7th Inning Stretch

The start of August is sort of the “7^th Inning Stretch” of Summer.   
Most of the Summer is gone, but there’s easily another six (or more!) weeks to go, so it is the metaphorical 7^th Inning.

 
We actually started stretching ourselves in July by giving ourselves permission to cross into making art in other media.  This challenge to ourselves is a type of stretching -

Why is stretching so important? There are loads of reasons you should stretch yourself, but here are 7 (one for each Inning up to the stretch? Maybe 😊)

See more at  https://www.jeniuscreations.com/7th-inning-stretch/
 
PS - as I mentioned last week - if you've got a piece of art from another medium that you'd like to share - I will add it to the post.  If you missed last week's post where people shared their amazing art from other media, prepare to be amazed and check it out here: https://www.jeniuscreations.com/challenge-accepted/ 

Challenge Accepted!

You are amazing!!  All I can say is "WOW!!"  and "Thank you!" 
So many of you were willing to make art and share it with the rest of us.  You were artistic, creative, and definitely away from the harp.  And you made such wonderful stuff!

Here are a sample of the wonderful things people sent.  We have art made from pastels, markers, textiles, pencil, and clay!  

See the beautiful art at
https://www.jeniuscreations.com/challenge-accepted/

If you didn't finish in time, or whatever but now you're willing to share, I'm still willing to post - just send it to jeniuscreationschallenge@gmail.com and we can keep this up for a while!

Give yourself permission – be a mixed media artist

Blogspotters - as promised, from now on, I'll post a snippet and a link here but the blog is moved to my website and I hope you'll join us there.  Subscribing is easy, subscribe and get an email reminder of the latest posts, the occasional free content, and more as we continue to grow.  As always, sharing my thoughts, occasionally offering a travel opportunity, book or CD.

Being creative away from the harp will allow you to have room to grow.  Working in another medium also means learning new things, practicing different things that you need at the harp and having to think differently – even if only briefly.  Being creative in any medium will help you be more confident in your capacity to be creative.  And while the skills you master may (or may not) transfer – the freedom certainly will. 

Join us for the challenge at  https://www.jeniuscreations.com/give-yourself-pe…xed-media-artist
 

Planning ahead – for the Somer(set)

I’m very excited to share that I will be teaching at this year’s Somerset Folk Harp Festival in Parsippany NJ!   I’ll be presenting a workshop on my own.  And even better – I’ll also be co-teaching another workshop with Donna Bennett!  It just gets better and better - two workshops!  Yea!! There will be more than 100 workshops and I’ll be in great company with an amazing pantheon of presenters!

In case you have missed it, the Somerset Folk Harp Festival is amazing.  It is a 4-day conference that celebrates diversity in music, as well as the talent and experience of the folk harp world. It provides a great opportunity to do what you need to move forward, whether that is to focus on one type of music, or to solidify specific skills, or try out something new. There are opportunities to learn new things in every--single--session!  And the Exhibit Hall – yikes!  It’s jammed with harps and music and accessories and stuff and more stuff…so much harp shopping in one room!

The festival begins on Thursday and runs through to Sunday.  I will be teaching Friday afternoon.  First up is a workshop called Sounding Scottish from 1:30 – 3pm.  This will be a hands-on workshop, for all levels of play.  We’ll be working and learning by ear.  And yes (don't worry), there will be paper too!  Here’s the write up so you know what you’re getting into:

Love Scottish music? Wondering how to make your tunes sound more Scottish? Scotland has captivated people for hundreds of years and inspired composers, artists, and authors. In this workshop you will learn specific elements and techniques to ensure your tunes sound Scottish. Jen will teach tunes to apply and practice those techniques and use images, video, language, sounds, geography, myths and legends of Scotland as muses to provide inspiration for your own take on the music.

And then, in the very next workshop session, Friday from 3:30-5pm, I will be working and teaching with Donna!  This will be so much fun!!  We’ll be teaching Creativity Tools to Improve Practice & Performance.  This is also an all levels (including companions!) hands-on workshop exploring your creativity – and you know we are all creative, so bring on the companions!   Here’s what you’ll find in the workshop description on the website:

In this workshop, you will learn the skills, tools, and techniques that bring the creativity secret to your work as a musician or a teacher. Find out how to actively apply creativity tools and techniques to improve your personal work processes and your overall approach to harping. These tools can prepare you for projects and gigs, regardless of your level of accomplishment or years of experience. Jen and Donna will give you techniques to help generate better ideas and expand your arrangements and repertoire without adding to your learning load.

If you haven’t looked yet, the hotel is already available and there is a lot of information already available on the Somerset website.  You can also register at the early bird rate until 1 May (which is a really good approach - not only do you get a lower rate, you get your summer planned!).  The registration includes all the workshops you can fit into your day, entry to the Exhibit Hall (otherwise known as Harp Shopping Nirvana), tickets to the concerts (where you will see and hear Harp players you probably always wanted to see in concert).  If you can’t make it to all four days, you can register for individual days too (Kathy has thought of everything!).  To register, you can go here.

I hope you’ll come along to the Festival – and come to my workshop!  Will I see you there?  If so, let me know in the comments below.  Hope I see you there -

Be Brave!

There’s a reason you always need to check your fortune cookie, even if you don’t eat the cookie!  There’s some potential wisdom in there.  Alan Alda appeared in my fortune cookie the other day.  Well, his well-known quote did.  My cookie said, “Be brave enough to live creatively.”

Do you think that you are brave?  Have you recognized your own bravery?  It’s highly likely that at this point you are shaking your head, laughing, saying “I’m not brave!”

But – you are.  Many of us began playing the harp as adults.  Minus the devil-may-care approach of children, that may be the first sign of your innate bravery.  The willingness to try new things requires a leap of faith – one most adults are not willing to take.  So, you have already exhibited a great deal of bravery!

But, as Mr. Alda said, being brave is actually essential to making art – in our case that would be our playing, our being musicians, our being artists.  And being brave continually is central to achieving everything you strive for with your harp.

Being brave is a lot of things.  Some things being brave is not (or does not require):

• Wearing a cape (of course you can, if it helps you, but it is not necessary)
• Being unafraid (bravery is not being unafraid, it is being afraid and taking action anyway)
• Not knowing what you’re getting into (rather, bravery stems from knowing the risks, but then schooling yourself and taking on those risks)

It’s this willingness to do something in the face of fear and uncertainty that demonstrates your bravery!

You’re still shaking your head, aren’t you. 

You think I’m wrong.  But still, you’re thinking you might look pretty sporty in that cape!  (By the way, thinking about wearing that cape – fairly brave!).

What bravery is – is persisting in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty. 

There is a lot of ambiguity in making music.  Confronting that ambiguity is part of the art of making music.  You address it every time you play.  How will you render the tune?  What will your interpretation be?  Should you always bring the tune forth the same way, or can it vary based on a number of factors (possibly including how brave you’re feeling that day)?  Are you technically capable of delivering the tune the way you imagine it?

And the uncertainty is rampant as well.  Are you making the tune show it’s best self?  Is your audience responding to your presentation?  Have you done all the work?

Being brave takes practice.  The more you do it, the easier it gets.  This is something you already know how to do – make a plan, keep notes of your progress, figure out your best system for success – and just keep at it!  Playing the harp is unlikely to be the hardest thing you ever have to do in your life – and practicing being brave at the harp will probably help you be ready for the really hard stuff!

As noted above – there is plenty of opportunity to be brave.  So, embrace it.  Acknowledging that bravery is required is probably the first step in being your bravest self.  And who knows, you might even enjoy being brave enough to be creative!

It's a mistake to worry about mistakes!

John Cleese, legendary funny person and noted actor is quoted as saying, “Nothing will stop you from being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.”

And truly, that is not funny.

We are often our own worst enemies, telling ourselves repeatedly that our mistakes are not creative, just errors, cowering in our harp space not playing so we don't miss, harboring the fear that we are not good enough to be creative, that other people are creative and we just appreciate their gifts because while they make charming mistakes. our own mistakes come out more like farts.

Hogwash!

So how will you get around this?

• Acknowledge that mistakes are not failures.  Not getting where you meant to only means that you have an opportunity to learn from where you ended up.
• The cool stuff only arises from “mistakes”.  Pay attention to where you landed and how you got there – some of the best tunes only get captured by turning on the recorder and collecting everything that comes out of your harp, good, bad and indifferent.
• There really are no mistakes – there are sometimes elements that are not as pleasurable as others but they are stepping stones to the next note.  And if music is too perfect, it gets boring.
• Acknowledge that, like fine wine, sometimes an idea needs to age or mature before it is really what you wanted.  Give yourself time for creativity to happen.  You have no idea how many times the creator tried before you get that perfect "Pinterest" photo!
• Failure – what’s the worst that could happen? While you’re alone in your harp space something you didn’t intend comes out?   Get over it and move on!  Unlike the movies, creativity is not going to smite you with virtue…you’re going to have to work at it…and take the good with the bad.

Some of the best stuff ever has arisen from having the wrong levers set, not quite remembering how the tune starts, landing on the wrong chord, or some other mistake.  So, make a beautiful noise and work with it – nothing that comes out of your harp is a failure!