Author Archives: Jen

Dear me

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Dear me

No matter where we are in our harp journey, we have the opportunity to enjoy the ongoing process of becoming musicians.  It can also be easy to get distracted or unfocused or sidetracked as we meander on our path. 

Sometimes we fret over whether we are doing enough, growing enough, accomplishing enough. We compare ourselves to others – even though we know we shouldn’t.  We often spend more time than seems appropriate telling ourselves to stop thinking that way.

But what if we could be our biggest cheerleader?  What if we talked to ourselves like we talk to our friends?  What would we say?

This week – I’m going to give you some homework.  Write a letter to your future self – to you in 5 years.  Tell yourself all the things you have done and what you’re working on now.  Whisper your fears, and hopes, and plans.  Then tell yourself where you’d like to be when you are where they are.  And how you were thinking you might be going about getting there.

You might be scoffing – this is silly you might say.  But what if you suspended your disbelief for just a sec? Then you might see the wisdom in thinking about who you would like to be later. 

And since you’re talking to your future self, you can be bossy.  You could tell yourself that you will have to do something hard so that your current self can successfully do the thing you have been talking you out of.  You could be brutally honest and suggest you stop doing things that you repeat so you don’t have to risk failing – so that future you will be there (when you get there).

But while you’re writing, how about you also tell your future self how proud of yourself you are (or should be).  And maybe relate what you’re hoping you’ll have done by then (and maybe what’s stopping or inhibiting you?).

So, get out your nicest writing paper and do your homework!  Let me know in the comments what you think after writing to yourself.  What do you think the letter you get back will say? What would be your response?  If you’d like to share too, let me know!

 

 

HARP in Space!

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HARP in Space!

This might be old news to you, but I just learned that NASA has a HARP! 

Ok, for NASA, HARP means Heliophysics Audified: Resonances in Plasmas.  What?

NASA HARP Logo

HARPs in Space!

Loads of science-y words to say Hearing the activity of the Sun.

No, really.  The idea is to capture data from the sun and the plasma it puts out, and then listen to it to find patterns.  Patterns that would be harder (or impossible) to find visually.  Or by a computer algorithm. 

The sounds represent the same thing as you see as the Aurora Borealis – how cool is that?! 

As musicians we know all about patterns in sound.  Sound patterns are our stock in trade!  And NASA is inviting you to participate to help explore the data!

This is one of a number of NASA projects open to Citizen Scientists to help them analyze data.  Data is something they have tons of so they need help getting it all poked at.  They provide the open-source tool with which you can poke at (and possibly reveal) what’s hiding in the data from space.  They point out that it’s like using sonar to see the ocean.  They’ll even train you to find stuff so you can identify what they are looking for.  You could find something no one else has identified – again, how cool is that?

Would you like to be a NASA citizen scientist and participate in the HARP project?  If this is interesting to you, you could easily participate!  You can get more information here or sign up to participate here.

Do you think this is as cool as I do?  I’d love to know if you decide to participate – and what you find! Let me know in the comments! 

Play Music on the Porch Day

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Play Music on the Porch Day

The problem with August is that, by the time we get to the end of the month, it’s been a long time since we had a holiday. Or a reason to celebrate anything (at least where I live).  But fortunately, someone made one up and called it Play Music on the Porch Day.  From the official website:

What if for one day everything stopped?  And we all just listened to the music.

Play Music on the Porch Day was Sunday, August 26 this year.  The criteria were stringent, and the rules to participate were harsh.  What was that?  

Just go outside

and play music!

The official site indicated that you could invite friends or play by yourself, and the event could be as big or as small as you want!  And that musicians in over 70 Countries worldwide would be participating!  What’s not to love about that?

While there are lots of things to do to celebrate the day, I had the opportunity to make music with my good friend Donna Bennett who generously donated the setting and invited me to share the day with her.  Our audience were people enjoying a beautiful day near the river in Leonardtown, MD. 

[easy-image-collage id=7063]

We had a fantastic time.  We played tunes we’ve performed a lot. We played tunes we have performed, but not too often.  And we played things we are barely hanging on to but still managed to not mangle too badly.  We played together and we played solo.  Mostly we just enjoyed the company and the laughter and the music making and the fun!  I did remember to take some photos (shock!) but didn’t manage to get a video…I’ll save that as a goal for next time!

Like every Annual thing, Play Music on the Porch Day will come around again this same time next year.  It’s always the last Saturday of August, so you can join in next year. And I’m sure that if you decided to Play Music on your Porch today, or another day, all your audience would be delighted, no matter the date.

Did you Play Music on the Porch?  Want to share your thoughts or photos?  I’d love to hear from you and see your pictures!

What’re you doing?

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What’re you doing?

Do you ever feel like your practicing has fallen into the trap under the sink. It can be really easy to get caught in the comfortable swish of the U joint.  Just be and don’t move.  Don’t practice, or barely practice, or practice but don’t actually change or learn anything.  Loll here in the dark and wait.

Maybe you don’t fall into that trap, but I sure can – especially in “between times” like now – too early for the holidays but after the buzz of the summer.  It could be so easy to stay in the trap because there is so much stuff that needs to be practiced that it can be daunting.  Stuff to be dwelled upon.  To think through.  To work out.  To review.  So much stuff! 

Or maybe we’ll just stay here in the dark (so little motivation). 

Fortunately, playing is more like a diamond ring.  When it’s caught in the trap, it isn’t as enjoyable!  It is totally worth the work of disassembling the drain to rescue it so it can glitter and sparkle. 

No, staying here in the dark isn’t ideal, but sometimes we just need a push to get moving out of the trap. How do we get moving? Well you could start by asking – what’re you doing?  If there’s no succinct answer to that question, the right answer is focus!  On what? Well, how about:

Start small.  Settle on one thing to work on.  Maybe it’s sight reading? Or counting? Or refreshing stuff you were playing but set aside?  The point is to focus on one thing rather than trying to work on everything all at once.

Count the things.  Figure out what needs to be done.  Maybe this should be the first thing – how can you focus on just one thing if you haven’t figured out what the pool of all things is, prioritized them, and then selected one?

Set an end.  After all, you’re breaking out of a trap so while you’re going to focus, it’s not an unending focus!  Figure out how long you want to work on the thing you selected to be first.  Will it be a timeline of a week or a month? Or will it instead be an accomplishment like playing at tempo or steadily or accurately? When you define the end, you will know when you are going on to the next thing.

Keep track.  You knew I’d get around to this.  You won’t know you’ve gotten to the end if you’re not tracking your progress.  This doesn’t have to be elaborate, just note what you did and how you did it.

Compare.  This one can be tricky.  Because you’re not going to compare your progress to anyone else, only to YOURSELF.  You will never know how someone else got to what you’re looking at, but you can know where you were yesterday (or the day before or the last time) and compare yourself to the you before, not someone else ever.

Be consistent.  Pick your timing.  Help yourself by not only doing the thing as you decided (every day, every other day, whatever you determined) but also by sticking to the same time of day every day.  Or tie your time to another event (for example, always practice right after you walk your iguana (or some other event of your day)).

Be nice. You’re not striving for perfection.  In fact, if you do it perfectly, you won’t learn anything.  By the same token, by remembering that mistakes help you learn, you can be your own biggest cheerleader!  (bonus tip – I find that sometimes I need to let the mistakes I make simmer before I can really figure out what I’m learning there, so I write them down so I don’t forget what happened)

Focus!  Don’t “task share”, don’t pick up your phone (unless you’re adjusting your metronome app!), don’t pet your fish, don’t drink your tea.  Just focus on what you’re doing while you practice.  You can do all those other things when you’re done.

What’re you doing?  Do you ever get caught in that sink trap?  If so, how do you get yourself out?  If not, how do you maintain your equilibrium?  Let us know in the comments!

 

 

 

Buttoned up

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Buttoned up

If there’s one problem we all share – no matter which harp we play – it’s replacing strings!  I don’t know anyone who springs out of bed of a morning and cries, “I sure hope a string broke in the night so I can put on a new one!”

Nope, no one I know.  You?

Like you, I know that with practice the knots get easier, string ends are less likely to spring from your fingers just as you place them, knots don’t pull through as often, and that eventually there’s exactly the right amount of slack for the wind. I know all those things are true. 

But I also know that, no matter how much I do it, I have yet to come to love replacing strings.  So, I’m happy for anything that would make it easier.  One of you asked me about this, so let me expound.

I LOVE STRING BUTTONS!

You might have seen them.  You might have heard me go on and on about them already.  But you might not have given them a try yet. 

String Buttons are made by Dusty Strings.  Here’s what they look like (photos patently stolen from the Dusty website).  I know, they don’t look like much.  In fact, they look like you got them at JoAnn Fabric.  Really, they look like you reached into Johnny Cash’s button box.

You might think that I just love them because Dusty makes them.  But you’d be wrong.  I love them because they make life easier!  They don’t just remove the chore from replacing a string. They can be an important part of growing older with your harp.

Wait, what? Well, think about it as we become more experienced humans, things change.  String Buttons can help you weather the changes.  Whether you have poor acuity, or your vision is changing – you might find handling thin strings and bits of string ends to tie a knot is becoming more challenging (especially in low light).  Or you might find that your hands are not as flexible or as strong as they might have been so gripping the string and the string end in a knot might be harder than it was before.  Or you might have built up a dread of making knots over time and ongoing battles with strings not knotting up quickly. 

In addition, String Buttons are inexpensive.  They come in packets of 12 and are just over a dollar a piece ($13.95). I just tossed mine in my tuning package (where I have the string ends) so they are ready when I need them. 

I hope you check them out – let me know what you think.  You know I want to know so share in the comments!

Ireland 2023

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Well, I’ve had an incredible summer with loads of excellent harping and wonderful travels! I’m finishing up in Ireland which sort of brings them together! But only sort of because it’s a beautiful country with loads to see and do and I had great travel companions in my cousins who have been many times! Since technically I’m still on travel (I’m sending this from Ireland!), I just wanted to share some of my photos with you! I’d love to hear what you like best (or what I missed!).  Here’s some of the fun stuff I’ve been seeing:

I’ve been studying Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) and many things gave been easy to read. But someti.es the words are nothing alike!

First stop (sort of) Book of Kells – 😲. This was worth every accolade you have heard!

Apparently,  I can also find harps everywhere:

And where do you find books? In a library! In this case, the library at Trinity College – where the Trinity Harp is housed. After the fire at Notre Dame (in Paris) many historic properties are reviewing their fire plans and restoring with an eye to preventing loss – so the books have been removed…but the harp is still there!

Apparently,  I can also find harps everywhere (but then i forget to photograph them!). Here’s another, random find.

And on occasion, you open a door and see the unexpected –

In restaurants

And on this poster

On street corners

And in person! Totally randomly, we ran into Lynne Saoirse at Kylemore Abbey where she performed in the Gothic Chapel. It was wonderful to see her again and to hear her play!

We did a little family history research. We really enjoyed the EPIC museum which included some interesting (and interactive) exhibits.

It was epic, for sure

Unsurprisingly, the Titanic Experience was captivating.

But I really enjoyed the manhole covers in Belfast

We had a fantastic trip. If you want to know more (or see more photos) let me know in the comments!

 

(PS I’m still on the phone so please forgive typos, weird formatting,  etc. It looked fine from here)

 

 

 

A Wonderful Week of Teaching in the Mountains

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Massanetta

I have been enjoying my second year teaching in the mountains at Massanetta Springs, VA at the Church Music and Bible Conference.  This year’s theme, “Instruments of Peace” was certainly appealing and the students were incredible. I was so pleased to have two return (always gratifying when someone knows what they are getting into and chooses to spend time learning with you!) and having a new (to me) person join us.

They were great – again willing to try new things and being so gracious with their time and experience. I cannot adequately express how much I enjoyed the time with them!

Here are a few photos from my week – what a beautiful place! As usual, I didn’t take as many as I should, but I’m happy to share that I did better than usual! 😆

Preparing to play the prelude for the Tuesday worship service. Why yes, they did perform well at the end of Day 2! I was so proud for them.

I l-o-v-e labyrinths! This little jewel is in the woods and doesn’t seem to get a lot of traffic but it was perfect for me and my harpsicle!

1. I was so glad to be be invited to return to Massanetta Springs to teach this summer. 2. I remain terrible at selfies!

Another stalwart heart enduring an impromptu “come and try” – I’ll grab anyone who looks twice and encourage them to give it a go!

Oh, come on – its summer! A little ice cream is good for you. And besides, you can’t play the harp all day!

Both of these lovely people came again this summer – I was delighted to see them!

This is from an “offical” come and try. I loved the enthusiasm of the kids and the joyfulness of the adults – especially here where they shared the harp for a Pentatonic Improvisation (Thank you Marianna and Kris for forcing me to learn this all those years ago!)

I hope youre having as much fun this summer as I am!  What have you been up to? Let me know in the comments (and if you have a photo to share, let me know and I’ll make it work!

 

PS – due to (irritating and boring) logistics issues (mostly driven by my travel schedule) I’m still on my phone so please forgive any formatting and spelling blurps you might find).

Summer Doldrums…. I’m Bored!

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Summer Doldrums…. I’m bored!

It’s the middle of the summer.  Where I live the summer took forever to start.  But once it did start, it came with a vengeance.  So, we were suckered into thinking we would have the kind of summer that was pleasant and easy.  But it’s not.  And that leads to hanging around inside, in the air conditioning, avoiding the 3H weather (hazy, hot, and humid) that comes with living in a reformed swamp. 

When this happens, it’s easy to start to feel stifled and bored. So what should we musicians, artists that we are, be doing about being bored? 

Here are a few ideas.

  • Acknowledge that the weather (and our desire for creature comfort) are stifling and making us a tad cranky.
  • Identify some tasks or activities you’d like to do.
  • Note that these tasks and activities will pull us away from the harp.
  • Be ok with that.  After all, the doldrums don’t actually last that long and shortly you’ll be back to it, preparing for the autumn.

What would those tasks look like?

     1. Do some “meaningful tasks”.  This is a good time to make a list of the holiday music you’d like to start when the autumn comes.  You can make sure you have good sources so that when you’re ready, you’ll be ready.

    2. Do some harp maintenance.  Does your harp need regulation? You could do that now (or cause it to be done).  Sort through your strings and make sure you have a full set of spares.  Update your string chart.  Clear out the pocket of your case. You know, house keeping-y stuff that needs done but is easy to put off.

     3. Play some music games.  Whether it’s Rhythm Bingo or Crazy 8ths, have a little silly fun that is still edifying.  Don’t have those on hand?  Look online for fun music activity games.  Try Eurythmics in your pajamas. Laugh a little.

     4.  Go do a good deed. Go to a local care home and put on a performance.  Everyone descends on them at the holidays, but are less likely to go during summer, so they might enjoy some entertainment in the boring part of their own summer doldrums.

     5. Do a different art. Make a craft, paint, draw, make a video, write poetry.  It doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that a little creativity will go a long way to supporting your harp playing!

There are so many things you can do to weather the summer weather!  Give yourself permission to do something different.  Give yourself a break and come back to your harp refreshed and ready to go!  What will you be doing during the doldrums?  Let me know in the comments!

 

My new favorite thing

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My new favorite thing

Having a seat at just the right height is so important to being able to play comfortably, healthfully, and safely.  But it is equally important that the seat be comfortable enough to sit for as long as you need to be sitting at your harp.  And you need to be the right distance from the ground so that your legs and knees are comfortable at 90o angles.  You also need to have a seat that is lightweight enough to move, not only around the space behind the harp but also into and out of the car and wherever else you need to bring your harp and play. 

That’s kind of a tall order.  I have had an X bench since I started playing but they don’t seem to make that anymore.  It is perfect – the right height, relatively light weight and I have a carrying case so it’s easy to bring to gigs and workshops.

But when I have a lot of stuff to carry (like when I go to Ohio Scottish Arts School) it becomes a little bit of a liability.  A lot of other people have a bench that looks like mine so it could be easy to lose.  And it isn’t small (even when collapsed).  And if I have to carry my harp around the building (to move from room to room to teach or to join a session) then the bench is harder to bring along (and requires multiple trips).

So, as perfect as the bench is, it started to be not quite as perfect as I would like.  I was looking for another solution that was easier to carry and provided more flexible seat heights.

I found one! (yea amazon) I found a collapsible camping stool that can go from 2.3  to 17.75 inches high, weighs a little more than 2½ pounds, supports up to 400 pounds, comes in colors, and is less than $30.  When fully collapsed, it fits in the pocket of my harp case.  You can even get a cushion.  I sit on mine for a long time on teaching days and while you won’t find them in luxury seating, they do the trick and are relatively comfortable for gigs or competitions – or even long teaching days.   There are many versions available, but this is the one I got (I can’t vouch for the others):

https://www.amazon.com/Boreeman-Upgraded-Lightweight-Collapsible-Retractable/dp/B083945P76?pd_rd_w=HqvBr&content-id=amzn1.sym.c15e5526-d433-4ac0-a393-a3f3f7218fab&pf_rd_p=c15e5526-d433-4ac0-a393-a3f3f7218fab&pf_rd_r=RRPFB98B0MEEH0G6K87Y&pd_rd_wg=kYTWQ&pd_rd_r=1be9a080-1a1d-4e1c-bc30-94e7818abcb1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_116_t&th=1

(Because someplaces have laws: Nope, no affiliate link, just a link. I’m sharing what I know.  This is my opinion; I’m not compensated for sharing it. But I did want you to know what I found). 

If you get one, let me know what you think – I’d love to hear about your experience!

How long should it take?

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How long should it take?

I’m sure you’ve heard (or said), “How long should it take to learn this tune?”  It reminds me of a joke my dad used to tell –

How far does a bear go into the woods?

Halfway, then it’s going out again.

Because each tune takes exactly as long to learn as it needs, and no more.  After that, you’re building and polishing and performing. 

Of course, the other answer is that a tune is never learned because the more you play it, the more you find in it.  And the more you find in it, the more you need to adjust.  It’s always evolving and never finished.

Either way, there is no pat answer:

Some tunes are harder to work than others. Some tunes just fit in your hands. 

Some tunes go right in your ears and settle in (like a dog turning around and then plopping down on the rug) while others are twisty-turny and hearing the patterns escapes you the first 1000 times you listen to them.

Some tunes grab you by the shoulders and demand you play them while others are “nice” (read – meh).   

So, if you think you should have already learned the tune – what’s really driving that question?

  • Are you comparing yourself to someone else?  Only you can be you, and you’ll get it when you get it.
  • Are you pretending to practice (or lying to yourself about how much you’re actually practicing)? Each tune needs to have its own fullness – again some will be easy and leap right into your hands.  Others will fight you at every turn but only spending time with them (practice) will get them in you.
  • Are you expecting the tune to just leap into you? No tune will do that (some will seem like they do, but that’s just an illusion).
  • Are you not allowing yourself to learn the tune? We are always in such a rush to play the tunes that we don’t always give ourselves enough time to actually learn the tune before we start trying to mash a harmony in while also jumping up the tempo.  Slow and steady wins the (non-existent) race so take your time, actually learn the tune so that it won’t fall apart when you add the harmony.  And be honest – if the melody crumbles when you introduce harmony, it’s too soon!  And it doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re not ready to play the tune, you’re not ready.  NEVER FORGET THE MELODY IS WHAT MATTERS!  The harmony is always second (comparatively).
  • Are you sure you have actually spent a lot of time on the tune already?  I often find that I think I’ve been working f-o-r-e-v-e-r but when I check my practice journal, I find that usually it’s only been a day! It just feels like it’s been forever, but I haven’t even scratched the surface yet – talk about unreasonable!

So, the next time you find yourself thinking “I should have learned this already” – just stop.  Pay attention to why you feel that way.  Recalibrate yourself…and go work on it some more!  You will get it – eventually.  In your own time.

Do you find yourself thinking that you should have already learned your music?  Do you do this occasionally or with every tune?  Do any of these suggestions help?  Let me know in the comments!