Taking your breath away

Breathing is essential – we all know that.  So, why is it that so many people don’t breathe when they get behind their harp?  Most people don’t even realize they aren’t breathing.  Of course, you don’t see people turning blue, but you do see people just not breathing enough.  So, how do you keep the wind in your sails?  Here are three things you can do.

1.       Start by taking a deep breath – when you sit to your harp, take a deep breath.  Let that breath relax you.  If the simple act of taking the breath didn’t dissipate your stress, then take another. Deep, slow breath – focus on the breathing.  That breath will help you not only get oxygen in but can help you relax enough to both enjoy your time at the harp but also to get more from it!

2.       Breathe while you’re thinking about it – whenever you have a free second in your brain (that is, if the thought “breathe” enters your head) take a breath!  No short, panting breathing, but gentle, deeper breaths.

3.       Practice breathing.  I can already hear you, “when I’m practicing, I already have a lot of work to do and you want me to add another task!”  But, just like you have to practice the physical task of setting levers you have to practice breathing.  If you practice the breath as part of the overall physical activity of playing, when you are not practicing (you know, when you’re competing or on stage) you will breathe.  Which will be good – because you’ll need it!

Try these three tips – it will be like a breath of fresh air in your playing!

Somedays, it feels like you'll never get up!

Some days, the time is fluid, the needful things all seem to be complete and there's your harp, all ready to be played.  But other days are like the third day of a diet - you know, the day you start to backslide, cheat, eat M&Ms because they're small and they don't count.

Those are the days on which your life gangs up on you - there's so much to do and no matter how hard you work, you don't get the needful things completed, the only thing that changes on your "Things to Do" list is that it keeps getting longer, and when you fall exhaustedly into bead, you jolt awake with the thought, "oh, [bother], I never practiced today!"  And, because you're exhausted, as you slide into sleep, you feel guilty and just a little fatter (well, the harp equivalent). 

H.G. Wells is quoted as saying, "If you fell down yesterday, stand up today."  He's got a good point.  We all know we must practice to maintain our hard won gains (and so as not to embarrass ourselves when someone asks us to play an impromptu concert).  But we also know that we live in the world and stuff happens.

On those days (which do sometimes stretch into weeks) be kind to yourself.  If your harp buddy was confessing that practice was a word he could no longer even spell, would you start castigating him?  If your workshop roomie let slip that she's kind of in a hiatus from actually practicing, would you read her the riot act?  No, you wouldn't do either of those things. You would express kind hearted support – you’d try to make them feel better – after all, things come up.

So, don't do that to yourself either.  Recognize that harp, like everything else in your life, is clamoring for your attention.  Recognize that because you love your harp so much you might actually favor it over other things on the good days (cleaning would be one of those things!) so you feel keenly the not good days when you don’t get to play.

Make a promise to yourself to be gentle with you, praise your good, and accept that less good.  Know that sometimes you need a little break to return to your love affair with a light heart.

And aren't we lucky - the loves of our lives sit there, patiently waiting, going out of tune (this must be the harp equivalent of when your dog chews your shoes to express displeasure!).  So, when things calm down, go back, play the old, well worn, easy stuff that you don't forget and the next day, take on a challenge! 

Just ‘cause you fell down today doesn’t mean that tomorrow won’t be better and you can get right up…onto your harp bench!

What does your space look like?

What does the space in which you practice look like?  Is it warm and inviting, beckoning you to come play?  Or does it look the bigger cousin of the kitchen junk drawer? 

What you put around you impacts your time at the harp.  And since none of us has enough time at the harp, we need to make sure our surroundings help us maximise that time rather than gnawing on our conscious or our unconscious thought.
 
No matter whether you have an entire wing of your house devoted to enshrining your harp or if you have your harp wedged into a corner, you should make sure that your surroundings help you play, practice, grow, and enjoy.

So, here are four things you can do to improve your space so that you enjoy being there more and get better performance from yourself while you are there.

1.  Make the space inviting and comfortable.  This is clearly personal and you should make the space yours.  There are number of things that can make the space better for you.  Make sure you have good lighting.  Have enough space to safely play and store your harp.  Will the dog run through and knock it over?  Do you have enough room for your bench.  If you have a small space, be sure you have enough room for good form and technique throughout the range of the harp (when you play the top strings, are your elbows brushing the walls? Then move!).  You may have to move the furniture around (but since its not a harp, I'm sure no one will notice or care!). 

2.  Have on hand the things you will need - eventually.  You know you need a tuner and lighting and space for your harp.  But there are other things you need to store nearby as well - music? music stand?  extra strings? a string chart? whatever other bits and bobs you want to have there.  Make sure those things are easily accessible so you have them when you need them.  For instance, if a string breaks during your practice, it might not be enough to have the strings close by, you might also need string ends, candle gum, pliers, et autre accoutrement.

3.  Of course having things near by means your must have a place to put those things.  And that you actually put them in their place when not in use!  Organizing your things will keep the space tidy so it won't be a distraction while you're practicing. 

4.  Use the space you have to do the things you do.  If you don't just play but also have people listen, you'll need a comfortable place for them to sit. If you do a lot of arranging, you'll need a place for your pens and pencils, manuscript paper, erasers (if you're at all like me!).  If you do recording, you'll need the recorder itself and a stand or table.

Each of us uses our harps and the space in a very personal way.  Make sure you organize your space so you can accomplish all you want to without having to "fight" the room to make your accomplishments.

Quick, before the window closes!

The 2012 Harp in the Highlands and Islands Tour is coming up quickly and it looks like there are only 2 seats left!

 

If you are interested, there's still time - our 2012 tour departs Edinburgh 16 July and returns there after a week of seeing some spectacular parts of Scotland. 

We welcome everyone - harp players, people who love the harp and want to give it a try, people who are love to listen to the harp and traditional music, players of other small instruments, and people the would just like to explore Scotland.  We'll see breathtaking sites, history, meet wonderful people, and learn tunes that are tied to our travels.   We will continue to bring the harp experience to our travellers and can't wait to share it with you.

For more information, go to www.jeniuscreations.com, email me or leave a comment here. I hope you'll be joining us!

Keeping Regular

Most of us have good, quality instruments that are well built by caring craftsmen.  Some are made by individuals.  Some are made in factories.  But they are all beautiful.  They bring joy and peace into our lives.  We look forward to the time we will get to spend with them.  To enhance that time we need to care for them in return. 

Some harp care items don’t take very long, others are a tad arduous and may be best left to someone else. Here are three things that help care for your harp in decreasing order of frequency:

1.       Daily: No one likes when I say this (including me, some days) – tune your harp. My students roll their eyes.  I know they don’t do it.  I think some people miss out on this because they think of tuning as a chore – something that stands between them and playing.  But if you think of it tuning as more of ritual than a chore – it is actually a little easier to get in every day.  Tuning, like everything else, gets easier (and faster) with practice.  You also get better at it the more you do it.  You will learn to hear when you are in tune.  You will learn that each string is different and how much to turn the key to achieve the pitch.  And tuning is a quiet time, just you and your harp.  It is stress free (no learning, no “wrong notes”, no broken expectations).   Enjoy the time each day…and enjoy the side benefit of having a harp that is in tune.

2.       Weekly: Dust it.  My harp gets dusty (and not just because it’s a Dusty – my Wurlitzer gets dusty too!).  I use a commercially available disposable non-feather duster (note that there is no commercial endorsement). I don’t use the little handley-thingy it comes with – just the duster.  And I always do the harps first so the duster is clean and then go on to the rest of the room.  It may not make a difference in my playing or even in my harp’s life but it makes me feel like I’ve taken care of my investment.  And my luthier told me my harp looks good (that’s always nice to hear). 

3.       Annually:   Now we get to keeping regular.  Harp regulation that is.  Have your harp regulated.  If you haven’t heard of this, regulation is the process of adjusting your levers (for pedal harps, it is adjusting the mechanism, repairs and changing the felts.   Your harp needs regulation if when you have open strings it is in tune but when you engage the lever on the string it is no longer in tune at the new pitch.  It may be sharp or flat.  If you have the patience of Job you can do this yourself.  I know people who do their own regulation.  I think they are sainted nut jobs….but I’m just jealous.   I take my harps to a professional.  Someone who knows what they are doing that close to my harp with pointy screwdrivers.  Someone who is obviously more patient than I am!  Find a luthier near you – someone you know, like and trust.  The advantage of this is that not only do they do a great job faster that you ever will and return to you an accurate harp that is a joy to play again, they may find something else you needed to know (mine once found and repaired a split in the back which was cosmetic but would have caused me to hyperventilate and panic if I’d found it myself).  If you don’t know a luthier, I’m happy to regale you with the heroic tales of real ones that may be near you.

Take care of your harp – you’ll be glad you did…each and every time you sit to play it them.