Author Archives: Jen

Dogs and Tricks

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Dogs and Tricks 

If you have enjoyed the luxury of getting older (so far), you might have noticed that things have changed. Some of those things are no big deal – if you’re not as tall as you were before, you can adjust your bench and your harp.

But if sometimes it feels like you’re the proverbial old dog and every tune is a new trick, it can get discouraging. What if you feel like you can’t learn tunes like you used to? Or you can’t remember them when you do learn them? Ugh. That would be frustrating.

Well, no one wants to go down without a fight, so what are some things you can do to help improve your capacity to learn and memorize music? Here are a few ideas:

  1. The Ground Rules

    1. Be confident – you can keep learning and memorizing music!
    2. Your brain is not static and will continue to develop and make new connections. This continued growth and development is greatly improved by learning and memorizing.
    3. Do you (don’t worry about how fast you learn, just keep learning).
    4. Failure is essential for learning to happen! Those aren’t mistakes – they’re part of a process of developing connections that are essential to learning.

  2. To keep your brain sharp

    1. Take a walk. Yes, I know I sound like a broken record, but research in a variety of fields points to the utility and importance of taking a walk. It doesn’t have to be anything huge – just take a stroll, in the fresh air, at a pace that you can comfortably maintain for about 20 minutes. You can also break that 20 minutes up into a few walks. This one is hard to wiggle out of – you won’t be sweaty, you don’t need to change, you just need to put on some (appropriate) shoes and go. Walking will help refresh you and clear your mind so you can focus on the task of learning.
    2. Follow grandmotherly advice. You know that a French Fry addiction is not healthy (or M&Ms or Coke, or what ever your vice might be). Eat well and care for yourself – better overall health will improve your cognitive health and capability.
    3. Check your hearing. As we age our hearing declines. But we also have so much noise in the world that loss of hearing is all but assured. Having healthy, supported hearing will make learning tunes easier and will be good for your overall health. When you can’t see, you wear glasses and if you need to have hearing aids, just do it.
    4. Get rest and take care of you. Let me summarize a lot of research – smart people get sleep and sleep makes you smarter. *

  3. To improve your intake and retention of tunes

    1. Acknowledge that age is changing how you take in, process, and put out information. It’s not good or bad, it just is. And this is true whether you are a relatively newly minted adult or a very seasoned human (in your red hat age) – we are always aging and changing so rather than expecting yourself to be the same as you were when you were younger, know where you are now. (and if you’re reading this and younger – make a note, might as well get used to it and adapt from the start)
    2. Embrace where you are now – now that you’re older, notice how you see the world – and process the information – differently. With age comes more neural connections which support being more able to see the whole (even if you can’t read the fine print!). If you know this about your processing, you’ll realize that you get the gist quickly and can fill in the details later. When you were younger you were able to hang on to details (e.g., a longer string of notes), so now, focus on larger segments (maybe phrases) and be assured you’ll be able to fill in the gaps later.
    3. Speed is only one measure of learning. If you don’t learn as quickly, do you notice that you learn more thoroughly now? (psst you probably do, whether you’ve noticed or not)
    4. Focus on what you’re learning. Don’t try to task switch or multitask. Do one thing and pay attention.
    5. Simply learning will make you better at learning (practice!).

  4. Strategies for learning

    1. Build a map. I help my students learn a tune in all their sense modalities. We listen, we play, we shut our eyes, we squeeze. Ok, we don’t smell or taste but if I could figure out how, we’d do that too. Having all these different sense “paths” for the tune means that we have built “maps” in each of these modes, and this strengthens memory for all those modes.
    2. Take notes to help you remember. Record if possible so you can review.
    3. Build your brain muscle. Do other activities that benefit your memory – do puzzles and word teasers, memorize your grocery list. Do these “brain games” consistently and regularly, so that you stay sharp (or become more so).
    4. Only compare you to you, today. You’re not the you of 20 years ago. And you’re not the hotshot sitting next to you either. Just focus on learning and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing.
    5. Keep learning – the more you do, the better you’ll be at it.

  5. Strategies for recalling

    1. Start where you find yourself. If you can’t remember how a tune starts, play what you do remember. Listen to the tune in your head and play along. See if by playing what you do remember you can pull yourself along to the next bit – until you’ve played the whole tune. I do this a lot – I just play the phrase I do recall and keep playing it until the next phrase comes to mind (etc.) until I have the tune again. I also check any sources I have if I really get stuck (sheet music, recording, phoning a friend).
    2. You already know a lot – which gives you a good platform for storing new information. Use it and leverage any similar phrases to help you build better “maps” of the tunes.
    3. Keep practicing from memory – the more you do, the better you’ll be at it.
    4. Focus on what you’re recalling. Work on remembering one thing and pay attention.

Remember too, that you had to learn to learn, and this is simply one more step. This is a start – give some of these a try and see how you go and let me know in the comments how you get on!

 

*Yeah, no researcher would write that in a scientific journal, but like I said, I’m paraphrasing!

How to practice more

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How to practice more-

I’ve talked before about spending your practice time wisely so that you get something from every minute you’re on the bench (here and here – or just type “practice” into the search box above this blog post!). And I stand by that, but…the “right” answer is always more complicated. Today, let’s talk about the actual time practicing.

The busy workshop/festival/camp season will begin soon. Days on days of back-to-back opportunities to learn and interact. And hours on the bench – playing, listening, reading, waiting.

You want to be ready for it!

Sometimes your practice needs to include time to accommodate yourself to sitting behind your harp, playing for way longer than your normally do. As an example, say you’re going to a week-long workshop and each day you’ll spend 2 hours in each of 3 workshops. That’s 6 hours right there. And then there’s practicing what you’ve learned, getting together with friends, and sharing tunes, having sessions (or just session-ettes) and you’ll have easily spent 8 – 10 hours behind the harp.

How much time do you spend behind the harp each day now? 30 minutes? An hour? That’s kind of a big difference – an order of magnitude! Yikes, it’s tiring just thinking about it.

So, it’s not too early to begin building your stamina so you can not only endure but enjoy every minute of your summer experiences! What would be some good ways to do that? I’m so glad you asked!

First, you can simply increase the amount of time you devote to practice. I use 10% as a guide – I try to add 10% more to ease into more time. If you practice for 30 minutes a day, you might add 3 – 5 minutes a day every 3 or 4 days. If you’re practicing for an hour, you might add 5 – 10. You get the idea – add a little so that it’s manageable. You don’t need to work yourself into a frenzy or an overuse injury!

Or you can add another practice session. If you practice in the evening already, you might add a morning session. If you’re practicing 30 minutes in the evening, you might add a 10-minute session in the morning. You can divide up your work too – in the morning you might only do technical book work and in the evening, you could work on your tunes.

Building on this, once you have the two sessions fixed in your day, you can increase the time of each of them (again using the 10% rule). In our 10-minute/30-minute example, you’d add a minute or 2 in the morning and 3 – 5 in the evening. This has to fit into your life, so plan ahead. Because the morning session will be 30 minutes before you know it. You have to be willing to wake up that much earlier – which might be easier when it’s 10 minutes than when it’s 45!

If you have the luxury of working from home, coming home for lunch, or having a harp in your office, you could add additional short practice breaks. Adding two (or more) 10-minute sessions will get you there, especially when added to your regular practice time.

Building up slowly gives you the best chance to increase your playing time. Doing so consistently gives you the most opportunity to be really ready for the summer. This approach is appropriate for all players, from children to seasoned adults – just be sure to start where you are (and not where you “wish” you were or where you think you “should” be).

Another aspect of this strategy to be raring to go by summer is to use one of those sessions to focus on technical work. Fundamentals like you learn from the “torture books” (who comes up with these nicknames?) will stand you in good stead by honing your form and ingraining those basic elements of playing. Spending that time now ensure that you won’t have to work so hard when you get there because things will “fall” into your hands easier!

 How would you go about building your strength and stamina for the summer? Let me know in the comments!

Spring Sharing

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Spring Sharing

We are half way through the Spring – the point in the year when most places have Goldilocks weather – not too cold, not too hot, not too wet. It’s time to take it outside!

During the lockdown, some of us took to our porches to share music with neighbors and friends.  We were staying apart and we did all we could to help each other from a distance.   It wasn’t fun and we were all delighted when it was over.

But that time is over (thankfully!). We’ve gone back to our regular lives and try to forget about that ickiness. Blech – leave it in the past.

Except one thing – that time sharing our music really helped people. It brought music – which always eases hearts and minds – to people who needed it at the time.

Let your “harp” grows three sizes!

What I have learned is that those same people would love to continue to share that time.  I was fortunate enough to have neighbors mention how much they enjoyed the covid concerts. That they missed them, that they kinda hoped I’d start again. (insert slightly exaggerated happy dance here)

So, you know what they say, give the audience what they want!  I’m excited to be returning to my concerts – without the covid this time!  These concerts aren’t big events.  I play for a small group and for about 30 minutes or so.  The audience enjoys a bit of culture and time together. 

What do I get? What a good question!  I get a warm, supportive, test audience! Because we’re close together and it’s so informal, we’re very relaxed.  I can test out new material on them and they give me immediate feedback.  Big corporations pay a lot of money for this kind of focus group – and I get mine for the small price of tunes in plein air!

What’s the point? I want to encourage you to do the same thing – go out and play on your porch, sidewalk, or cul-de-sac.  Invite your neighbors. Let them know you miss seeing them and that you’re using playing for them as an excuse to have a get-together. People are still lonely and wanting to have community and you can help build that! That is a superpower!

If you’re not a party planner, you might not know how to make it happen.  Here’s what I do – I send out an email (once I made little flyers – the point is to get the word out). In that, I encourage them to bring a chair and a beverage and tell them what time I’ll be starting about-ish and where. Remember it’s casual, so -ish is timely enough. Then I go out and do the thing.  Sometimes it feels like it’ll be just me and then suddenly, there’s loads of people there. 

What to give it a try?  Here it is step by step:

  1. Decide to do it (yay!)
  2. Invite people (see above)
  3. Make a set list – 25 minutes is about 8 – 10 tunes
  4. Practice
  5. Go out, do the thing, make some friends
  6. Feel your heart grow three sizes 😊

So, what do you think? Will you join me in going out to share some music with neighbors?  Let me know in the comments!

Ouch!

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Ouch!
We all like getting praise. It’s fun and comfortable, and it’s nice to get a pat on the back from a hand that isn’t attached to our own arm! As tasty as praise is though, we learn so much more from feedback. Critique. Criticism. On the other hand, it’s not always easy to get feedback! Sometimes – just ouch!


But criticism does contain a bunch of things to be learned. So how do you take in and use criticism and use it to grow your playing? Here are some things you can do:

First breathe – remember that it’s criticism, not an eye-wateringly awful attack. Then you’ll be ready to…

Determine if you think the input is valuable. Criticism from a knowledgeable person who shares the evaluation for your benefit (that was a long winded way to say they’re not overtly trying to wound you) can yield valuable nuggets (even if it hurts). If you doubt it (or disagree), get a second opinion, and if they don’t jibe, ditch it!* And, if the comment is from some nitwit off the street? Really? Give it the weight it deserves and chuck it out!

Look at why the comment stung. If it’s because you kinda already knew it, you just didn’t want to admit it – learn. If it is picking a scab, thresh through it to find the useful bits. And remember that you can elect to ignore it.

Make sure you heard what is said…not what you think was said. Be clear about the message before you form an opinion of it. Focus on the comment. Breathe and don’t let your inner thoughts run away from you. We can all learn and improve. Reframe the input if you don’t like the words (when the message is solid).
Once you know what was said, focus on what you can learn. What changes can you make? Ask questions if you don’t see a way forward. A good provider of useful feedback will answer the questions. If you feel stung by the words, take a moment to breathe before you ask a question. Keep your ego in check! Don’t let your fears cloud out what you can learn. We can all improve…yes, even you!

Be kind to yourself – feedback does help you grow…when you can use it. Using it is not possible if you are beating yourself up.

Finally, know that sometimes when someone stings you with criticism, it’s more about them than it is about you. But it is up to you to find the useful stuff, form it into something you can use (or at least learn from), and grow.

Have you ever gotten “ouchy” feedback? How did you use it to improve (or what did you learn)? Have you ever found yourself giving cringy critique? How would you improve it (if you could do it again)? Let me know in the comments!

 

*Of course, I don’t mean only seeking praise! The second opinion may put a finer point on the critique, clarify it, or refute it.

Let’s Travel!

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Let’s Travel!

Military Tattoo Mini Getaway! Aug 5 – 10th

Turns out it’s not a great time to go to Ireland.  But never fear, when it’s time to pivot, we’ve got a plan – welcome to your Scotland city getaway! Let’s take on Glasgow and Edinburgh in true style and enjoy a great European getaway. Let’s enjoy the high Summer season and the world famous Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo. This marquee event is one of the best cultural traditions that Europe has to offer. We’ll surround our show with lots of the amazing sites and musical sounds that make these anchor cities cultural treasures.

You might have already been to Scotland but have you experience the Tattoo?  I know I haven’t and I can’t wait Wondering what we could possibly see? How about: Flying into/out of Edinburgh or Glasgow (or into one and out of the other!). We’ll use a mix of public transport and private transfer to enjoy the historical centers and their sites. We’ll balance our time with organized tours and independent downtime, with marquee sites for the first-time visitor and local gems for the tenured guest. You know that I’ve got my favorite spots and views and I’m excited to see if you agree!

How will we spend our time? Like this –

On Day 1, we’ll meet up and get to Glasgow. We’ll check in with the local scene on the High Street and walk off that jet lag with a welcome dinner in true Scottish style.

Day 2, our Glasgow adventure will continue as we take in some of the local sites and iconic places. We’ll spend the day enjoying all things Scottish. We’ll spend a little time learning tunes (and appreciators will do things us harpers will be envious of). We’ll round out the day with dinner which is just a walk away from our hotel.

On to Edinburgh which awaits us with plenty to see and to do on Day 3! We’ll arrive in style by train and pull into Waverly Station. From here, we are just a short distance to our hotel, just off the Royal Mile. We’ll set out to enjoy the local area and enjoy learning another tune before dinner.

On Day 4, Edinburgh continues to delight and today we will take in one of the marquee events! After enjoying Rosslyn chapel to the south of town, we’ll have an early afternoon workshop before heading to the Military Tattoo at the Castle. This spectacular show never disappoints and promises to entertain and delight.

I can see our seats! (just kidding, sorta).

We’ll round out our time in Edinburgh with a few optional tours and destinations and complete our workshop series on Day 5. There will be plenty to choose from depending on your interests. From The Whiskey Experience to Holyrood Palace, we’ll get you started in the right direction to enjoy all Edinburgh has to offer. We’ll end the day with our signature farewell dinner then give everyone a little time to pack up before our airport transfers tomorrow.

Day 6 is Departure Day.  But before we say goodbye, we’ll fit in your final hours with any last minute activities or venues that might interest you. You know that you will leave magical Scotland with a song in your heart, a new tune in your head, and a smile on your face (and perhaps a reason to return soon!).

What’s Included?

  • Breakfast at our hotels and dinners at unique locations daily.
  • Balance between scheduled experiences and unscheduled time to explore further or relax as you choose.
  • Plenty of downtime to enjoy unscheduled moments any way you please.
  • All attraction tickets and passes for experiences and guided tours (always with local experts).
  • All transportation including airport transfers upon arrival and departure.
  • Daily music workshop time to develop those crucial skills on a harp that will be there waiting for you.

As always, we take your interests into account and as we get to know you, we will be able to find those little corners of Scotland that delight and enchant. From magical bookstores, fabled artworks, and secret passageways, we’ll share with you those little things that make this the experience of a lifetime.

Our total trip cost for the 2024 season is $2900.00 plus airfare.

So you’re interested, right?! We’ll be hosting an online Q&A session so contact us to join the meet up and for more information and all the details. And you know you can always send me questions too. A minimum of six participants is required for this experience so invite your favorite travel companion/harp appreciator to come along – ’cause what could be more fun than visiting Scotland with me?!

Coming? Let me know in the comments! I have some great tunes lined up!

Keeping the Ledger (Lines)

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Keeping the Ledger (Lines)

Does the mere thought of having to read Ledger Lines make you faintly queasy? Do those little strikes of ink make your heart sink and your palms clammy? Do you think you should be able to just look at a ladder of notes on top of the staff and race through the notes without a care? Ha!

Well, let’s take a crack at making ledger lines easier to read! We’ve talked about reading before (look here for those thoughts here, here, and here). Perhaps the most important thing to remember about reading is that it is just like reading words – it takes consistent practice. Once you have that, the rest is just details.

Like words, music has predictable patterns that will help you learn to read. Knowing those patterns will make it easier – you just need to know the code so you can crack it!

One code you want to crack is the lines of the staff. There are a couple of things to know:

What goes around comes around Part 1 – we only have seven note names to work with (outwith accidentals) A-B-C-D-E-F-G and then we start again. We are used to that repetition, and it is easy to remember that you just have to apply it to the “stripes” (staves).

What goes around comes around Part 2 – one trick to keep track of where you are is to remember that, as we cycle through the staff, the notes shift – if it’s a line here, in the next octave (up or

down) it will be a space. (no, really, look at the staff!) For example, let’s use A – at the bottom of the harp (if you go that low) it’s a line, as you come up through to the top of the harp, it goes through space, line, space, line, space, etc. If you’re waffling while reading in the ledgers, knowing where you were in the previous octave is a good clue to shortcut your line counting.

Never underestimate the importance and utility of doing a little bit every day. You can do a smidge of reading each day and you’ll make good progress…without even trying! Set aside five minutes each day to do a series of activities that will help move your comfort forward. You can “Notespeller” it (Notespeller has become a verb in my studio in which you treat any sheet music as if it were a page from a note spelling workbook and read, find on the harp, and write in the name of the note – over and over until you “instantly” recognize the notes).  It is really important to match the ink with the string on the harp (after all, an A is not an a is not an A’!).

Get Comfortable. Recognize that if you don’t spend a lot of time reading in the ledger lines (if you always play in the middle of the harp) you’re not going to be very comfortable wading around in the ledger lines. You will get more comfortable being there by being there. Give yourself time to get used to seeing those notes, relating them to your strings, and playing on the “outsides” of your harp.

Tool use. To get better and faster, make (or buy) flash cards of the various notes at different ledger lines. Go all the way up and all the way down. Shuffle them really well so it’s not easy! Be sure to use your harp so you are still relating ink to strings and sounds! When you’re feeling like you’ve learned the lines, you can give yourself timed tests on the flash cards. When you’re getting more comfortable, break out some music you haven’t read but you know goes all the way up and down and give yourself a “stress test” to see how well your reading is coming along. Be prepared to bot “be there” yet – you’re learning!

Be nice – there was a time that you couldn’t find Middle C with two hands and a map, so cut yourself some slack while you learn where low and high notes are!

So, the question of getting better and faster at reading ledger lines has led us right back to the usual answer – focused, attentive practice on that specific skill. Couple that with some patience – and an acknowledgement of the challenge this task poses. Don’t compare your music reading to your book reading and don’t compare yourself to anyone else! Compare yourself today with where you were yesterday, last week, last month. A little every day will get you there.

Do you have other ideas to get to where reading ledger lines feels easier and more natural? I’d love to hear it! Let me know in the comments.

The Secret to Playing Everything Better

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The Secret to Playing Everything Better

Do you wish you played better? Ok, the shorter answer would be, does anyone not wish they played better. Well, I have an easy answer – and with one simple trick, you will play better! There is no magic and this is no joke. I guarantee that if you use this simple secret, you will play better.

(this is where, if this was one of those social media videos that offers a “free” secret for [losing weight, getting a perfect body, making millions every month with an email list, etc.], I’d be telling you all about my life and why I am the only expert and that I have the answer)

(But really, you also have the answer already – I’m just going to remind you what it is)

There’s a secret? And I don’t know it? What could it be?

What is this magnificent secret? What is the easy path to playing everything better? Well, since you asked –

The answer is to do your technical exercises.

Ok, that’s a bit simplistic. You need to do those technical exercises in very specific ways:

  • Slowly
  • Carefully
  • Consistently
  • While paying attention
  • Expecting nothing less than your best while you do it.

Told you it was easy.

I know, it’s really not easy, is it? Let’s take a very basic technical exercise as an example – scales.  You know how to do scales.  They are easy to learn, to remember, and to complete. But do you do them consistently, slowly, carefully, watching that you’re actually doing what you know you need to do? Or do you fly through them to just get them done? Or skip them all together because, who needs to do them, really?

Want to know who does scales consistently, slowly, carefully, while watching that the form, intonation, timing, rhythm, and tempo are all good? Pros do, that’s who.

Did you think scales were the purview of the newbie?  That at some point, we each advance to a point that we don’t need to do scales ever again? That would be exactly backward.  In fact, the farther you get from being a beginner, the more you know the importance of doing exercises and doing them with an exacting and consistent attention to detail.

You’re right that you know how to do scales – that’s part of the secret. Because they are simple and you know them, you have the available cognitive capacity to simultaneously play the scales, pay attention, notice things that are going well, determine what needs some focused attention, and make corrections before a problem can grow. In fact, with more practice, it is possible to both have a beginner’s mindset (as the gurus call it) AND have the experience to make your own corrections.

And implementing this secret will allow you to play everything with more ease.

Now you know the secret to playing everything better. How will you unlock its power to make your playing better? Let me know in the comments!

 

Quiet

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Quiet

We all have a lot going on. And inside our heads it can be even busier and more crowded! While all that hustle and bustle might make you feel like you’re accomplishing tons, it can also actively prevent you from accomplishing even more.

We are artists. Yes, we are. If you’re a new musician, you are an artist. If you have been playing a long time, you are an artist. Don’t ever leave your living room or quail at the thought of someone else hearing you? Still an artist!

As artists, we get to create! That is one of the things other people envy us for. Creating is an activity that takes time – and we need to pursue it. But…

If you are never quiet, you won’t have time to be creative.

You need:

Quiet time to have Creative time.

Quiet space to have Creative space.

And perhaps more importantly Quiet your thoughts, so you have time and space to have Creative thoughts.

This is more than practicing. You do need to have a solid base to create but loads of creative time can happen away from the harp. And although you need to have part of your practice time set aside to work on creative ideas, you can have those ideas anywhere. But you’ll be more able to focus if you have quiet.

I won’t lie, identifying – and then honoring – the time you need to create can be a challenge. It’s easy to give that time away to other “important” things.  But this is important – for you, your art, and your life as an artist. But it is a necessity not a nicety.

So, I challenge you to identify specific time that you will be quiet and allow yourself to be creative. It should probably be longer than a shower! (but if that’s the time you have, make use of it!). Make sure you have a way to capture your thoughts (dry erase marker or grease pencil for the shower, don’t ask me how I know this). That way, when you get to the harp you can remember what you had come up with. I have a plenty of short voice memos on my phone for time in the car when things pop into my head – I sing them (badly) into the phone so that I can remember when I hit the bench.

When will you schedule your quiet time? How will you ensure you honor that time? I’m looking forward to your ideas!  Let me know in the comments!

When Life Gives You Lemons

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When Life Gives You Lemons

One of my favorite things about playing the harp is the friends you meet along the way. And another good part of that is the friends you meet that are harp-adjacent. 

I have been in North Carolina all week with my beautiful harp/heart friends in Banrigh (like and follow!) bringing Celtic music to appreciative audiences. We also have been meeting loads of interesting, wonderful people.

And we have been trying all kinds of amazing feast-y types of food! My incredible hosts Cynthia and Harold have kept me in creature comforts all week! I’m in heaven. I’m threatening to never leave (which will probably make them look more pained than pleased (I am kidding, I will leave, but it will be difficult to depart!)). Cynthia is an amazing baker and graciously allowed me to share one of her recipes with you.

But first, I have to tell you about Cynthia. She is a seasoned musician in her own right and is harp-adjacent via her sister and my fellow performer, Martha.  But she excels as a writer and her new book Catfish Corner is a hysterical peek into Southern life. And hey, you can’t practice all the time! I chuckled, chortled, and (embarrassingly) guffawed in each chapter! After I wiped away tears of laughter (so I could see the page) I would get through about another line of text and start laughing again! If you are not from Catfish Corner, you will still laugh uproariously – the idioms may change, but people are people. I think you’d enjoy it.*

To ensure our rehearsals went smoothly Cynthia made a Lemon Bundt Cake that had us cuing up for another slice while we were still licking our fingers from the previous cut.  To say that it’s tempting is an understatement. It’s refreshing and tasty no matter the weather – but eating it is like having a summer day in the drab not-quite-Spring of March.

So, here it is, straight from NC – Cynthia’s “Cut me another slice” Lemon Bundt Cake:

Cynthia’s Lemon Bundt Cake

Perfect for Harp Circles or other Harp-adjacent activities!

  • 1 package Lemon Cake Mix ((any brand))
  • 1 package Lemon Pudding mix (Cooked – NOT Instant)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1/2 cup Lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup Orange juice
  • 1/2 cup Sugar

  1. Read all the instructions first!

  2. Preheat oven to 350F

  3. Beat eggs, water, oil until frothy.

  4. Add cake and pudding mixes and beat 2 minutes.

  5. Spray the bundt pan generously with Baker's Choice (or Pam).

  6. Pour mix into prepared bundt pan

  7. Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 45 – 50 minutes or until the top is set and springy to the touch.

  8. While the cake is baking, boil juices with sugar. Pour syrup over HOT cake while cake is still in the pan.

  9. Cool.

  10. When cool, invert onto cake plate.

  11. Optional – after inverted onto cake plate, dust with powdered sugar and lemon zest.

  12. Feed to friends and watch the amazement dawn on their happy faces!

Dessert
American
Lemon Cake

Pour yourself a cup of tea (or a cool glass of something) and enjoy! I hope you give this a try and let me know how you like it in the comments!

*this is where I usually tell you I don’t get anything for “endorsing” something, but I have already received accommodation, feasting, and this recipe – so enjoy!

 

Poetic License

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Poetic License 

Hopefully you’re still working on those dynamics exercises. I say hopefully because they are challenging and if they are new to you, you probably aren’t all the way through in just a few weeks. And even if they are not new to you, the exercises I shared aren’t easy. They definitely aren’t a set of “once and done” exercises either!

I think I made a compelling case for why you would want to work on your dynamics. But just in case I wasn’t blunt enough, here I go again. We talked about music being a means of communication – you are telling a story. Not every story needs to be a soporiphic bed-time story, so we need dynamics to help carry the tale through its ups and downs.

Just like storytellers, narrators, or actors vary their delivery – we want to vary our own, in aid of the story we’re telling. We use those variations to help move our listener along with us. But we don’t want to just gormlessly vary our loudness – we need to be a bit more subtle!

Another thing we can easily hear storytellers, narrators, and actors do is varying the pacing that they achieve through their breathing.  We call it phrasing (heck, they might too, what do I know?). And we can use dynamic changes to support the shape of the phrases on top of the breathing we are already infusing into the phrase shaping. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about let’s do a preparatory exercise before we go to the harp. Pull out your favorite poems! Let’s start with a limerick to warm up. These are goofy and sing-song-y and you know exactly how to read them aloud: da-da-da–da-da-da–da-DA, da-Da-da–da-da-da-da-DU, da-da-da-da-DA–, da-da-da–da-DU, da-da-da–da-da-da–DA! Really dig into the cadence. Read them repeatedly, emphasizing the sign-song nature of the rhyme. When you’ve reread a few times and really have the rhythm going, focus on how you need to breathe to support that cadence. Once that’s not a struggle, you’re ready to use that breathing to support varying the loudness with which you say each syllable. Notice how you make a curve shape with your breathing and loudness like this:

Once you feel like you understand this concept, move into other (more mature?) poetry – Browning? Hughes? Shakespear? Yeats? Choose your favorite (or pick the one you’ve never actually read (but would never admit to having skipped!)) and start reading aloud. Find the cadence, shape the phrases. Listen to the ebb and flow of your voice and its volume. Once you’re established in reading the poem, shift the loudnesses – if you need to, mark the page, and try emphasizing the typically unemphasized syllables and shout them out while only whispering the usually emphasized. How does that change how you hear the poem?

 Now, let’s turn the idea inside out and let’s mess with the poem! Read a poem out loud in a goofy way – read Byron as if it was a limerick or read the silliest limerick you can find as if it was a sonnet. Add an extra beat to iambic pentameter and make it jiggy! Do silly things to your reading to find different ways to present the cadence and rhythm of the poem and the breath and dynamics to get there.

After some excursing (both “serious” and “silly”), go back to your original interpretation and notice: has your breathing changed? How is your loudness varying? Have you had any changes now that you’ve thought of the words in different presentations?

Now, go to your harp and do this same (sort of) thing – shape the phrases (like the graphic above) as you want to present the music. Now, make it into a “limerick”! For instance, play a 4/4 lament as if it were Katie Bairdie (or a 3/4 march as if it’s a jig). Take it from hushed to explosive! Then, go the other way and play a typically lively tune as a lament. Just mess around with it and see how you can shape the phrase to tell your different stories – and watch how the breathing and shape of the phrase change and how your volume control helps support that.

Clearly this is another set of exercises that aren’t “once and done” – you can do these exercises repeatedly and over time to explore all the corners of phrasing. Remember too that:

1. These are exercises. There’s no wrong. There is only exploration.

2. It is your story to tell. There is no wrong, only your interpretation.

3. They’re called dynamics for a reason! You can play the same sort of dynamic repeatedly and every time you play a tune. Or you can play a different set of dynamics each time you play. There is no wrong. It’s your story to tell your way.

4. Things change. Sometimes a tune always makes you feel the same things, no matter how many times you play it. Sometimes the tune leaves you feeling different, depending on how you experience it that day. There is no wrong – tell the story you hear.

I know this set of ideas is really different from what you might normally think of as harp playing, but give it a try and let me know what happens. What do you learn? What happens next (for you)? How do you think differently about your playing now? Can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments!