Jenius Creations

Category: Practice

  • Like the swan

    You will remember from last week that all this month I’ll be sharing some excellent thoughts put together by the incredible Sue Richards! She is a consummate professional and you will never see her perform when she doesn’t resemble a swan – serene, gliding from note to note.  She is clearly enjoying herself. It is highly likely that only we other harpers have any concept of just how hard she is working.  Like the swan, that serenity belies the “paddling below the water” – working hard but giving no outward sign of it. She tells how that can be:

    Picture1“I recently debuted a couple reels that I have been working on for several years. That is, I played them in public. I have been working on them for about seven years, off and on. No I didn’t play them every day, but I did practice them for a few weeks at a time, then took a break. And what I was really doing was tweaking the choreography- fingering. I knew they were ready when they had “flow”. That doesn’t mean I can play them perfectly every time, but that they had the right feeling and I mostly didn’t make mistakes. And I know that as I perform them this year, they will become solid.

    “While it may seem that famous Celtic harpers are fluidly swimming when they play jigs and reels, it is probably an illusion. Those notes are probably pretty carefully choreographed, and their brains are trained to look ahead to where they will be going. The fluidity comes from smart practice, concentrated relaxation, and brain focus.”

    SEVEN YEARS!?! Yes, you read that right. She works long and hard to bring the tune out. So the next time you leave a workshop or lesson feeling like a failure because the tune you learned is not ready for prime time – remember what Sue has said – and be prepared to work on it a good long time to get it ready to see the light…so you too can glide along (like that swan).

  • February – Guest month – Sue RIchards

    I recently had an opportunity to be chatting with the fantastic Sue Richards over lunch She is what I call a Harp Hero. She attained this status over time by being not only a sensational performer but also a sensitive teacher, a good coach, and a lovely friend. I have had the privilege to learn a lot from her – some of it related to playing the harp! Picture1

    She graciously wrote up some ideas for me to share with you and we’ll do that over February. Why February? Well, I find this is one of the most challenging times of the year – we have turned the corner in winter and the days are detectably longer, but the weather is not overly nice and it still feels as though we will never get out of the darkness. There are not as many weddings or parties so gigs may take a hit, the rush of Christmas is over. This time of year can be a real motivational nadir. But if you’re not practicing now, you will be behind when wedding, competition, and summer camps seasons get into full swing.

    But this time of year is a great time to focus and to hone your practice skills – for all the same reasons – Christmas is over so it’s time to learn some new music, the days are short so there’s plenty of time to practice with fewer outside distractions, and those weddings aren’t going to play themselves so you need to be ready to book the gig with confidence.

    Over this month, I’ll share with you some of the great insights I have received from the amazing Sue! I hope they will inspire, encourage, and enlighten you as they have me. And you’ll learn about practicing in a whole new light! She’s given us some great thoughts on practicing smart and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you!

  • Read widely

    I’ll read just about anything, even if, in general, I’m not that interested in the overall topic. I was recently reading an article in Men’s Health* magazine (see what I mean?) about Stephen Curry (basketball player).  Note, I’m not a huge basketball fan (ok, really, it’s my least favorite sport to play or watch). But this short article focused on how he worked hard to make it in his profession.

    Now you might think that professional basketball has nothing to do with playing the harp, but what he said resonated with me so I wanted to be sure you saw it.

    Apparently he wasn’t yet “basketball sized” as a freshman in high school so he had to work especially hard to get in to play (also, his father was a pro basketball player so you know that right off the bat he was going to have to be better than good to make the cut). It was what else he said that captivated me:

    Picture2He spent a long time dedicated to crafting his skills. He’s quoted as saying, “It’s still a work in progress but with anything, if you stick with it and keep working at it, eventually you’ll figure it out.”!!! This is a man, considered to be at the top of the heap in his profession, who understands that fundamentals are called that because they support everything else you do while performing.  And he also understands that development isn’t a “one and done” proposition but rather the result of steady, consistent, intelligent work.

    He also talked about doing specific things to make his practice harder than his performance – he practices on gravel so when he gets to the court, working the ball will be easier. This is the same as practicing in the dark, while people talk to you, on a scary carpet, in a variety of places, or some combination of these, so that when you’re in the gig you’re prepared and can play well.

    The other thing he said that really struck me was this, “You either put the work in and reap the benefits….or you try to take shortcuts….But it doesn’t work that way…” Yikes – so true! We all know that no one wants to play exercises, but they do have a direct impact on your later ability to play.

    The underpinnings of practice are the same, whether you play basketball or the harp. What you put in shows up in your results. The inverse is also true – if you don’t do the work, you’ll only get part of the way. This is true whether you are a full time professional, a part time professional, or an amateur content to play for the cats and the drapes.  Be as good as you can make yourself, know where you are going so you can get your hard work in and enjoy the rewards of good performance.

    *Men’s Health, November 2015

  • Daylight Savings Ends – Five Ways to Stay Motivated!

    Daylight Savings Time ends in the US on Sunday morning – don’t forget to set your clocks back and enjoy another hour of well deserved sleep.

    And get prepared because that early darkness at the end of the day can be extremely unmotivating – it will feel like you should be in bed when it is only 5pm! Yikes. In addition, it’s also the beginning of the “Curl up on the Couch with some Tea and a Cozy Throw” days which makes it so easy to flop down and watch TV or read a book. But you know that you need to practice and that every day you do not practice means it will be that much longer until you get where you want to be.

    Picture2So, here are five ways for you to stay motivated during the dark time –

    • Don’t wait until the end of the day to practice. It will be just as dark in the morning but changing it up might be just what you need to stay engaged and practicing!
    • Fool yourself. Add more lighting to your practice area to fool yourself into feeling like it’s not the middle of the night.
    • Plan your time. If you know what you’re going to do when you’re practicing, it won’t feel so much like it will never end!
    • If you can’t think of anything to work on, make something up (stretch yourself, prepare to play for a new audience, push yourself to grow).
    • Start with easy stuff you love…and then doing the hard work (exercises). Make it enticing to sit down, start with the fun (and then knuckle down!).

    If you can “fake it ‘til you make it” through the first few weeks, you’ll get through the tough end of daylight saving and you might even be well on your way to an even better holiday repertoire.

  • The Dr. Is In

    Dr. Seuss is quoted as saying,

    “It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.”

    What a great way to look at playing. We have to remember that even when we play our best, we can only play our best for this day…and tomorrow will be another, different day on which we may play very differently.

    Which means that each day, when we work at playing, we have the opportunity to play well, or to learn from our playing or both. We also can learn so much that may (or may not) be directly tied to our harp playing.

    Some days it feels like you aren’t getting anywhere. Other days, you make so much progress you wonder why you ever doubted. And, of course, you have a day each time you practice. So why is it that you only remember the days in which you had trouble? You only recall the “bad” days!Picture1To avoid falling down in the dumps about these bad days, keep a log. Each day write down what you did, what when right, what gave you some difficulty. You might want to develop a scheme for finding the good days (color the top corner green, fold the page over on the diagonal, keep good days at the front right side up and bad days at the back upside down) so you can remind yourself that you’re doing a great job and what you continue to struggle with.

    Because you know that there will always be some things that are a struggle…but they don’t define you! Just keep in mind what the good Dr. said.

  • Improvisation

    No, don’t think, “Oh bother, I’m not reading this!”.  Bear with me.  Up until not too long ago, I thought improvisation was something my teacher thought up to make my life hell, I thought she just didn’t like me (ok, not really). But, every time the word “improvisation” was uttered, I could see it, hanging in the air like a cloud of smoke over a frying pan – smelling slightly bad and not improving my disposition.

    I know now that my fear was unfounded but not baseless. I no longer quake in my boots at the thought of ripping out an improv…but that’s only because I have spent some time on some important fundamentals. Learn those fundamentals and you’ll be well on your way to comfortably filling the time between tunes, when you can’t think of anything to play, or just when your mind is blank.

    Start with riff. A riff is a short pattern or phrase (melodic, rhythmic, both) that is repeated. Remember that the “re” in repeated means over and over and over and over…..I suggest keeping it simple – especially when you’re just beginning. You can do this!!

    Picture1Here are four things to get you started:

    1. Start with a simple pattern – and I mean s-i-m-p-l-e! This is not the time to channel your inner JSBach! Three notes is all you need to start. Starting simple means that your brain doesn’t have to work hard just to keep the pattern going. You want something so easy you can do it without thinking – literally.
    2. Noodle around the pattern – this is the stone soup method of composing on the fly.  To your well established simple pattern, add stuff.  Try adding the root note, then try out the other notes in the triad, maybe give the 4th, the 6th, or the 7th a go and see what you like. Remember that tunes are made of the patterns, pitches, and SILENCES so you can add those too – use all the colors on your palette!
    3. Don’t forget your theory – it will help you make choices faster with less hunting and pecking. All that adding stuff is easier if you don’t have to muscle through it (you don’t have to have studied your theory but it helps to know ahead of time what sort of effect you’ll get with the 3rd as opposed to what happens when you use the 4th (for instance)).
    4. Practice – improv doesn’t just happen from the stage – all that nonchalance comes from hours of practice! The jazz greats (what most people think of when you say improv) know their music cold (like you will if you practice your 3 note riff) so they could select a pattern and build a riff on it. You have to practice doing improvisation! Don’t expect that sort of creativity to just jump into your head or into your hands – it takes work.

    Start doing a little gentle improve in the safety of your practice space – just spend 5 minutes of each practice session seeing what happens if you suspend disbelieve and give it a try. If I can do it, you can too!

  • Time to tune up

    In the summer, there are so many camps, workshops, programs and they all suggest that you start early to get your fingers toughened up because you’ll be playing more than you usually do.

    GREAT SUGGESTION!

    But what does that mean? How can you get ready for these events? Here are seven ways to tune up for a workshop so you can get as much out of the last session as the first: Picture1

    1. Make a schedule – you know you have a finite amount of time to prepare, so plan to use it – each day increase your time on the bench a little (add no more than 10% each week – just like running).  A small increase allows you to build up without adding too much at once, which will help you stay on track). Be sure in also increase the number of times each day that you sit at your harp – the workshop might be 8 hours a day but that won’t all be on your bench so you might want to practice sitting to your harp 3 times a day rather than one really long stretch!
    2. Work your plan – it’s all well and good to make a plan but then you have to actually use it! Be sure that you actually do the things you set up in your plan
    3. Be realistic – if you never have time to practice on Sundays (for example) – build that into your plan, don’t think that suddenly the time will appear. This is especially true if you are working around your current schedule – if you only have 30 minutes a day to practice, do not think that suddenly you will find 3 hours a day to practice.  However, if you are so strapped for time that you can only practice for 30 minutes a day – know that you will need to modify what you expect to get out of each day of the workshop.
    4. Remember your braces: when you had braces, you didn’t expect all the movement at once – it was gentle progress you were after – same thing here – gentle positive progress will not only allow you to feel better about your work but will result in a noticeable benefit.
    5. Warm up – this is not the time to skimp on the fundamentals – do plan to spend a little time warming up (and when you get to your workshop, don’t forget to do this!)
    6. Stretch – just as you know that a good warm up is essential to avoiding injury, a good stretch at the end of your time at your harp is also important while you are increasing your time on the bench. And when you are at your workshop, stretching will also be important – you will be working hard.  In addition, workshop participants are often a little stressed (concentrating, wanting to “do well” (whatever that means – everyone is learning!), trying to learn a lot in a little time with the tutor all add to your stress).
    7. Journal – keep a record of what you are doing and how it is going – while this is always a good idea, it’s especially important when you are trying to prepare.

    Summer workshops, camps, and other events are a great way to learn, meet new friends, catch up with old friends and really expand your harping – be sure you are ready to make the most of the event!

  • Sometimes you just want to control the clock

    I never did get to post last week.  It was one of those weeks that was just too full. Something had to give.

    Last week, I chose to practice. Just like everyday, I specifically allotted time to spend at my harp.

    Because the week was busy, I had to chivvy time out of other places to get things accomplished.

    I chose to practice. Or more accurately, I protected the practice time and let other things slide.

    Picture1I chose to not let practice get shifted off the schedule.  I cut back on other things – sleep got short shrift too, and I didn’t write to you.

    I’m happy with my choice.  I’m equally happy that I consciously put practicing on the front burner.

    Hopefully the coming weeks will be calmer and more controlled! And I hope when presented with the options, you chose to practice too!

  • Close your eyes…give me your hand

    Most harpers have some concept of the (likely romanticized) history of the harper – an important contributor to life in the home of the Laird, carrier of news, stories, lore, and intrigue, and provider of music for all events and perhaps for everyday living.  Likely you know that at some point harping was an excellent profession for the blind – a job that didn’t require being sighted to be excellent.  And of course, we have the Rory’s in history.  We are ever so slightly proud of that heritage.

    So why then, do I so often hear, “Oh, I have to look!” or “I can’t play without seeing the strings” or some variation on these?   I’ve also hear, “I’ll make a complete mess of it if I don’t look!”Picture4

    And you know what I’ll say to that – you simply need to practice to play without looking!  There are so many reasons to play without looking:

    • Candle light/poor lighting
    • Power cuts
    • Outdoor, dusk weddings
    • Poor or changing vision

    But if you practice playing in low or no light situations you will see a number of improvements:

    • Your body will know where the notes are (and will learn that better than if you are always looking)
    • You’ll be more confident in a number of situations (listed above)
    • You don’t have to remember to carry a light (of course, this assumes you don’t need the music stand!)

    If you need a little nudge to start playing in low light, start by practicing at dusk by natural light – and let the night come.  It will be very gradual.  You’ll learn this way that you can in fact play with little light.

    Don’t get discouraged – you had to learn to play by looking – and this is no different…and enjoy – you’ll impress your harp friends too!

  • It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas –

    It’s barely begun to cool down, the days have hardly gotten any shorter and the trees haven’t really begun to show their colors. It’s October! But it is also definitely time to start preparing for Christmas! From parties to church services, from fundraisers to celebrations, ‘tis the season to be asked to bring a little joy to people by playing for Christmas. Will you be ready? Here are 8 things you can do to be prepared this season:

    Picture1

    • Start now – Christmas is right around the corner, but the holiday season is even closer. Holiday decorations had appeared in big-box retailers before Labor Day and the Christmas events will start after Thanksgiving if not before so you need to start now to be ready.
    • Make a preparation checklist – write down those things you need to do to be prepared (some of the items in this post might be helpful for that). Use your checklist to help yourself prepare.
    • Budget your time – be sure to manage your time effectively – refreshing tunes you’ve learned before, learning new material, whatever you need to spend your time on – arrange to have that time available.
    • Select your tunes – know what you are preparing for and use that information to generate a solid set of tunes (and specific tune lists).
    • Schedule practice – not kidding. The holidays are notorious for days filled up beyond reason, earlier than expected, and with way too much to do. Be sure to schedule your practice time in – or you won’t get any!
    • Use your practice time wisely – because your practice time will be at a premium, be sure you plan for that time so you can get the most out of every moment. No shillyshallying at the harp, no unfocused playing through – actually practice when you’re practicing.
    • Make notes for next year – some of your preparation will be very good, some will be no help whatsoever. Make notes to yourself for next year so have even better preparation in the future.
    • Enjoy yourself – the preparation is challenging, and the added stress of performing may get to you, but be sure to enjoy yourself. And also be sure to acknowledge any improvement in your performance, the level of difficulty of the music, the speed of refreshing tunes you had learnedin previous years – all those positive indicators that arise from your preparation.

    Christmas comes but once a year – fortunately, it stays for a while and provides you a great opportunity to prepare and to play for family, friends, and customers.