The year is still young so we’re probably still thinking we should be setting goals. One thing about goal setting is that it is really focused on a later time and on achieving big things. Now, don’t get me wrong, achieving big things is good and important and really nice to accomplish.
But the challenge is that it’s easy to get caught up in the “big goals” and forget about the smaller goals. You know the ones. The goals that actually provide the foundation for those big goals. They are usually small enough that they don’t make the cut for a goals list (or a visi-mood board). Why? Because they are small. But they are also essential. After all – it’s the little things.
These are the sort of thing that I tend to write on each day’s Things To Do list. Not because I won’t remember to do them, but rather because they are that important. What am I talking about? Where here’s one you might want to include on your list for 2022:
Tune your Harp(s) EVERY DAY!
I know, right?! And yet, it’s easy to just let this one slip – “I don’t have enough time,” “It’s tuned enough,” “No one is listening” – the list of excuses goes on and on.
We know that tuning your harp is important as part of harp maintenance. As I have mentioned before, tuning is good for your harp. And the more you tune, the better you’ll get at it, so it will become faster and easier.
But tuning your harp is a daily activity that has absolutely nothing to do with keeping your instrument in tune! The biggest benefit of tuning as an activity is that it can become a ritual.
Rituals are important – they can help you settle and become attuned to the upcoming activity. A ritual can act to help you enter into your practice and playing time in a useful frame of mind. A ritual is a process, repeated daily, that can aid in transitioning from your everyday life to your harp life.
And tuning is a good ritual to build into your day – it will help you focus and prepare to play. Think of the ritual of tuning as a quiet, focused way to make the shift (and it will make you sound better!).
Adding a ritual like tuning – a small goal performed daily – might be that all you need to be comfortable that you can get moving on those big goals. Every time you finish tuning you will have moved a little farther along on your (small) goals and set yourself up to feel good about tackling the next step of your larger goals.
Do you really need to tune your harp every day? Nope – just on the days that end in “y”!
Please tell me you tune your harp! Do you have a ritual for your playing? Did you define small goals? Did you have small goals? Let me know in the comments!
It’s just so much more enjoyable to play your harp when it’s in tune. Then, I turn on the metronome (usually a comfortable 60 bpm), set the timer for 15 minutes, and do various scale and arpeggio patterns. That’s my ritual. Then, everything else sounds and feels and works better for the rest of the day.
So true, although it does deprive you of the opportunity to make “lemon face” when you play the egregiously out of tune strings!
by daily tuning, one stands right next to/with the harp….
So true – and like any relationship, the more you put into it 9taking the time to tune) the more you get from it (you’ll learn your harp’s little idiosyncrasies – like Sara mentioned, different strings go out of tune differently, but typically, repeatedly. Over time you’ll learn what’s happening…and you’ll have insight to possible trouble if the strings don’t “act like normal”. Like which string might be about to break, which string is just getting old and needs replacement, etc. You keep the love affair alive by tending it every day!
Hi Jen
I’m guilty as I really don’t like tuning my harp. Is there a tuner that you can suggest to all of us? Hints that make it easier?
Thanks
Lita
Hi Lita – yup, the tools are really helpful! And the right tools make all the difference. How about this – I’ll write about that next week? Then I can be more thorough! Great suggestion.
I do tune my harp every day! And you’re right, it’s become a little ritual that puts me in the mindset to practice. Whenever I get lazy and think to skip it, I’m immediately annoyed with the out-of-tune sounds. Tuning daily is also easier — not every string gets out of tune at the same time so when done daily tuning isn’t something that necessarily involves every string. But : I *do* do a major tune-up every week right before my lessons! And here’s another benefit: because I keep my harp in tune, I’m less tolerant when my other instrument (the harpsichord) gets out of tune — that’s a much much bigger job to tune it, but now I’m doing it much more often too! So the good habit is getting extended….
I am fully confident that your teacher appreciates your harp being in tune for your lesson too! 🙂