing as Gallus – our Solstice mini-concert is here!  This was our opportunity to share music with you – Harpy Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Change the things you can and Accept the things you cannot

Posted on by
Reply

I really enjoy hearing from you.  Throughout the year you have reached out and shared your thoughts, your successes, your challenges, and I am so incredibly grateful that you do.

And you’ve had some doozies this year!

Broken bones and broken harps.  Sadness and loneliness as we spent the year Together Apart.  Concern that this will never end.  Tunes that refused to go into your head.  Wayward left hands that just would not cooperate.  Concern about not being able to share music with others.  Fatigue with playing.  Frustration at not making the progress you expected (or demanded of yourself).  Nervousness as gigs dried up and audiences didn’t materialize.  Fear that an injury might mean you’ll never play again.  Anxiety that your absent motivation is going to close a chapter in your life.

Yikes.

Change what you can

Change what you can, Accept what you can’t

And yet, through it all, our harps have stood at the ready (well, with the exception of the broken harp…).  Your harp can be a source of succor in an otherwise blech year – if you allow it to be.  And if you allow it to serve that role where and when you need it.  It’s a time to change the things you can and accept the things you cannot.

You cannot change your healing and recovery rate.  You cannot modify how long we are shut down, separated, enduring viruses.  These are things that you must accept.

But if you’re not very motivated to spend time at your harp, you might just need a change.  Who knows why you’re not playing or practicing?  Well, it’s likely that you do!

Sometimes you need to knuckle down and just do it.  This often feels like a nagging need that you feel rubbing you the wrong way.  Perhaps you can just push along with your harp to get past this.  Identify why you’re feeling that you don’t want to play and tease it out.  If you’re stressed and overwhelmed, or just a little discouraged, you can reset your frame.  Make a coffee date with your harp.  Rather than thinking about practicing, just promise yourself that you’ll only sit for 3 minutes and you’ll spend that time noodling.  If you need to make this completely stress free, just play pentatonic notes (set your harp to Cmaj and play only the white strings).  This is pretty easy because anything you play will sound like music.  Whatever you do, don’t force it – if getting to 3 minutes is hard, get up and walk away.  If it is relatively easy (by which I mean – if you are surprised 3 minutes went by so fast) then keep playing.  This is really just an opportunity to reconnect with your harp (and yourself).  Don’t practice, don’t work, just relax into your harp, and enjoy.   And maybe you’ll look forward to another coffee date with your harp.  Or maybe lunch?  Just go with it and see what happens. 

Or maybe your motivation is low because you haven’t really set any new goals and you are floundering.  This might be the easiest to fix!  Schedule yourself for lessons or coaching with someone who will help you define or refine your goals and help you set a path there.  Need a teacher or coach?    

More difficult are the times when you have to acknowledge that you need a break.  That you are deliberately avoiding your harp.  That you are in difficulties with your relationship.  There are loads of reasons you might need a break.  You could have set rigid expectations that you have not met.  You might be at a place in your life when you do not have the time to dedicate to this craft.  You may have become bored with the instrument, the music, the process, the activity.  You may have come to realize that you like saying you play the harp, but the reality of playing isn’t as appealing.  It can be hard to walk away – after all you’ve invested a lot of time and money.  The harp world is a delightful and comfortable place and you probably have made loads of friends as well.  So, departing could be hard, but there is no shame in finding that you just don’t want to be there anymore.

I really hope you’re not finding that you are having difficulty getting to your harp!  But, if you are, no matter which of these you might fit, the important thing is that you identify what the challenge is.   Then you can begin to move forward.  And it’s not too soon – the coming New Year is a good opportunity to reflect, define what you must accept and change what you can.

Are you a little stuck?  How is that manifesting in your harp life?  Let me know in the comments.  Need help?  Let me know – coaching can help you get where you’re going (or at least back on the path).

Keep Moving

Posted on by
Reply

In what has been an interesting year (yes, that’s the most charitable word I can think of to describe 2020), winter has begun with a roar (literally – high winds and damaging gusts in my area, 6 inches of snow for some of you).  It’s enough to challenge one’s sanity!

But we are stronger than that and we will push through all this.  Thankfully, we have our harps to help us get through just about anything!  But we do need to keep moving to help us continue to grow – and I think that many of you have been doing that throughout the year.  We keep moving on our repertoire.  We keep moving to find new ways to gather and be a community.  We keep moving to help each other out as we have seen opportunities to share first vanish and then move to new virtual ways of connecting. 

But are we moving enough?  I know you keep moving while playing – but are you actually moving?  There are a few ways of moving that are fairly essential to your continued playing and your overall wellbeing.

Go for a walk – outside.  I did mention I meant to literally move!  There are a number of reasons to go for a walk.  Getting some sunlight is good (and necessary) for your health.  Getting some fresh air might just save your life (Dr. Fauci tells us now).  And a little bit of light aerobic exercise helps keep you healthy.  If you prefer, don’t see talking a walk as a fitness challenge but rather an opportunity to spend a little quiet time to clear your mind and reconnect with yourself.  And don’t let the winter deter you – this doesn’t have to be a trek, just a short stroll will have the desired effect.

Take a little exercise.  Ok, now I’m talking about a little more strenuous than the walk!  No matter your age, a little bit of exercise helps keep you supple.  You don’t have to be a gym rat or the next Arnold Schwarzenegger either – just find an appropriate workout plan online.  There are loads that can be perfect for you – search by your age, or current level of fitness, or interest (for instance – don’t have any equipment, find a workout that doesn’t require any like basic calisthenics…those are still around and are still good for you).  The point is that having a little more movement in your day will help you keep moving.  You will be less stiff and sore, and this can be a perpetual part of your day – the longer you exercise a little each day, the better you will feel every day. And feeling better sure makes playing easier!

Don’t plant on the bench.  I find this particularly difficult!  When you’re playing and having a great time (as we do!), or even practicing and working intently on getting some new piece worked up, it’s easy to be so focused that you inadvertently spend too much time sitting on the bench.  You might recall that typically the appropriate seat for playing is not really designed for long term sitting.  Most are flat and not particularly cushioned.  So be sure to schedule stretch breaks and plan to get up from the bench to move a little throughout your practice.  You don’t have to take a long break to keep moving!  Take a short walk, climb the stairs, stretch, do something to move.  Then you can go back to your practicing a bit refreshed.  If you find you don’t notice the passage of time, use a kitchen timer to act as an alarm clock.

Feel the rhythm of the beat. Ever since my first harp workshop where I learned about eurythmics, I have been a fan!  If you’re not familiar with this (or if this word only makes you think of a most excellent Scottish band from the 1980s) eurythmics is the practice of using body movement to reflect music.  It can be expressive (as in dance) but here I mean using your body to represent the music you’re playing.  If you’ve ever clapped a rhythm, you’ve done eurythmics!  If you’re one of my students, you have likely lived through clapping and walking and a bunch of other body movements to really feel the rhythm and the beat.  I love this approach not only because it gets you moving but it also allows you to learn your music in other modes that you normally sit on (in this case actually!).

Reach out and touch someone.  Ok, this might be figurative in the time of COVID, but there’s no reason not to reach out to others.  When we can, we can literally reach out to play with our friends, but even now, be sure to reach out to others to play, share, teach, and learn. 

How do you keep moving?  I’m sure you have other ideas to share – let me know if the comments!

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.

Trick or Treat – Harpy Halloween

Posted on by
Reply

Still a weird year, still an odd time.

But it’s Halloween.  No trick or treating.  No Halloween gigs or parties.  But let’s have some Halloween fun anyway!

How are we going to do that?  Well, we’ll do all the things!  Well, most of them, modified.  We can still have a Harpy Halloween and here are five ways you can try:

  1. Make a costume. My favorite part of Halloween is seeing the children in their costumes.  Whether they are homemade or store bought, whimsical, goofy, or terrifying, it’s really the highlight of the night.  So, why not generate your own costume.  What could you be?  You could dress up as your favorite composer.  Or you could make a costume of the title of your favorite tune.  Or do something silly (be a Harp Surgeon?

    Dress as one of your favorite tunes, like Debussy’s Clare de Lune

    or be a silly harp joke!

  2. Well, this one is easy – get some of your favorite(s) candy.  Feel the need to “work” for it?  You can give yourself a piece for every trick (or mistake) and two for each treat (every correctly played repetition)?  It’s your candy – you decide how you trick or treat!
  3. Play Halloween music – play the old tunes – you know the ones – the creepy, eerie, ghostly ones like Tam Linn, She Moved Through the Fair, Earl Richard, and all the other creepy ones (and you know there are quite a few!) or the seasonal ones like Samhain Samhain.
  4. Do a musical Ghosting – put on that cool costume and play a “pop up” concert outside your house. Want to be really popular – put a bag of candy out for the people who might stop to listen so they can have a little trick or treat fun without getting too close.

    Fairy or Angel harp player – be whatever you like, it’s Halloween!

  5. Pumpkins! Get some of those adorable tiny pumpkins and make a “tableau” at the foot of your harp to make it feel more festive

How will you have a Harpy Halloween?  I know there are more ways than this!  Let me know how you celebrate – and if you have a photo, even better – please share.  I’ll post mine here later when I have my costume on 😊  Looking forward to seeing your celebrations!

Ensure Insurance is Assured

Posted on by
Reply

insurance

I have yet to meet a harp player who is blasé about their harp.  There are people who name their harps.  Some people talk to their harp.  We all love our harps.  We do our utmost to care for them.  But have we done everything we can to protect them?

(that sounds like one of those cheesy tv commercials for medicine, medical assistance devices, and just about anything you can get 2 for $19.99 + a small additional fee)

Anyway, no matter how much we love our harps, how careful we are to keep them from harm and to pamper them – they are not our children, or our friends.  They are, however, unbelievably valuable musical instruments!  And as such, you should ensure that your harp(s) are fully insured. You need to insure against all the same things you ensure other valuable things against – theft, damage, or other disasters.   

The best way to get started is to talk with your current insurance carrier.

How you insure your harps will be bounded by some other factors. Here are some suggestions on ensuring your insurance is assured.  The goal is Goldilocks – not too much coverage, not too little…you want your coverage to be just right:

  1. If you are a hobbyist – that is, you play only for the cat and the curtains (and perhaps the occasional family member?).
    1. start with a call to your homeowner’s/renter’s insurance provider. If you are playing at home, only rarely taking your harp out and then only going to workshops or lessons, then this is probably your best solution.  They will likely sell you a rider to cover valuable personal property/musical instrument.  Be sure you include all your harps! 
    2. If you’re traveling with your harp a great deal you might also check with your auto insurer – you need to be sure you have enough coverage should you harp be in the car if you are in an accident.
  2. If you are a professional – that is, if you are leaving your house to perform and being paid (regardless of your opinion of your level of performance!):
    1. Still start with your homeowner’s/renter’s and auto insurers, just be aware that they are likely to tell you no.  This would be appropriate – you need professional coverage!   If you are not a full time musician, this is where you might be tempted to fib. If you are a professional (even if you’re just starting out or only play one gig a year) be frank and honest.  If something happens to your harp and you make a claim, the insurance company will not quibble over your level of performance.  You don’t want to find that your very small prevarication when buying the insurance invalidates your claim!
    2. There are insurance companies that specialize in musical instruments. You will need to provide an estimate of the value of each of your instruments which will require someone give you a valuation (I have gotten these from my instrument maker or by sending a copy of the bill of sale).
    3. You will get the best rate on your premiums if you are a member of an organization such as International Association of Folk Harpers and Craftsman (IAFHC) or American Harp Society (AHS). You can find other available coverages by searching musical instrument insurance.
    4. When researching your choices, focus on what is covered and the coverage of the instrument specifically. Some companies (such as Anderson) offer harp-specific coverage while others have more general coverage.

We never want anything bad to happen to our harps, but they are expensive as well as being important to our daily lives so ensure that assure your insurance!  Make sure your coverage matches your usage.  Also focus on the policy, the exclusions, etc.  You want to feel confident that your insurance will cover you if something happens to your harp!

What’s in your harp case?

 

In case you’re wondering or interested, these are not compensated product placements – I’m not that smart a blogger.  I have Anderson Insurance and I have been happy with the price and the service.  I have not ever had to make a claim but they have received good ratings from others that have.  They are not the only insurance product available, so do your homework.