Plan for a Productive week

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Jen

You have a crazy busy schedule. Ok, I may not know you, but since most everyone does have that kind of schedule, I’m going to take a guess that you, like so many others, do too. People with busy schedules usually have a strategy to keep all the plates spinning and balls at the top of the arc (a strategy from juggling). Not having a strategy can be a problem, because – you know – life. Do you have a strategy to assure you get to play throughout the week? Here are ten things to do on Sunday to be ready for the coming week so that n-o-t-h-i-n-g gets in the way of your harp time! PS – There’s nothing magic about Sundays. Do this on the day of the week that you think of as the day before the start of the week. PPS – if your mother is anything like my mother, nothing on this list will surprise you! My mother is a master organizer, and this is the sort of thing I learned at her knee. But if you weren’t raised by a logistical genius like I was, now you’ll know what you need to do, so go do it…

Peruse your notes. Whether it’s your lesson notes or your practice journal, figure out what you need to be thinking about while you’re practicing. The only thing worse than not being ready for your lesson because you didn’t practice is not being ready because you practiced the wrong thing! And trust me, your teachers don’t write those notes for their own health – use the notes!
Review your practice from the previous week. What worked? What didn’t? What derailed you? What do you need to carryover working on? Did you practice the things you meant to? If not, why not, and what did you do instead? There’s good info in reflecting on these questions!
Write down your priorities. Even if you’re not gigging, you probably have some place you’d like to go on your harp. But you already know that you can’t do everything all at once. And we know that preparing music (from selecting to analyzing to learning to polishing to performing) doesn’t happen in one day or even one week. Figuring out what you should work on this week to make progress. Writing it down will help move you along even more.
Look at your planner. Which day this week are you definitely not going to get to play or practice? Oh, come on, be honest. There’s always a day where everything else takes priority and you know you’re not going to get to your harp. Know when that is and modify your plan to fit your life. I sometimes have days where really, I’m driving all day. For those days, I plan for “head practice” – load the tunes to be learned and listen listen listen (and sing along to know you’re getting it). Or use time when you’re walking or running (a great time to think about rhythm while you enjoy your own metronome-ness. You might not make it to your harp, but you will still get a little bit done.
Plan your practice days. If you know what you should do (see 1 above), and what you want to do (see 2 above), and when you have available to do it (see 3 above), then it makes sense to figure out what each day might look like. This is a concept I stole from body-building – even if you workout every day, you don’t go hard on everything every day (or you will crash). Which day will be your hard-core technique day? Which is going to focus on learning and repeating? Which day is your “play date” with yourself? Don’t wait for the day you feel like doing the thing you need to work on most (or you’ll never do the thing), make a plan.
Do the Laundry. No really, get your chores sorted before the week begins. Maybe you don’t do laundry on Sunday night but having a plan to get all your “responsibilities” taken care of throughout the week means you won’t have to give up your precious harp time to do something uninteresting like cleaning the bathroom. This stands for everything that might take up time you would rather spend playing and includes all those chores that you know will eat up the time you have if you wait to do them (I’m looking at you meal planning!).
Prep your space. No matter if your studio is a 25 ft x 25 ft room dedicated to your music or a sliver of floor between the couch and the wall, maintain it! If you need to, neaten it up, make sure everything you will need is close to hand (for instance, I’m currently going through stickie notes like there’s no tomorrow, and all my pens had gone walkabout, so I had to restock –). Tuner need batteries? Tuning key under a pillow in the other room? Get it all sorted so you’re not spending the few moments you have looking for stuff.
Load your music stand. As in 7 above, make sure the sheet music, notes, or other references you need are on there. And that the other stuff is not. By the end of the week, I have so much paper, so many music books, and paperclips, clothes pins, pencils, etc. on my stand that if I didn’t do this, on Monday my first task would always be to pick up all the junk I dropped.
Get yourself ready for Monday. It won’t do any good to spend all this time prepping for playing if you aren’t ready for the rest of your Monday. Be sure you spend a little time getting yourself sorted to have a good week. Get your bag sorted, plan your clothes, put gas in the car. Of course, most of this list will suffice for that as well – just make sure you also have yourself organized and ready to go for the week. Then you’re less likely to have everyday disasters eat into your harp time.
Be nice to you. This is a great time to remember that you need to do something nice for you. Give yourself a manicure and massage your hands and forearms. Find some decadent emollient cream (and use it, don’t wait for a special occasion!). Breathe while you do this, relax, and you have a mini-spa session!

This list is not exhaustive of course. But if you take a little time out of your Sunday to prepare for the week, you will find that you have more time to play and practice. And because you spend that time on Sunday, the rest of the week’s harp time can be less stressful because you’re ready and not fighting fires during that time. What do you do on Sunday to prepare for you harp week? If you don’t have a regular routine, did you give this a try? Let me know in the comments!

Quantity or Quality?

Posted on March 22, 2021 by Jen

Which is better – Quantity or Quality?

Sometimes Quantity is all it takes. Cash is a good example – most of us would rather have a high Quantity of it than a few pristine pieces (unless you are a numismatist!).

And sometimes Quality is really what’s needed. A cashmere sweater is a good example – the Quality is important and will make a difference.

But what about when it comes to your practice time? Then, which is more important?

I frequently implore you to have a practice journal and to use it to make better use of your practice time. I suggest to you that you learn by ear, that you learn by reading, that you do whatever you need to do to learn the music and to help yourself become a better musician.

And if you focus on that you’d think that I think that Quality practice time is essential.

But think more on it. Think of all the times I have also implored you simply to sit at your harp and touch it. To noodle, even if you didn’t feel like playing. To stay in touch with your instrument, even if for a very brief time.

And if you focus on that you’d think that I think that Quantity practice time is essential.

And you’d be right!

WHAAAAAAT?

Yup. You’re Quality and Quantity of practice time are both important. Because each results in different gains – and all the gains are helpful.

First, we can start with the much-maligned Quantity of practice. Don’t “people who know” always tell us not to waste time on garbage practice? Typically, yes, they do.

But let’s take a page from successful writers (did you see what a phenomenally bad pun I laid in there? Yes, I did!). Successful writers often differ from less successful writers in that they write more. And they have “tricks” to do that. They set aside time to write, they guard that time jealously, they use the time to write (not to sharpen pencils or check internet sources, or daydream, or to surf Facedegram for “inspiration”). And when they have no idea what to write, they just write. And they just write junk until something better comes to them. Because sometimes Quantity is helpful.

When you’re practicing, this is time that you might not be “productive”, you’re not focusing on the intervals, or pursing musicality. You might not even be trying to learn the tune – you are just playing. But you have showed up. You are at your harp. You might be playing just junk – and that’s ok because it’s you, playing and spending time on the bench. And if you keep sitting there playing, maybe the junk will transform into something else. Or maybe not. What you don’t know is when the “something else” will show up as “something better”. Just because it doesn’t appear right at that moment when you’re at the harp doesn’t mean that it won’t appear later, or in another tune, or just by preparing your mind for something yet to come. You’re going for Quantity.

So, yes, Quantity practice days are good. Some of the time.

But what about Quality? This is so talked about I feel like I almost don’t have to mention it. But I do. Because you need to have defined what a Quality practice session consists of. And this is trickier than it sounds – because Qality today may be Quantity tomorrow (and vice versa, see “something better” above). Quality is not a monolith. There are some general parts of practice that will help define a Quality practice session, but they are just big categories (warm up, technique, learn new stuff, solidify somewhat learned stuff, polish solidified stuff, performance practice, etc.) and within in each of these you will need to define what is Quality for that particular practice session. For instance, this is where you define what “settling” is – you don’t want to settle for good enough when you’re seeking Quality (but you would if you’re in a Quantity practice session). In a Quality practice session, you will not accept settling, you will expect yourself to accomplish something (have the phrase learned, smooth out the fingering in the tricky spot, have figured out how to get the left hand moving in rhythm, etc.) and you will work until you get it. You’re going for Quality.

The most important thing about Quality and Quantity is that they are both needed – at different points for different reasons. You can’t skip one and rely solely on the other. And no, one is not better than the other – they are two faces of the same coin. They both have value. And there is room for both in your practice sessions.

I’ve heard from some of you (not in so many words) that in the last year you have been stuck in Quantity practice rather than Quality practice. And some of you are pillorying yourselves over it. If this is you, stop. Instead, think about all the time you have spent on your bench – not losing ground, not giving up, not letting your playing slip away. That is Quantity practicing serving its very useful function. You will resume Quality practicing when your time is right. And not a moment sooner. And that’s ok.

So, if you find yourself “stuck” and not moving forward but you’re still playing, rejoice in your Quantity practice. When you’re ready you’ll resume Quality practice. And if you’re preening over your all Quality all the time approach, you might want to think about the occasional Quantity session, if only to enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Are you stuck in Quantity time or Quality time? Or do you have a mix in your practice sessions? What do you use Quality time for? How about your Quantity time? Let me know in the comments – I’m looking forward to learning from you!

Apples or Oranges

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Jen

Do you want to be a better musician? It’s a not unreasonable question. But if I answer honestly, I would say, “Better than what?”

I DO want to be better. Better than I am today. And even better than that on the day after. At this point, I’d like to call your attention to two things about what I have said –

The inward focus – I’d like to be better I am
The forward look – Tomorrow, I’d like to be better I am today

Let’s start with the inward focus. The question, “Better than what?” is really important. I hope that you’re in a place in your harp life that your better-than-what is you. Better than you yourself are right now, not focused on anyone else.

This can be a hard thing to learn. Especially if you spend any time on any kind of media – the information (and the temptation) is ever present. Whether it’s your harp hero or someone you don’t even know on Facedegram who’s been playing for 15 minutes and has already uploaded 50 videos of their triumphant harpysteria*, it can be easy to develop an envy of someone else’s progress (and their unmitigated willingness to share it).

But none of that matters. What matters is you. How YOU are coming along. How YOU are developing. How YOU are progressing to where it is YOU want to go. How YOU have improved today.

This can be particularly vexing if you’re not at the beginning of your harp life. When you’re harp-young, every day you can find something to notice that is a little better than it was. Your tuning isn’t from some alien planet anymore. You actually landed on the string you meant to on the first try. You no longer confuse the sound box and the pillar. You closed on the string rather than snapping back from it like it bit you. Heck, you used more than one finger! Every day has success potential. When you’re harp-young there are so many things to improve and they’re so obvious, even to you – a newb. Every day when you practice you can see some improvement.

But after a while, as you progress, you begin to realize that while it was easy to not sound like an injured animal right off the line, the internet didn’t lie. The harp is one of the most difficult instruments to learn to play well. Your obvious improvements (the kind you can’t miss) seem to be farther and farther apart. And it’s easy to forget the small advances after they happen**.

This is also a time when many people begin to go out and meet other harpers (or in the time of plague, seek them out online). You have an opportunity to see others play and you might begin to compare yourself to them. I have a story to share on why this comparison is such a very bad idea.

In my harp youth, I was on the verge of quitting (again). My incredibly wise teacher strongly suggested that I attend an adult beginners event and specifically suggested a workshop with the fabulous Sue Richards. I was extremely nervous, and struck up a conversation with the person sitting next to me. I shared that I had only been playing a few months and I thought she said she had too. I held my own for the first tune and was extremely pleased with myself. But when we got to the second tune, I was lost. My brain was full. My new friend, with whom I had kept pace in the first tune, sailed through the second, even playing the left hand harmony! I was devastated, clearly in way over my head, never going to learn the play, I should just go home.

I learned later that I had misheard her – she wasn’t a beginner. She was a professional. And already knew that tune. She was so encouraging to me throughout the workshop – but my confidence had gone. I was comparing myself to her – and falling miserably short. I thought I was never going to learn to play the harp.

I spent a while nursing that hurt and comparing myself to everyone else I met. Except there was one thing even I couldn’t overlook. When you meet other people – it becomes clear that you have NO IDEA what they are on the inside. Playing a week? Or 20 years? Or 20 years, but really only 5, due to interruptions? Practice 15 minutes every other day or 4 hours every day? Health issues? Complicated existence? Love the harp? Like it? Endure it? YOU DO NOT KNOW.

And if you don’t know – you can never compare apples to apples.

If you can never compare apples to apples –

why bother to even look at your orange?

The only thing to do is look forward – where are you going? Everyone else’s progress has no bearing on yours. Nothing is as it seems (especially on facedegram) (and quit scrollcrastinating – go practice!). You can only work on your goals, your dreams, your growth. Your harp playing.

When I finally got it, I practiced in my time. I learned at my pace. I got bold in my tempo. I kept meeting people – some more developed than me, some not yet as far along.

Sometimes I see someone play and feel a twang of impatience at my own growth. But then I remember that what they are doing is not what I was hoping to do. It’s just cool…and I’m happy for them! Sometimes I become aware of someone comparing themself to me…and try to encourage them focus on their goals rather than mine.

This is the real reason I’m always suggesting you focus on your goals, your progress, and tracking that – so you’ll know you are making that progress and don’t fall victim to the comparison trap. How about you? How are your apples? Let me know!

* Why, yes, I did notice that I’ve already made up two words in one sentence. Go with me, it’s one of my superpowers. Facedegram is any social media cesspool brain drain and harpysteria is not a person who makes harps in a coffee shop, but rather is a portmanteau of harp and hysteria.

** Those tools I’m always suggesting? All ways to help keep focused on what you want rather than on what someone else might.

The Other Modes

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Jen

It’s already February! But that’s ok, you have goals! You have thought about them, codified them, captured them – possibly in multiple ways. You’re ready to go! Woohoo! Your goals are where you’re going – mental joy ride time! But how are you going to get there?

You may have heard of the various modes of learning. You might even know what your particular strengths are. The question is – do you use these in your practice to help you learn? Before we go on, we need to agree that for our purposes, practicing is actually more about learning than anything else. And possibly even more about learning that your lesson!

In your lesson, you get the gist of what you’re meant to be learning. But even the best students learn relatively little while in the lesson. In the lesson is where you get the basic materials and the guidance needed to build your music. So, no, I’m not saying you don’t need lessons – we all need lessons! There is so much to learn. The lesson is actually not about you playing. Lessons are far more about the guidance you receive from your teacher than about anything else. This is especially true for adult learners. You are guided on how to interact with the music, how to coax sound from the box, how you might think about what you’re doing, and of course, the physical stuff you must do to accomplish your goals. Your teacher is helping you learn how to think and interact with the music so you can do it yourself.

So, of course you are being taught during your lesson. But let’s say you practice one hour each day that you don’t have a lesson. That means of the seven hours each week you spend at your harp, only 15% is spent in direct interaction with the teacher. The other 85% of the time is by yourself, leveraging what you got in your lesson so that you can learn the music. When you realize that, it’s clear that it will be while you’re practicing you need to spend your time wisely. This is when you will learn the most through implementing the information you received in your lesson.

Then the question becomes, how can you best spend that time, so you maximize your learning (while also maintaining your enjoyment)? Because now you really know that pointless, unexamined iteration is a waste of your time. What should you do then?

The first thing you might consider is how you learn best. You’ve learned lots of things over your life in many different ways. You’ve learned to talk, to read, to cook, to drive, to balance your checkbook, to play the harp, and so much more. And while being taught those things you might have noticed that you really prefer to be left alone to read the manual. Or you might instead prefer someone who knows what they’re doing tell you how to do it. Or you might want someone to do it while you watch and then watch you while you try. You might be very disciplined and work carefully through a piece. Or you might analyze and examine the tune before you start working on it. Or you might just pick at bits and pieces until something sticks. You have a preferred mode of learning.

All of those are good approaches – and using your best approach will certainly help you learn while reducing your frustration. You already know that not everyone learns the same ways and you probably intuitively know that when there’s a mismatch, you are likely to become exasperated – or just get in your own way.

So the second thing you might consider is which ways are not for you – and give those a wide berth! Using methods and approaches that you know do not work for you is just pointless (unless your intent is to learn nothing but to bother yourself in the process).

However, this leaves another pool of ways to learn – those that are neither your strengths nor your weaknesses. These all hold some (potential) promise. If you listen really well but read really poorly (that is, you are auditory but not visual), you can read the music while listening to it (yea youtube) thus combining them to give yourself a new way to think about the tune. If you are tactile but all over the place, you might set yourself the challenge of finding the similarities and differences in the fingering patterns throughout the tune. Combining modes of learning can help you learn better. This idea of pairing up two ways of doing it opens up some new ways to get the music into your head!

Next, we’ll talk a little more about some descriptions of ways of learning and how those strengths might apply. Until then, learn your practice. Are you visual? auditory? tactile? Something else (there are loads of ways to talk about how you learn) – let me know how you learn in the comments below…I’m sure between us all we have similarities and differences.

Welcome to the Process and Product of 2021!

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Jen

It’s that time of the year when we reflect on the past year and think about what might come in the next twelve months.

Of course, the last year wasn’t really all that nice and we might be inclined to avoid thinking about it at all. But that would be a mistake.

You probably learned a great deal in the last year. Some of it good, some of it bad, almost all of it about you. So think about what has happened so you can make a better start to the coming year.

You might think that I’m going to tell you to make your resolutions or goals for 2021. But I’m not. In fact, I think that would not be a good idea. Let’s wait on those goals for a sec and instead, let’s talk about something you’ve been telling me.

One of the things you told me – a lot – was that in the past year, you weren’t motivated. That you weren’t practicing. And that this not practicing lead you to feel badly…because you knew you should be maximizing your time by practicing more.

And if you’re on social media, this might have made you feel even worse as people made videos and wrote music and built complicated multi-window concerts that included participants all over the world and shaped facebook empires and instagram realms, leaving you to feel like you needed to be just as creatively productive …even if you were still working full time (or were mildly depressed by the situation and your infatuation with doomscrolling!).

And possibly even worse, you told me that this made you doubt if you should keep playing. Doubt if you’d ever get back to your harp. Bemoaning your lack of progress…and motivation. Wondering if you ever really were a harp player.

Some of you said something to the effect of – if there’s no one to play for there’s no reason to play and if there’s no reason to play there’s no reason to practice and if I don’t practice then I can’t play…so maybe I should just give it up!

Poppycock!

What you might see as a lack of motivation is likely just a need to determine your style. Once you know what that style is, then you can focus on what works for you.

Some of us are Process people. We are in it for the journey. We love to explore the nooks and crannies of the path. We just love the route – and if we never get anywhere, that’s ok too – we’ll amble along taking in more information, learning as we go, enjoying the ride. We like a unending, undefined pursuit.

Some of us are Product people. We don’t really have a lot of thought for the journey – we are focused on the destination. We love to arrive! We honestly don’t give a fig for how we get there; we just want to get there. And then (possibly even before we get there) we’ll look for our next destination and work on getting there ad nauseum.

The process focus is popularly held as a more enlightened approach. And smugly superior process people like to point out that product people are missing the point, aren’t mindful enough, etc. Product people don’t even look up of course, because they are busy getting where they’re going and don’t have time to listen to process people prattle on about the path.

If you’ve been feeling unmotivated because there’s nowhere to play, you’re probably a Product person.

But as you might have already guessed, there is no one right way. There are even some hybrid people who both enjoy the journey and rejoice in arriving at the destination. As we continue to move through the year with ongoing uncertainty, the process people might appear to have an advantage. But the real advantage will be to those who know what their approach is and going from there.

It is important is to know what you are and to work with that knowledge to achieve two aims:

To encourage yourself to continue
To stretch yourself to be more like you aren’t (and observe how that helps you grow as a musician)

You likely already know which of these you are. If, over the last eight months you were a font of great ideas and noodled around with them and maybe put at least a few of them into play – you are likely a process person. If, on the other hand, your ongoing self-talk included something along the lines of “there’s no one to play for, there’s nothing to do, why would I bother to play” you’re probably a product person.

A Product focus begins with the end in mind – you practice because you have a gig coming up. Or a harp circle. Or a lesson. It might not be in you to practice just for the joy of it. And you might feel silly when you just sit to play – rather than practice – when no one is listening. You typically do practice (only because when it’s time to perform, there’s not many tunes you can just pull out of your ear without practice). For you practice is a means to an end, not a journey.

A Process focus is much more open ended. You dally. You practice things just to know them rather than to prepare to perform. You may look forward to the feel of the harp against you and the sound of the strings as you play. You might noodle for hours just to noodle. And if you never perform that stuff, so what – look at what you learned.

It is important to note –

– most people have a some of both Process and Product,

– one is not better than the other, they’re just different ways to look at the world

So, as you begin to feel your way into the new year, but before you get down to defining what you think the year might look like in terms of your harp life goals or resolutions – I have some homework for you!

Assess yourself and determine if you are more Process or more Product. Be honest!
Once you’ve determined which you are, mark where you are on the continuum
Write down three things that might come from being more what you aren’t (e.g. if you’re mostly process, what are three things that you might benefit from being more product focused)
Write down some ways you anticipate this will make you uncomfortable
Note how this exercise (and actually implementing the three things you identify) might improve your practicing and playing.

Are you more Process or more Product? Let me know what you’re like and what you think your three things might be in the comments below!

Keep Moving

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Jen

In what has been an interesting year (yes, that’s the most charitable word I can think of to describe 2020), winter has begun with a roar (literally – high winds and damaging gusts in my area, 6 inches of snow for some of you). It’s enough to challenge one’s sanity!

But we are stronger than that and we will push through all this. Thankfully, we have our harps to help us get through just about anything! But we do need to keep moving to help us continue to grow – and I think that many of you have been doing that throughout the year. We keep moving on our repertoire. We keep moving to find new ways to gather and be a community. We keep moving to help each other out as we have seen opportunities to share first vanish and then move to new virtual ways of connecting.

But are we moving enough? I know you keep moving while playing – but are you actually moving? There are a few ways of moving that are fairly essential to your continued playing and your overall wellbeing.

Go for a walk – outside. I did mention I meant to literally move! There are a number of reasons to go for a walk. Getting some sunlight is good (and necessary) for your health. Getting some fresh air might just save your life (Dr. Fauci tells us now). And a little bit of light aerobic exercise helps keep you healthy. If you prefer, don’t see talking a walk as a fitness challenge but rather an opportunity to spend a little quiet time to clear your mind and reconnect with yourself. And don’t let the winter deter you – this doesn’t have to be a trek, just a short stroll will have the desired effect.

Take a little exercise. Ok, now I’m talking about a little more strenuous than the walk! No matter your age, a little bit of exercise helps keep you supple. You don’t have to be a gym rat or the next Arnold Schwarzenegger either – just find an appropriate workout plan online. There are loads that can be perfect for you – search by your age, or current level of fitness, or interest (for instance – don’t have any equipment, find a workout that doesn’t require any like basic calisthenics…those are still around and are still good for you). The point is that having a little more movement in your day will help you keep moving. You will be less stiff and sore, and this can be a perpetual part of your day – the longer you exercise a little each day, the better you will feel every day. And feeling better sure makes playing easier!

Don’t plant on the bench. I find this particularly difficult! When you’re playing and having a great time (as we do!), or even practicing and working intently on getting some new piece worked up, it’s easy to be so focused that you inadvertently spend too much time sitting on the bench. You might recall that typically the appropriate seat for playing is not really designed for long term sitting. Most are flat and not particularly cushioned. So be sure to schedule stretch breaks and plan to get up from the bench to move a little throughout your practice. You don’t have to take a long break to keep moving! Take a short walk, climb the stairs, stretch, do something to move. Then you can go back to your practicing a bit refreshed. If you find you don’t notice the passage of time, use a kitchen timer to act as an alarm clock.

Feel the rhythm of the beat. Ever since my first harp workshop where I learned about eurythmics, I have been a fan! If you’re not familiar with this (or if this word only makes you think of a most excellent Scottish band from the 1980s) eurythmics is the practice of using body movement to reflect music. It can be expressive (as in dance) but here I mean using your body to represent the music you’re playing. If you’ve ever clapped a rhythm, you’ve done eurythmics! If you’re one of my students, you have likely lived through clapping and walking and a bunch of other body movements to really feel the rhythm and the beat. I love this approach not only because it gets you moving but it also allows you to learn your music in other modes that you normally sit on (in this case actually!).

Reach out and touch someone. Ok, this might be figurative in the time of COVID, but there’s no reason not to reach out to others. When we can, we can literally reach out to play with our friends, but even now, be sure to reach out to others to play, share, teach, and learn.

How do you keep moving? I’m sure you have other ideas to share – let me know if the comments!

When SHOULDN’T you practice?

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Jen

You’re not going to believe that I’m about to tell you this! You might want to be sitting before you read on.

There are times when you SHOULDN’T practice!

I did say that you that you wouldn’t believe I was going to say that. But it is true.

Of course, you know that you need to practice. You know that if you want to move yourself toward playing more, better, faster, stronger – you need to practice. The quality time you spend on the bench is directly related to your progress and development. And even in those times when you not “feeling” it, you still know you need to do it.

But there are a few very specific times when you should not practice. Times when practicing has the potential to make the situation worse, or to derail all your hard work. What are these very specific reasons to not practice? Here are six:

You are in pain – this should be a no brainer, and yet, I feel compelled to include it anyway. If you feel pain when you are playing, no matter where you feel it, no matter what type of pain it is, stop. Visit your physician, and have the pain addressed. I know, duh…but it had to be said.
You are injured – this is like the above, but slightly different. If you are injured, you’ll likely have had pain (ref 1 above). But at some point in your recovery, you might have little to no pain. And because you are beginning to feel better you might try to get back to practicing, even though you know you’re meant to rest a little longer. But failing to give yourself that resting time might result in further injury. Again, duh. Don’t do it!
You are exhausted – I don’t mean you’re tired, I mean you’re really really really tired. You know the kind. Not the, “oh I wish I had gone to bed a little earlier” kind of tired. More like the “I haven’t slept for days because I’m over-stressed and I’m barely keeping it together” kind of exhausted. You probably already know that being this fatigued will result in reduced cognitive performance. You probably also know that it will be frustrating and annoying. Neither of these emotions will help you deal well with the rigors of practicing. Being so fatigued also means that you probably won’t really learn anything from your practice time. So you’d be better off using the time getting some rest and returning to practicing later.
You are really busy – here I don’t mean your normal everyday busy, but more like when you’re crushed with way too much to do and no time to do it (and likely not getting enough sleep – ref 3 above). With that kind of mental load, you won’t be able to focus on the work you need to do in your practice. And you might also spend your valuable cognitive practice energy fussing about not doing the things you should be doing rather than thinking about your practice – not very productive. It would be better to forego practicing so you can concentrate on what you are busy doing and come back when you can be deliberate with your playing.
You are experiencing exceptional stress – again, not everyday stress. By this I mean you’re experiencing significant life changes or events. You might, because you’re diligent, feel that you must, regardless of other things going on in your life, insert a practice. But be open to not practicing, especially at the height of the stress. If I wasn’t writing about when you should consider not practicing, this is where I would also suggest that you could, in this instance, play but not practice. Your harp could provide succor in tough times, but just play, be with your harp and your music, don’t practice.
You are stuck – we all go through times that we get stuck – when we just aren’t concentrating on the music we want to play. Simply stepping away may give you the clarity to get unstuck. Take a walk, meditate, or do something that you know will help clear your head.

All of us have had experienced these things at some level. And when we do, a bit of a break can help. The real trick is to give ourselves permission to give our practice a miss briefly to gain clarity. The other trick is to ensure that we get back into practice quickly after a tiny break so we avoid drifting into not practicing at all. Use your practice journal to help you get through the break and get back on track with your practicing when you come back.

Have you taken a brief break in your practice for these (or other) reasons? Let me know in the comments!

There’s always a curve

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Jen

There’s been a lot going on this year – for everyone. It can be challenging to remain positive in the face of so much stuff. But still you must…because there’s always a curve. Possibly just around the corner!

We’re running up on the holiday season. There are weddings and carol sings and church services. There are a million things to practice for – including those that we can’t see on the calendar, but we do know will happen again soon (after COVID).

Amy is sporting a fancy brace that allows more movement – but we might be limited to left hand only play for a little while. Good thing we know what to do!

But what happens when something happens to you? When life throws you a curve? Just this week I have learned of two people in my harp world who are recovering from injury – one has suffered a broken arm!

But that doesn’t mean no playing! However, it does mean taking time for injury recovery. There are plenty of ways to continue with music and plenty of reasons to persist*

First the reasons:

You can be your own therapeutic musician
You can only watch so many Christmas movies as you recover (or whatever your mindless guilty pleasure is!).
You know you need to practice (and you know that there are ways for your to do so, even without playing your harp)
You can gain a new skill – you could be the only one at your next harp circle that can actually pull off what will look like a party trick – playing an entire tune in one hand!
You know that it will just make you feel better to spend a little time with your harp!

And now, the ways:

You’ve only injured one hand/arm/shoulder – but the other one is fine. You can’t go wrong by keeping that side playing. Work on skills that are more prominent in that hand – drill frequent finger patterns, work on rhythm, focus on articulation – there’s loads to do!
Don’t fret over what you can’t do – focus on what you can. You’re fortunate that this is an injury from which you will recover so you will be able to get back. Your best bet is to not lose ground through inaction and atrophy.
Dust off your theory – if you’re only using one hand, you will need to leverage all your understanding of chord structure to build a harmony in that hand. You can use simple harmony, practice more complex chords or maybe explore jazzier harmonies.
Dust off your basics – you might have gotten away from fundamentals – basic technique, strengthening, and stretching. Add this back into your routine so you don’t end up with another injury to overcome.
Dust off your other basics – you might have gotten away from structural work on intervals in one hand. So, work that in – do the exercises to work your thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, etc. You will be making all your harmonies from these intervals, so you might as well focus on making them as good (and solid) as you can – no fumbling around! It’s never too late to open Sylvia Woods’ Teach yourself book, Maria Grossi’s book, Sue Richards’ exercises, or whatever your favorite basics book is**.
Dust off your musicality – here’s a real opportunity to focus on the tune and rendering more musically. Without all the other stuff to focus on (two hands mostly!) you can really hone in on your musicality.
Work on (and write down!) your arranging skills.

You can see that focusing on one hand might be a bit of bother while you recover but it can open your eyes to some other important aspects of playing. You might even consider giving it a go before you’re injured! And it can’t hurt to have a plan in the event of injury – and you’ll have something to look forward to!

One final thought on recovering while injured – be very careful to monitor your posture and technique while you’re recovery – no need to develop an overuse injury on top of everything else!

Have you been injured and needed to modify how you play or practice? What did you do and how did it work for you? If you haven’t been injured, do you have a plan just in case life throws you a curve? Let me know in the comments below.

* please don’t do anything dumb – I’m not that kind of doctor, this is not medical advice. If you are recovering from an injury or surgery, follow the instructions of your physician, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and other health care providers. But don’t forget to ask those same providers to help you recover by explaining that you are a harp player and you are keen to get back to your harp – for your mental, emotional, and physical health. They can’t give you useful advice if you don’t tell them you need to play your harp! Be prepared to explain what you need to be able to do while you’re playing.

** Not a paid endorsement and there are lots of books – I like these and I think you might too.

Go Wide

Posted on October 12, 2020 by Jen

One of the best things about teaching is how much you learn from your students. I’ve told you that before and it only becomes more true with each passing day.

Another thing I’m always going on about is practicing. Of course you need to practice. You know that. You know you need to practice most every day. The more you practice, the better you’ll play – you’ll know more, you’ll be more confident, and you’ll just have more to show for your time.

Duh.

But then I have a student say something really profound in its simplicity. And I realize I have to tell you more.

My student and I were talking about “old stuff”. The stuff she knows. The stuff she didn’t really practice any more. Tunes she knows, maybe even loves, but have fallen by the wayside of her mind/list/index card library. The stuff is dying in her repertoire. She was struggling to figure out how to keep those tunes from dying! You have probably also had this experience.

What? How should you structure your practice?

You already know that the longer something you have learned sits, the less well it’s going to go when you give it a dust off. You might be able to pull it out of your head, buy you’re likely to be unimpressed. Or (in my opinion, worse) it’s brilliant…the first time. But when you play it again immediately after, it’s a nightmare! So discouraging.

But if you spend all your time practicing your old stuff, you won’t have time to practice your new stuff. You’ll be stuck. Ugh. How are you ever supposed to move on?

Well, the path forward is through practice. (You knew I would say that).

We often talk about practicing – but we focus on the daily level – the simple, day to day of sitting down, warming up, doing exercise, working through tunes, polishing, and finalizing music before finishing by playing a little something for yourself.

But after you have learned more than about five tunes, this schedule is going to leave you with not nearly enough time to work on every tune based on where in development each tune is.

So you’ll have to go longer each day. Or you can change your focus. Your practice planning will have to expand beyond what you do each day. You will need to think about your practice time across the week. And across the weeks!

Rather than the list we have above, your week plan might include a different focus for each day. That means that while each day holds the basic outline (from warm up to playing for you), the “work” part in the middle of the practice might have a specific concentration. Some examples –

Monday Musing – make sure your plan for the week fits what you’d like to work on just then
Tuesday Technique – you know the little bad habits sneak up on you, this day helps conquer that
Wednesday Work – focus on really working the tunes so you identify the fingering, rhythm, etc you need to work on
Thursday Throughplay – play through all your old tunes (you don’t have to save this for the weekend!)
Friday Furbish – take a day to burnish the tunes that are nearly there
Saturday Survey – assess what you’ve worked on and tweak things from the week that might need a little more time and attention
Sunday Sport and Merry-making – you need to have one day that you just play for fun!

This is just a set of suggestions. You know where you want to go, so build your map for you. Taking this wider view of your practice may help you to be proactive while learning.

Of course, you probably also have your sights set higher. If you’re in a development phase (for instance), you might need to think even wider and build a collection of weeks. But this week’s suggestion will work just fine for learning new tunes to increase your repertoire and help you keep your tunes in your hands.

How would you structure your week? Let me know in the comments!

Ways to do it wrong!

Posted on September 14, 2020 by Jen

I’ve told you that I am immensely lazy, and I hope you are beginning to believe it! Take the holidays, for instance. My favorite time of year – pretty much the same music year after year. Once you learn it, you are good…f-o-r-e-v-e-r! (cue maniacal laughter).

Holiday music – easy-peasy. Or is it? Same thing with your regular repertoire, of course, but it’s at the holidays it becomes really clear. There are still loads of things you can do wrong – here are just 10:

Don’t start practicing until right before you have to deliver. After all, you’ve played it all before, so it won’t take too much time. By assuring you don’t have enough time to practice everything you will be left feeling less confident – and who doesn’t like to perform feeling less than ready? It also assures you don’t actually know the music cold – especially important because everyone you play for will definitely know the tunes, so you really have to deliver.
Don’t add any new tunes. One sure way to keep it dry is to play the same stuff year after year after year after… That way all the tunes can be stale and as boring to you as you can get them. And that won’t show when you play – really.
Don’t keep up your “non-holiday” repertoire. By the time the holidays are actually occurring, the people you’re playing for definitely won’t have been hearing holiday music since Halloween and they won’t be sick of the stuff. And you won’t want to keep their interest by including a few non-holiday tunes, just to keep it fresh for them.
Play everything like you always have. One of the best things about leaving practicing until the last minute is that you also won’t have time to insert some new ideas and you really won’t be able to work on new arrangements…and that way everything can be boring!
Pick one holiday and stick with it. After all, it’s not like people from varied traditions don’t all have holidays at the winter solstice time. If you are in a widely diverse community or if you know you are likely to need music from different traditions – you wouldn’t want to be ready to serve everyone.
Spend all your practice time on tunes. After all, what else is there to practice? Working on exercises and technique builders certainly won’t help you play or learn new music.
Don’t think ahead to next year. It will be so much better to come out of the holiday season flat footed. After all the hubbub of the season, you will not experience a motivational low or just the doldrums of the dead of winter, so failing to think ahead will definitely keep you from getting off to a good start in 2021.
Definitely play all one type of tune. There are so few options at the holidays that you will definitely want to only play Christmas carols. Or the old tried-and-true Christmas songs. That way you and everyone you play for can be railroaded into boredom.
It’s just your family, it doesn’t have to be musical. After all, they’ll have heard you practicing day after day –they won’t really need anything special from you. So definitely just bang out the notes but don’t waste time on making it musical, just for them.
Don’t forget that gifts are all about stuff – so no one (family, friends) would want a gift you’re your gift…or would they?

I know there are many other ways to do it wrong – at the holidays or any time through the year. Let me know in the comments what I forgot…and what I got wrong!

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