No big post today – I am getting ready to teach at Harp Camp 2012 which starts tomorrow in Southeastern Pennsylvania. We will be having a great time teaching in our very intimate venue; working one on one with students; sharing music, technique,
approaches and interpretation; and fun! It’s all the best parts of summer camping! I wish you could be with us – maybe next year? I’ll post some highlights of Harp Camp next week. In the interim, post a comment and tell me what are you working on?
It is definitely summer! Long days with clear skies that just beg you to come outside. And why not – it can only do you good to get a little fresh air (in the shade!).
We get so used to playing in the same room, in the same spot, in the same light. But moving around could be a big help. You might be surprised how much your perspective will change.
Just by moving outside, you’ll get a different appreciation for a lot of things about playing. You’ll learn a lot about light, sound, temperature, and space. Things you might forget to think about if you always sit in the same spot.
Of course, you’ll also get to think about mundane things like how much a harp weighs, how unwieldy a triangular object can be to carry, the challenges of remaining balanced on an imperfect lawn. But each of these things also provides opportunities to learn.
Think about the challenges of playing from your deck and the slats beneath the strings. Or a brick patio that swallows up your Cs!
You’ll start to see the seams in your playing – pieces you thought you had down might be more challenging if you’re squinting. Yes, it is hard to concentrate on the next note or phrase when you detect sweat trickling down your back…just like it does at outdoor summer weddings! It’s really hard to hear yourself when the closest surface is not just 10 feet away, especially if it is a tree not a wall. And when planes fly overhead or the neighbor kids go by screaming on their bikes, you know it will be just like the distractions you overhear wherever you play.
But you can play through all that – and give yourself a fresh perspective on your music. And if you give your neighbors an impromptu concert – all the better for all of you. Who knows, you might just have fun!
So, go outside to play – and see how it helps you to improve.
Am I going to see you at Somerset??? I sure hope so. It promises to be a grand event – building on the previous years’ successes.
There are so many workshops it will be hard to determine which ones to settle on. And then there’s the vendors! The harp tastings, seeing old friends, meeting new ones, finally putting faces to names you’ve heard – should be a good time.
If you’re there, look for me – I hear I’m easy to find. Please, make sure I meet you! It runs 14 – 17 July. See you there!
Each year we have an excellent experience and when it’s time to go we are certain that the next year can not possibly be better. And each year we are wrong!
OSAS was brilliant this year – I wish you all could have been there. We learned some great tunes – can’t wait to really get them under my belt! Lots of time singing – and we waulked a length of cloth which we later shared as a group.
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| Tiffany Lingle got this photo of Karen, Wendy and me having a great time in session |
We learned some lovely tunes, including snappy pipe tunes from Jo Morrison, songs from Seamus Gagne, a fantastic air from Sue Richards. Ann Heymann introduced us to the Sterling Heads roundel and the possibilities that it contains as well as sharing the Bunworth harp replica – a stunning copy guided by history. We had lectures on teaching and technology, fiddle history, reading Gaelic, and rhythm.
I was delighted to act as master of ceremonies for both the instructor concert and the “OSAS got Talent” variety show, as well as having the opportunity to be the counselor for the girls on the first floor! Our harp kids are just cool people – which is always nice.
And there were sessions, cookies, more sessions, games, knitting, singing with the weeping beech, and the practically mandatory trip to the bead store. I was too busy having a good time, soaking up music and culture and language to remember to take photos.
There’s some wonderful photos and reminiscences in the latest Kilt and Harp which is posted at the SHSA members site, the forum – www.shsa.org/forum
And I am beyond delighted to have been invited to teach at OSAS next year. I already have ideas and I hope I’ll see you there in 2012!
No big post today – I’m at the Ohio Scottish Arts School having my head stuffed with new tunes, seeing old friends, making new friends and playing like there’s no tomorrow. Maybe you can come next year?
I’ll post some highlights of OSAS next week – in the mean time, give us a tune!
This will be the last call for the 2011 Harp in the Highlands and Islands Tour. All the information you need can be found on http://www.jeniuscreations.com/Harp_Tours_of_Scotland.php
We will be visiting beautiful, amazing, and excellent places, learning and playing tunes and having a great time. There are only a couple of seats left in 2011. Tthe dates – 22 – 29 August – give you plenty of time to also go to the Tattoo, the International Festival, the Book Festival, the Art Festival,or the Fringe, beforehand. Or elect to linger and participate in the Harp Village at Cromarty Arts Trust.
I hope you’ll be able to join us visiting incredible venues like this:
and those postcard sites like this:
For more information go to the website and to book, please send an email to jentheharper(at)gmail.com – hope you’ll be coming with us!
I get inspiration in the oddest places. I write arrangements for traditional tunes based on my appreciation of Depeche Mode’s arrangements, Robert Frost poems, or squash casserole. And I get ideas for what to share with you from sources just as diverse.
I saw a billboard today that said, “It’s not an obstacle, it’s a challenge” and I thought – “wow” (not very erudite, but sometimes basic is best!). Mostly the wow thought was due to the heartbreaking accuracy of the concept.
Do you ever open a piece of music and just get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of ink they left on the page? Or have you ever heard a lush arrangement of a meaty trad tune and just gotten lost in all the notes in the air? Either of these experiences usually leaves you thinking, “That’s fantastic…I LOVE that…but I’ll never be able to play it”.
But the reality is that you can play anything you like. There is no warning label on complex pieces. There is no gatekeeper on tunes. There is no catalog of pieces that only “really good” people can play but no one else can. If you want to play it, you can.
Of course, some things are out of easy reach. Note I said “easy reach”.
You can reach though, if you want to. You might have to work hard and you might have to practice a lot, and you might have to take more time than you want to admit to having to spend. And you may have to be patient with you. But think about the reward.
Nothing is out of reach. It just presents a challenge…So ask yourself…when you think, “I can’t play that”, how much do you want to? Are you willing to do the work?
I’m looking forward to hearing your piece – when you have mastered it and are ready to share!
Harry Connick, Jr made that comment in a program about the process of building concert pianos. In full disclosure, as much as I love playing the harp, I also love playing the piano. It was my first instrument and it provided the foundation for my musical life. I was fortunate to have an incredible teacher who taught me the importance of being a whole musician – the importance of practice, reading, interpretation, performing, and enjoying all of it. It is a strong underpinning that I continue to build on now, even though I don’t take the time to play my piano as much (note that I didn’t say I don’t have time…because truthfully, I don’t make time). And although I never got the concert grand I always wanted…but I got the mental equivalent and I’m grateful for that.
But Harry had a good point – music is ephemeral – fleeting. It can be like a breeze in summer…worth waiting for and so enjoyable when it comes. And best of all, as musicians, we can create our own breeze!
In the height of summer, when you get a cooling breeze, you don’t think, “well, that wasn’t right” or “I didn’t like that, I am a terrible breeze appreciator” or “that breeze was a chore to experience” or “that breeze was terrible, I’m going to repeat it over and over and over until I get it perfect”.
No, you just think, “oh, wasn’t that nice”.
Take that same appreciative approach to your music – enjoy the process and the activity, and the cool breeze it brings you. Enjoy the brief respite from the heat of the rest of the day. Revel in making music. Don’t focus on the details but delight in the sensation.
I don’t know about you, but most of my musical life, I have been terrorized by one word – “improvise”.
I have always balked at improvisation – because I know that I can’t do it. Everyone knows that only the jazz greats are good improvisers. Somehow, they receive some sort of divine intervention and brilliant music fills their heads and then it comes tumbling out of their fingers.
So, whenever someone says, “oh, just improvise” I begin to panic. I’m not a jazz great! (of course, I’ve also never aspired to be a jazz great, so not sure where that line of thought is supposed to be going…). Mostly though, I focus on all the things I can’t do. I don’t breathe, I’m too busy thinking up excuses about what doesn’t come out because I can’t improvise…
When the moment has passed and I’m by myself, I’ll do one of two things to calm my nerves. Either, I’ll either sit down at my piano and crank out a Bach Invention – exactly as written – verbatim. Or more likely, I’ll seek solace at my harp and bring out some wonderful traditional tune that pops into my heart and mess around some with the harmony…just sticking stuff in the left hand..doing just anything that feels like it will work, stuff that will add that soupcon of feeling that will fill in the space with spice….
But that’s not improvising. I’m just playing it for myself…it doesn’t matter what happens when I play…there is no wrong because I’m just playing around….
But I’m not improvising….really. Because I can’t….I’m afraid to move…
Hmmmmm.
Last week I ended by saying that if you practice being you’ll find your creativity. And you probably thought, “ugh, there she goes again – she’s always talking about practice…as if practicing my harp isn’t enough work, now she wants me to practice being quiet!”
And many of us don’t want to practice something new. What if we’re not good at it? What if it’s hard to do? What if we fail? What if everyone else thinks we’re being silly? All valid questions, and all questions you probably asked yourself before you started playing the harp. But you didn’t let those questions stop you then – and you shouldn’t let them stop you now.
Being quiet doesn’t necessarily mean becoming a spiritualist – a wise monk once told me that many of us miss the point – the being quiet is not for the sake of being quiet. The point is to get to the quiet so you can pay attention. To see what is at this moment in time. You don’t have to become a yogi or a sufi or a sage…you just have to pay attention to right now. Sometimes this is called being present. You can be present in a lot of ways. You can sit in lotus and chant. You can go for a walk. You can knit a scarf. You can pray. The point is to do something that allows you to focus…and once you’re focused you can grow. And that growth is what you’re trying to get to – so you can grow your creativity! So practice making nothing (remember that silence is the sound of nothing)…and with enough practice you’ll be able to create – in other words, you’ll make Something out of Nothing.