We just past Quitter’s Day – the day by which most people have let their resolutions fade out and die. It’s depressingly early in January to have given up. But really, days are long, especially if you’re trying to make a change in your day…or your practice…and motivation and willpower can only hold on so long.
How do we make a different choice and skip right over Quitter’s Day so we can continue to grow?
We develop habits that reinforce our continuing to keep going!
What makes a habit? Repetition and intention, focus and routine all build toward consistent learning, growth, and performance.
Pablo Casals was asked why he continued to practice given that he was 80 years old at the time. He answered that he thought he was making progress! And he lived quite a while longer, so he had loads of time to practice. He had a practice habit and so should you!
So, what’s the easiest habit we should have but might not? What will get us to confident, fluent playing which comes to mind as an appropriate end state for all of us. Let’s build one strong habit that can support that and helps throughout our harp lives.
Let’s build a daily habit of playing scales.
We learn from a young age that scales are boring. And they are if all you do is rip through them mindlessly! But just a little bit of thinking and they become not only a technical challenge but also brain work and a portal to music we know and music we haven’t learned yet.
Typically, we think of doing scales at the start of practice time – and they do make an excellent warm-up. But there is no rule that says you can’t do them at the end of your practice – like a desert. Or, for that matter, you can do them in the middle as a break between other tasks and learning.
No matter when you do them, scales are a tremendous habit to build. And once you have a small, strong habit built, others can follow. When will you do your scales? Let me know in the comments!
It’s January, so it’s still appropriate to be looking back at where you’ve been to help you look forward to what your next steps should be. As a teacher, I know that we are all over the map with this – some students already have a list of things they’d like to work on, pieces they’d like to play, events they’d like to participate in, etc. Some others look blank. So, who’s right?
Like so many things, there is no right answer, only the answer for you. The downside to not having thought about this is that you might drift because you’re not heading anywhere. Of course, the downside to having already made a list is that you can be too focused and could miss out on serendipitous opportunities.
Indulge me – jot at least a couple of things you’d like to work on this year (if you haven’t already). Could be technique improvements (because we can all use that – bad habits are slippery!). Might be to tackle a piece you have always admired but have been intimidated by. Maybe it is a social goal, like inviting people to play ensemble pieces together (formally or informally). Or possibly you feel like you need a challenge that will test not only your playing and learning but will really stress your mettle?
Once you have a couple of ideas, take a look at them – probably some are smaller, shorter term (I want to learn to play (insert beautiful but very easy tune name here)) and some will be bigger, longer term (I will play with others in ensemble).
Then you’ll need to suss out the steps that will get you there. For our short-term example that might be that you’ll need about 6 weeks total to study, learn, practice, polish, and finish that tune. In our longer term example that might be to identify 3 pieces of level appropriate ensemble music, find 3 people you would like to play with who are at or near your level of play, invite them to join you, assign the parts, learn and practice your part, set a meeting schedule and place, and secure a place to showcase those pieces. Obviously more steps, some that require 5 minutes, some that will require a little effort over some number of weeks.
Both long and short term require that you keep an eye on where you’re going while also monitoring your progress, being honest in your assessment of your activities and development, “fixing” things, and checking that the gap is narrowing (or not).
Once you’ve got the activities, you can then build out your practice time. We all want to be efficient with our practice time, so interleaving these steps will make a good practice plan – include steps for both small and big ideas. Look for ways to “double up” and hit multiple ideas with one activity (I’m looking at you, technical exercises!). This way too, you are never practicing just to practice – always narrowing the gap from where you are to where you’d like to be.
All this will be true whether you’re working with a teacher or coach, or are guiding yourself. How will you incorporate small and large steps into your practice? Let me know in the comments!
It’s the beginning of another year that we get to play the harp! YAY!
This is that time when subtle (and not so subtle) forces attempt to push us around with talk of resolutions, goals, words, and more to define our upcoming year. In fact, in the past I have shared ways to set goals, define resolutions, and denote focus for the upcoming year. I’m not so sure how helpful or important any of those have been.
Why? Mostly because they start by implying (or stating) that you’re not complete or sufficient as you are. The implication is that you aren’t good enough and require a structured, stoic, grinding path to get there.
Bah!
Because we are, each of us, good enough. Are we perfect? No. Are we fully defined? Not yet. Do we have work to do? Of course! But that’s because one of the reasons we play is that we are actively seeking to grow!
So, what should we do then? If goals, words-of-the-year, and resolutions are flawed approaches to our growth, what we really need is to find the small, consistent steps that will help move us toward where we would like to be.
That does mean that we need to have some idea of where we would like to be – where we’re going. That is, we need to name what we intend to do with the time we spend making music.
Then we need to have at least an inkling that we need a path. What that path might look like can be fuzzy – and it will likely change. Where we would like to be can be outwardly grand or simply important to oneself. The size of that intention is not so important as having some sort of waypoint so we can check that we’re moving forward.
The first step then will be to look back, even before we put a name on what we might intend to do with our time. What are looking back at? How about:
What are we happy with from the past year?
What successes can we count?
What was hard?
What was discouraging?
What felt harder than we expected?
What just flowed out our fingers, over the strings, and directly to the hearts of our listeners?
We have a long stretch of time with which to work (got a year? Yup!). So be gentle and thoughtful. There’s no rush. Take your time. Find moments of silence to reflect. Think about not just what but why, when, how, and who (nothing happens in a vacuum).
Knowing our historical elements can help us formulate projections that align with our interests. Then we can define the small consistent steps we need to take to get there.
That was a lot of words to say, “when you know where you’ve been you can see clearly how to get where you want to go”. So here in the first week of the new year, spend a little time reflecting on your musical past and pull the threads to help define who you are and who you want to become or what direction you’d like to explore. Make some notes and don’t be too quick to seize the first thoughts that come to mind. And don’t worry about evaluating your thinking – just capture your ideas – you have time. Welcome in – here we go!
It’s that time of the year – time to celebrate the Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, and to bring the year to an end. I wish you a wonderful holiday full of joy and music! Play me a tune and I’ll play one for you!
If you’re so moved, leave me a comment – you know I love to hear from you!
I know it’s nearly Christmas, so you’ve probably already learned all the holiday music you are going to for this year. So, the next likely question is, what next?
How do you select the music you should work on next? You can, of course, simply ask your teacher to point you in the right direction. This is a great idea if you are a beginner or low intermediate – you’re at the stage in your harp life that you may not be ready to go without some guidance.
But if you’re a super independent beginner, or a more advanced student, you want to be selecting your own next tunes. How do you do that? Well, here are seven suggestions to point you in the right direction:
Go with your Heart – If you L-U-R-V some tune – learn it! This is also true for arrangements by someone you simply adore playing. Don’t worry about whether you’re ready. Tunes can be simplified, arrangements can be flattened, you can learn new techniques, and/or you can invest more time into learning. I never tell a student they can’t play a tune – they may not be ready to play it, but we can work our way there!
Go with your Head – maybe you know that you are weak at something – rolled chords? Harmonics? Whatever your weakness – find a tune (or arrangement) that requires that thing and work on it until you are good at the weakness. Two birds, one stone – you correct a weakness and learn a new tune to boot!
Go with your Gut – if you feel like you are missing something, you probably are. Seek out tune types you might be light on. Do you have all the different tune types you need to make a well-rounded set? Do you have fast tunes and slow tunes? Major and minor (and other modes)? Can you build good sets from the tunes you already know? If not, your gut is pointing out to you that you need to fill some gaps.
Go with your Reach – like going with your heart – what tunes do you not necessarily lurv but every time you hear them, you think, “I should learn that”? Learn those. These can be a little slippery because these are the tunes that you like enough to want to play but not enough to lurv. So, keep a list and learn these along the way.
Go with your Smarts – If you have loads of tunes but they aren’t in the right keys to make good sets, work on learning the tunes in different keys. This could be dedicated time to learn tunes in new settings OR it can be deep work on transposition on the fly. Both of these will be good for your brain, good for your tune list, and good for your playing!
Go with your favs – Not everything you play has to be work. Make sure you have some playful tunes in there too! If you love Taylor Swift, you can play that. If you love Mozart – have at it. Just because you may have made yourself a niche doesn’t mean you can’t get out of it every once in a while. Holiday tunes are sort of like that, n’est pas?
Go with your hunch. Be honest, are you working toward your Julliard audition? No? Then pick music that is a little bit challenging to learn but is engaging enough to keep you playing. If you don’t like it (no matter what it is or who assigns it to you), you’re not going to play, so don’t pretend. Move on to something you will play.
For adult (and more experienced younger) players, you can step up for these choices. A good teacher will, of course, make suggestions to move you forward. But in the end, you’re the one who has to decide. Don’t push the peas around the plate – take a little time to determine what you should play next.
Let me know what you pick – can’t wait to hear! Share with me know in the comments!
Last week we talked about taking care of your skin. This week, we have a way to help keep them happy.
I have dry skin. Sahara like. 00 grit. And I live in a place that is having an early and very dry winter.
Sigh
While many people are good about staying ahead of these sorts of things, I am not. That means that I’m never able to just slather on moisturizing lotion. I need to exfoliate and enrich first – then my skin is more ready for the moisturizer.
Fortunately, I also suffer from a non-fatal condition called I-could-make-this-at-home-itis and severe parsimoniousness. You might have noticed that stuff to care for your skin is expensive (or inexpensive but not worth using) …and you run through it like water! What are we to do?
We’ll make it ourselves! We can feel virtuous, get something that works, and smells good! The good news is that it isn’t baking, so precision is unimportant – a little bit of this, a pinch of that, a dab of the other is the best way to go. We can use a variety of grit-y elements and some sooth-y elements and a splish of smell-y elements and bam – you have your own, bespoke hand scrub!
Use the table below to mix and match. Pick the elements you like (or already have on hand) and mix away.
Grit
Emollient
Fragrance
Sugar
Vitamin E Oil
Lavender extract
Brown Sugar
Olive Oil or Almond
Lemon extract
Table Salt
Coconut Oil
Mint extract
Ground Almonds
Honey
Rose water
Select one from column A, one from Column B and one from Column C.
Here’s the “Recipe”:
1/2 cup Sugar or Salt
1/8 cup Oil or Honey
5 – 10 drops Extract
Mix thoroughly in a small bowl. Modify as needed (to get the consistency you prefer). Transfer to closed container. Store 2 – 3 weeks.
To use the scrub, dampen your hands with warm water. Scoop the scrub out of the container and apply to your hands. Work it in. Don’t scrub too hard, you don’t want to hurt yourself. Gently for longer is better than vigorously for a shorter time! Use this as a time to give your hands a self massage – you’ll love that if you’ve been practicing a lot! When you’re done reveling in the feeling, rinse with warm (not hot) water. Pat dry. Apply moisturizer or other emollient.
Obviously, don’t use anything you’re allergic to or react to. Sugar is gentler than salt and ground almonds are the most intense. Nothing says you can’t switch between them…or mix them together. If you have never used a scrub, start with sugar (as the gentlest) and decide from there. Don’t use this more than two or three times a week. When you’re done scrubbing, use your favorite cream, gel, or lotion to lock In the moisturize-y goodness.
Don’t make a huge amount, it will only last for a couple of weeks and you only want to use it a couple of times a week so you don’t need a whole lot at any one time.
Important to remember – this is for your hardworking hands NOT your gentle and beautiful face!
Of course, you could take the easy way out and buy a scrub – but where’s the fun in that? While you’re making and using it, remember that it’s not rocket surgery. If you want it scrubbier, use less oil. If you want it softer, use more. Want it less fragrant, back off the smell agent. If you want unscented don’t put any in. It’s yours so make it the way you want!
When you go online (oh, come on, I know you’re going to!) you will also find recipes with dish soap. This is certainly do-able, but I find dish soap drying, so I avoid it. If you want to clean your hands before you scrub, you can certainly wash up first as step one and then slather on the scrub mix.
If you’re one of those people who is bad at setting aside “me time” this is for you because it’s self-coddling but also really quick. So while you can’t really do anything else while you’re scrubbing, it doesn’t take a long time to do – so you get a treat without that “I should be doing something else” guilt!
Give it a try and let me know what you think. Which scrub do you prefer? What’s your favorite scent? Let me know – in the comments!
Now that Thanksgiving has passed, and autumn is only 75% complete, it’s increasingly difficult to hang on to it! Winter is banging on the door with its colder temperatures, brisk winds, rain-ice-snow, and days that seem to end before the begin! Really, it’s winter long before it’s actually started.
No matter where you live, winter brings some challenges for us as harp players. It is important to adhere to our self-care and take it seriously. This is to keep playing comfortably, but also to keep healthy. It’s hard to play when your fingers feel like your skin has been tightened or your fingers have splits – and being rough and flaky is just no fun!
Your skin is the largest organ of your body and it has many functions. And being your primary protective barrier is an important one. Your skin protects you from a lot of bad stuff – including bangs, scrapes, and diseases.
Since it’s delicate, you need to care for your skin. After the recent unpleasantness, we all know that hand washing is essential to avoiding getting sick. Just because the plague is not currently on the land doesn’t mean you should slack on handwashing – 20 seconds (as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” through twice) each time you wash your hands.
While washing your hands often and thoroughly is good for your health, it is hard on your skin. Even moisturizing soaps will, with frequent use, dry out your skin. Use warm, not hot, water and pat your hands dry (rather than trying to scrub the water off like I do!).
Using an effective moisturizer will help. Just like we get thirsty in winter because cold air and heating systems dry the air, our skin is also thirsty. Moisturizers will help keep your skin supple. Whether it’s made of shea butter, cocoa butter, aloe vera, or another moisturizer that you know works for you, regular use is important to keep your skin hydrated and supple. It’s good to have some on hand (get it!) all the time.
This is also the time of year when we all crave cozy. Once a week or so, while you’re relaxing and bundled up, consider giving yourself an at home “minicure” – the works. Soak in warm water (or milk) before slathering on a thick emollient. Then put on cotton gloves and head into bed. The gloves and the warmth will help lock in that moisture and keep you extra warm! You can do the trimming, filing, and polishing another time, but you’ll also have supple hands!
We focus on our hands because they are central to our playing but make sure you’re taking care of all of your skin. You will quickly notice when your skin splits, hang nails form, and your fingers get flaky, but it is still important to care for the skin on the rest of your body too!
Even though the winter weather is just beginning, you can get ahead of keeping your fingers and hands well moisturized and comfortable – which will make playing so much easier (and no wincing while you play!). What do you do to keep your fingers and hands happy? Let me know in the comments below!
It’s time for that wonderful holiday of gratitude – Thanksgiving! I hope you have a lovely day, spent with family and friends of all ilk. Thank you for being here and spending a little bit of your time each week with me. I appreciate your time and attention as well as your great comments and questions! Play some tunes and enjoy the time – and if you want to share your holiday, you know I’d love to hear about it – just use the fields below.
It’s the week before Thanksgiving here in the US. This used to be the indicator that Christmas was coming. Now it’s more like Halloween starts the holidays countdown (but that’s a different diatribe!). I don’t know how you’re coming along in your preparations for playing throughout the holidays, but I find myself wishing I had an extra three weeks!
You might wonder how I know I need an extra three weeks – not two, not four, but three.* It’s because I can see where I am, where I want to be, and where I had planned to be at this point in time. (I originally typed “should be” but went with “planned” because should is such an evil, subversive word!).
How do I “see” this? I have a sticky system. Literally!
My system allows me to track each of the tunes I need to have ready for a holiday program(s) as they develop. It also allows me to see if something is just not going to be ready so I can replan for something that I will be able to play better. After all, the point of holiday gigs is to spread cheer and comfort – not to terrorize yourself trying to wow people with your brilliance! Save that for another time like competition or audition!
This graphic gives you an idea of what it could look like. And here’s a shot of mine just now.
You may have seen similar systems in your travels – this is much like kanban or scrum. Not surprising since I am a systems engineer when I’m not being a musician**, so of course I cross my tools between domains (goose/gander, etc.). The differences are that this is just for you, not a group (although you could use it for ensembles!), it is not as rigorous because we’re not building bridges (except ethereally) and we only need as much rigor as is required and not more, Finally, while on the one hand preparing music is a “project” on the other hand, it’s more than that – we’re making art not planning to pour cement or launch wonky code.
If you’re eager to start, you might want to know – what do you need to use this? Well…
First – you need sticky notes! You need as many colors as you think you need. Lined or unlined? It’s up to you!
Next, you need enough space for you to keep track of your work over time. I like the little stickies because I write small but if you need more room, use the bigger ones (they do come in sizes from 1.5 in x 2 in all the way up to 25 in x 30 in). Use the size that lets you write comfortably and fits in your usable space. I use a variety of spaces – a wall, the side of a bookcase, that photo shows one panel of a room divider and when I need to, I switch to a sheet of paper – depending on my mood and where I happen to be at the time (and if I need to take it with me). I write the name of the tune (and maybe the source if I’m reading) but you can put whatever else you decide to put there (maybe the key you’re playing in, etc.).
Now, you need a scale for time. Use whatever type of calendar you work best with. If I have a long time (e.g., tunes I might teach next year) I will use a monthly calendar. If it’s something more imminent (like the holidays) I use the week. I used to use a daily, but I found that kept me too focused on checking the box rather than learning the music. Frankly, for daily progress I use a journal so I can capture details that would just get lost on my big sticky board.
Now, you need a metric. I typically use what I have shown in the graphic – whether the tune is coming along, practically done, ready to go. This not only tells me how the tune is developing, it also helps me plan my practice – if I haven’t actually learned something at this point, it gets more attention so it can get “caught up”. You will always have some tune in this category of disrepair – how much you stress over it depends on how important it is (relative to the time you have to prepare). It’s important not to stress over these – if you’re not learning you’re not living!
You need maintenance. This tool will only help you if you set aside a little time to review and update it. In the graphic example, that would be once a week so you can see, identify, and enjoy your successes, replan your practice as needed, and keep your sanity. If you review too often, you’ll get lost in translation. This is a tool but it’s not a cudgel!
And finally, don’t forget to… Breathe.
Give it a try, play around with it. It’s not rocket surgery, but it also didn’t come down a mountain on stone tablets, so feel free to modify it so it can work for you! Then, let me know how it goes when you start. I’d love to hear what changes you made for yourself and how prepared you think you are for the holidays! Let me know in the comments!
* PS – I just learned that the em-dash is the exclusive province of AI…and me! I probably taught the model that. And I assure you, for good or bad, this is all me and NI (natural intelligence)
** Ha! I’m not sure I could be one without the other – being a musician makes me better at thinking systemically and being a systems engineer certainly informs how I think about, work with, and play music. Yet, I persist in pretending like they’re not on the same spectrum.
