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

Today is “Make Your Dreams Come True” Day.  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? 

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On another note, I think you have all transitioned over to the blog on the website, but if you have not, please leave a comment here so i will know.  I have completed the transition over to the other site and don't want to leave you behind!  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hoping you have much for which to be thankful

 

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Veterans' Day

Just a thought - 

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Happy Anniversary! Our 10th year

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!

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Travel is Broadening

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.

Blogspotters - I am gradually moving the blog over to my website - please go over there, subscribe (on the upper left of the screen) so you don't miss anything. Unfortunately, blogspot doesn't have all the functionality available on the website, so this site will eventually go away. Until then, I'll post the same content but please begin to watch that space!

Stay between the lines!

I was driving down the highway the other day.  I was going about 1000 miles, so on one particularly long, straight stretch, I started remembering when I learned to drive.   

For me, one of the hardest things to learn was staying in the middle of the lane.  When you start to drive, you know you need to stay in the lane – and between the lines.  The lane is defined by the lines, so I looked at the lines - constantly.  But you know how that goes – the more you look at the lines, the farther you are from your desired position – in the middle of the lane.  The best advice (or training) I got was to look down the road – look way down the road.  After I (finally) learned that, staying in the lane was so easy.  Now, as an experienced driver, I don't even see the lines close to me and keeping the vehicle in the middle of the lane is something I take for granted.  It seems that I just go where I meant to be.   

The reality is, no matter how good a driver you are, you will never stay in your lane to get where you’re going if you don’t look ahead.  So, what does that have to do with playing the harp?  Everything!

When you’re learning a new tune – what do you do?  I don’t know about you, but when I’m having trouble getting a tune into my head, I naturally narrow my thinking down to just what comes next - what’s the next note.  But this doesn’t actually help me learn the tune.  It just frustrates me (thus drawing my focus away from what I’m trying to do – learn the tune).  If I lift my head and keep my focus “down the road”, then I can think of the phrases (as phrases, not as a trickle of sounds).  When I can hear the tune in my head, the notes that come next become so much easier to remember.

When you’re reading music, the notation (the lines and everything else) are helpful – but can be distracting.  Again, sometimes just having all that ink only serves to draw your attention to the individual blops – and you lose track of where you are on the page, in the phrase, in the music.  When you lose your place, your hands may not end up in the right place, or they might be going the wrong direction or be overstretched!  Keeping the long view will allow you to read the music rather than focusing on the ink and better allow you to be more able to play.

When you’re playing, you have learned the tune or become familiar with the dots on the sheet.  When you’re playing, you want to be “in the moment” – and that is important.  But remember that music isn’t static or fixed.  Music is serial, it comes out over time - like the road!  It can’t come out all at once (although there are some composers who clearly do not agree with me on that!).  So being in the moment has to include the plans for this moment, and then for the next moment, and then the following moment, and on and on until the end of the piece - as a flow.  This is not contradictory, rather, you need to hold the music in your head as a piece rather than as a set of notes.  Looking at the whole of the music, rather than on just it’s representation (that you learned or are reading), will help keep you on track.

When you’re performing, you really are taking all that you have learned and putting it out there in the world to share.  This is more than just playing in that now.  Because now, in addition to being in the moment with the music, you must also be present with the listeners.  Whether there are 2 or 200 or 2000 in the audience, your focus has to be “farther down the road” to include not only the music but also the hearers and what your message to them/with them is.  Here, your long view includes them, the music, and the presentation.  Keeping an eye on where you want to take them with the music, what it is you want to share, and how you mean to do that will help give you a smooth ride.

Of course, this is a simple analogy.  There are many things on the road that require attention (like stop signs, traffic, pedestrians, etc.).  And just like that, music (written or aural, practice or performance) has details (like dynamics, tempo, timbre, etc.) which enrich the ride and improve the experience.  But, just as staying between the lines becomes second nature, learning, reading, playing and performing can also become second nature so that your music grows, flourishes, and delights.  And just like any journey, when staying between the lines comes naturally and effortlessly, you can enjoy the journey so much more easily.  What are the lines you have a hard time not looking at?  How do you stay in the lane? When you look down the road – what do you see?  Leave me a comment and share how you do it!

Blogspotters - I am gradually moving the blog over to my website - please go over there, subscribe (on the upper left of the screen) so you don't miss anything. Unfortunately, blogspot doesn't have all the functionality available on the website, so this site will eventually go away. Until then, I'll post the same content but please begin to watch that space!

Permission Granted x20

Playing the harp is more challenging than it looks.  You already know that.  That’s why we work hard during practices.  It’s why we try to practice regularly – so that we enjoy small, incremental improvements each day.  And this is one reason I’m always suggesting that we track our progress – to acknowledge, accept, and grow from that practice.

Practicing certainly gives us a way to work on the technical aspects of playing, but there is so much more to playing – things that go beyond the technical.  However, to get to those things we sometimes need to get out of our own way.

So, how do we do that?  We start by giving ourselves permission.  Permission for lots of things.  But mostly, you have to give yourself permission to be YOU!

Here are 20 types of permission you might consider giving yourself:

1. Permission to fail.  It happens.  Actually, if you’re learning, you’ll fail a lot on the way.  But if you refuse yourself the opportunity to fail, you won’t learn…and that would be a shame.
2. Permission to be silly.  There is so much seriousness in music, but a little silly will probably help you enjoy more.
3. Permission to give it rest. Sometimes you need to percolate – and taking a little break will give you the option to do just that.
4. Permission to be as good as you are (and no better). You are where you are.  Be there.
5. Permission to work on just one thing (until you get it right).  Sometimes we think we have to master everything, all at once.  But this doesn’t really do much except frustrate you.
6. Permission to do scary things.  When you scare yourself, you learnt that it didn’t kill you to try something new.  We’re usually most scared that we will embarrass ourselves – you're going to embarrass yourself one way or another, so embarrass yourself your own way!
7. Permission to get out there and share.  We often huddle in the safe cocoon of our harp room at home.  But the music is best shared – so get out there!
8. Permission to fail again (and again and again and again).  You can’t just stop at one failure – do it over and over and over – and each time you’ll learn more that you can apply to the next failure.
9. Permission to make art in multiple ways.  This can be as small as playing a new kind of music or as big as learning to sculpt or paint or write.  All your art will work to help you in the others.
10. Permission to create “first drafts” (and second and third and on and on as needed).  You know that what you see on stage or on YouTube is not spontaneous, right? So why do you expect your initial efforts to be performance ready?  Think of the pre-work as your “drafts” that you will continue to refine and develop – until they are ready to share.
11. Permission to have fun.  Ok, this is pretty self-explanatory!
12. Permission to laugh at yourself.  No really, you should be able to laugh at yourself.  Keep it light – it’s not rocket surgery after all.
13. Permission to expect more from yourself.  You don’t have to be content with your lot – you can want more (as long as you’re willing to work for it).
14. Permission to be good at some things, not good at some others, and even to be terrible at a few.  Here’s an example – I’m good at playing the harp, I’m not as good at cooking and I’m terrible at gardening.  I’m ok with that – I allocate my time and resources accordingly (e.g., I practice for hours, I heat soup for dinner, and I pay a kid in the neighborhood to tend the garden – that's that sorted!).
15. Permission to practice as much as you need – and no more.  I know some of you struggle to get your butt on the bench, but others spend too much time there – practice while it’s productive, and then go do something else.  Got a deadline?  Try a little practice multiple times in the day.
16. Permission to be happy with where you are. This might seem counterintuitive (or counter to development) but it’s not – you are where you are.  Be there.  Right then. Realize too that time is a river – there is only constant change and you are changing when you are where you are – give yourself permission to accept that.
17. Permission to want more.  You think I’m contradicting myself – but remember I said there is constant change – if you want more, want it – and work for it!
18. Permission to change your mind. Playing classical music and tired of it? Trapped in session tunes but longing for something more “substantial”?  OK. It’s ok to change your mind about what you want to play.  Just do it.
19. Permission to keep track of what you are doing…and what you want to do next.  However, you need to – keep track in your own way and build on that.
20. Permission to spend your valuable time doing what you love. After all, time may be your most precious commodity – so spend the time you have doing what you love.

There are plenty of permissions to give yourself.  What other ones do you give yourself (or do you need to give yourself)? Share that in the comments!

Blogspotters - I am gradually moving the blog over to my website - please go over there, subscribe (on the upper left of the screen) so you don't miss anything. Unfortunately, blogspot doesn't have all the functionality available on the website, so this site will eventually go away. Until then, I'll post the same content but please begin to watch that space!