Category Archives: Other

And Now for Something Completely Different

Posted on by
12

One of the tenets of maintaining and growing your creativity is to always be trying something completely different.  And here we go!  This week I wanted to share another way to get yourself to your bench – by getting dinner on the table quickly but satisfyingly.

By sharing…a recipe!

You may (or may not) know that I h-a-t-e to cook.  I can cook.  And I can cook well enough – with only a few minor catastrophes which I love to share (just to get out of it as much as possible). But I don’t find it enjoyable.  As a chore it ranks slightly behind cleaning the bathroom.

But you do know that what I do find enjoyable is trying new things.  Whether you’re good at it or not doesn’t matter, just giving it a go is worth all the outcomes.

So, I’m trying something new – sharing a recipe that I made up and hoping it is interesting (or at least amusing) to you.  I know you’ll let me know what you think!  Like all my projects, I sort of make it up as I go while hoping for the best.  I’d urge you to do the same thing.  Start where you are and end up where you got.  Improvise.  Try new things.  Keep what you like.  Add other stuff.  Remember to write down what you liked (and note what you didn’t like so you don’t do it again).

Of course, the main point is getting yourself fed so you can get back to playing!

I hope you’ll give it a shot and let me know what happens.  Even better, if you have a similar recipe that you have honed for yourself and are willing to share, I’d love to hear about it.

Jen's Really Good Potato Soup

My made up recipe for a winter stable staple.
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine American
Servings 8 hefty servings

Equipment

  • Soup pot

Ingredients
  

  • 2.5 lbs White potatoes, diced (or purple or golden or whichever you like best)
  • 1 Tbs Salt (to boil potatoes)
  • 2 Tbs Butter (Salted or un-, as you wish)
  • 1 med Onion (use as much or as little as you like)
  • 1 soupcon Garlic (to your palate)
  • 4 cups Potato water from the water you boil the potatoes in
  • 6 Chicken bouillon cubes
  • 2 cups Heavy cream (you only live once, eat the cream)
  • 2 cups Cheddar cheese shredded divided
  • 15 slices Bacon cooked and minced
  • 1 smidge Nutmeg (ground) to taste - you can always add more later so don't overdo it up front!
  • Bacon bits for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Dice the potatoes (so they'll cook faster) - peel or don't, as you prefer. I don't.
  • In the soup pot, bring 6 - 8 cups of water, the diced potatoes, and the salt to a boil until tender - about 15 minutes.
  • Put a colander in a large mixing bowl (or large pot). Pour the boiled potatoes into the colander and drain the water into bowl or pot. Set aside 4 c of the water and discard the remaining water.
  • Return the soup pot to the stove and over medium heat, melt the Butter. Then add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent.
  • Add the 4 c of water and the potatoes and bring to a simmer. Add bouillon cubes and dissolve.
  • Reduce heat to low and add the cream (slowly and carefully), half the shredded cheese, the bacon, and the nutmeg. Return to simmer.
  • To serve, top with remaining cheese and bacon bits to garnish. Serve with crusty bread.

Notes

This soup makes up really quickly so it's perfect for those nights when you need to eat but really, really want to get to your harp!  And although it's nothing fancy, it gets rave reviews. 
Keeping the peels on the potatoes is a personal preference and I pretend that it makes it healthier because - you know - fiber.  Reusing the water is not only eco, i think it improves the texture of the soup.
Feel free to improvise - just like a good tune!  I fiddle with this every time and never make it the same way twice. Have fun!

 

Five Things I Can’t Live Without

Posted on by
15

Harp players cannot live on practice alone.  There is, after all, more to life.   Like performing.  Or maintenance.  Or just plain enjoyment.  We all have those things we need to have – things that are essential to us.  Stuff that makes the difference between a good day and a less than stellar outcome.  Have you ever thought about what you just can’t live without at when it comes to playing your harp?

Well, I have.  We all have those things that we really rely on.  And since you asked (after all, where do you think I come up with these ideas for blog posts?) – here’s my things I can’t live without, my essentials* –

  1. Tuner – there are loads of tuners out there. They range from fairly simple to awfully complicated.  I have four – a Snark ST-2 (the red one), a Korg CA-1 with a pickup, a free app download (G-Strings), and a tuning fork.  Clearly each one has a different application.  I like the Snark because it’s small.  The Korg is great in a group.  I love that the app is almost overly precise.  The tuning fork is just for fun – and when I feel like I need a challenge I use it to tune by ear and then double check my accuracy of the tuning with one of the other tuners. 
  2. Spare strings – ok, this is a “duh”, but I am always surprised when someone tells me they don’t have a spare string. My strong recommendation is that you get a spare set of strings – an entire set.  And, if you have already broken a string, don’t forget to order an extra with the set (one to go on the harp and one to complete the set).  That can be kinda pricey, but it’s the only way to have a string on hand when one breaks.  
  3. Recorder – I am always suggesting that you record yourself – so you can hear what you haven’t heard, so you can see what you can’t see, and so you can know what you would otherwise know if you weren’t too busy playing when you needed to know it. I use a(nother) free app).  It doesn’t have a lot of features, but it does have my favorite – the big red DELETE button.  We’re not recording for posterity – just to learn…and then we ditch it!
  4. Notebook/journal – You didn’t think I’d leave this off the list, did you? We’re all busy and it can feel like we don’t have time to journal our playing, but that’s a missed opportunity.  Be reflective, think about your playing, practice, and performance.  Be active, not passive, and write it down.
  5. Great tunes – All that stuff is really in service of great tunes. After all, it’s more fun to play really great tunes you love than to just bang through stuff you don’t like. An incredibly wise teacher once told me to play music I like and leave the rest.  Someone else will like the tunes that don’t beg you to play them – focus on the ones you love. 

There are, of course, load of other things that could be on this list – like a harp, the tuning key, the perfect bench, that light that makes everything easier, and more.  What do you find essential?  What can you not live without?  Let me know in the comments. 

 

*I’m not smart enough to be paid to endorse stuff, so these are my opinions – do with them what you will.  I really am interested to know what your favorites are – I’ll learn something and possibly shift my list!

 

Stringing along…

Posted on by
8

This week two different people asked me pretty much the same question.  That usually tells me that something “everyone knows” is actually not something everyone knows!

The questions were about replacing strings.  Not how to replace them, but tips and tricks for replacing them more easily.  Broken strings are a fact of life for harpers.  And needing to change out dead or “thuddy” strings is also something every harper has experienced (or will) – necessitating changing strings or completely restringing the harp.

Like any activity that is essential if not fun, it helps to be prepared.  I have restrung my harp (that could be a whole other post!), but I am mostly prepared for having to replace a broken string at a performance.  I have a handy-dandy kit just for that!  I made it for my harp case pocket, but when I’m home in my studio, I have it on the shelf.  I’m pleased with my set-up and I think from the reactions I’ve gotten from other people at workshops, competitions, and schools, many others think my set-up is pretty cool.

So, this week I’m going to share it with you.  As with so many things, this is my way.  It is, by no means, the only way or even necessarily the best way.  But it has worked for me for a long time.  It also makes me smile when i see it.  Silly, yes, but so what?!  This set up not only keeps all the things I need close to hand, it also keeps everything organized, clean, and unbroken.  Is everything you might ever need for a broken string at a gig in there?  No, but there’s enough to get out of trouble.

This all started because I would toss my tuner into my harp case pocket and then worry that it would turn on and run the battery down, or get broken, or just come apart.  So I started looking for a way to protect it.  Then I realized that I also wanted to carry the pickup which is also somewhat delicate.  That’s where the box came in.  But that was a lot of room, so the other stuff slowly joined in!

Note that these are all items from my set up – this is not an endorsement of any product or brand.  Use what you have and stock your kit with what you like.

Let’s get started on our tour.

First, the outside.  I use a sandwich box.  There’s nothing special about it.  It’s just inexpensive – grocery store bought sandwich box.  I like it because it fits everything I want to have without taking up a lot of volume in the pocket. What’s really important is that the lid fits and stays closed and that it has enough room for what you want to carry.  This assures that the tuner ON button doesn’t get accidentally pushed which is really my biggest concern!

The Box of stuffNext, let’s take a look inside!  Under the lid, you can see that it takes a little bit of finagling and tessellation to get everything in – but it works!  I do capitalize on the flexibility of some of the items to overcome the limitations of the inflexibility of the others.

Peek insideSo, let’s unpack so you can see what’s in there.  Remember too that this is a gig bag item, so it has to serve both tuning and string replacement.

First I have a pickup.  I know this is likely not strictly necessary, but my sound board is beautiful and responds to just about everything.  I think using a pickup helps me tune faster and better – so I use it.  I keep it in the box because it is somewhat delicate and the wires can be broken and I don’t want to have to be buying another one every time I turn around!
Next is the tuner itself.  In all honesty, I have another tuner but this is my favorite…and you can see that it’s small and flat and fits into the box really well (I keep the other tuner in a different box – mostly because although I like it but it wouldn’t fit in this box!).  Additional bonus?  Not having to fish around in the case pocket trying to find this tuner – the sandwich box is big enough to easily grab from the pocket.

Now we get to the accoutrements!  These are things I have added over time because they came in handy! They all either are essential to replacing a string, or just make it easier.  Because remember – this is in my harp case, so I’m not at home, and I may be under time pressure to get the string changed before I have to perform!  So I have:

  • String ends.  String ends are used in a harp knot to give it a little more structure against pulling through the sound board.  I have two types of string ends.  The first are the traditional ones – bits of an old string cut into 1 inch pieces.  These work and if you don’t have any, you can make some from a thicker nylon (or gut) string (preferably one that has broken) or you can buy them from reputable string sellers (some string vendors will send them gratis if you buy a lot of strings).  But I also have a leather shoelace – the kind sold for boat shoes.  They can be cut to the same one inch length as the bits of old string.  The benefits of the shoelace are that they are a little easier to hold onto while tying the knot and they are soft and flexible which means that you don’t get buzzing which sometimes happens with the harder string ends.  I keep the whole lace, but it would be more space efficient to make some cuts and keep them in the box.
  • Candle Sticky Stuff.  I got this tip a long time ago.  Putting just a little bit of candle adhesive onto the knot after you tie it makes it so much easier to seat the knot and get on with winding the string.  This small tin holds wax.  Just work up a small ball (like a pearl) – just enough to give you just enough tackiness to hold the knot together while you feed it through the soundboard (especially on the very thin strings at the top).  It does save you a great deal of frustration and swearing!  You can find this online or in hardware and craft stores and there are multiple brands available.  
  • Major nail care.  I don’t know about you, but there’s something about having a gig that seems to make my fingernails grow!  They can be fine when I leave but when I get ready to play, they have magically gotten too long!  So I have this little cheap nail kit – I wouldn’t want to use it for day-to-day nail maintenance, but in a pinch, I can be sure that I feel confident that I’ve gotten my nails short enough.  Bonus – I use the nail clippers to cut the string after I’ve gotten it wound on.  I got this at a drugstore or a large square footage discount department store.
  • Minor nail care.  I found this little “matchbook” set of nail files and they have been in this box ever since.  I prefer emery boards over metal nail files but have also used them to smooth chapped fingers as well. I got this at a drugstore or a large square footage discount department store.  A single emory board would also work, but I thought these were cute.

Thanks for taking a tour of the box!  I hope it helps you plan something similar for your harp case.  Do you have a similar box?  What do you have in yours?  What’s really worked for you?  Let me know in the comments!

Welcome June

Posted on by
4

In the long sad time, when the sky was grey

And the keen blast blew through the city drear

When delight had fled from the night and the day

My chill heart whispered, “June will be here”

A June Tide Echo, Amy Levy

I find that I’m a little mournful just now.  In my original plan, by now I’d be already in Edinburgh, joining friends, seeing sites, sharing tunes (writing on originally scheduled blog post topics!).  I’d be helping students prepare for competitions and performances and recitals.  I’d be trying to decide what, from my “OSAS at Oberlin” stash would be appropriate for “OSAS at the blissfully air conditioned Baldwin-Wallace”.  I’d be organizing my calendar to practice teaching, practice weddings, practice performances, composing, arranging.

[I refuse to think of life before all the sickness of this year-to-date as “normal” because there is no normal.  There is only change we do not see.   And normal = mundane and who wants to be mundane?!]

But as for right here, right now, it is easy to be suckered in by things around us (like social media mostly, although regular media isn’t really helping any either) and its unending stream of “content” (some good, some pathetic).  And for good or bad, I found that I was being sucked in and becoming envious of the people who were posting clever, or at least amusing, videos of their funny children, hilarious pets, perfectly executed, while distributed, performance art, or oops-filled online meetings.  Increasingly, I was feeling particularly peeved that I, a creative and artistic person, was not also generating huge vats of content…like so many artists posting (highly edited) stuff.

But maybe, with a little shift in focus, I can see that this is not the truth of it.  I am doing inventive things (but maybe not subjecting everyone else with the outputs).   And then I remembered one of my favorite quotes. 

Never compare your blooper reel with everyone else’s highlight reel.

This quote should probably be updated to include the words “tightly curated and heavily edited” highlight reels.

I remain excited for this summer and I’m trying to embrace all the changes (yes, I’m mournful and still remain excited…I’m complex like that).  I’m also trying to appreciate that those changes represent potential.  I still look forward to next summer when I might have even more time with friends in Scotland – and the extended absence will definitely make the hearts grow fonder.  I’ll have more tunes to share and a whetted appetite for sites, sounds, smells and tastes.  My students will outgrow the music we started to ready for performance this year and will move on to other pieces to ready for next year’s events and venues.  Pieces we might not have even thought about if “everything was normal”!  I’ll have time to consider the joyful memories of the items in the “OSAS Oberlin” bin while dreaming up what excitement we will find in our new OSAS location in Barea, OH.  And hopefully I’ll be scrambling to get from competition to wedding to workshop – happily busy and working.

Be careful of the perfectness of what you see.  Spend time with your harp – Imperfect time. Try new things.  Play new stuff.  Play old stuff…in new ways.  Share what you feel like sharing.  What are you doing?  What are you planning for next June?  What imperfectly perfect thing are you working on?  Let me know in the comments!

The Bucket List

Posted on by
9

Some people have a bucket list. Of course, even more haven’t made one, but they probably have things they’d like to have accomplished by the time they’re done on the coil mortal.

A bucket list is a compilation of all the things a person would like to have accomplished, completed, or dreamt of.  It is (yet another) goals list, pure and simple.

You might think a Bucket List is a macabre thing to keep.  After all, most people think of it as a list of all the things you may (or might not) have accomplished in your entire life.  Ok, that would be macabre.

But what if you instead think of it as a gentle reminder of what you think is interesting, curious, important, and/or worth pursuing?  If you look at it that way, it could be sort of interesting – and a little goading.  And probably worth keeping for quick and frequent reference.  For guidance.  And as a reminder to keep your head up (metaphorically…. although you should also do that physically while you’re playing!).

Apparently loads of people have lists that include travel around the world, run a marathon, be a better person, write a novel, or pursue a passion.

BUT – YOU ALREADY HAVE A PASSION.  You’re no desultory harper!

What sort of things might you put on the list?  Well, that’s going to be fairly personal.  After all, it will be all the things you hope you will do before you are no longer able to play the harp. I have my own ideas (although, to be fair, I’ve been checking mine off as fast as I can!).

How, you might ask would you go about making your bucket list? Well, it’ll take a little time and effort, but it’ll be worth it!  First, note that you might be making more than one list.  After all, once you start thinking about it, you might be making a life list, a harp list, a family list, etc.  And that’s ok – you can have multiple lists!

I’d suggest making the list in your practice journal.  You have to keep it somewhere, so why not there?  That way you’ll see it each time you sit to practice – and be reminded of some of the reasons you’re about to practice…

It’s your list – you can put anything you like on it.  Secret fantasies, deepest desires, put ‘em down.  You’ll never know when you’ll have the chance to check one of them off, but you’ll be ready for the opportunity if you know you want to (you won’t have to think about it when it happens – you’ll be ready!).

Of course, also put down stuff you know you can do if you try.  Learn that piece you admire.  Write down that tune that you hear in your head.  Ask that well-known teacher for a lesson. You have nothing to lose!

Then there’s the harder to define stuff – what do you want your harp legacy to be.  Don’t think you have one?  Oh, you do, you just might not have thought about it before.  Do you want to be sure that you have actually played for your friends?  Wish you would sit a Master Class?  Want to participate in that fabulous workshop everyone’s always talking about?  While these things might be more challenging, you can get there.  And writing them on your list will remind you to keep at it.

Maybe the hardest thing about generating your bucket list is to prioritize it. What’s the most important to you?  What will take you the most time (or require new skills or significantly more practice)?  Does anyone in your life need to have an input (whether they be an audience member or a travel companion or some other adjunct to your thinking)?  You’ll need to factor that in. Also, is there any intersection of your harp and your life bucket lists?  Maybe you can take your harp with you as you travel around the world?  Always wanted to go to Scotland (always a good idea) – maybe there’s a workshop you plan around (or you could join us sometime in the future!). Two birds, meet one stone!

What does not belong on your Harp Bucket List?  ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN!  Don’t want to play in an ensemble? Don’t.  Don’t want to play orchestra parts? Don’t even write it down!  Never wanted to learn that “must do” repertoire?  Then DON’T!

You’re capturing what YOU want to do with your harp life.  Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks.  Maybe you’re not quite ready to do some of it, that’s ok.  You’ve written it down so you can be reminded of what you want to be so you can keep acquiring the skills or practice you need to be able to get there.  And remember – it’s your list.  Share it with others if you like, but you don’t have to.

When you complete something on your list, savor that!

Make your bucket list – so you can do all the things you want while you are able. Live your harp life!  What might you put on your bucket list?  Got a good idea?  Want to share it in the comments?

Putting the Ah in Ostinato

Posted on by
Reply

Ostinato as meditation – you know, like in Ahhhh-stinato!

One thing I love about ostinato is its origin – it is from the Italian…for obstinate!  Which is exactly what you need to be to get this very useful element locked into your head and your fingers.  An ostinato is a pattern that repeats and can be a repetition of pitch or of rhythm.  And while some people find them terrifying, there’s another way to look at them.

The fabulous Maeve Gilchrist is a wizard of ostinato (check out her book Rhythm and Hand Separation Exercises and Etudes Book 1).  She has worked hard to master all sorts of patterns and she is rock solid.  One of the things I love about her playing is the unexpected things she can weave over that bass pattern – and you the listener can just sit back and enjoy, buoyed and comforted by that underlying rock of sound.

Because ostinato is difficult time consuming to get solid, many people avoid it.  But it totally worth the time.  A real challenge though, is to first focus on the ostinato itself.  It is very easy to think you’ve got it when it’s not quite there.  And it does take a little grit and determination – because it’s like other foundational elements – it has a hard slog in the middle where you feel stuck.  But you will get there if you keep at it. 

Nope, I’m not going to tell you it’s worth the time because it’s useful or builds strong finger or hones your rhythm (although it does).

Ostinato is a great tool, once nailed down, to check out.

What?!?!?

Yup, think of it as a meditative thing.  Once you have got the basic idea inculcated, you don’t really need to watch the pot (so to speak).  And that frees up space capacity in your brain so you can do one of a couple of other things:

  1. Just rock the ostinato and let your mind wander around.  Make it a meditation.  Really.
  2. What might be cool if you put that pattern with it?  Where would you go?  How might you get there?  This could lead to noodling and eventually to a great improv, some really useful vamp or an entirely new composition (which you could also do by looking at great art, a la last week’s post).
  3. Once you have the pattern down, you can mess around with the pattern itself – see where that leads.  You might find more cool stuff down that rabbit hole. 

Start with an easy pattern – maybe an Alberti bass or find a pattern from an technique book), jut to get the idea.  Keep working it.  Maybe think about it as you noodle on the 4 week challenge we set last week.  How might you noodle over that pattern?  Give it some time and you’ll see how it can become hypnotic – go with it.  Let it ride, find the ahhhhh and see where you end up.

And let me know where you end up in the comments below!

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

Posted on by
4

Today is “Make Your Dreams Come True” Day.  Wow! 

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?  Because, hey, it says right on the calendar that this is the day.  And it only comes once a year.  I didn’t set to to go on about development again, but hey – you might as well use this day as intended.

Make your dream come true dayOf course, to make your dreams come true, you have to know what your dreams are.  I have found though, that when I ask people what their dreams are, the answers are often empty unsatisfying nonexistent.  That is, either I get a (clearly) ridiculous answer (“my dream is to be the Queen of Siberia” – duh, not a country, and no monarch, and no pathway!)  or the more likely response which is…no answer at all.

That’s horrifying to me.  No dream?  Not “I’d rather not say” or “I don’t want to tell you, you’ll think it’s silly”.  Just a blank stare.  Ouch!

I hope you have a dream for your harp life.  A desire (secret or not) for yourself and your harp.  If you don’t, don’t despair – you can make one.  Today is not too late.

Having a dream will help keep you motivated and can help guide your growth…and by extension, your entire harp life.

Need to build a dream?  You can.  And more importantly, you can build dreams again and again.  What you dreamt of as a baby harper (as a friend of mine likes to call budding beginners) may not be what you dream of as a musician of mature harp years.  If you were a child when you began to play, you may view the landscape of your dreams differently later in your life.  If you began to play as an adult, you might have thought you needed to govern your dreams because you were starting later (BTW – don’t fall for that cop out!).

You have dreams that change.  You can have multiple dreams.  You can have evolving dreams.   They’re your dreams – make them what you need and want them to be!  But I hope you have some. 

How do you form a dream? First, you don’t force it.  Just collect some ideas. Spend a little bit of time (probably quietly and by yourself – but do it your way).  Gather your thoughts about what you dream of doing. You could sleep and actually dream of your dream.  Or make a dream board of images that express your dreams.  Or draw/paint/sculpt a representation of your dream.  Or write it out.  The point is simply to capture that dream so you can hold onto it.  You may discard this later if needed, but as your dream is forming, this will help you hold on to the wisps of it.

Your dream does not have to be enormous or grand – it just needs to be yours.

Ok, now that you have a dream, how do you move toward it?  Well, if you have captured it (as above) you might be getting some ideas.  But perhaps most importantly, you have to believe that you can actually move toward this dream. 

Note – I didn’t say achieve.  This is not another whack at goal setting in a different guise!  This is about identifying what you think would be a cool potential outcome and moving in that direction.  I dream of playing Smetana’s Vltava at the Musikverein in Vienna.  It might seem unlikely, but at least I could define a path to make that dream come true! (for instance, I could start by learning Vltava!)

Define what about the dream is the “dream” part and what is the “work” part.  You can definitely do the work part.  You might have to break it down into small, manageable, bite-sized chunks, but you can do it.  Of course, making a plan will help – otherwise, you’ll only dream but never make a dream come true.

Always keep dreaming.  When I was a pup (in harp years) my first dream was simply to not suck.  I think I can say that I got that dream.  My next dream – that I was confident would n-e-v-e-r happen – was to play on a stage with one of my harp heroes.  I got that one wrong.  Turns out the dream wasn’t to get to play with an amazing musician – it was to have that person as a close friend…and play on stage together! 

You can keep moving toward a dream and perhaps you’ll achieve it.  Whether you achieve it or simply hold on to working toward your dream, the important thing is to be enthused and to use that enthusiasm to keep on keeping on – usually with joy! 

So, Make Your Dreams Come True Day is specifically for doing just that.  I know you won’t want to waste it so, what will you do to further your dreams?  Willing to share your dream? Leave a comment below – I’m looking forward to being inspired by you!