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.
I am sitting in the middle of a construction zone. No really – ask my students who have been patiently waiting as the work is ongoing. My house had a little uh-oh and this is correcting that.
But the saving grace has been one of those back of the mind, cod liver oil-esque, don’t-want-to-think-about-it things – insurance. Which got me to thinking –
Is your harp insured?!
I am always amazed at the number of people I talk to who do not carry insurance on their beloved instruments! And all I can think of at that point in the conversation is, “WHY???????”
We all know that harps are expensive. And that’s true whether you’re playing a Harpsicle, a Dusty (my fav, but you already knew that), a Lyon and Healy, or any harp really. And don’t be snobby – just because you’re playing Salvi Victoria Gold doesn’t change the fact that for some, a Waring is the only affordable option. No matter who you are, or what your harp is, you should have it insured!
What we do know is that if something were to happen to our harps, we’d be deeply affected. Possibly devastated. And if we needed to replace our harp, we might be hard pressed to scrape together the cash. I know people who have lost harps to unthinkable things like auto accidents, theft, and weather. It is crushing (literally!) and heartbreaking.
So, if we ensure our homes, our cars, and our “valuable personal property” (VPP) – why wouldn’t we insure our harps? Think it’s too expensive? Ha! Think about how much the body shop wanted for that fender bender you were in. Or ask me how much it is costing to repair my home after a minor disaster. The short answer is – lots! Insurance is a small wager we make with a bunch of applied statisticians – one we are both (us and the insurers) hoping will not need to pay off. But if it’s going to pay off when needed, we have to be in the game!
How do you insure your harp? There are two easy paths – Homeowners insurance or Specialty insurance.
Homeowners insurance – you may be able to add your beautiful harp to an existing homeowners (or renters) insurance policy. Pay attention though – some homeowners insurance will not cover your instrument at all, and some have stringent value restrictions that may not support the value of your harp.
You may be able to add a VPP which is a rider that allows you to insure things that have extraordinarily high value within the auspices of your home owners or renter’s policy (valuable like your harp). Again, pay attention to the coverage limits for both value and activity. Don’t think fudging this information will be a good idea. If your VPP states that your instrument cannot leave your house, it will not be covered if you have it with you in an auto accident or if it breaks when you trip carrying it to your neighbor’s house for a party.
Putting your harp on your homeowner’s insurance is best for those of you who are beginning and/or those who only have one harp (or maybe two) and play primarily for your own pleasure.
If you have many harps, are gigging (whether you consider yourself to be a pro or not), travel with your harp a lot, or are teaching, you are likely not going to be able to use homeowner’s insurance. This includes those of you who play regularly at church, a local care home, or something like that (even if you play for free). You will need to get Specialty (“real”) instrument insurance. There are a variety of places to go for this – often affiliated with a professional organization. You already know from health insurance that this means you will be getting a “group rate” so it may be more affordable. And because it’s specialist insurance, they are more familiar with the sorts of things you will encounter when you leave your house with your harp in tow!
Since you’re going to ask, I carry harp insurance through Anderson Musical Instrument insurance. Now, this is not an endorsement, but 1. that is who I use, 2. they are the insurance endorsed by both the American Harp Society and the International Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen. Are they the only game in town? No, but when two big harp organizations go with them, I’m in. You do need to be a member of one or the other (but you probably should be anyway – early in my harp life, I got insurance as a member of a ISFHC chapter). If you are a member of American String Teachers Association, they use Huntington T. Block Insurance Agency, Inc. I don’t know anything about them, but there you have it, they are an option. I’m sure they’re a good insurer, but will they take on a harp as well? If you know, share so I can learn something.
No matter what kind of insurance you’re buying, things you should have on hand before you sign up include photos of your harp (get shots of the neck, the pillar, the soundboard, and the whole harp) and a bill of sale or a letter of valuation which let’s the insurance company assess the value and condition of your harp and determine it’s coverage. As I said above, do not guess or josh around with the true value of your harp when you’re talking with them – underplaying the value of your harp might reduce your premiums, but you’ll be crying if you’re underinsured!
If you are insuring harps you rent out, you need much more info (enough that I decided I didn’t want to play that game). Don’t rent out harps without insurance unless you’re wealthy enough to lose all of them and laugh about it.
So now I have ensured you know loads about insurance. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. Do you have insurance with someone else? Have you had a good (or poor) interaction with them? Anything else that might help others insure well? Let me know in the comments!
Comments
Kate said: Oh yes, my harps had excellent coverage! I didn’t read all of your note, but the instruments need to be insured for Replacement value. it’ll be a rider on your homeowners.
Great point Kate – You do need to insure for the replacement value. I mentioned that you’ll need a bill of sale or letter of valuation from a luthier which documents that replacement value.
Robin let me know that the link in the email to send a comment isn’t working. If you’re having that same problem, try clearing the cache. And if that doesn’t work – just follow the instructions in the email to reach out or use the form here
You know that the holidays will be here soon. Probably sooner than you want but certainly no sooner than every year. And you know that everyone will want you to play for something – a party, a tea, church, or family around the tree.
And, since it comes every year, you’d think we’d have a go-to answer for what to play. And yet, every year, it starts anew – what to play? In what order? For how long? So many questions – what’s the right answer?
Well, here are 8 simple steps to organize your holiday program which can help you focus your practice and feel more confident that you’ll give your audience a lovely experience:
1. Review and refresh all the holiday music you have learned before. No tune is too insignificant to be part of this list! This is music you already have worked through and will be able to burnish relatively quickly so you can have time to spend on learning new stuff!
2. Decide how long you’re going to play (or how long they have asked you to play). This will give you some idea of how much music you will need. Or it will give you the opportunity to tell your expectant enquirer that, while you cannot play for 24 hours, you would be happy to play for 24 minutes (or whatever). The rule of thumb is about 3 minutes per tune – which is definitely true for Christmas carols since they all have at least three sets of verses and if you include an intro, a bridge-y bit and a coda of some kind, you’ll be there!
3. Define the type of holiday music you need. Are you playing a church and need all carols? Are you playing a care home and need “holiday music” (heavy on Frosty the Snowman and The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)? Are you playing for children (and so need Up on the Rooftop and Ruldolph and not Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas)? Are you playing for your family under the tree (and so need each person’s favorite, regardless of type)? Will you need to add well-known carols to fill your time? If you know your time and your rule of thumb, do you have enough tunes or do you need to start learning?
4. What keys are you playing in? While I love Sylvia Woods’ 50 Christmas Carols book, they’re almost all in the same lever setting (note they’re not all in the same key, which can get boring fast, but many are or are in varying modes). A little tonic movement will help keep your audience engaged.
5. To sing or not to sing. Are you hoping that your audience will sing along as you play? If so, you will want to play things they are likely to know the words too (and consider handing out song sheets). Also, having people sing along with you is NOT the same as imagining them singing while you practice in your silent practice room! It can be very discombobulating if you’re not used to it. If you do not want them to sing along, you might want to play less well-known music or be “artsy” in your arrangements, being so rubato that they can’t really tell when to sing!
6. What order do you want the music to occur? If you are playing a background party gig, you might order the tunes to minimize the number of times you have to change levers. But if you’re playing a showcase, you will want the music to make sense to the ears of your audience. There is a bit of an art to this, but consider the pace of the tunes, the “feel” of the mode (old tunes are often in minor keep making them feel like velvet drapes while many modern songs are like sheers – light and airy. There is no sacred order, but you’ll know it when you hear it. I often go from somber and dark to festive and light starting with the heavy, old, minor carols and working up to the ones that sound more festive. Not sure what I mean? I might start with Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent and end with Ding Dong Merrily on High. Both are beautiful Carols, but Let All Mortal definitely has the velvet feel while Ding Dong clearly is “skipping” like a six-year-old! If you’re playing a longer, more diverse program, don’t keep all the old tunes together and then clump the new songs. It’s a pick-and-mix so be sure you’re picking and mixing! No matter what, record your program and listen for any jarring changes – that tells you to rearrange the order of the tunes.
7. Time yourself – because you don’t want to decide you’re fine for an hour and then find out you played all your music in 10 minutes!
8. From the beginning, practice all the tunes. You want to play things you’re comfortable with. A little stretch is a good idea, but at this point learning all new music is not your safest strategy. Keep in mind though, that the music you have learned in previous years will serve you well. Even if you don’t remember it, you do and it will come back relatively quickly and with less practice than it feels like the first time you play it this year!
Finally – remember that it’s the holidays and it’s a harp – everyone is going to love what you play and be delighted with you for sharing your music! What steps do you follow to get your program ready for the holidays? Share them in the comments!
COMMENTS FROM YOU:
From Steve: I like your steps. They are good practical advice than help create a fast action plan. I like how this strategically leads to more playing (practice) and readiness rather than hem-hawing and indecisiveness. Nice timely topic!
I have been writing to you since 2009 (!) and I hope some of those topics have been interesting and informative. And I hope you know that I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to spend here. It is important to me that we talk about things that are important to you. When you share your thoughts and concerns, I click into teacher mode – but sometimes I also fall into beginner mode and learn something! It’s an honor for me to try to put myself on your bench (metaphorically) in an attempt to help you grow.
A while ago, I asked you what sorts of things you were interested in learning about here. You gave me great replies, and I have used many of them to write posts. There are a couple I haven’t gotten to, either because I don’t feel like I can give you a good answer or because a video would be better (and I hate making videos so I have put them off).
But really, I have covered nearly everything you asked, so, today I’d like to ask you to provide some more feedback. We’re all a little older, a little wiser, and a little farther down the road in our development so your questions may have changed. It’s also possible that when I answered your question (from the survey) you then had other questions, further questions, or would just like a fuller answer.
If you could please complete this short, not-very-scientific-but-good-enough-for-our-purposes survey, I could home in on topics that interest you. I genuinely want to know what you think. I also know there are some of you who read but don’t send comments or questions and I’d really like to be sure I hear from you. There are no questions that are beneath me (and if I pretend there are, it’s because I feel awkward from not having a ready answer!).
I try to not ask you for a lot but in this case – bring it on! Whether you’re hitting peak stride, are feeling a little bit like you’ve possibly made a wrong choice of instrument, are foundering a bit, or just want to see what I’ll come up with next, I sincerely hope you’ll reply! Just fill in the form on the website and I’ll take it from there!
Please tell me what you’d like to know more about. What gives you trouble? What is interesting to you? What do you need to learn? What do you want to learn? Is there anything you don’t want to know? What are you tired of hearing me go on-and-on-and-on about? What do you need to hear more of? Please (pretty please!) let me know your thoughts so we can continue to talk about important stuff!
Just fill in the blanks with your brilliant thoughts and I will be ever so grateful. It’s the best (and easiest) comments section ever! No one will see your responses except me, so please be honest (brutally even). I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts and staying focused on what’s important to you –
I’m back home after two glorious weeks in Ireland and Scotland. We had a wonderful group who made every nook and cranny of each day so much fun! This time I decided to be fully present and not worry about posting here. Even so, I – as usual – didn’t take many photos (I find that bring present means that “take a photo” doesn’t enter my mind!). But I did take a few, so I’ll share some that I love. Now that we’re back, it’s time to plan the next trip so let me know if you’re interested and I’ll share the details as the trip forms! Until then, here are a smattering of snaps from our adventure –
Being back also means getting back to practicing. There are some real benefits of being away from your harp for a manageable amount of time. There’s the clarity that a break brings. You have time to think about what you’ve been playing, what you would like to be playing, and seeing a little better what you might need to spend some focus on. You hear tunes you don’t know and would like to. You hear tunes you don’t know and are happy to keep that way.
One thing that I also noticed was that I really enjoy having my harp handy, ready for me to slide onto the bench and play whatever comes to mind. I don’t notice that regularly, but I feel it keenly when I am without. With all that time away, what do I think I need to focus on now? I thought you would never ask! I’m wanting to get back to basics – with dedicated time for exercises, etudes, and book work. You know, those things that are so easy to put aside when you convince yourself that you don’t have time (right along with getting some movement in and eating carefully!).
It would be easy to set these things aside. After all, the holiday season is racing up so there’s so much to prepare. Granted, much of it is review and polish, but there are also so many new tunes to learn and learn and the calendar isn’t getting any bigger! However, that is e-x-a-c-t-l-y when you should return to basics. Because what are exercises and etudes, after all? They are really just a bunch of patterns linked together. And those patterns can be linked together in a bunch of ways…which make up tunes (like holiday music!). For instance, before I play Carol of the Bells, I could spend a little time on a fingering exercise of 1-2-1-3-1-2-1-3 while moving around the scale. Before I try to take on Ding Dong Merrily on High, I could spend focused time with partials scales so I can play Glooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooria smoothly, comfortably, and confidently!
So the next time you try to convince yourself that you don’t have time to do exercises and etudes, remember that they are just the types of patterns you’re going to call on (repeatedly) as you get your music pulled together. No matter what time of year, you’ll be using that stuff so you might as well get to it! What exercises will you add to your day? Let me know in the comments – I love learning new patterns!
Are you a good tuner? Those of us who have been at it a while don’t seem to give it much thought – it’s a habit. The problem is, those of us who are acting from habit probably assume that everyone else has the same habits and know how to tune too (but you know what they say about assuming).
But one thing we should all appreciate is why tuning is so important.
Tuning serves a number of purposes both functional and aesthetic. The harp is designed to work together as an entity so the size, shape, and selection of wood, the hardware, the strings are all central to that sound. Tuning is essential to ensure that the integration is tight – it is one of many elements of achieving the tone and one we can easily control.
If each of your strings is not in tune, it challenges that integration. If the strings are note in tune, the sound of each string will “fight” with the sounds of the other strings. When they are only slightly off, you might hear a little twangy-ness, but you can definitely hear it. To me it sounds ever so slightly metallic. When the tuning is even farther off, it is clearly detectable and can be downright unpleasant to hear. Of course, if you are in tune, you will instantly sound better!
Current convention is to tune the A above middle C to 440Hz. You can tune to any frequency you choose – many historical musicians tune A to 432 (which might sound very flat to you if you tuned there). Using this as a convention allows us to easily come together as a group and play or to play with other instruments. Be sure to check that your tuner is calibrated to A440 or you’ll be in for a nasty surprise when you do meet up with others. All the other notes are then relative to that A440.
I mentioned that each harp is designed with specific tensions in mind. Harp makers go through a great deal of work to develop the shape and sound of the harp and these calculations all account for the specific tension of each string as well as the overall forces of all the strings working together. Keeping your harp in tune will keep all the strings at their appropriate tensions and will allow the harp to work together as the harp maker designed it.
And perhaps my favorite reason for regular tuning is that frequent tuning improves things. The more you tune – the more you practice tuning – the better you will be at it. You will get faster at getting to pitch, your strings will be closer requiring less input from you (most of the time), and you will learn your harp better (so you’ll know how much to turn the harp key). The more you tune, the better the strings will stay in pitch. Frequent tuning makes you faster, surer, and more accurate, so you can get to playing!
So, if you’re not a frequent or regular tuner, here’s your chance – get to it! If this is news to you, let me know in the comments if you want to learn more about tuning. But if this isn’t news but you aren’t tuning, let me know why – I’m curious and would love to hear it!
Do you ever feel like you’re floundering? Like you should be playing but just can’t seem to get onto the bench? In a quiet inner voice are you asking, “why am I doing this?” and not coming up with an answer?
This might be especially true as we come out of the summer season when there are so many workshops and learning opportunities. We see our harp buddies, we sit through the courses. Everyone seems so on fire. At least it seems like it. So we have to ask why we’re not all lit up like everyone else?
It happens – probably to all of us. Sometimes we might lose sight of our why. It’s not a bad thing – if you didn’t care, the question wouldn’t even occur to you.
Everyone else might be lit up because they aren’t adrift at this moment. Or they could be on autopilot and not thinking about it. Or they could be hiding that they are asking themselves the very same question.
It’s ok for your relationship with your harp and your music to go through phases. It’s ok to be all ate up and it’s ok to need a break and it’s ok to be happy as a clam and it’s ok to wonder how come you are stuck. It is not ok, however, to look at everyone else and wonder why they’re not.
We can talk about comparison another time, but for now – if you’re wallowing, not making progress, or even wondering if you should just give up, what should you do?
Start by acknowledging that you’ve got this feeling and you need to explore it. Then you can just ask more questions. Like how are you really feeling? Are you listless? Are you just practicing to say you did but not really engaging? Are you so busy watching other people play (I’m talking to you scrollers who are wondering why you can’t do that thing you saw on FaceTikGram)? Are you thinking you need to do something, but don’t know what? Are you afraid that you’re doing it wrong?
This is a very real struggle. And it can be concerning because it can come and go, attacking when you’re low and disappearing when you’re not. It’s also insidious because it tends to point us to asking the wrong questions to get ourselves back on track. You’re not doing it wrong. You’re not making zero progress.
You’re not lost. You might just need to find some new questions.
What questions could you be asking yourself? Note that no one else can answer these for you. Also, you’re not telling anyone the answers (or the questions), so there’s no comparisons to anyone else. Give yourself time to answer these, they deserve thoughtful, not flip, answers. How about:
If I could do anything right now, what would it be? (NB – doesn’t have to be harp related, but that’s kinda where we’re looking)
If there was a shiny object, what would it be? (adult version: what do I want to be doing that I’m not, but I could be if I let myself?)
What is my harp nirvana (what would make me be so enthralled that I’d completely lose track of time, hunger, and thirst?!)
What do I hate so bad that I’d rather skip playing to avoid it?
What could I do daily to make my harp life align with my vision of my perfect harp life?
What could I do if I was infinitely patient with myself, gave up my should and treated myself as a student or mentee who is allowed to experiment, explore, create, and fail gently?
What other questions should I be asking myself to keep progressing?
It’s only by continuing to ask ourselves questions that we’ll continue to grow (ok, that and practicing!). There is no end to the questions you might ask yourself.
Of course, you don’t have to be adrift to ask these questions. You can always be answering them at any time. But when you’re rudderless, it’s easy to focus on not going anywhere – and that’s where the questions come in, helping you get yourself back on course. What questions should I have included? Have you had the opportunity to grow like this? I love hearing from you, send me a comment!
Everyone is impressed when you walk up to your instrument empty handed, sit, and proceed to play a zillion tunes – without sheet music.
Your audience just thinks, “Wow, where did they put all that music?!” and You think, “Yay – if I’m not reading, I don’t have to worry about getting lost on the page!” and Everyone thinks, “That’s impressive”. And we all swoon at the wonderfulness of carrying all that stuff in your head.
And let’s be honest, even if you try not to be, it’s hard to avoid smugness when you just waltz to the harp and start to play. Almost all of us think that having memorized all your music is the most important skill to have. While that is debatable, many of us do struggle to remember music.
While it’s debatable that memorization is the most important skill to develop, it is important that we all work on having a strong memory of our music. Problem is, memory can be tricky. It can be solid for a coon’s age and then all of a sudden it can skip town on a whim, leaving you stranded.
There are many reasons for being deserted by your memory – poor preparation, stress, injury, illness, age. You might have experienced one or all of these (and others). Some are preventable, others are not. Let’s take a look:
Poor Planning – no matter if you learn tunes lickety-split or need years to really get a tune in your head, you need to know how you go – then you can plan appropriately and leave yourself enough time. If you do need a great deal of time and repetition, make sure you leave it for yourself! Don’t think that this tune will be the one that you soak up like a desiccated sponge – be reasonable and give yourself enough time to learn and be comfortable with it before you must be able to play it in public!
Stress – nothing will knock you for six like stress. If you’ve ever been stressed, you know that it feels inevitable and unending. Your heart may pound. Your hands may shake. The strings may swim in your vision. None of that helps you remember what comes next. Stress will get you every time, so you have to work around it (more on that in a sec).
Injury – this might be the most challenging of all because sustaining an injury can be frustrating for many reasons. Whether it’s a concussion or a stroke, brain insults will definitely impact your ability to form and use memory. You might not even know you’ve sustained an injury, you just notice you have a problem you didn’t have before. If you have a bigger incident, you may well know that you have had an injury and now have to deal with “fixing” it. Being a musician is very helpful for recovery because it requires using your whole brain. Working on playing will help you heal (both physically and spiritually). It can be slow and frustrating and difficult and you might not return to your previous proficiency, but you can keep playing and stay mindful of your progress.
Illness – like injury, illness can also impact your ability to remember your music. Whether it’s an infection, a lack of sleep, or a chronic illness, you may find that your memory is impaired (even if briefly). Your best defense is to know to expect a dip in your recall and plan ahead.
Age – it happens to everyone – even when you think it won’t happen to you! Forgetfulness is a natural part of aging, but other aging related things can also affect your memory such as your medical status, medication affects, and major life events. Your thinking will slow down as you get older, which can alter how well you can do complex tasks (like playing the harp). All those things you already know to do will help keep yourself in the game – like eating appropriately, getting exercise, and taking time to be creative (at least I didn’t suggest a list of additional tasks, just one’s you already know!).
There are other impactors, but these are the biggies (and the ones you’ve asked about). So, what can you do about it? Well, we already said you can:
Plan ahead and give yourself enough time to learn
Take good care of yourself to stay healthy and whole.
But there is one more thing you can do that will help you get through? You can overlearn your music.
Overlearning can you be more prepared and to fill the gaps when your memory is faulty. Overlearning is what you get when you continue to study and master a tune past when you have “learned” it. “Knowing” a tune (tenuously) will not help you get past memory desertion. I know, by the time you “get” the tune, you just want to play it. But have you noticed that the longer you play a tune, not only does it get easier but we also discover all sorts of stuff about it? If you specifically overlearn a tune (rather than maybe letting it happen over a very long time) you will have a strong depth of memory for it. Each repetition builds more paths you can follow to find the tune when it escapes. The combination of well knowing how it goes, how it’s phrased, how the finger patterns fit together, how the chord structure underpins the melody, and more can all be built by continued study of the music.
To overlearn a tune, first you have to acknowledge that you might know it (superficially), but you don’t r-e-a-l-l-y know it. When you add more repetition, you are making a good start on overlearning. And then it’s time to really lean into the tune – actively look for its nuances, it’s nooks and crannies, and plumb them for a better understanding of the music…and then work on repetitions of each of those unfolding nuggets. Once it’s overlearned, you’ll have multiple ways to find your way if you get lost, pull a thread when you can’t remember how it starts, or bringing in the next chord when it has left the building. The more ways you can remember all the elements of your music – the more overlearned it is – the more likely you can recover when you can’t remember what comes next.
I’m not going to try to kid you, overlearning takes time, so you need to add that to your preparation time. It also requires that you stay engaged and curious about each tune you play while you’re learning it (which, oh by the way, never ends). And that will help you be a better musician!
No method of patching the leak will be foolproof, but overlearning stands as a useful tool for getting through those times. Have you actually overlearned all your tunes? Do you have other ways to build a strong memory of your music? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to have new ways to fix things!
