Category Archives: Other

The Bucket List

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Some people have a bucket list. Of course, even more haven’t made one, but they probably have things they’d like to have accomplished by the time they’re done on the coil mortal.

A bucket list is a compilation of all the things a person would like to have accomplished, completed, or dreamt of.  It is (yet another) goals list, pure and simple.

You might think a Bucket List is a macabre thing to keep.  After all, most people think of it as a list of all the things you may (or might not) have accomplished in your entire life.  Ok, that would be macabre.

But what if you instead think of it as a gentle reminder of what you think is interesting, curious, important, and/or worth pursuing?  If you look at it that way, it could be sort of interesting – and a little goading.  And probably worth keeping for quick and frequent reference.  For guidance.  And as a reminder to keep your head up (metaphorically…. although you should also do that physically while you’re playing!).

Apparently loads of people have lists that include travel around the world, run a marathon, be a better person, write a novel, or pursue a passion.

BUT – YOU ALREADY HAVE A PASSION.  You’re no desultory harper!

What sort of things might you put on the list?  Well, that’s going to be fairly personal.  After all, it will be all the things you hope you will do before you are no longer able to play the harp. I have my own ideas (although, to be fair, I’ve been checking mine off as fast as I can!).

How, you might ask would you go about making your bucket list? Well, it’ll take a little time and effort, but it’ll be worth it!  First, note that you might be making more than one list.  After all, once you start thinking about it, you might be making a life list, a harp list, a family list, etc.  And that’s ok – you can have multiple lists!

I’d suggest making the list in your practice journal.  You have to keep it somewhere, so why not there?  That way you’ll see it each time you sit to practice – and be reminded of some of the reasons you’re about to practice…

It’s your list – you can put anything you like on it.  Secret fantasies, deepest desires, put ‘em down.  You’ll never know when you’ll have the chance to check one of them off, but you’ll be ready for the opportunity if you know you want to (you won’t have to think about it when it happens – you’ll be ready!).

Of course, also put down stuff you know you can do if you try.  Learn that piece you admire.  Write down that tune that you hear in your head.  Ask that well-known teacher for a lesson. You have nothing to lose!

Then there’s the harder to define stuff – what do you want your harp legacy to be.  Don’t think you have one?  Oh, you do, you just might not have thought about it before.  Do you want to be sure that you have actually played for your friends?  Wish you would sit a Master Class?  Want to participate in that fabulous workshop everyone’s always talking about?  While these things might be more challenging, you can get there.  And writing them on your list will remind you to keep at it.

Maybe the hardest thing about generating your bucket list is to prioritize it. What’s the most important to you?  What will take you the most time (or require new skills or significantly more practice)?  Does anyone in your life need to have an input (whether they be an audience member or a travel companion or some other adjunct to your thinking)?  You’ll need to factor that in. Also, is there any intersection of your harp and your life bucket lists?  Maybe you can take your harp with you as you travel around the world?  Always wanted to go to Scotland (always a good idea) – maybe there’s a workshop you plan around (or you could join us sometime in the future!). Two birds, meet one stone!

What does not belong on your Harp Bucket List?  ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN!  Don’t want to play in an ensemble? Don’t.  Don’t want to play orchestra parts? Don’t even write it down!  Never wanted to learn that “must do” repertoire?  Then DON’T!

You’re capturing what YOU want to do with your harp life.  Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks.  Maybe you’re not quite ready to do some of it, that’s ok.  You’ve written it down so you can be reminded of what you want to be so you can keep acquiring the skills or practice you need to be able to get there.  And remember – it’s your list.  Share it with others if you like, but you don’t have to.

When you complete something on your list, savor that!

Make your bucket list – so you can do all the things you want while you are able. Live your harp life!  What might you put on your bucket list?  Got a good idea?  Want to share it in the comments?

Putting the Ah in Ostinato

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Ostinato as meditation – you know, like in Ahhhh-stinato!

One thing I love about ostinato is its origin – it is from the Italian…for obstinate!  Which is exactly what you need to be to get this very useful element locked into your head and your fingers.  An ostinato is a pattern that repeats and can be a repetition of pitch or of rhythm.  And while some people find them terrifying, there’s another way to look at them.

The fabulous Maeve Gilchrist is a wizard of ostinato (check out her book Rhythm and Hand Separation Exercises and Etudes Book 1).  She has worked hard to master all sorts of patterns and she is rock solid.  One of the things I love about her playing is the unexpected things she can weave over that bass pattern – and you the listener can just sit back and enjoy, buoyed and comforted by that underlying rock of sound.

Because ostinato is difficult time consuming to get solid, many people avoid it.  But it totally worth the time.  A real challenge though, is to first focus on the ostinato itself.  It is very easy to think you’ve got it when it’s not quite there.  And it does take a little grit and determination – because it’s like other foundational elements – it has a hard slog in the middle where you feel stuck.  But you will get there if you keep at it. 

Nope, I’m not going to tell you it’s worth the time because it’s useful or builds strong finger or hones your rhythm (although it does).

Ostinato is a great tool, once nailed down, to check out.

What?!?!?

Yup, think of it as a meditative thing.  Once you have got the basic idea inculcated, you don’t really need to watch the pot (so to speak).  And that frees up space capacity in your brain so you can do one of a couple of other things:

  1. Just rock the ostinato and let your mind wander around.  Make it a meditation.  Really.
  2. What might be cool if you put that pattern with it?  Where would you go?  How might you get there?  This could lead to noodling and eventually to a great improv, some really useful vamp or an entirely new composition (which you could also do by looking at great art, a la last week’s post).
  3. Once you have the pattern down, you can mess around with the pattern itself – see where that leads.  You might find more cool stuff down that rabbit hole. 

Start with an easy pattern – maybe an Alberti bass or find a pattern from an technique book), jut to get the idea.  Keep working it.  Maybe think about it as you noodle on the 4 week challenge we set last week.  How might you noodle over that pattern?  Give it some time and you’ll see how it can become hypnotic – go with it.  Let it ride, find the ahhhhh and see where you end up.

And let me know where you end up in the comments below!

It’s “Make Your Dreams Come True” Day – don’t waste it!

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Today is “Make Your Dreams Come True” Day.  Wow! 

Ok, first, who knew?!?  Second, how cool is that?  A whole day dedicated to that thing everyone always says they want.  Third, I could not make this up!

Which begs the question – how will you observe this auspicious day?  Because, hey, it says right on the calendar that this is the day.  And it only comes once a year.  I didn’t set to to go on about development again, but hey – you might as well use this day as intended.

Make your dream come true dayOf course, to make your dreams come true, you have to know what your dreams are.  I have found though, that when I ask people what their dreams are, the answers are often empty unsatisfying nonexistent.  That is, either I get a (clearly) ridiculous answer (“my dream is to be the Queen of Siberia” – duh, not a country, and no monarch, and no pathway!)  or the more likely response which is…no answer at all.

That’s horrifying to me.  No dream?  Not “I’d rather not say” or “I don’t want to tell you, you’ll think it’s silly”.  Just a blank stare.  Ouch!

I hope you have a dream for your harp life.  A desire (secret or not) for yourself and your harp.  If you don’t, don’t despair – you can make one.  Today is not too late.

Having a dream will help keep you motivated and can help guide your growth…and by extension, your entire harp life.

Need to build a dream?  You can.  And more importantly, you can build dreams again and again.  What you dreamt of as a baby harper (as a friend of mine likes to call budding beginners) may not be what you dream of as a musician of mature harp years.  If you were a child when you began to play, you may view the landscape of your dreams differently later in your life.  If you began to play as an adult, you might have thought you needed to govern your dreams because you were starting later (BTW – don’t fall for that cop out!).

You have dreams that change.  You can have multiple dreams.  You can have evolving dreams.   They’re your dreams – make them what you need and want them to be!  But I hope you have some. 

How do you form a dream? First, you don’t force it.  Just collect some ideas. Spend a little bit of time (probably quietly and by yourself – but do it your way).  Gather your thoughts about what you dream of doing. You could sleep and actually dream of your dream.  Or make a dream board of images that express your dreams.  Or draw/paint/sculpt a representation of your dream.  Or write it out.  The point is simply to capture that dream so you can hold onto it.  You may discard this later if needed, but as your dream is forming, this will help you hold on to the wisps of it.

Your dream does not have to be enormous or grand – it just needs to be yours.

Ok, now that you have a dream, how do you move toward it?  Well, if you have captured it (as above) you might be getting some ideas.  But perhaps most importantly, you have to believe that you can actually move toward this dream. 

Note – I didn’t say achieve.  This is not another whack at goal setting in a different guise!  This is about identifying what you think would be a cool potential outcome and moving in that direction.  I dream of playing Smetana’s Vltava at the Musikverein in Vienna.  It might seem unlikely, but at least I could define a path to make that dream come true! (for instance, I could start by learning Vltava!)

Define what about the dream is the “dream” part and what is the “work” part.  You can definitely do the work part.  You might have to break it down into small, manageable, bite-sized chunks, but you can do it.  Of course, making a plan will help – otherwise, you’ll only dream but never make a dream come true.

Always keep dreaming.  When I was a pup (in harp years) my first dream was simply to not suck.  I think I can say that I got that dream.  My next dream – that I was confident would n-e-v-e-r happen – was to play on a stage with one of my harp heroes.  I got that one wrong.  Turns out the dream wasn’t to get to play with an amazing musician – it was to have that person as a close friend…and play on stage together! 

You can keep moving toward a dream and perhaps you’ll achieve it.  Whether you achieve it or simply hold on to working toward your dream, the important thing is to be enthused and to use that enthusiasm to keep on keeping on – usually with joy! 

So, Make Your Dreams Come True Day is specifically for doing just that.  I know you won’t want to waste it so, what will you do to further your dreams?  Willing to share your dream? Leave a comment below – I’m looking forward to being inspired by you!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Hoping you have much for which to be thankful.  Thank you for reading and being part of my harp life.  I am so grateful for your presence, your humor, your wit, and sometimes your patience!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Anniversary! Our 10th year

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It’s amazing to realize that I started writing this blog 10 years ago this week!  The time has flown by.  I started to blog to get the word out about the Harp the Highlands and Islands trips.  And here we are, so much later, talking not only about the trips but also about becoming better harpers and learning stuff! 

Have you ever wondered how the trips came about?  Through serendipity of course!

My first trip to Scotland was to St. Andrews.  I didn’t even play the harp then.  The weather was horrible – grey, drizzly, much colder that I expected.  And then – it snowed.  And it was windy and the water looked angry and the beach was bleak – and I l-o-v-e-d it!!

Over time, I went back to visit, getting a better appreciation for the varied areas.  And the people, the geography, the history, and the sky – the breathtakingly, achingly beautiful sky!  I had a favorite hotel, a favorite B&B, lovely friends to visit, etc.  My favorite place was anywhere within 70 miles of the ocean*.

Then I began to play the harp, and after a few desultory attempts at celtoid music, my wonderful teacher gave me a gentle nudge that introduced me to Scottish music.  And I found that it was quite possible that I loved the music even more than I loved the sky!

While at the Ohio Scottish Arts School one summer, it hit me (finally) that nearly all the tune names referred to real places, real people, real events.  I had just seen Killiecrankie Leap – and was possessed with the need to play the tune Killiecrankie.  It was while walking to a meal in Oberlin, Ohio that I was struck by how cool it would be to sit on that rock where the great leap occurred and play that tune!

I wanted to go to all the places and play all the tunes!!

That thought simmered for a few years.  I had no idea how would I drag my harp along all those rivers, braes, burns, battlefields, towns’ streets, and through all those castles and stately homes!

In January 2009 I was invited by my dear friend David to play a Burns Supper.  It was an incredible event and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  At the end of the trip, on the way to the airport as we chitchatted as friends do as their time together draws to an end and I shared my crazy idea to “play the harp at all the places” with him. 

Well, he took those wisps of thoughts and crafted a trip that landed in some great spots by getting off the beaten track to show people Scotland unpackaged – the place I had come to love and not just some glossy brochure “Outlander” paper doll cut out!  And he scheduled in time to play the harp – every day!  I put together arrangements of tunes that fit the itinerary (and a few extras, just in case) and the trip was born!

We focused on very small groups in a highly curated approach to travel (and we still do).  David is an amazing host.  I got to meet harpers I would not know otherwise and share tunes I love in locales I adore.

In 2020, we’ll celebrate our 10th year of sharing with you!  Perhaps the highest complement is how many people have come back to travel with us repeatedly.  In the digital age, I know I should have more photos, but I’m usually too busy being in the moment, sharing with new friends, or making music to take too many photos, but others have done a great job.  In addition, our 2020 trip is sold out already!  Thank you for joining us!

We’ll keep at it as long as we’re having fun.  If you’ve missed us for our 10th year but you want to come along, leave me a comment and I’ll add you to my contact list for the next trip.  And lift your metaphorical glass – to our anniversary!

* FYI, no part of Scotland is 70 miles from the ocean!

In the Bleak Mid-Summer…8 ways to stay Motivated

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It is the Bleak Midsummer – that time of year when it might as well be winter for all that you intend to go outside!  It’s predicted to be about 100o tomorrow – ugh.  And raining.  The remnants of a tropical depressed (yes, I meant that).

Of course, it will be pouring while I try to load my car to head to Somerset Folk Harp Festival.  Why does it always rain when you need to load your harp into the car?  It’s just a law of nature I supposed.

But that’s the thing about the Bleak Midsummer (you might call it the Summer Doldrums, but that’s not bleak enough for me) – the heat, the humidity, the knowing that it will last another eight weeks – all gang up on you and sap your strength and motivation!  Who wants to play when you know you’re going to sweat on your harp?

Ugh.

So, how do you stay motivated?  Here are 8 ways that might work for you:

  1. Go to summer harp events! I’m delighted to be going to Somerset Folk Harp Festival and I’m missing all the fun we had at the Ohio Scottish Arts School, and I’m really looking forward to Harp Quest! I wish I was able to fit more in, but these events (and others like them) really help you break out of any rut you might be in, let you catch up with old (but distant) harp friends, make new harp friends, and learn a lot in a relatively short time.  Best of all, you come home with new tunes, cool tricks and tips, and usually a bounce in your harp-step!  [BTW -There only a few remaining spots in Harp Quest and registration will close soon, so be sure to get in while there’s space!  More info here or contact us here]
  2. Use the long days to your advantage – if you normally practice in the evening, you can use the early light to get a new view on your playing. Never gonna happen that you get up at 5 to practice? No worries – enjoy practicing in the late afternoon or early evening – here too the light is so bright and the sun still so high that it feels like you’re practicing much earlier than you are. Or wait until the lingering sunsets of summer to enjoy the feel of playing the evening in.  No matter what, you can use the longer days to get a fresh perspective on your playing.
  3. Don’t let the short nights get the better of you – be sure you’re still getting enough sleep. Getting enough sleep will not only help you play better but will also help stave off the blues.  Those long nights will be upon us before we know it (even if it feels like they’ll never come) but you can still arrange to get plenty of rest.
  4. It’s VACATION TIME! You can take this a number of ways. You’re going to go away and have a frabjous time somewhere else doing nothing (including not playing).  Or you’re going somewhere amazing and taking your harp with your time away.  Either way – use the down time to rest and recover.  And maybe devote a few quiet moments to reminding yourself of how much you love playing the harp and that the work is just a path to enjoyment. [And if you want to plan ahead – you could never go wrong spending your vacation on a trip with us!  Harp the Highlands and Islands 2020]
  5. Use those long sunny (hot) days to spend time in your favorite chair with your favorite libation thinking about how lucky you are to play the harp! That should perk you up and make you want to play (and maybe even to practice?). Of course, that libation should be part of your hydration plan – it’s so easy to get dehydrated in the summer and that will throw you off your game, sap your motivation, and probably give you a headache – all no fun.
  6. Think about Christmas – every year Christmas comes racing up and we’re never really ready, so give it a little thought now. Maybe plan out your cold weather strategy while it’s still nice and hot. When will you start?  What tunes are you going to add this year?  What have you played in the past that needs more work  (and inevitably, more than you think)?  Where are you going to play?  What non-holiday tunes will you keep in the rotation to avoid boring the socks off your listeners?  See, there’s loads to think about, while you’re sweating and not wanting to play.
  7. Just sit for 15 minutes. Promise yourself that you’ll only play for 15 minutes – after all, it’s hot and you won’t be able to concentrate for too long, so don’t think you will – just do it in bite sized chunks throughout the day.
  8. Have ice cream. Really? You’re going to question this?  Fine, I’ll have yours.

Power through – it’ll be autumn soon and before you know it, we’ll be complaining about how cold it is!  There’s eight ideas – do you have others?  How do you stay motivated throughout the summer?  Leave me a comment and share!

Travel is Broadening

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You already know that all of us are back from the Harpa Scotland 2019 Retreat. If the photos, videos, comments, and smiles are any indication – it was another brilliant success. Harpa is so much fun because it has a simple formula:

HARPA = 

amazing musicians + fantastic tour guide + incredible roadie = 

sharing music joy + enjoying each other + adventure!

You’ve heard the maxim that travel is broadening – and not just from delicious cakes and scones! As you travel with your harp, you develop or hone many sterling qualities including forbearance, faith and patience! Whether you like it or not, you must let go, trust the Fates, and be patient (outside the “Oversize Luggage” belt mostly!).

Most of us are control freaks (especially about our harps). Many of us do not know this about ourselves (or if we do, we underestimate).  Few things will test your mettle like traveling with your instrument and entrusting it to the TSA. And while American (airline) may hate guitars, I’m pretty sure it’s the TSA that hates harps. Or at least, hates harp cases. I qualify this, though, to say that although I have gotten my harp back partially latched or completely unlatched, it has always weathered the journey (Forbearance?  Faith?  Probably both).

But more than that, traveling with your harp opens doors you might not even know were there otherwise. We have been places we likely would have gone right by – simply because those places opened themselves up to the possibility of us playing there! We have never played anywhere dull. This openness on their parts helps us to be more open on our part – to see new things or to see familiar things differently (including toilets, refrigerators, and door locks!). And once we are opened, adventures appear around every bend.

Our trips are always small – this time we had seven. This allows us to go places often overlooked or bypassed. It also ensures we don’t travel as a band of tourists – simply observing, never venturing outside our comfort. But it also generates a community and engenders sharing with one another – we gel in ways that big groups never get. We become a traveling family, if ever so briefly. We share our experiences – and our cookies! And that sharing is part of the fun. And the more fun we have together, the more fun we find. And so it grows!

But perhaps the best bit is that we meet other people – in restaurants and cafes, at attractions, in our accommodations. We were invited along to a stramash by someone we met at one of our concerts. See how that works?! At the time we weren’t sure we knew what a stramash is, but we kinda thought we did, and we went along to it. It was a blast! We got to play tunes with local musicians, we heard some new ones, played some shared favs and heard some lovely singing. We got to share the joy of making music – in a fun, organic, very Scottish way! (Just to confirm, a stramash is a seisiun).  We met a delightful couple at a fish and chips restaurant…because they photo bombed one of our group selfies! It is these brief interactions punctuating the trip that not only make great memories, but really define good travels. While chatting with an audience member we learned of a museum that none of our research had unearthed. And later, once there, we met and chatted with more lovely locals and learned more than just looking at some displays would ever have wrought.

All that leads to learning more about yourself. You learn where your unknown assumptions and ignorances lie and have the opportunity to examine them. These assumptions and ignorances are not good or bad, but examining them means you can rethink their utility. I’m not talking about bigotry but rather biases like what we select for our concert program, how we introduce ourselves and our music to the audience, and how we meet them where they are when we perform (and appreciating when they’re not where we thought they’d be!). A small group also learns to accept more – the morning person must be patient while the not-morning person strives to not be cranky at the start of the day (and vice versa at the end of the day).  We help one another – with luggage, and art supplies, and fingering, and leftovers, and making tea (and more tea, and yet more tea!).

And best of all – each trip is different. The harp attracts all kinds – players and appreciators and audiences. We make lifelong friends and brief – but enriching acquaintances. Even if we return to a place, it is new, and we grow in it. And being invited back is a pleasure and a privilege.

So Harpa 2019 is in the books – an unqualified success. We’re all home, laundry cycled (mostly), gifts given, postcards received (mostly). And we look forward to the next time!

Once we sleep off our jetlag, we will start planning the next Harpa outing!

But we’re also finalizing plans for the 2020 Harp the Highlands and Islands trip – details coming soon. Would you like to be broadened (by travel and cakes)?  Want to be part of the action and first to know the details? Leave me a comment to that effect below!

PS: Photo credit for this week and last go to the Harpaniks and especially Donna Bennett, Therese Honey, and Robin Pettit.

Harpa Retreat 2019 has begun!

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Harpa 2019 has started! We have all arrived in Scotland and are already having a blast. We are seven this time – five harpers and two appreciators, as well as David our intrepid guide and Heather, our harp-playing roadie. We are significantly missing our lead Harpanik. Beth Kolle, who founded Harpa, is home recovering from a demonstration of gravity and we are missing her terribly. But we press on, carrying the Harpa flag!

This year we decided that we would benefit from a “vacation from our vacation” type trip and began developing the Harpa Retreat concept. We came to Scotland because – well, Scotland!! We have two concerts for different charities scheduled. And we’re planning on more down time so we can really savor our time here, make art, jam and really enjoy each other musically, and just breathe. Because that can be the problem of a vacation – you go somewhere interesting, that you want to see and soak up, and share with friends, and really experience, and you spend some short but manageable time there. But you’ve spent a lot of money to get there and you want to see it all! And you really do try, but you can’t succeed and you get very tired trying! And worst of all, in all that trying, it’s easy to miss the very thing you went there for. So this year, we are trying to take it a little slower, to chill a little. So far it’s been a great idea!

We have just started yesterday and we have an amazing group. Our performers are Sue Richards, Therese Honey, Martha Hill, Donna Bennett, and me. Sue, Therese and I started a little early in Glasgow so we could meet some of the members of the Glasgow Branch of the Clarsach Society and share a workshop (which was just an incredible day – thanks to Gillian Fleetwood for making that happen!), see some great museums, and ride trains with harps.

We took a Preparatory photo to help explain to taxi people what we were looking to get into the cab . It didn’t help the planning, but was fun to take. Photo by Therese Honey – who is a much better photographer than I!

Why yes, you c-a-n get two harps into a cab, onto a train, still have fun and enjoy the ride! Another Therese photo – she’s good about taking them!

We all met up in Endinburgh and yesterday we set off on another adventure.

And yet another photo from Therese – she finds the best photos – just the way she looks at the world is amazing!  We had the easy job. David and Heather had to figure out how to get the harps into the vehicle – puzzle for the day.

We have been posting photos on Facebook here and on the FB Harpa group. Wish you were here! More later, we’re busy having fun!  Wish you could see Scotland through a harp?  Leave a comment and let me know!

 

PS – just like if you have more than one harp, you have a favorite, I have a favorite computing device…and I chose to travel with the other one, so please forgive any errors.  I’m blaming them on the #%~*^ ipad!