While it might take a little getting used to after an interminable winter, one upside to Spring is the lengthening days. All that natural light provides so many opportunities. And most of those opportunities can only help you to improve your harp playing. Here are five ways to let Spring in that just might also help you grow as a harper:

• Take a walk 1 – get some sunshine. There are plenty of articles available to remind you that getting a little sun each day will improve your mood and possibly make you healthier.
• Take a walk 2- get some exercise. There are also plenty of articles available that document the importance of getting a little exercise. Not only is it good for your heart but also your posture, and your mood. All you need, according to the popular press is a 30 minute walk each day (or more if you are more fit) to build strength which will allow you to sit at your harp longer and more comforably.
• Breathe – all winter you have been inside in heated rooms. Go outside and breath some fresh air!
• Open a window (or at least the curtain) – natural light is more available as the days get longer each day and is a welcome change from all those winter light bulbs! Longer days also mean that you feel like you have more time to practice!
• Learn – use that extra time each day to practice a little longer, learn a new tune, prepare for a new event, get ready for summer workshops.

Use these longer days to build your strength, stamina, and suppleness so you can play all season long!

It’s winter time again – and the weather can be the monster you’ll do battle with for at least the next few months.

To do that battle you have to be ready to defeat the ravages of cold air, dry air, rain, snow, and fog. You have to be vigilant and careful. Not only is winter skin annoying, it can be dangerous. Dry, cracked skin breaches your defenses and leaves you vulnerable to getting sick. In addition, when your hands get dry and chapped they are painful which interrupts your playing. So, here are seven things you can do to help your skin defeat the winter weather monster:

– Wash up! You still need to keep your hands clean so be sure to wash up thoroughly. But in the winter, wash up as quickly as possible to avoid keeping your hands in the water any longer than necessary. Be sure to dry your hands thoroughly too, to avoid chapping.

– If you’re a hand sanitizer user – buy a hydrating version rather than one with alcohol. Alcohol is drying and moisturizing sanitizer allows you to do two things at once (sanitize and moisturize).

– Scrub up – exfoliation is good for your face, but it’s also great for your hands. You can make your own scrub by mixing honey or olive oil and sugar. Sloughing off the dead dry skin will allow your moisturizer to work better and will leave your hands feeling soft as well.

– Moisturize – a lot! If necessary, put a bottle of hand lotion next to every soap dispenser! But don’t just put it there – use it. And don’t forget to put lotion not only on your hands but also up your wrists and forearms.

– Dress up – when you’re going outside – wear your gloves. They can be fancy dress gloves but warm winter gloves will keep your hands warm which will ease their journey through winter.

Dress up for bed! After you wash up and dry and moisturize your hands, you can also don gloves to “seal in” the moisture. One of the easiest (and warmest) ways to do this is to wear gloves to bed – you can buy inexpensive cotton gloves that are just the thing for this. And there’s nothing wrong with giving your bedtime the white glove treatment!

– Moisturize on the inside. Drinking water is essential for so many things and one of those things is keeping you hydrated which also helps your skin make it through the winter more easily – drink water!

Use these techniques to care for your hands so you can play comfortably throughout the winter.

It’s autumn and the leaves have all turned color from green to reds and yellows and now brown.  They are falling from the trees to the ground…and so, it’s time for the raking to begin.

We, none of us, get younger.  And with year autumn that passes, raking those leaves may become more of a chore, leaving you sore for a while.  That soreness is from doing unaccustomed work – but it is also a result of not stretching after doing so.

But you can get sore from not stretching after work to which you are accustomed as well – that includes after practicing or performing.  Even daily practice takes work – from your whole body!  You should continue that work into a stretching routine which will not only reward you but will allow your muscles to rest and be prepared for the next practice session.

Performing (even if for the curtains and the cat) adds stress which you will likely carry in your body. Therefore stretching is also important after each performance.  By adding a stretching phase to your practice time you will train yourself to do the stretches which will carry over into your performances.

You will want to stretch your fingers and hands as well as your arms. But you know that.  You will also want to stretch your large muscles – the ones that hold you up on your bench and give you the scaffolding to hold yourself and your harp.  That means you’ll want to stretch your back, legs, buttocks, and abdomen.

Adding a stretching routine will allow you to gracefully end your daily practice while doing yourself some good!

As the winter comes, we want to burrow in, swaddled in sweaters, nursing steaming cups of lovely tea.  And we’re likely, given the chill, to get some practicing in which is good given that ‘tis nearly the season and we’ll be asked to play more often.  The days are shortening, the nights getting deeper.

It would be easy to crawl back under the duvet, to snuggle in to our beds.  But all that snuggling and all that nestling needs to be combated.  For your general health and well-being you need to get a little exercise and some fresh air*.  And a little exercise and fresh air won’t be amiss in your playing either.

We’re not talking about running a marathon or training for the World’s Strongest Man competition.  You can just go for a short walk to gain a benefit.  There are three good reasons to get a little exercise this season:

1. The simple act of taking a walk outdoors in the winter will help lift your mood.  Evidence suggests that even 10 minutes of sunlight a day can help stave off seasonal affective disorder.
2. A little time outside can invigorate you (and thereby, your practicing).  Think of it as a little wake from your potential long winter’s nap! A short walk can enhance your energy (again directly contributing to your practicing).
3. A little extra exercise will also help exorcise those extra cookies that appear in the season and allow you a small measure of perceived virtue! And everything you do to take care of yourself will be reflected in your time at the harp.

So use these three good reasons to get a little light exercise outside, even as the winter deepens and the cold settles in – you’ll be glad of it when you sit at your harp – to practice, to share or to perform.

* Of course, this is not medical advice, nor should you pursue this approach if it is in direct contradiction to advice received from your physician.  This post is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Duh.

How do you think about yourself as a musician? A harp player? A performer? A person? Do you ever think about how what you think about you impacts the you that is present?

Are you open and accepting of yourself? How do you talk to yourself? Would you talk to anyone else that way?

Many of us talk to ourselves in a very negative way. But here are 7 ways to turn that around:

1. Make time during your practice to provide constructive feedback
2. Make kind and gentle feedback comments to yourself in a positive way
3. Write down your feedback….and read it again later
4. Record yourself so you can provide more objective inputs at a later time and from a different perspective
5. When you are not very nice to yourself, stop, correct yourself, and restate your thought in a positive, constructive way – the way you would to another person
6. Take your time not only observing yourself and the way you think, but also to reconstruct the kernel of the original message in a positive and useful way.
7. Lather, rinse, repeat!

You can change your mind by practicing reframing your comments to yourself.  And it will get easier…with practice!

Sorry to be late posting, I am having a bit of an emergency.  Travel, focus, caring, fatigue, etc.  You’ve all had emergencies, so you know.

I did think to grab my little harp on the way.  I spend so much time teaching and writing and arranging and practicing and blahblahblah, that I sometimes forget that I really enjoy playing my harp.  It not only provides distraction and pleasure, it adds a soothing balm at the end of a hectic day.

I’m not spending a lot of time with it but, like my good friends, it is there at the end of the day, waiting to provide it’s own form of help.  It assuages my heart and quiets my thoughts.

Don’t forget why you fell in love with your harp.  And don’t wait for the universe to prompt you to remember.  Go play, and enjoy, and don’t ever let the mundane everyday suck the joy from your relationship with your harp.