Sit up and take notice

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Sit up and take notice

It’s May, which is a lovely time of year.  It is daylight longer, the temperatures are fairly palatable, and we are ready to emerge from the winter (and to escape spring cleaning).  It’s also a time that many think about our general health and fitness – and how fortunate we are to have (generally) good health while being fit enough to do the things we love (like play the harp).

And yet, as I write this, I have three students in treatment for various hand and arm overuse injuries and more that are preparing to seek help for sore forearms, tired fingers, tightness in the palm, neck pain, and more.

Yikes!

This bothers me because 1. I don’t like to see anyone in pain (except maybe that mean girl from 8th grade), 2. It interrupts their practice and our lessons, and 3. As a Human Systems Integration expert and a Certified Music Ergonomist it is painful for me to watch these things develop.  I will say that, although these students are feeling the effects in their playing, they have done me proud by working on their technique so that we can be assured that it is not the harp that is the problem.  However, the same cannot be said for the rest of their lives and there are still problems that have to be addressed.

A long time ago I heard/read someone say that it didn’t matter if you spent 30 minutes every day in the gym strengthening your abs if the other 23 and half hours of every day you let them slag off! (can’t remember where I got this, but it stuck with me)

This is so true for our harp playing body (and for all your other muscles (and fascia and tendons)).  You can have brilliant technique and practice habits at the harp, but if the rest of your day is not similarly managed, you can develop issues that will spill over into your harp life.  We don’t focus on our bodies while we sit at our computers, tablets, phones, paperwork, stovetops, or in front of the television.   Working from home, our current world, and busy minds have all contributed too. 

Contributed to what? Primarily poor posture and long periods of stasis – sitting still.  Age also works against you as you calcify ingrown habits as well as losing both flexibility and strength.  There may be some truth to those people who say their day job is killing them!  Let’s not let us be one of them!

If you’re a kid (define that as you wish), you might think that’s a problem for other people.  That it won’t happen to you. That you’re different.  Go on telling yourself that. <deep sarcasm>  Whatever – of the eight billion people on the planet, a very large proportion of those grow to older adulthood and along the way they lose strength and muscle mass, experience reduced flexibility, and develop age related injuries.  It would be good if we maintained good posture, strength, and flexibility to avoid injury and loss.

This week, think about this and the relationship of (the other parts of) your life to your ability to play.  Next week, I’ll give you some things to work on to assure that pain, injury, or loss of mobility don’t derail your harping!  Are you experiencing any of these things?  Let me know in the comments!

Home again, jiggedy-jig!

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Home again, jiggedy-jig!

Harpa are back home after a wonderful trip to Scotland!  I was traveling for over two weeks and loved every minute (even the ones that will eventually be funny stories!). 

This trip Harpa were (from top left): Sue Richards, Beth Kolle, Therese Honey, and (from bottom left) Donna Bennett, me, and Martha Hill, and for the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, Kelly Brzozowski.  We posted photos of our visit on the Harpa Facebook page here. 

Harpa 2023

We started our trip at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival which was an incredible experience.  We participated in courses and workshops (the latter are long format, the former are shorter) learning Scottish, Breton, and Irish music as well as learning to release our inner Diva (laugh not – we didn’t think we needed help with that either, but wow did we learn a ton!). The high point for us was playing a concert – no pressure to play for a room full of harpers – no pressure at all.  But we performed beautifully and were really pleased with it.   We also attended some amazing concerts by friends old and new.  It was delightful.

Once EIHF was finished we headed off to the Highlands. We had three more performing opportunities, including a sold-out show at the Tollbooth in Forres.  At one time, the Tollbooth was the court and county lockup (not the automated money-snuffler we think of today).  It’s a historied building and we were privileged to play in the Courtroom.  While there we also got to share tunes with Cheyenne Brown’s adult students – some that they had performed earlier at the Inverness Music Festival!  Is there anything better than meeting other harpers?  The bummer was that, like any vacation, you never have as much time as you think you will, so we didn’t get to spend a great deal of time with them and we were done playing before we knew it.  At performances I always feel like I’m trying to cram 10 hours into a 1-hour sock. <sigh>

We also performed in Lossiemouth and at Ballindalloch Castle.  I still had the “1-hour sock” problem at each of them, but still got to meet and perform for some lovely people and in support of good causes.  In and around those performances we had the business of vacationing to deal with.  We enjoyed tea (twice! once on a steam train), saw castles, did some shopping, devoured fish and chips, found lovely ice cream, ate more than a few scones, and wandered cathedral and castle ruins. 

We had an awesome trip! We all have great ideas for the next one and we’ll get to planning that soon.  Until then, check out all our photos! I am still the worst at taking pictures, but I did post photos on the Harpa page, my “professional” page and my page (same photos, different accesses).  The Harpa page is where you’ll find all the really good photos that other people took. 

I also need to make a shameless plug for the Dusty Strings Flight Case.  It is light weight (I carried up and down stairs all week!), sturdy, good looking, and protective!  You might think it’s expensive but if you consider how much physical therapy, back surgery, or shoulder surgery might be (from carrying your old, heavy flight case), it’s downright parsimonious!  The harp traveled well (including the time it lingered in Ireland while I came on home).  I particularly like the detachable front wheels that made “driving” a breeze.  The snug fit left me confident that my case could “take a licking and keep on ticking”.  Brief chats with ground crew also suggested that it’s (relatively) light weight made it easier for them to deal with.  Even TSA seemed to have no problem working it.  My one regret?  I looked at the shoulder strap connections before I left and decided I wouldn’t use them – wrong!  I am not quite tall enough to effortlessly carry the case up flights of stairs.  I had to bend my arms more than was comfortable to clear the stairs so it took me about one day of going up and down stairs to really wish I had brought a strap.

I hope you check out and enjoy the photos.  If you want to know more about a specific part of our trip, let me know.  And if you have questions about how you too can travel with your harp – I’m happy to try to answer.  Let me know in the comments!

Harpa 2023 Post 1

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Harpa 2023 Post 1

I’m arrived in Edinburgh today (hence the slightly late post).

But, Edinburgh never disappoints, and today is no exception – clear skies and beautiful – as always. 

Harpa are gathering in Edinburgh and are preparing to spend a little time in Edinburgh participating in the Edinburgh International Harp Festival! So excited to see everyone, learn new things, perform our new set of American tunes.  Then we’ll head out and see more of Scotland and play a few more times for various charities.  Does anyone have a better life? I don’t think so!

Harpa LogoHarpa was started by Beth Kolle creating a cultural exchange tour.  Over the years, the group has traveled to Norway, Sweden, and Scotland.  The composition of the group changes with each trip and this year Harpa is Beth Kolle, Sue Richards, Therese Honey, Kelly Brzozowski, Martha Hill, Donna Bennett, and me.   Each HARPA member pays their own way and each tour is hard work, from the initial rehearsal on the first day to the closing concert. Each musician must take time off and turn down paying performance jobs to join the tour.  

We’ll be posting to our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Harpaniks and our individual pages – Keep an eye there!

Sprummertime

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Sprummer

I know it’s just barely spring but it’s not too early to think about what you want to do this summer!  That means, it is Spummertime – not spring or summer but the time to think and plan now for what will come later!  And there are loads of harp events in the summer but you only have so much time (and so much money!) so here are my favorites:

Ohio Scottish Arts School (OSAS) – It’s hard to put into words how much fun OSAS is or to tell you how much you will learn at OSAS.  It starts immediately after the Ohio Scottish Games in Barea OH (just outside Cleveland.  This year’s instructors are stellar – Corrina Hewat, Haley Hewitt, Allison Miller, and me!  And fiddlers will have Elke Baker (invite your favorite fiddler to come!).  Classes will focus on basic harp technique for beginners and intermediates, repertoire at all levels, including tunes for competition sets, and Scottish style, including ornaments, lilt, and dance types.  Nylon/gut/wire harps are welcome.  We’ll study Scottish dance music, airs, and songs, focusing on ornamentation, Scottish style, accompaniment, and learning by ear. We’ll have lectures, practice time, and playing in sessions. Classes will be available for beginners who have played for a few months, intermediates, and advanced players.  It’s the 45th Anniversary so we have even more to celebrate!  Class sizes are limited and harp is getting close to being full so go to https://ohioscottishartsschool.com for more information and to register before the class fills!  24 – 30 June, Barea, OH

Somerset Folk Harp Festival – Somerset is the festival for everyone!  There are workshops for you no matter if you’re beginning or advanced.  There are workshops in different genres, covering topics you might even know that you wanted to know! And it is in person and online – a hybrid we can all love.  There are options which can help you tailor the event to you.  In person is in Parsippany NJ and you’ll be able to wander the (very large) Exhibit hall where you can see harps, listen to harps, play harps, talk harps, meet harp makers, compare harps…and (maybe best of all) buy harps! And Harpstuff (including exquisite jewelry, music, learn about other training experiences available, and more.   And did I mention that in addition to a huge cadre of great instructors – every day there are concerts!  What’s not to love?  Go to https://www.somersetharpfest.com for more information and to register so you don’t miss out.  20 – 23 July, Parsippany NJ

Harp Quest – We are excited to begin another Harp Quest in 2023!  Our quests are each different as we seek to learn what our harp is there to teach us, so plan to join us for a new Journey forward with our harps – becoming what we’re meant to be.  The Quest will remain easily accessible to harpers from anywhere and at any level.  Our focus will be a short and intense experience that we will each take with us into the coming months and years – perhaps not fully appreciating what we have learned until much later.  But secure in knowing that we will get there – each of us.  And we’ll get there together!  This year kids will quest together, and adults will follow their own quest.  In the pastoral and relaxing valleys of South Central, the setting is just the thing to learn and grow and go a little farther on the road we travel. Harp Quest focuses on very personalized time sharing and learning.  We will have fun, support one another, and work together to expand technical skills and exercise our brains.  As always, we will work on building healthy self-esteem and encourage ourselves to try new things.  Our format is tailored to assure that the journey is not rocky – not that you won’t work hard or occasionally need to breathe!  We’ll work individually in a limited sized group and together experiencing three days of creativity, sharing, and fun.  Kids Quest 25 – 27 August, Adults Quest 8 – 10 September.  For more information contact me. 

What do you want to do for your summer?  Are you going to register for any of these?  Are there other events we should be considering?  Let me know in the comments!

Just one thing

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Just one thing

When you have an unexpected variation occur (less charitable people might refer to this as a mistake) what do you do? 

If you’re like most people, you might do a bunch of things all at once.  You wince, you stop playing, you look at your hands, you look at your harp, you look at the music, you look at your teacher (or other audience), and you panic a little. 

And then you might try to fix everything – all at once. But is this the best thing to do?  Probably not.  Because what’s the most important thing to come away from a mistake with?

The lesson that was buried in it. 

To learn the lessons the “variation” can teach you, you need to unpack it from all the detritus in which you found it.  And to do that, you have to look at each thing – just one thing at a time. 

What things are you going to look at?  Well you need to know how you ended up there.  Were you going too fast? Was your fingering not solid? Did you lose focus? What happened once you ended up there? Was it a trainwreck or were you just off a little? Did you know where you were?  Were you able to quickly determine what happened or were you completely lost? Were you surprised or did you know it was coming and were hoping you could ride it out? Did you have a solution immediately or did you need to figure a bunch of stuff out?

Of course, there are a nearly infinite pool of possible questions but to get at the answers, try to answer one question at a time – don’t try to solve everything at once. Parse the problem and identify solutions. And then go from there.  The solution for going too fast is a very different than for losing focus, for example. 

So, the next time you have an “opportunity to excel” try doing one thing at a time in pursuit of an answer or a way forward.  Stop! Don’t move.  Be still.  Rather than be a flurry of activity, take a breath.  Because being a flurry of activity works well – until it doesn’t and something doesn’t go right.  Now you can think, observe, and assess what’s happened.

Give it a try yourself – it does take a little practice to pause, but that gets you time to replay in your mind’s ear what you heard and feel where you are in space.  Commit to only doing one thing to get your bearings! Don’t fall prey to the impulse to fix everything – because you probably don’t know what is wrong, so how can you fix it?  If you forge ahead you’ll just confuse yourself and make it more difficult to find the solution.

Next time you find you’re in a “variation” give yourself a beat to stop, be still, think, and decide what to fix first.  Give it a try and let me know what you learn in the comments!

Should you have a lesson if you haven’t practiced?

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No practice?

There must be something in the air (besides pollen) because last week a disproportionately large number of my students sent some version of this message:

“I think I should skip my lesson this week because I haven’t practiced at all.”

I get it – I even remember uttering those same words myself.  It’s easy to think that.  After all, when you have had a “week from hell” (that seem to occur more and more frequently), you won’t have had time to practice. 

But this is incredibly wrongheaded.  Why you ask? Well….

It comes from thinking of your lesson as a mini performance.  But if you think of your lesson that way, then you do need all the practice you can get to be ready to be on that stage with the critic sitting in immediate proximity!

But that’s not what a lesson is! 

A lesson (especially if you’re an adult) is an opportunity to glean knowledge and information from someone who is guiding you to grow into the musician you profess to wanting to become.  I sum it up this way,

“I’m telling you these things so you can avoid my mistakes and I expect you to go on and make your own, new, original mistakes!”

A lesson couldn’t be farther from a mini-performance for your worst critic (you) and your perceived harshest critic (your teacher).  It is meant to be a learning opportunity.  In fact, if you come into your lesson and play flawlessly, then what’s the point?  It’s in the lesson you want to fail – spectacularly!  That way you can receive additional instruction that moves you forward.  You’re not a dog, you don’t need a pat and a biscuit – you need constructive feedback and tuition, so you can keep moving!

In addition – playing the harp isn’t just about flinging out the sounds of choice, is it?  Of course not!  There is so much more to being a musician and all those things can also be a part of your lesson when, due to other circumstances, you’re not prepared to play tunes in various states of dishabille.  What, you might ask?  Here’s a long but not exhaustive list of things you could work on:

  • Reading and Notation
  • Theory
  • History
  • Listening
  • Composing and Improvisation
  • Harmonizing
  • Rhythm
  • Effects
  • Tuning
  • Techniques
  • New pop tunes*

So, the next time you’re not feeling prepared, or feel as if you’re going to be “wasting” your teacher’s time, or like you are setting yourself up for humiliation, remember that there are loads of things to be taught that might not get covered when you are more prepared to play a piece and the focus is on learning or perfecting.  Also remember that your teacher has many things to teach to and share with you and this could introduce time to cover some of those (especially since there’s never enough time in lessons to cover everything). 

Have you ever canceled a lesson because you felt like you were not prepared? Have you ever thought you should have, but then had a great lesson in spite of your misgivings? Do you remember a time when you were dreading going to your lesson but it ended up being a great time?  I’d love to hear your take – leave a comment!

 

PS – Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate!

* No really, your teacher is still a person and might actually have other interests…but you’ll never know if you only ever talk about harp!

 

Pencil me in

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Pencil me in

There are some mistakes that get made all the time by an awful lot of people.  And some of those are the ones that leave you shaking your head because the solution is so simple and so easy.  But despite how easy the fix is, it still doesn’t happen, for some reason.

No, I’m not talking about something complicated like putting the coffee and water into the maker at night before you go to bed so the morning is smoother.  I’m talking about something even simpler.  Something that can make you a better musician.  Something you can do with the stroke of a pen.  Well, a pencil, actually.

MARK YOUR MUSIC!

You’ll be amazed at how simple your life becomes when you embrace this fix!  It has three steps –

First, make a copy of your music (Do Not write on your original!).  If you have a download, print a couple. Or use your home printer to copy it.  Or go to the local big box office supply store and use the self-copy machines.  There is no excuse! (Of course, this is you making a copy of music you have bought for your use – no violating copyrights!).

Second, now that you have extra copies to write on – find a pencil.  Not a pen!  Any ol’ pencil will work (or buy some while you’re in the big box office supply store making copies). 

Third, and this one is a biggie – use the pencil on the copies!  Mark anything you need to have marked.  Forgetting a fingering? Write it in.  Not used to reading all those ledger lines?  Mark them. Missing a dynamic? Circle it.  Any time you have a hitch in your reading, leave yourself a note so that you have a smoother experience as you continue to play.

Why not a pen?  Well, you want to be able to correct errors in your marking. But you also might change your mind as you continue to work on the music. Or you might completely change your understanding of the music and decide to mark it differently.  Or you might no longer need the notations.  There are a ton of reasons that at some time in the future you might want to erase what you’ve written.

A quick point – consider using colored pencils to highlight different items.  I usually use black for fingering, yellow for lever changes, red for dynamics, blue for repeats, etc.  This is your system for you to play your best so do whatever it takes for you to feel comfortable and confident while looking at your music. 

If you’re not a strong reader, then make two copies and use one as a “note speller” which will help you read the music and will improve your reading (because like everything else, reading gets better with practice too!). My students suggest putting the note speller copy in a sheet protector and use a dry erase marker so you can read, reread, and rereread – as often as needed until you build your reading strength. 

Remember, it’s not a library book.  You can write all over the music – it’s your copy!  Feel free to mark it up, erase it, mark it up again – as often as you need.   And if you want to, you can even leave yourself a sticker for doing a good job!   If you’re one of those people who tries to remember what you were doing before (and forgotten) – are you ready to mark your music now?  If you already mark your music – what do you do?  Let me know in the comments!

National No-Brainer Day

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No-brainer

Sometimes, things just line up. I just broke my computer and frankly, I’m too lazy to type an entire blogpost using my thumbs.

Then (on my phone) I got an email reminding me that this week (Monday to be precise) is National No-Brainer Day. That brought two thoughts to mind. First, that sounds like an excuse to spend time just playing to have fun! And what better way to get that into your day than to spend your regularly scheduled practice time having fun? That’s right, there is no better time! And second, what a great way to get a blog post out without having to do all that typing – make a graphic to remind us to have a little fun!

It was…
A No-Brainer!

So, sorry not to bombard you with words this week. Instead we have a graphic I could gin up with my thumbs (good thing they are prehensile).

If you love the little graphic let me know, it can also be a poster (which I would be happy to send you to enjoy).

How will you celebrate National No-Brainer Day? Let me know in the comments!

And please forgive any egregious errors, my thumbs have a mind of their own!

Dancing a tune

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Dancing a tune

Do you ever think about how your fingers dance over the strings? When you watch a really good player, their hands really do seem to dance among the strings.  They place surely and there is a fluidity to the movements that belies all the thinking that goes into those fingers in the moment.  But maybe more importantly, that fluidity is built on all the thinking that happens before the playing ever begins.

Early in learning a tune you might be focused on learning the melody, but you also need to work the fingering.  This is true regardless of your means of ingesting the tune.  Whether you learn it by reading or by listening, you still have to get your fingers on the strings. And in a way to makes it sing!

And this is where some of the trouble begins.  Because we need to think about a bunch of things.  And also think about a bunch of “groups of things”.   Groups of things are also known as Patterns.  And music in simply patterns. * 

What things?  Well, there are things that are easy to detect and we can easily find the patterns –

  • we can hear the pitches (and where they go)
  • we can hear the rhythm
  • we can see the dots (and where they go)
  • we can see the grand staff
  • we can see the bar lines
  • we can see the strings
  • we can see our hands
  • We can feel our hands

Not only are these things easy to note and each is a dimension of the tune.  What is more challenging to find is the relationships between all those things.  Because the pitches and dots, and the grand staff and the bar lines are related to the strings and where the fingers go (duh, I know that you know that I know that you know that).  But sometimes they don’t quite line up, like when

  • there’s a pickup at the start of a long line of notes (the bar line can distract you)
  • the phrasing makes is seem like there’s a break but really the fingers need to keep on going
  • there’s a place where you haven’t fully accounted for the notes in a particular direction (or how many ups for how many downs leave your fingers tied in knots – yikes!
  • there’s a note on one clef and you think you must take it in the hand for that clef

To avoid the unpleasantness of running out of fingers, having a finger fumble every time, never getting that eccentric note, or getting weird phrasing – because your fingers are not ready to take on the pattern you’ve encountered – take time to really notice what all the patterns are, first in each “dimension” of the music (sound, rhythm, staff placement, etc.) and then try to find the higher level patterns that may be concealed if you focus on only one thing.

Keep at it.  Don’t let it defeat you – it’s like a Rubik’s Cube only way more complicated (and a lot more entertaining).   Once you draw your focus away from the individual patterns you’ll be able to suss out the multidimensional patterns that will define the fingering for you.  And then your fingers can dance over all the strings!

What pattern gives you fingering fits?  Is it a particular tune, or a specific single pattern, or series of patterns that just won’t fit together? Let me know in the comments!

 

 

* I can’t take credit for this wisdom.  I learned this way of thinking from Kris Snyder, and I have unceremoniously stolen it from her.

We love a challenge

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We love a challenge 

What is it about a “30-day challenge” that makes them so popular?  Maybe they are attractive because we seem to be addicted to making ourselves better people.  And we also know that to make ourselves better (different might be a better word) we have to make changes.  Change is hard, and maintaining a change is even harder.  And we usually think a month isn’t so long, so you can endure whatever it is that you’ve decided to tackle.

Enter the 30-day challenge!  These are not magic – they are just structure.  And better – they are structure that someone else devised (so we fool ourselves into thinking that, because someone who knows something (maybe) generated it, that it’s better than anything we might come up with).  If someone else came up with it, it will be harder to dismiss partway through.  Besides, structure imposed by someone else isn’t self-improvement, it’s just improvement.

These plans are prescriptive.  They tell us to make a change, and then tell you how to make that change – in small ways, over time (i.e., 30 days).  To help us along, the challenge usually includes some means of noting and documenting the changes we are making (like a calendar).   It really is an adult star chart (because do we really ever outgrow the star chart from our preschool days?).

And because someone (not us) has defined this process as a “challenge” we honor it, and our commitment to it.  We don’t try to get ahead of ourselves – rather, we identify that we need all 30 days to make this change, so we need to allow it to happen over time, but we also can’t rush it!  The authors of the challenges also remind us that it’s ok to miss a day or two, so it is ok to not be perfect.  And we dutifully complete the challenge because we committed to it.

But maybe most importantly of all, these challenges build over time.  My personal favorite – the 30 day burpee challenge – starts out so painlessly that even I could do it.  Day 1 – you do one burpee* and then it builds incrementally over the intervening 30 days until you’re doing enough burpees to tackle anything.

Kidding aside, you can set your own 30-day challenge for anything you need to work on. Not getting to practice enough? Make a 30-day practice challenge!  On day one you might confine yourself to 5 minutes of practice, and increase each day – but also committing to the minutes you complete are also focused on what you want to be working on, not checking facetagram or adjusting your bench, or drinking your tea or any of the many ways we can sidetrack ourselves.  Or you could create a 30-day tuning challenge?  Sight reading? Warmups and technicals? There are so many things you might consider making a challenge to ensure they become part of your everyday life.

What would your 30-day challenge be? Here’s a tracker (download).**  Write in what you’re focusing on and make little increments for each day. Write those in the blocks and check each one off as you accomplish it.  Let me know what you decide (and how it turns out!) in the comments!

 

* If you don’t know, a burpee is a fitness exercise that is a combination of things no one liked doing in PE in school – it’s a pushup mashed into a squat thrust with a layup mixed in that you’re supposed to do really quickly. It builds both strength and cardio. And if you’re not sure, if my sarcasm is too subtle, I usually spend my time reading about 30 day burpee challenges, but do I do them? Ha! No.

 

**Think of it as your little reward for reading to the end!