Category Archives: Caring for yourself

Winter is coming…..

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It’s solidly December – and nearly winter. And with that we’ll have the continuing cold that feels as though it will never end. Ever. Never. (If you’re near me on the US Eastern Seaboard, you know that hard to believe, since it’s been so cold already!)

We seek warmth – Cups of tea.  Mugs of coffee. Fireplaces. Sweaters, coats, scarves, socks. We do so many things to fend off the cold.

And for us as musicians and harp players, keeping warm – especially our fingers – is so important.

You are designed to keep yourself warm and one way to do that is to close down circulation to your appendages – your hands and feet and specifically your fingers and toes. Of course, you also may get cold hands and feet when you’re practicing because you are focused and sitting still which does not encourage circulation to your extremities.Being able to feel your fingers is so very helpful when playing! With impeded (or vacated) tactile sensation, you must look at the strings to continue playing. You also lose cues as to what you’ve played, where you are, where you are going. You may find that you can’t manage the harp very well – you may not know until after the string has sounded if you played fortissimo or piano, legato or staccato – or if you even played the string at all! Being cold will require you to use all your senses, even to get through tunes you know cold (pun intended).

So, how can you keep warm, since Winter is Coming…

  1. Do not book outdoor gigs. Even Florida has winter! When the temperature dips below 55o you will be clumsy and less able to feel your fingers. Personally, I set the threshold at 65o so that I am warmer and there is no worry about being too cold once I start playing. Spring and summer and even early autumn may be fine, but winter is right out. Make it part of your contract so that there are no questions.  Just don’t.
  2. Dress warmly. If your core and head are warm, your body will have less need to divert blood to your core, which will keep the capillaries in your fingers (and toes) open – and warmer. As you may have heard as a youngster, “Put on a sweater, I’m cold” – if you need to, designate a “practice sweater”.  And have a scarf ready in case you need it to ward off chill.
  3. Plan breaks in your practice time. I’m sure you already do this, but in colder weather, take more frequent breaks. Be sure to move and stretch. Wiggle your fingers. Get up from the bench and walk around a little. If you are thinking, “just a little longer, I’ll practice just a little longer” stop and take a break.
  4. Wear fingerless gloves or wrist warmers. Ok, this is standard advice, but I don’t use these, because, usually my wrists are inside my shirt and sweater sleeves and they are already warm. It’s my fingers – the parts not covered in fingerless gloves – that are cold! So, I don’t find these helpful.  However, I know loads of people who love them, swear by them, and wear them. They’re definitely worth a try.
  5. Turn up the heat. I’m a cheapskate but even I turn up the heat when it’s practice time. Because otherwise I just waste my time (being cold). Even more thrifty and parsimonious than I am? Sit in a window and let the sun do its thing (but be sure to move your harp out of the sunlight when you’re through).
  6. Invite friction. If you start to lose feeling in your fingers, rub your hands together for a little friction warmth. This will give you a little more feeling of warmth. And if you’re smart about it – it will double as a light hand massage!

These things will allow help you keep warm when playing throughout the winter. How do you keep your fingers warmer? Let me know in the comments.

When you fall –

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I heard a very interesting story on the blahblahblah radio station* as I was traveling home from a delightful trip to the Stone Mountain Highland Games in Atlanta (always fun – and so very pleased to have been invited to judge the competition, to teach a workshop, and to perform!).

The story on the radio related that there will be a marathon runner in this year’s Marine Corps Marathon 10K (which, for any couch potatoes in the crowd, is nearly 6¼ miles!). What made it interesting is that the runner is retired US Army Master Sargent Cedric King, who stepped on a large explosive while in Afghanistan, losing both of his legs.

As you might have guessed, he had a hard row to hoe making a comeback from that. But he did.  And now he’s a distance runner. What he said in the interview really struck me – from the beginning when he said that this event – and its outcome – are what made his life take a turn for the best.

Yikes, I am relentlessly upbeat, but even I am awed by that attitude!

In the interview, he said some things that I thought are important and applicable to us. Now, I don’t in any way, equate the challenges we have as we try to learn, master, and perform our music with all the things Master Sargent King went through. However, he has an inner strength and a focus that could help anyone become better at anything they chose to focus on. Here are my take-aways (I was driving, so I couldn’t really take notes, these are my impressions rather than quotes!).

  1. Master Sargent King pointed out that when you have a long way to go, focus on getting through the next step, not the next mile. We often become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of ink on the page or the vast amount of sound in the air when we’re trying to learn a tune. Or the idea of putting together an entire package of music (for competition, for a gig, for the next lesson) can be crushing. But if you remember, production of music is serial – you can’t rush listening, it can only go in the way your ears take it, one note at a time.  You can work on it one thing at a time.  The next step, and only the next step, will get you there. It is good to keep the end in mind, but you can only get there in small, individual, steps.  No one gets there in one step, unless they have musical seven-league boots!
  2. He also pointed out that when you have to recover, you might have to relearn things you’ve been doing for years.  So what?  No need to be embarrassed.  So you have to relearn those things – get to it (and it will get easier). This is a toughie – because we all want to avoid embarrassment. And while we typically don’t actually fall when we’re doing our work, we can metaphorically fall (although, I have actually fallen off the bench before – not pretty, and very embarrassing!). I think of this with two kinds of “falls” – the first is when we have allowed bad habits to worm their way in and we need to “break it down”, go back to the basics, unlearn our bad habits and relearn better approaches – whether to be faster, more accurate, or to avoid pain and injury. It is disheartening, but if we pay attention to our “recovery time” we’d see that it’s not that bad. The second kind of fall is when we are self-taught or have had less rigorous instruction (you can’t blame the teacher if you left before you had learned all that teacher had to share) and you realize that despite your advanced harp years or experience, you don’t know how to perform basic elements (Did you know how to do an arpeggio accurately? Not everyone learned that). In that instance, you have to seek instruction and share with someone that you need help learning (whatever) “basic” element that you haven’t already learned. Embarrassing, but not fatal – go, get the help you need to learn when you need to learn and move on.
  3. Mr. King talked about getting right back up, don’t spend any time down.  When you fall, get right back up, don’t pause, don’t rest, don’t think about it, just get up and get at it! Again, I wouldn’t say that our “falling” is nearly as challenging as his, but we all have something that intimidates us. His point is that if you fall, get right back up because every moment that you stay down makes it harder to get up.  Wait too long and you’ll be on the floor permanently. Don’t let the mistake in your student recital, the flawed execution at Harp Circle, or the lengthy comments after your competition set keep you on the floor. In fact, if you haven’t failed, you’re probably not trying! So, get up, dust off, review what happened, learn, apply and move on. If you get up every time, you’ve got this!

Remember that everything around you is likely to have an application to your harp life – just listen – and be grateful. Your struggle for flawless scales is nothing compared to recovering from a life altering injury. But your attitude will certainly make it go easier. Have you fallen? How did you get up and get moving? Let me know in the comments!

* you can read the whole story at https://wtop.com/marine-corps-marathon/2018/10/marine-corps-marathon-before-he-could-run-this-soldier-had-to-learn-to-walk-again/slide/1/

 

What are you afraid of?

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Many of us took up the harp (or knitting, or golf, or baking, or something else) as a hobby – something we enjoy. Something that makes a pleasant way to spend time whilst also making us happy. Because these activities are fun and happifying (why yes, I did think that I had just made up that word…which made me happy, but it’s in the dictionary – it’s a real word which makes me happier still), sometimes the pleasure drives us to keep at it – allowing the activity to consume more and more of our time and other resources.

To whit
“What is the right number of harps to own?”
“One more!”

The pleasure. The fun. The happiness. The enjoyment. The drive to learn more, experience more, enjoy more – the thirst for the activity, only slaked by more of it. Ah, so sweet! Playing the harp is a most excellent hobby!

And then, someone prevails upon you to play at church, or a wedding, or a tea, or a funeral. And you agree. It’s just this one event. You’re helping someone else. You’re bringing solace, or contributing to joy, or setting an atmosphere, or creating a milieu. What fun.

And then it hits you. You’re not a performer. You’re not a pro. What have you done?!?

The safety of being an amateur falls away.

And you’re left, terrified. What will you play? Do you have enough repertoire? What if you make a mistake? W-h-y did you agree to do this?

The fear creeps in…like a freight train!

Does fear grip your joy? Does it chase away the happiness? Does the color drain from your delight?

But wait! What are you afraid of? No, really. STOP!

Identify – and name – your fears. By naming your fears (e.g. “I’ll be laughed at”, don’t name it “Harry”), you begin to hold them up to the light. To see what they actually are and to work around them. Maybe start by reminding yourself that loads of people share your fears. And no, that’s not different for you – despite you telling yourself that…just like all the other people do!

Afraid you’ll make a mistake? Some mitigations are available against this. Practice more, only play things you feel strongly confident about, create (and practice) repair points throughout the music, practice “playing through” the mistakes you make, and practice improvising on the tunes. Don’t plan to play anything shaky (do not plan to “pull it out of a hat” while performing – that very rarely goes well!). And build your program to support you – start strong, back every (relatively) weak tune with a “comforter” (a strong, well learned tune) and end strong. Practicing these things will help you feel more confident and help to fight off the fear.

Afraid you won’t be good enough? You’ll be fine – build a strong program, prepare and practice, remember it’s only one day (and that we all have good days and bad days, even your harp hero!). Remember the point of each practice session is to get a little better, stronger, more poised than the practice before. No, you’re not _____ (insert name of current harp crush), but they didn’t ask her to play their event, did they? Nope – they asked YOU! Get out of your own way and play!

Afraid of the audience? That they may laugh, or boo, or leave? Or worse, that they feel nothing. Remember that you are communicating, and they are eager to get the message! Remember too that you are giving and it is not a contest. If you intend to give, what you give will be just right to meet that intention. Also remember that while about 20% of kids (and even fewer adults) have music lessons to learn an instrument, over 80% of adults report wishing they played an instrument! They are too impressed, in awe, and/or envious to laugh or boo. [SIDE NOTE: I hope you have one of the most amazing antidotes to this – to have an audience member seek you out to tell you how much they enjoyed your music. It will make your heart swell with pleasure and pride! And before you dismiss their comments as them “just being nice”, remember this – that person so enjoyed your music that they fought their own fears to come up to you, possibly face your rejection of them(!), to share with you that you made a difference to them (sometimes effusively, sometimes haltingly) and that they are grateful. Honor that, use it build your own confidence – and DO NOT THROW IT AWAY! {Haven’t had this experience? Be patient}]

Afraid you’ll embarrass yourself? The only way to do this is to be unprepared and to not bring your best effort with you. Do the work, and don’t let the fear stop you.

What are you afraid of? Don’t be! Instead enjoy all the things you learn, feel, and share and really get into it. And don’t let fear steal your joy – just enjoy.

Do you get fearful when you sign up to perform? How do you go about getting past it? Was it worth it? Let me know in the comments!

Who are you trying to impress?

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I know someone who has always tried to gain the attention of their parent. In the parent’s home are the typical family photos. On one wall are two photos of that parent with one of the siblings, commemorating an event. On the other two walks, there are 53 photos and certificates of the first person, doing the same activity, alone. After all these outings and exploits, and their documentation, the parent still has not noticed.

It’s heartbreaking. So much message, so little communication.

But it got me thinking about accomplishments and goals aims.

There are a number of questions to address in these situations – and the answers could be very helpful – if they are honest answers.

  1. Who are you trying to impress?
  2. Have they event noticed?

You may find that you are trying to impress other people – your teacher, your partner, your parent, your friends. And you may be successful in capturing their attention. And they may be impressed. But why do you need to continue to strive for their acknowledgement? Are they even qualified to render a useful opinion? So, why does trying to impress those people still leave you feeling hollow?

Did they notice your work at all? Do they continually accord you accolades for your accomplishments? Or have they grown fatigued by having to lavash you in praise? Have they run out of ways to tell you how much they love your playing? If they provide critique – do you actually listen? Is the feedback helpful? Do you use that feedback to learn and grow?

The reality is that a lot of people spend a lot of time trying to impress a lot of people, who for one reason or another, aren’t even paying attention. It’s a big collection of so what.

It can be hard to break free from trying to impress others. Because in the end – you only have to impress yourself. Easier said than done.

So, how can you go about making that change? First, don’t be fooled – it is a difficult change to make. Second, you can make it, you just need to be kind and thorough.

Why do you need to impress you? You are your harshest critic. You are probably more unkind to you than anyone else could be. And you are the only one paying attention all the time. And you must be at peace with your accomplishments. You have to impress yourself to achieve the satisfaction you seek. There is a path – you have to practice it.

  1. Acknowledge that while others may enjoy your music – you really need to impress yourself. Once you can state (and believe) that, you’re on your way.
  2. That was a big step – because once you do that, you are responsible for all your steps forward, steps backward, and steps nowhere – and that is great!
  3. So, what will it take to impress you? Write these things down (see, don’t you wish you had already that practice journal?). Include not just what, but also how you might get there. Not sure of the path? Guess!
  4. Now define those paths and break them down into do-able things (things you will accomplish. Warning – some of these might impress you on their own!).
  5. Write out a schedule – when and how you will do these things.
  6. As you act on this schedule, note what you do, how you do, when you do and when you’ll do again. Adjust as needed.
  7. Lather, rinse, repeat.
  8. Update, modify, renegotiate until you are impressed.
  9. Don’t rest until you are impressed – with you.

PS just doing these things should impress you – you’ll be so much farther along than others who haven’t made these strides.

PPS Don’t worry if sometimes when you try to impress you, you don’t actually scare you!

Once you realize everyone isn’t paying attention, and neither do they care, you’ll be able to learn to impress yourself! What other ways can you impress yourself?

In the end – only your opinion matters – you are who you have to impress.

Once you start, how did you help yourself be more impressed with you? Let me know in the comments!

It’s August – stay strong!

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It’s stinkin’ hot. It’s boiling! It’s August. And you know what that means? It’s nearly Autumn!

Cooler days. Clearer skies. Longer nights. And, oh yeah, the winter holidays are coming. Whether you have a house full of family for Thanksgiving or if you have booked a full schedule of holiday party gigs – you will need to be ready. And now is the time!

Let’s face it, no matter the reason you play, it is easier to play if you are ready – and if you feel ready. Nope, this is not another post on practicing. Rather, let’s take a broader look. The mere act of sitting and bringing the harp to you requires an element of strength, stamina and self-possession (read balance – but didn’t that string of S words feel good to read?!).

Most of us are not about to build and keep a rigorous workout routine. But, what if it helped you to play better, longer, with less fatigue? Then it would be worth it!

Now, I’m not a physician, a physiologist, or a physical therapist*. Ok, really, the word “physical” may actually cause me to break out into hives! But, a little bit of physical exertion could make all the difference in being able to practice (or perform) for as long as you like at each sitting – without your back hurting, feeling exhausted, or falling flat before your time is over (any of which is embarrassing).

So, what should you do? Well, first, consult your physician – no doing stuff that’s not good for you (or worse, stuff that’s contraindicated for your condition!). Assuming you are well enough, consider adding a few things to your day. All of them are brief. Any one of them may help. If you’re an overachiever, you could try adding all of them!

  1. Go for a walk. Walking is good for many reasons. It’s a gentle exercise. You already know how to do it. You probably already have the shoes. Head out for 30 minutes. If you’re a total couch spud or have a condition, start where you are and build up to 30 minutes. Research suggests that 30 minutes a day will be enough to help you become more fit. If you’re not sure what to do, there are loads of programs available online that can suggest an appropriate buildup and level of exertion. Don’t want to walk outside?  Go to the pool and walk there (pool walking is easier on your joints and – did I mention that it’s hot?  it’s certainly cooler to walk in the pool!).  Or you can get on a treadmill. Walking is good on many levels – good for your heart, works your body, gets you some fresh air. It can also give you a chance to clear your mind. And it can be part of your practice – the rhythm allows you to think about your tunes with an active metronome.
  2. Stretches. I’ve talked about stretching before [here and subsequent weeks] and it bears repeating. But I wont’ – click the link and read those!  Stretching helps you recover but also helps overcome the stultifying sameness of sitting all day (even if you’re sitting at the harp!).
  3. Calisthenics. If you’re of a certain age, you might remember calisthenics from PE class. No, it doesn’t require a lot of equipment, space, or time. Just some exercises that help make you beautiful  and strong (from the Greek kali – beauty and sthenos – strong).  You know all these – pushups (full on, or from your knees, or against the counter or wall – it’s not a contest!  Do what you can); squats (like you’re sitting on a chair but not using your arms or moaning on the way down or up); jumping jacks; crunches or planks; and maybe some arm curls and extensions, and a few back rows. You don’t have to be all CrossFit about it! Just move and work a little everyday. That will help you become stronger which will improve your harp playing and may impact other parts of your life too (carrying laundry? groceries? moving your harp? A load of things will be easier). You can put these all together – walk to the park and use the playground equipment to exercise – or you can also do them as they fit into your day – just as long as you fit them in!

It does help to add these activities to your journal so you can see how you’re coming along – to see your strength improvements (and if you wall off the wagon – you can see by how much – and how quickly you came to where you were before your wagon departed…and how quickly you can get back on it!). Noting it in your journal will also help capture when you notice the impact of this to your playing – as well as when you notice you just feel better.

You don’t have to be a gym rat or an aerobics bunny to benefit – but your playing will tell the story of how you are staying strong!

*as always, I am not a health care provider – check with yours before beginning a-n-y type of exercise or before changing what you are already doing! 

Work

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I am spending this week at an engineering conference. No, it is not as boring as it sounds. Yes, there are lots of very cool and interesting people there. The first session I went to was what I think of as a “hero round”. There were a few speakers who have “made it”. That is, they are recognized as being at the top of their respective heaps (in fact, that is why they were invited to come).

They gave interesting talks that shared glimpses of challenges they have faced, how they continued to grow, what they liked best and least about working their way up. It was fairly inspiring. They were asked questions about glass ceilings, impediments, and pratfalls that might have befallen them.

Interestingly, their answers were similar and focused.

They both talked about the importance of doing the work.

They talked about knowing their stuff.

About having their fundamentals firmly in hand.

About spending time to get their ducks in a row – whether they thought they had to prove themselves or if they already had command of the room.

They also talked about the importance of continually learning.

They talked about sometimes failing – and how much they learned in those instances.

All of those things really resonated – because no matter what you do, it matters.

Whether you are a professional or a hobbyist – it matters.

When you do the work, when you know your stuff – you are more comfortable when it’s your turn to play.

When you do the work, you get your fundamentals in hand – and the work becomes easier.

When you do the work, continued learning is a joy and adds to your baseline. And you learn more quickly and possibly more thoroughly.

And really – how much work is it? We play a beautiful instrument that (at least to the people I talk to) we really enjoy playing. Even when it’s hard. Even when we don’t have it quite right. Even when we think e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e else is better, more experienced, more competent than we are – we still enjoy playing.

So, keep playing. Enjoy. Savor learning and growing and experiencing.

Now, GET BACK TO WORK!

Boot Camp Week 5 – Five Weeks to Better

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Well, you made it – Week Five of Boot Camp! You should be proud of yourself and your hard work. This gives you a foundation to keep building your practice and to refine it to meet your needs. Those needs will likely change as you develop as a harper, but the fundamentals stay the same. So, keep at it and finish strong!

Stretch – Small Shoulder Rolls are relatively easy, but because we use our shoulders more than we know, you might be tighter in the shoulder than you’d expect.* Begin by sitting (or standing) upright, head up, shoulders down. Place your right fingertips on your right shoulder and your left fingertips on your left shoulder with your arms in front of your chest. Your elbows should be close to your waist. Now, rotate your arms to the outside and “draw circles” with your elbows. Keep your head up. Take your time – go slowly and carefully. If your shoulders are tight, this may be challenging. Repeat three to five times. This stretch can be performed before, after, and during your practice.

Technique – Dall-ing. Not Daaaahl-ing, Dall-ing.  Don’t roll your eyes, I can make up words if I need them! Dall is the Gaelic word for blind – and if the harpers of old could play without seeing, you can play without looking. Yes, it can be scary but, as with everything – if you practice it, you will get better at it. And since most people are primarily visual, giving your other senses a chance to be in charge will change your perspective and will improve your playing whether you’re looking at the harp or not. To practice Dalling, simply close your eyes – and keep them closed! Start by playing scales – make your initial placement and then close your eyes and play. Pay attention – where are your arms? Where are you stretching? How far do your fingers need to move? Once you’ve got that down (and after all – you’ve been playing scales – they’re so easy you can do them with your eyes closed!) move on to the intervals we did in week one (first left hand, then right hand, then hands together). And once that’s easy, move on to playing tunes you know well. All the time you’re playing, you are training yourself to listen, to feel (the strings on your fingers, the harp in your arms, the stretch or bend in your elbow) all those things tell you something about where you are on the harp. Don’t get discouraged – you can do this!

Practice Element – Taking the time. We are all busy. And we sometimes have difficulty cramming all the things we think are important into our days. And its easy to let practicing slip away. Or to get time, but to give our practice short shrift by just playing and not doing mindful work. All of those get in our way. Start by being honest about when you will practice and how much time you have practice. Do not get impatient and want to be able to play something immediately, if not sooner. Or get wrapped up in the illusion that someone else is performing better, faster, stronger than you are. Or be confident that you’re not getting any better. Acknowledge what that amount of time will mean to your in terms of how fast you will be able to prepare new material – and accept that. work from where you are, with what you have to achieve what you want. Give yourself the time to make things happen – in your own time.

Boot Camp – Five Weeks to Better is coming to a close. But the work continues. Keep practicing – do the things that help you move forward and enjoy the journey. At this point, you’re ready to take on the summer! Enjoy it – and let me know what you do and how this Boot Camp helped you be prepared!

*Remember that I’m not that kind of doctor, so please be careful, work within your own abilities (which isn’t to say don’t stretch yourself but also, don’t hurt yourself!). Be careful and only do what you can do. This blog pro­vides gen­eral infor­ma­tion about trying to stay health and other sub­jects related to playing the harp. All the con­tent pro­vided in this blog, and in any linked mate­ri­als, is not intended to be, and should not be con­strued to be, med­ical advice. If you have a med­ical con­cern, con­sult with an appropriately-licensed physi­cian or other
health care worker. Never dis­re­gard pro­fes­sional med­ical advice or delay seek­ing it because of some­thing you have read on this blog or in any linked materials. If you think you may have a med­ical emer­gency, call your doc­tor or 911 immediately. The views expressed on this blog and web­site have no rela­tion to those of any academic, hospital, practice or other insti­tu­tion with which the author is affiliated. Don’t be thick – these are just suggestions – take care of you!

Boot Camp Week 4 – Five Weeks to Better

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If building a habit takes 21 days, then you’re on your way to a solid practice habit. And although sometimes it can feel like liver and durian on the same plate, you know it’s good for you – so stick with it – we’re almost there!

Stretch – Hand yawns: Few things are as satisfying as a good long yawn. It looks funny – but it feels good! These we’re going to spread that satisfaction to your hands. These are a fun, quick, and can be done just about anywhere. Start with your hand closed, fingers together. Take a deep breath. Now spread your fingers as wide as you can.*  Reach with each finger. Hold your hand open like that for 5 – 10 seconds. Keep breathing. Do each hand 3 – 5 times. Fully relax your hand between stretches. You can do this stretch before and/or after your practice, while you’re on the phone, while driving (of course, don’t let go of the steering wheel!), or while waiting in line in the grocery – the possibilities are endless.

Technique – Lever changes: You might not think about lever changes as needing a lot of practice, but because they are relatively infrequent, you do need to practice doing them efficiently and smoothly. Making a lever change needs to be like all the other movements you make – on time, quiet, accurate, and consistent. Let’s focus on the left hand because, while you can do right hand lever changes, you will want to avoid those as much as possible! Today we’ll focus on changing a single lever. The same process occurs when you modulate or change a lot of levers at the same time). We’ll do this in ¾ and you’ll play a note, engage the lever, play a note, play a note, disengage the lever, play a note – try that until you get the hang of it. Then you can work on playing this exercise:

In effect, you start in C tuning and by the end you have moved yourself to D tuning. Move carefully and deliberately.  In the left hand, (beat 1) play the D, come off and (beat 2) engage the lever, (beat 3) return to the strings and play the D.  You can do any key you like – remember we’re only trying to change one lever.  Go slowly at first.  Be careful, stay in rhythm, be accurate (get the right lever!), and be thorough (fully engage the lever).  As you get more comfortable, pick up the tempo, but do not accept sloppy.  As you get the hang of it, you can move on to modulation (changing from one key to another – in this example, changing all the Cs and Fs on the harp – but get changing one down before you try that!).  Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy (but still takes practice).

Practice element – Counting: Counting is essential. No matter how you feel about it, music is applied mathematics, so whether you’ll admit it or not, you should always be counting. And although you’ve been counting since you were young, you s-t-i-l-l need to practice counting your music. The challenge is to have enough spare mental capacity to ensure you are counting even when things are tough. And, lest you think that all the harp hero’s you’ve watched on stage aren’t counting – fie – they just have way more practice than you, so they are at the end of this paragraph – and you might be right here àStart by counting aloud. No really – out loud – so everyone can hear you. You might notice that this is difficult. It’s hard to talk (count out loud) and play and think about what comes next and everything else! And it won’t get any easier unless you practice it. When you can count out loud while staying on tempo and on rhythm and while playing the right notes, then you can, as always, pick up the tempo a little. And as always, when you fumble, slow down and work it some more. When you can play and count out loud successfully, then you can move to internalize your counting more. This is more challenging than it sounds – the next step is to say the numbers without saying them out loud – still a bit of extra work. From there you can verbalize the counting inside your head (and yes, you should still be able to “hear” yourself counting, only now, you’re the only one who can hear it!). This can be a slow and painful process, but it’s so worth the work.

We have only one week remaining in this summer’s boot camp – one more week to work hard to be ready for all the summer fun that awaits – hope you’re finding it useful and as always, I’d love to know how you’re coming along, what was helpful, what was hard to follow, and how you are noticing improvement in your practice and playing!

*Remember
that I’m not that kind of doctor, so please be careful, work within your own abilities (which isn’t to say don’t stretch yourself but also, don’t hurt yourself!). Be careful and only do what you can do. This blog pro­vides gen­eral infor­ma­tion about trying to stay health and other sub­jects related to playing the harp. All the con­tent pro­vided in this blog, and in any linked mate­ri­als, is not intended to be, and should not be con­strued to be, med­ical advice. If you have a med­ical con­cern, con­sult with an appropriately-licensed physi­cian or other health care worker. Never dis­re­gard pro­fes­sional med­ical advice or delay seek­ing it because of some­thing you have read on this blog or in any linked materials.  If you think you may have a med­ical emer­gency, call your doc­tor or 911 immediately. The views expressed on this blog and web­site have no rela­tion to those of any academic, hospital, practice or other insti­tu­tion with which the author is affiliated. Don’t be thick – these are just  suggestions – take care of you!

Boot Camp Week 3 – Five Weeks to Better

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If you have been playing along at home, you have probably already started seeing differences in your practice and your playing. I hope this encourages you to keep at it. Consistency may be the most important practice element of all, and it is certainly one of the most underrated!

As before, you can focus on this week’s activities or you can add this on top of the previous weeks – whatever works well for you.*

Stretch – Bow, no, b-o-w! Because so many of us are dedicated (or foolish) we may sit at the harp for long stretches of time. Many do not realize how much work this can be for the hips, back, legs, and core. One soothing, relaxing stretch is to bow. You can do this from the bench or while standing. From the bench, sit away from the harp and with both feet flat on the floor and knees apart (wider than if you were playing), hands resting on your thighs, hinge forward from the hip with your back flat (this is easiest if you keep your head up). Move slowly and deliberately into the stretch. Keep your core strong.  Go as deeply into the stretch as you are able.  Breathe. Now, slowly lower your head, round your back and let your arms dangle. Breathe! You can stay here as long as you like (and as long as you continue to breathe). When you’re ready, s-l-o-w-l-y roll up to your starting position. If you prefer to stand, start with your feet shoulder width apart, weight balanced, knees soft, and hinge forward as above. Be sure to monitor and maintain your balance.

Technique – Ornaments. Sorry, this is not the fun of decorating but the work of adding ornaments to tunes. To practice ornamentation, you need control. To get light, accurate, beautiful ornaments – you must control your fingers and the strings to control the weight and length of the notes. As you know, ornaments are light, quick, and ahead of the beat. To get them light and quick, practice them. Today we are looking at cuts (you can, of course, extend this to other ornaments, but let’s focus here for now). This is a variation of the intervals you did in Boot Camp Week 1. Select your favorite key and scale and work your way, in intervals of a second, from root to octave and back again. Play the first note (the cut) just ahead of the beat with the second note occurring on the beat (because I’m sure you are counting, even if playing scales!). Be careful to work slowly and make the first note light and quick; the second will be heavier and have all the weight of a proper note. Quicklight/HEAVYFULL. When you have it in the right hand (where you are going to use it most) do it in the left hand.  While you might not ever make an ornament in the left hand, practicing that level of control will only serve you well. Once you have that down, move to different intervals (use the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th, etc.) and learn which ones you like best. If some are more challenging than others – well, now you know where you need to direct more work!

Practice Element – Dynamics. Since we’re already working on control – let’s extend that to dynamics. Being in control of the harp gives you a better firmament from which to build more musicality and presentation. Dynamics often get short shrift or just forgotten. Now this might be forgivable (m-i-g-h-t) in a set of dance tunes, it is unforgiveable in songs and airs or any classical music. The dynamics are one of the easiest things you can do to help you sell the story, so they are definitely an important part of playing. The point of injecting dynamics is to enhance the inflection of the tune. Dynamics don’t always have to be dramatic – even small changes really make an impact to your listeners. To start practicing dynamics, first think about the markings for crescendo/decrescendo – a very long arrow – that’s how you want to play. Let’s stick to a major scale and play it with those arrows – start very small and build the sound as you go up to the octave. Each note should be just noticeably louder than the note before. On the way down, do the opposite with each note just noticeably softer than the previous. This week there’s a twofer – after you’ve done those scales, follow it with a three-scale – place your fingers for the scale and play each note three times – p, mf, f (always with the same finger) up the octave and f, mf, p on the way back down. When you’ve mastered one hand, move on to the other, and then do both together – always careful to assure you have the volume you intended. Too easy? This time do the same scale but as you go up play f, mf, p (and when it’s too easy go to four fff, mf, mp, ppp) and come down at p, mf, f (or ppp, mp, mf, fff). Bored? Now play the scales with two hands – play the left hand p and the right hand f, then switch. Be careful but gentle – and do the work you need to do. Soon you’ll have the skill to be as dynamic and dramatic as you wish – for each tune – exactly as you mean to deliver it!

Hang in there – you’re more than half the way there and you’re building a solid practice habit!

*Remember that I’m not that kind of doctor, so please be careful, work within your own abilities (which isn’t to say don’t stretch yourself but also, don’t hurt yourself!). Be careful and only do what you can do. This blog pro­vides gen­eral infor­ma­tion about trying to stay health and other sub­jects related to playing the harp. All the con­tent pro­vided in this blog, and in any linked mate­ri­als, is not intended to be, and should not be con­strued to be, med­ical advice. If you have a med­ical con­cern, con­sult with an appropriately-licensed physi­cian or other health care worker. Never dis­re­gard pro­fes­sional med­ical advice or delay seek­ing it because of some­thing you have read on this blog or in any linked materials. If you think you may have a med­ical emer­gency, call your doc­tor or 911 immediately. The views expressed on this blog and web­site have no rela­tion to those of any academic, hospital, practice or other insti­tu­tion with which the author is affiliated. Don’t be thick – these are just suggestions – take care of you!