Category Archives: Caring for yourself

Just be you, only a little better

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As much as we talk about it, I hope you have developed an appreciation for the physical athleticism of being a musician.  From carrying your harp to sitting behind it playing Carolan’s (or Handel’s Bb) Concerto – playing the harp is physically demanding! And playing it well is even more so. You need strength and stamina to get through practicing, performing or teaching.  And while it is comfortable for us to focus on the “pretty” or the music, we need to face the reality – it’s a lot of work!

Given that, it’s time to acknowledge that being more physically fit will only help you play better and feel better between sessions at the harp. This doesn’t mean you need to be ready for the next Ninja Warrior casting call. Nor does it mean that you have to become a CrossFit adherent.

It just means that you should put taking care of yourself further up on your priority list. Acknowledging that this will benefit you in multiple ways.  Being in better shape can only help!

There are loads of workout plans available in books, magazines and online, so you can find what works best for you. A simple and effective answer might be to just take a walk each day and spending time focusing on assuring you are actually breathing! If you want to do additional cardio or calisthenics, or weight lifting, that could also help you improve your strength which would help too.

But you don’t have to become Arnold or Richard Simmons. Be you – just a little better!

It’s a Stretch!

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We all know that stretching is a smart thing to do. We read about the importance of stretching for our good health, to improve our productivity, and to help us feel better.

Run a 5K? Clearly your legs will need stretching. Do a heavy lifting routine? You’ll be feeling it more if you don’t stretch.  It makes sense that we need to stretch after strenuous exercise. After all, you do all that hard work, and it’s clear that you will need to stretch to recover from itBut what about when you do very focused but less strenuous work? Lie in bed sleeping all night and you will need and want to stretch when you wake up. Binge watch an entire season and you will be glad to stand and stretch (probably before the big season finale!). Spend time at your harp practicing and what do you do?

It’s so easy to just get up from the bench and get a cookie! But don’t!! The time at your harp, especially if you are working hard learning or perfecting, may be the worst combination of strenuous work and lying about! Your larger muscles (think butt and legs which are not moving much) are holding still while your smaller muscles (think fingers, hands, and forearms) are working continuously. You may also be tense which will make all your muscles work harder.

In other words, when you are playing you are both not moving and moving like crazy! As we said above – both of those will leave you needing to stretch!

So be sure to add stretching to the end of your practice time. Stretch your small muscles – fingers, hands, arms, shoulders – to help them relax. And stretch the larger muscles – glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps – to help reinvigorate them.

And don’t feel like you have to wait until the end of your practice session to get a little stretching in. You can stretch at least every 45 minutes.  Alternately, you can stretch at the end of each practice segment (warm up, exercises, reading, learning, etc.) to help keep you limber, focused, relaxed, and productive so you get the most out of your time at the harp.

Checking in at the midpoint

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It’s July and we’re about half way through the year. It is a good time to check in and see how we’re doing. While it is a good exercise to review goals, it is also an excellent time to review other important things. Especially those that we take for granted and think are taking care of themselves! Let’s start with….Posture!

Your posture really is the core of all your playing. That’s not just a play on words. Being able to hold yourself upright and to keep your arms up but relaxed, your hands in an appropriate position, and keep your core tight all take work. Are you ready for that work?

There are numerous resources available providing methods for strengthening your core. By incorporating appropriate exercises to strengthen your core you’ll be able to sit up straight with good balance for as long as needed with less fatigue. That means that your next long background gig will be easier. And your long practice session will definitely be easier to sit through. Your core works while you’re sitting and supports your back and your hips. A strong core will also help you avoid curling into the harp while you’re playing which can cause strain on the neck and increasing the possibility of injuring yourself. It also will provide you with the stable base from which you can build your good technique.

Of course, a strong core will also be good for you away from the harp assuring your balance and stability are better whether you’re carrying your harp or walking down the street. Strengthening your core isn’t just sit ups! Spend a little time online to learn ways to get stronger so you can play as long as you like!

* I am, of course, not an exercise physiologist or a physician – but you already knew that! Consult your physician before undertaking any exercise program.  Don’t do any of this if your physician tells you not to.  Seek specific advice from qualified individuals.  This information is presented for educational purposes only.  It does not replace or substitute professional advice from your physician, certified trainer, or any other health-care professional.  Use of the information on this site is solely at your own risk.  Don’t be daft – get the right help and don’t hurt yourself!

 

Preparing for Competition – Mind

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When you decide to compete you will need to prepare! While you might think, “Oh, I’ll just plop myself down here,” you’ll feel so much more confident (and play so much better) if you spend some time getting ready ahead of time. How much time? Well, that depends on you!

There are three areas in which to focus to maximize your time – Music, Body and Mind, this week – look at your Mind!

So here’s where the competition really occurs – in your head! On the day, will you feel ready? What are you really concerned about?  Keep in mind that most of our music is from inside our heads so your preparation (or lack thereof) will show – mostly to you!

Be honest about why you are competing. Is it very important to you that you win? Or do you just want to acquit yourself respectably? Are you focused on your performance or everyone else’s? Check in with your ego before the day so you can be prepared for any outcome…and learn from it.

Remember that the judge is looking forward to hearing you play and will share any gems to help your development as a musician – no one is looking badger you (unless you intend to do that to yourself – which is not very helpful).

Don’t forget that this is one day. Whether you play a personal best or instead are humbled to learn your fingers seem to have developed contrary minds of their own that have embarked on a petite version of the Hundred Years War with one another, tomorrow is another day….

Enjoy (and practice looking forward to) the social and fun atmosphere of being with other harpers. Cheer them on and look forward to learning new tunes, meeting new people, laughing, smiling, and learning from the comments you get.

It’s just a competition – not an audition. It won’t decide your fate for eternity. Live a little, laugh a lot, love your harp! See you out there!

Preparing to Compete – Body

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When you decide to compete you will need to prepare! While you might think, “Oh, I’ll just throw on a kilt and sit down to play”, you’ll feel so much more poised if you spend some time getting ready ahead of time.

Of the three areas in which to focus to maximize your time – Music, Body and Mind, this week – it’s your body*

While competing isn’t running a marathon, being physically prepared certainly helps!

Work on your bench stamina – if you can’t sit on your bench comfortably for longer than it will take to play your competition set, you may need to improve your stamina. You won’t be sitting on the stage for very long (although it might feel like it) but the time you have spent on the bench practicing will help you get settled and comfortable more quickly which may help you be more comfortable as you start to play.

Practice all the movements – we spend a lot of time practicing our technique like closing our fingers appropriately and sitting up strait by also practice breathing while playing, relaxing between notes, gesturing (but not wildly – please, you’re not Liberace!), sitting without slouching, walking on stage without schlumping, and smiling! All of these things will come more easily if you practice them – just like the music itself!

Variety – try to practice in different locales to become used to changes in lighting, temperature, furniture layout, and sound qualities. This will help you be more focused and comfortable when you make ready to play your comp set. Practicing in your stage clothing will also allow you to get used to it (or change it before it makes you crazy!).  Definitely practice sitting down in a kilt!

General stamina – no matter how you cut it, competition day is long! It is also a total disruption of your regular routine. Add that disruption to the excitement of competing and you will be better able to enjoy the day if you are in better physical condition. You don’t need an arduous workout – just get some exercise each day. If not for your heart, then for your art!

Practice enough to feel confident in your skin and you’ll have moved yourself more of the way there! Next time – preparing your Mind to compete.

* I’m not a physician or a fitness expert, these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and this product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, malady, disorder, problem, difficulty, trouble, woe or ill. Quit whining and go back to practicing!

Preparing to Compete – Music

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When you decide to compete you will need to prepare! While you might think, “Oh, I’ll just throw out a few tunes”, you’ll feel so much more confident (and play so much better) if you spend some time getting ready ahead of time. How much time? Well, that depends on you!

There are three areas in which to focus to maximize your time – Music, Body and Mind. This week it’s the Music

Before you even begin to consider tunes – read the rules! Nothing is more frustrating that talking to competitors on the day of a competition only to discover they have prepared tunes that don’t meet the rules – wrong tune types, not enough tunes for the category, too many of the same type of tune, etc. It’s disheartening! But I can guarantee you that every competition has rules – and that they all state that in the end, the competitor is responsible for reading and complying with them!

Learn your music – unless you have an iron ego, most of us would prefer to play our best and that requires actually knowing the music we intend to play. Be sure you actually know the tunes – otherwise when you sit you will activate that switch in the bench – you know the one that empties your brain as soon as you start to play? Yup, that switch.

Consider a backup plan – having prepared at least two sets of music that conform to the rules can be very freeing. This backup plan means that if for some reason you have a crisis of confidence with a particular tune on the day of the competition, you can shift to your other set. Just knowing that makes you feel more confident and gives you flexibility to play whatever feels right that day (or to switch when everyone before you plays the same tune – don’t laugh, I’ve seen it happen!).

Practice enough to feel confident with the music itself and you’ll be most of the way there! Next time – preparing your Body to compete.

Daylight Savings Time Ends

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Yea – it’s coming winter and the days are shorter and the nights are ever so long – so there should be plenty of time to practice! This weekend you will set your clocks back (OK, some of you did that last weekend) and you start the season with that extra hour of sleep unless you use the hour to practice rather than to sleep).

But those early nightfalls can actually make it more difficult to fit a practice in because it is prime time to snuggle into a blanket, drink hot chocolate, and read a good book! And nature is telling you to go to bed, so it can seem like no matter how much you know you need to practice, you just can’t fit it in. Do you have that problem? Maybe it’s just me, but if you feel it too, here are six things you can do to get through the time change relatively successfully:daylight-savings-ends

  • Change the batteries in your smoke detectors – you know if you don’t they’ll start that annoying chirping in the middle of your practice and disrupt you!
  • Be sure to prepare your car for the winter – you don’t want to be caught without your harp cart, your space blanket, a flashlight, gloves, or shelf stable snacks! And if you live in a cold place don’t forget other useful stuff like a shovel, and jumper cables.
  • Pick out your favorite practice sweater! Make sure it’s comfy and allows you play without binding!
  • Keep your hands warm before you start playing your warmups – it is difficult to get through a warmup if you can’t feel your fingers!
  • Make sure you have started using a good cream or lotion on your hands – your skin is not only your first line of defense but also the part of you that touches the harp – so take care of it. Split skin and strings do not mix.
  • Be kind to you – some people take a little while to adjust to the changes in the day. If you are sleepy or logy or notice you’re not playing very well – give yourself some time to adjust (no, that is not permission to skip practicing!)

Enjoy the lengthening nights, the coming cold, the looming busy winter season – all starting with this beginning of autumn marked (again) with the clock falling back!

It’s the little things

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You know that I am always suggesting that you develop a journal. I have told you that writing things down will help you in the long run. And I bet you believed me. And I’m nearly as sure that you still haven’t started journaling.

You’ve probably told yourself that journaling would be good for other people – those that have less experience than you do, those that have more experience, those that are professionals, those that are hobbyists, et cetera, ad nauseum.

incremental-progressBecause journaling is like cod liver oil – yes it’s good for you, as long as “you” refers to someone else!

But look at this way – writing it down will help you remember…where you’re going…where you’ve been…what you’ve been through to get from one to the other. And this is important because it will allow you to see small, incremental changes in your playing.

Because no one makes giant leaps every time! We all progress in little (tiny? minute?) steps. And those small steps ahead are difficult to see – especially if you (actually do) practice every day! It is a forest and trees problem – it’s just perspective. Regardless of the metaphor – we are not especially good at seeing our little victories. Ever notice how your nails always need cutting but you can never catch them growing?! Same thing!

You wouldn’t wake up and say, “I think I’ll run a marathon today”.  You know it would take a lot of work and exercise.  You would build up – slowly, over time, while you adjust to the work.

You do the same thing with your music – with incremental progress you will be able to do amazing things – by working at it a little over a long time. That’s not news – so you might as well help yourself by making your progress clear.

In effect, you can use your journal to catch your nails growing! And to see those little progress markers in every day.

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You might have seen that there are only 90 days remaining in the year (fewer by the time you read this!).  Have you made significant progress toward your harp goals for the year? Do you remember what they were? Did you write them down? Did you make a plan?

Fear not – all is not lost – there are, after all, nearly 90 days remaining to make some progress.  So you can end the year with a strong (and deserved) feeling of accomplishment!  And if you are no longer aligned with the goals you set (or if you never got around to setting goals), here are seven things you can still finish this year to end on a high note of accomplishment!

resolutions-90-days-left

  • Now is not the time to be wishy-washy – identify specifically what you want to work on (e.g., “I want to play Glenlivet at 200bpm” rather than, “I want to play faster”).You can file your paper music – Alphabetically? Chronologically? By type? Up to you, just do file in a way you can find it!
  • Make your 3 x 5 card index of tunes so you can keep more of your repertoire in your fingers (see this previous post).
  • Identify “little things” that need to be fixed in tunes you are already playing – and dedicate the remaining year to fixing them (you know, smooth out that fingering that always makes you miss in the fast tune; actually do the exercises and etudes that will allow you do perform a technical element accurately; commit to memory that chord progression for that air that you love but always stumble in).
  • Identify appropriate, strong, measurable goals for next year – and write them down! (and there is nothing magic about 1 January – you can start now)
  • Commit to actually practice every day for the rest of the year.
  • Write down what you do each day so you can see your progress.

Just keep focused on what you’d like to accomplish and make a plan to spend the end of the year moving toward that!

Who you talking to?

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So, there we sat, a fledgling harper and I, having lunch. She’s had a number of distractors in her life, all of them good and important (children, health, work…you know, life!) and therefore has not had as much time for the harp as she probably envisioned when she took it up.

Our conversation was peppered with her self-assessments of her ability to play and included words like:

  • Stink
  • Bad
  • Terrible
  • No talent
  • Never going to get better

Positive SelftalkAnd others that were not as polite. We laughed about it, but why? What a bunch of hooey for one thing – we all know that we need constant, gentle pressure to form into the musical diamonds we wish to be – if that heat and pressure don’t happen, we don’t transform!

But more importantly, who would ever say something like that to someone?!?! It is not only mean, it is demeaning. It is also impolite (and we can all do with more politeness!)

Stop it! Just lay off! When you hear yourself begin to pick on you, stand up to your inner bully – you wouldn’t allow someone to pick on your children, so you need to be sure that you don’t allow you to pick on you!!

When you hear the litany begin you can do one or all of the following to stop that negative self-talk and get back to focusing on your practice:

  1. Ask yourself if what you said is really true? Or is it just a habit? You know it’s not true, but you might have conditioned yourself to go along with it.
  2. Ask yourself if you are being realistic?  Could anyone learn an entire concerto, memorize it and play it to perfection after the first run through? Nope, so knock it off!
  3. I like variations on, “If you wouldn’t say it to a child/your mother/your best friend, then stop”

Instead, ask yourself how your favorite Harp Hero, mentor or teacher would handle the situation? Would they berate you, call you names and grimace? Not if they are good teachers! They’d say something gentle, thoughtful, caring and supportive – do that instead!