We are not learning music to be perfect. We are learning music to enjoy the process of playing. We are learning music to develop a skill. Let go of judgement! If you are hearing an inner musical critic and it feels like negative judgement, drop it. Let it go. You don’t want to be holding unto so much baggage.
If that seems too easily said, imagine that your fingers are actually holding onto little bags of judgment (from past/current teachers, conductors, peers, recording engineers, yourself, reviewers, parents, friends, neighbors, etc.). Imagine that these little critiques, each in a bag on your fingers, are weighing you down. They are slowing down your playing. That negativity is taking up physical space and you need to free it up!
Question: What if you got rid of that inner music critic? Answer: Your hands would feel the freedom to put your fingers on the actual notes you need to play.
Drop the mental comment section. Close down the critiques that don’t make you a better player. You can throw them away in the trash bin over there. Now, locate the comments that do help – the ones that say “don’t give up,” or “there now – that wasn’t so hard!”
You can keep the helpful comments, but put them in a safe place at a distance, like picture in a frame. Remember, you want to feel lighter. You want to free up your fingers to do the playing that you were called to do in the first place.
You have work to do. Your work is playful and exploratory.
You are practicing the process of showing up and being ready to play music. Playing music is not about perfection, so much as the journey you take to a place where the playing feels good! This is the work you love to do. By freeing your fingers, you are already doing what you need to do. Now, you are ready to practice!
I had the wonderful opportunity to read my poem, Weather Report on Orange, on the radio thanks to Vashon Island Poet Laureate Margaret Roncone. “Return to Light” features 10 island poets and will be broadcast at 12 o’clock noon on the Winter Solstice, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. I am grateful to Margaret, the other poets, and show host, Susan McCabe for this fun opportunity!
The winter solstice is a time for reflection and appreciation of the season, so give yourself a moment of quiet joy during this busy time and tune into KVSH. You can find it online at Voice of Vashon. The show will be available to listen to on the website for 2 weeks. After that, poof!
If you are reading this post after the timeframe has past, you can still read it here:
I tell you what: variety is in this end of year concert calendar. As 2023 winds to a close I’ve got a few concerts, each quite different from the other!
First up Nov 16 – 19 Thin Skin the movie – screening in Seattle,Los Angeles,NYC (Brooklyn) Once upon a time I was in a band and that led to another band that led to the leader adding a comedic monologue to his body of musical work. That person is Ahamefule Oluo. His Off Broadway play, Now I’m Fine, became fodder for the movie Thin Skin, now showing in three cities! Follow here for more information.
Next is a variety show: Dec 2 Bouquet Bouquet – Artist salon night of music, poetry, dance, lecture, and prose curated by poet Kary Wayson 7pm Antique Sandwich Shop 5102 N Pearl St. Tacoma, WA
Winter Solstice shopping: Dec 21 Solo Harp Everett Mall – I will be playing harp next to Santa 1402 SE Everett Mall Way, Everett, WA 98208
In no particular order, I’m sharing some 2021 highlights playing harp, teaching, and writing.
Centrum Artist Residency I spent the month of March 2021, in Port Townsend, WA, on a truly regenerative and inspiring retreat. Through Centrum Foundation and Fort Worden, I was able to live in a cabin on the edge of the woods where the Straight of Juan de Fuca flows into Puget Sound, watch eagles and deer at my door every day, beachcomb, hike, and oh, yeah, squeeze in a little work! Focus of my work was on Harp Escape compositions and arrangements, as well as solo improvisations (like this one) and with my friend Josh Rawlings.
Harp Escape Make-Over Since 2019, I have been working on Harp Escape, a therapeutic harp series of meditative audio and video. During this time, I’ve recorded nearly 200 audio tracks and done over 60 posts of writing, video and sheet music arrangements for Patrons! That is a lot for me to feel good about, as far as general productivity goes. Harp Escape is having a make-over this winter. In 2022, I’ll be moving forward with edits on individual tunes, then releasing singles on the various streaming platforms.
Making Music a Healing Process This pandemic time continues to challenge all of us, so how can we include well-being in our daily work? I was asked to be guest speaker for Seattle Music Teacher’s Association in March of last year, talking about how to merge teaching with healing. It almost seems imperative to do so. As a Certified Clinical Musician, I thought about the mindset I put myself in, in order to play bedside music for people in physical pain or suffering from anxiety and grief. Much of that mindset can be applied to how I play music in general, so I like to share that with students. In this post, I wrote up 5 ways how to make playing music a healing process.
1st Live Concert in 20 months! In December 2021, I played my first public concert since March 2020 lockdown. Looking Glass Coffee, a sweet café in Snohomish, WA offered the perfect backdrop for an afternoon harp music: red velvet curtain stage, high vintage tin ceilings, and killer coffee. We were all so pleased, I’ll definitely be making another Sunday afternoon come back in the New Year. The pandemic continues to be a dicey time for performing live music, and I am thrilled to have a found a welcoming venue that matches harp music so well!
10 Tips on How to Improvise on Harp I’ve been a fan of creative self-help inspirational books for years. From Natalie Goldberg to Stephen Nachmanovich, I’ve been studying prompts, quotes from the masters, and artist psychology for a long time. This Top 10 list for harpists helps unleash the timid player – many harpists are classically trained or play traditional Celtic tunes. Improvising for anyone can feel like uncertain territory. These tips take you back to “beginner’s mind.”
Circle of 5ths 2.0 Virtual Harp Course on Udemy I pre-recorded a workshop for the first time! This is a major accomplishment for me, and I put many hours into creating a class on demystifying a tricky musical topic: The Circle of Fifths. The class is available on Udemy and is at advanced beginner – advanced intermediate level.
with some students from Let’s Harp Together! workshop in October 2021 at Dusty Strings
Harp Seattle Workshop – Let’s Harp Together Another first: I taught my first in person group workshop in over 2 years! The theme of Let’s Harp Together, got everyone playing songs together – something none of us had done since the pandemic. It was wonderful hearing all the harps vibrating together (it was a few hundred strings!). Thanks go to Harp Seattle and Dusty Strings.
Return of the Wedding Cermony
Return of the Wedding Ceremony My guess is that I’ve played music for about 500 weddings and counting. Most of my summers are booked out for months. 2020 was different. By the end, I had played a mere three weddings, which I suppose was good all considering. While 2020 ceremonies were very intimate and minimal, 2021 was a return to my usual full calendar, larger gatherings (though masked of course). I played for more than one couple who had re-booked their ceremony more than three times! Once more, it was such a pleasure to return to playing harp for another season of wedding of couples, including some really amazing natural scenery at the Treehouse Point, Leavenworth and at Mount Rainier. I feel so lucky!
You might be asking yourself, “How can I improvise? How do I start?” These are questions students ask me, and honestly, I have been working on finding answers to these same questions for decades!
As a harpist, most of us learn how to read all of the little black dots on the page with accuracy. We often have practiced with such scrutiny that to play something off the page feels strange or wrong. I have met many classically-trained musicians who would agree.
Before I give you a couple of tips on how to improvise, let’s look back to our beginnings of playing music, to a time before we “knew” how to “play.” I am willing to bet that the first time you touched your instrument, you were as curious as a child. Have you ever watched a group of pre-schoolers play? They naturally grab objects and play pretend, never second-guessing themselves. With this “beginner’s mind,” let’s start improvisation.
Tip #1 Own it. Act like every sound you make is intentional, even if it surprises you.
#2 Use chord symbols in the music notation to give you clues on what notes might sound good, in addition to the notes written.
#3 Know the scale you are playing and don’t leave it.
#4 Know the scale you are playing and leave it. (I know! What I said above also applies, but if you want to stretch your boundaries, you should.) Brazilian writer Paulo Coehlo said “A boat is safe in the harbor. But this is not the purpose of a boat.” What I mean is: Explore. You can always come back to dock in your comfort zone original key. But you are not anchored down.
Umbra means shadow. In particular, it is the darkest part of a shadow. It also means a shadow cast by something that is opaque, not a solid state. I think about how even things we don’t see as being solid can take shape, like our thoughts becoming real. You know that phrase by Emerson, “You become what you think about all day long?” – I think that is true. Those shadows are thoughts, and those thoughts become beliefs.
We are all made up of light and dark, just like the equinox, a fine balance of sun and moon within. I find shadows so evocative. Perhaps that is why I have written more than one song about them.
The song Umbra comes on the return of a trip to see my family home for the first time in two years. This song had a dark feeling to it, it starts off minor but then ascends into a Major place. When I ask my students if they can hear the difference between minor and Major, we often describe feeling of minor as Halloween, sad, spooky, or lonely. Being in the shadows of not knowing can feel similar.
One of my all -time favorite poets, Laurence Ferlinghetti, the great American bard and book publisher, died this spring just shy of his 102nd birthday. From his poem “A Sweet Flying Dream” We drifted wafted easily We flew wingless Full of air our hair Buoyed us We trailed our slim legs In streams of silver air There Was nothing blowing us down Or away From each other
We cannot escape one another. Even though we haven’t been able to physically congregate for a year, we also cannot ignore each other. Though we may feel isolated, worried, and fearful as some of the outer world opens up, we are all floating in this unknown realm together. And if indeed we are flying, it brings us levity and sometimes loss of control. At times it might be easier to just let go.
I have wild dreams about what I’d like to see happen next in my life. Partly encouraged by an artist residency at Centrum; partly in response to the pandemic, I sense a new beginning on the horizon. A new chapter of life for us all is imminent. It is here in fact. There is no holding back, so, best fly with the tricks of our highest ability.
It is Veteran’s Day and I miss my friend Crysta Casey, who was a military journalist, poet, and painter. We met in 2002 at Red Sky Poetry Theatre (Seattle’s longest running open mic series). We were quite different people – she was 25 years my senior, a military veteran, and sufferer of extreme mental health issues – yet we had a very casual and organic friendship that came together quite effortlessly. It was only after her death, did I realize she was also my mentor and artistic advisor.
After the reading that night, Crysta and I talked on the street for a long time. She smoked cigarettes as we realized we shared similar poetic influences (Anne Sexton, Sharon Olds, the Surrealists, and others). We exchanged contacts to meet up and share poems. What started as frequent cafe meet-ups to read/critique each other’s work, eventually turned into a weekly date in Crysta’s Belltown apartment with wine and food and an exchange of books and literary magazines.
Therapeutic music is an art based on the science of sound. It is typically live acoustic music, played or sung, specifically tailored for a person’s immediate needs. During this pandemic, though my work as a musician has been severely limited in-person, Harp Escape online has blossomed.
Harp Escape
I have created Harp Escape videos (on YouTube) and audio (made available to Patreon supporters) with the major goal of decreasing stress for my listeners in mind. Benefits of soothing music are many, like allowing the body to relax, unwinding tension, and anxiety relief. Music can also and aid in the healing process. Perhaps one of the most fascinating things I have found in studying music for therapeutic purposes, is that it encourages a listener’s breath to deepen and slow. This relaxation has a domino effect and does several things to benefit our body like:
The world is full of static and noise, subliminal, and actual. Online. Offline. In our minds and in our streets. Garbage trucks and jackhammers. Nagging conversations and bills. Deadlines and confrontations.
Harp Escape is a respite from the chaos. It is an online aural get-away.
Twice a month, I will bring you new music videos from my harp studio. This music will be played with intention for a relaxing moment, for you to take a break from the demands of your life and breath deeply, while listening to the healing sounds of the harp’s vibrations.
As a Certified Clinical Musician, I have studied how certain intervals, musical modes, and tempos can have a particularly soothing effect. I will merge this ancient healing knowledge with my skills as a life-long musician and harpist of 25 years. I am a songwriter, an improviser, and I will be arranging particular songs for the intent of a healing Harp Escape.
Sound is vibration. Sound vibrates water. Humans are composed of 75% water. Therefore, we too vibrate from the sounds in and around us. Because there is so much stress and noise in our modern world, I feel it is imperative right now to pay attention to the sounds around us.
A New Journey
Harp Escape is an online place to relax. A virtual experience of the harp cannot take the place of a live session, but in this way, I will be able to reach more people.
Our eyes have lids, but our ears do not. We have no way to say “no” to displeasing sounds; therefore, it is essential that we become aware of when our world is too noisy and too stressful. It is important for our good health that we contrast the harmful sounds with pleasing ones, because they will relax us. Through relaxation we can unwind our nerves and return to a healthy homeostatis.
As I begin this journey of bringing you new calming arrangements of harp music, my goals are:
Upload videos twice per month
Share themes, chosen either by me or by you
Offer sheet music arrangements of particular songs
