Jenius Creations

Author: Jen

  • Should you bother to set Goals for 2018?

    It’s that time of year again. That time when experts, brainiacs, eggheads, and bloggers all exhort you to set goals for the coming year. They delineate the process and give away worksheets. They remind you that 5000% of people who write their goals down achieve them and that 3756% of people never even set a goal*.

    In other words, they nag you and sort of bully you into generating a set of goals. I start to feel like it is nearly immoral to not set goals.  And I know – because I have done the same thing to you in the past! And to myself. Well – not this year!

    It is January and the beginning of a new year. It is a time many reflect on the previous year and our progress as humans to date. And it is nearly a habit to expect to generate some goals. And those goals better meet all the criteria of good, achievable goals.

    But should you bother to go through goal setting for 2018?There’s a reason only 3% of people even bother to write their goals down**.  It clearly is a strategy that doesn’t work for most people. It requires a level of commitment difficult to bring to just about any activity, except perhaps a quest. And since many of us play for our enjoyment (and even for those who play for a living) – it becomes just one more thing to do (and therefore it becomes easy to ditch!).

    So, if goal setting isn’t the right approach, what better ways could you use to identify what you’d like to do with your harp this year and check-in over time to see if you are getting there? If the standard goal setting hasn’t worked for you, here are three other ways to approach this:

    1. Keep a diary. Yes, this is a thinly disguised journal – but for some reason a diary is slightly less threatening than a journal (just look at Instagram or Pinterest – loads of journals not too many diaries). You can keep a diary in any medium and it really is just you talking to you. You can do this in the blocks of your planner calendar, in a separate book, on scraps of napkins – whatever fits in your day. The best thing – who gets you better than you? It gives you a place to pour out your frustration when you are having a hard time – and to capture your glee when something totally comes together.
    2. Make an “I Love Me” board.  I started out thinking that a Vision Board was a great idea but it comes with so much baggage. And of course, it is hard to find magazines with pictures of harps (except Folk Harp Journal, Harp Column, and AHS Journal – and who wants to cut those up?!***). But you can capture all you want to do in the future and what you accomplish as sort of a visual scrapbook. It can have photos and selfies, invitations, programs, contracts, etc. Capture and display the detritus of your successes as well as any artifacts that arise from frustration (sheet music so marked up that it is unreadable? string bits?). Be sure to put the board somewhere that you can see it – and see that you are definitely moving.
    3. Make a record. I like to encourage students to do this at Christmas time and spontaneously (or maybe not so spontaneously) throughout the year. Christmas is a trove of tunes you play every year, so it is easy to effortlessly hear your progress. But you should also include any other tunes you’ve worked on. You could make what is an audio diary and after playing the tune you could comment to yourself – how much easier it was to play the tune this year, how much you want to add tunes, how good you feel about something you’ve worked on for a while. You could do this more regularly (as a version of 1 above) but I kind of like the idea of a different means of reminding myself what I’m doing.

    Or just write your goals down. There’s nothing wrong with writing them down, keeping a practice journal and actively looking for progress and successes. The key is to capture evidence of your journey in a way that helps you travel!  Let me know if you’re going to bother to set goals or how you might watch your own growth over the coming 12 months!

    * these statistics may be randomly generated (i.e. made up)
    ** actual statistic snagged from this article – you’ll find various numbers in assorted sources, but they are all low
    *** if you’re not already reading at least one of these, you might want to consider adding it to your readying list

  • Greeting 2018

    Wishing you all the best in 2018!

  • Happy Christmas!

    Wishing you a joyous Christmas!

  • The Holidays are fast approaching – got your shopping done?!

    The holidays are zorching up fast! The shopping game is in full swing. Do you need to get any last-minute gifts? Or do you want to buy yourself something to be sure you get at least one gift that fits you perfectly?

    Look no further! Gift certificates are here and available in convenient sizes! Here are just a few of the things available as a gift certificate:

    • Lessons Want to pick up a package or regular lessons? Buy ten lessons, get one lesson free
    • Coaching Want to have a coaching session or a tune up but don’t want to commit to regular lessons? Pick up a Coaching Gift Certificate for a single coaching session or more if you’re preparing for a specific event.
    • Weddings Book a wedding within calendar 2018 and save 10% off the total price.
    • Tours and trips Book on the Harp in the Highlands and Islands tour before 31 December and save!
    • Workshops Schedule a workshop in 2018 and see a savings.

    Always the right size and color – contact me for pricing and to get your e-certificate.  You can email your gift (if you really have waited until the last minute!) or you can print them gift package!

  • The Nights are Long

    As the year draws to a close, the nights are long. We have time to reflect (ok, we make time to reflect since the nights are so long!).

    I hope you have had a full and fulfilling harp year. My wish for you remains primarily that you enjoy making music, that you have learned and shared and grown and loved the time at your harp.

    I hope you are both pleased with your progress and that you hunger for more.

    I hope as you look back over the year you see your continued development and that you have begun to form new goals. And I hope you have flourished and stabilized and that you are becoming the musician you want to be.

    I hope you are happy with yourself and with your journey and with your music.

    Reflect, and enjoy what you see!

  • Storytelling

    The last bit of self care for November is injecting more of yourself into your music.

    Like a lot of music, holiday music tells stories. And like other music, it can get trite pretty quickly, especially since you get to play it repeatedly but only for a few weeks.

    One of the easiest ways to infuse life into the music (to alleviate boredom) is to become a storyteller with the tunes.  Think about the words (what could be easier – they’re all right there to read!) –

    • What is the mood?
    • Where does the story go?
    • Who is in the story?
    • What is the action?

    Decide the story you want to tell – and use the music to share that story with your listeners. You have all sorts of tools to tell your story – tempo, dynamics, techniques (p.d.l.t, harmonics, damping, ornamentation, arpeggiated chords, etc.).

    Modify your arrangement so that you and your story come shining through. And each time through, the tune can be a different chapter of the story.

    Stuck? Not sure how to start? Try this: Play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Now play it angrily. Now play it playfully. How about impishly?  What about as a march?  Now as a great tragedy. Finish it as a lullaby or as Wagnerianly as possible.

    Make yourself laugh…or cry… or feel pain! Relax and enjoy the story!

  • Thanksgiving 2017

    Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

  • Practice Practice Practice (your self care)

    It is all well and good to work on self care – you can get a (single) manicure or journal your practice once, but it is consistent practice of a self care routine that will bring you the most benefit. So, yes, you must P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E your self care! (stop – I see you thinking, “Oh great, something else she wants me to practice!”)

    But self care that is only as frequent as a treat or something you only get when you occasionally remember isn’t self care at all. So you will need to practice getting your self care into your schedule – and keeping it on the calendar. That way you will not only develop the habit but will likely come to look forward to the time you will spend.

    You already know how to get something onto your calendar. And you already know that you are more likely to honor an event, especially with yourself, if you actually place it on your calendar. So, get out your pen and get marking. Select self care events that you can actually accomplish repeatedly. Going to polish your nails?  Choose a day of the week to do it and schedule the 20 minutes it will take.  That way you are consistent and get it done. Putting moisturizing lotion on the backs of your hands every day?  Write a reminder on your mirror (use dry erase marker!) so that you see it every day and you begin to build the habit.

    As the time passes you’ll notice that choosing small self care events allows you to complete them without much angst and practicing that will build a habit that you can sustain. A few of these little things will add up to a successful self care routine that fits into your everyday schedule – and that’s self care you can live with!

  • Thinking Time – Six ways to make more time

    We are all busy. We are often busy telling other people that we’re too busy. We may have created a cult of business.

    Of course we have plenty to do – work work, fun work, home work, house work, charitable work, good works.  Oh, and practice!  They all take up our time.

    So that sometimes we have time for nothing more.

    We don’t even have time to think.

    You know what I mean – we have time to think, “Did I pull out something for dinner?” but we rarely have time to thing, “Am I on my best journey to a fulfilling life?”.

    And that’s a shame. A lot of our creativity is buried in those questions. Of course, a lot of our humanity is buried in the time to think about those (and other) questions.

    But having time is really an issue of priority and organization. And working with you. You have to add things like this into your life in ways that will actually work for you – not the way Marie or Brene or anyone else tells you to!

    How do you get that thinking time in? You most likely will have to schedule it. Here are a couple of scheduling suggestions:

    1. Take a slightly longer shower. Don’t you find your best ideas come while in the shower? Buy a grease pencil so you can write them down on the tiles (and you can wash them off later!).
    2. There’s an app for that. Download a voice recorder app for your phone. Then you can talk to yourself – and actually remember what you said!
    3. Turn off the radio. If you spend a lot of time in your car, you probably have the radio on – either to hear music you like or to hear unending talking heads expelling pointless (or pointed, depending on your thinking) drivel. Turn it off and use the quiet to think. And if you have some good thoughts – you can record them on the handy-dandy voice recorder you’ve downloaded to your phone!
    4. Turn off the television – need I say more?
    5. Go for a walk. Not only will you get some fresh air, sunlight and exercise, you will have a little time to clear your head and to think.
    6. Get up fifteen minutes early. I know, you already don’t get enough sleep. But this will allow you to drink your coffee and have a little time to reflect.

    Simply deciding to make time to think will make it easier. Do it for you.

  • Don’t Fall to Care for Yourself – Seven ways to take care of your hands

    It’s well and truly autumn – the days are shorter and colder and windier and drier. Take advantage of the longer nights – November is a good month to start (or improve) your self-care habits.

    To make it easy to start, begin with a painless self-care routine – skin care for your hands. Of course, since it is easy, it is also easy to overlook! Don’t do that!

    In the autumn, and throughout the year, your skin takes a beating.  Your skin is your largest organ and plays a central role in defending you against all the yuck in the world – take care of your skin and it will be able to do a better job of taking care of you!

    Keeping your skin clean and cared for will make your autumn (and eventually the winter) go a lot easier – so start now!

    • Playing in hospitals, schools, other public places? All of those places should end with a thorough hand washing. But all that hand washing will leave you with dry and unhappy skin and you will note the effects: flaky, dry, tight skin. Be sure to use a good moisturizer – a cream, lotion, paste or oil – whichever works best for you. Slather that stuff on and really work it in….
    • Which means you will be giving yourself a massage – also good for your hands. Be sure to include your wrists and forearms – really work that moisturizer in and you’ll get a delightful massage for free!
    • You already keep your nails short but be sure to keep them filed, not just cut. And don’t forget to moisturize your cuticles so they will make it through the cold seasons without breaking or bleeding.
    • Exfoliate your hands too. This doesn’t have to be with lava pumice – there are loads of online recipes or you can just mix a little baking soda into your regular wash. Pat dry and then moisturize.
    • If you get hangnails – act quickly to assure they don’t bleed, crack, and peel. Be gentle, soak it (or wash dishes first – might as well multitask!) and then cut the hanging part off (not too close!).  Apply Vitamin E oil after patting dry. You can buy it in a small bottle with a roller ball which makes application neat and it locks in moisture.
    • If your skin splits you can use superglue to close it. I have used this and it not only helps it heal but the layer of glue seems to protect your finger even while you’re playing.
    • You can also treat yourself to a manicure – seems like a fresh coat of polish makes all of us be just a little more careful of our hands, at least for a little while!

    You work your hands hard so be sure to take care of them as we prepare for winter!