Home › Forums › Coffee Break › 2008 NEW YEAR’S HARP RESOLUTIONS
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December 30, 2007 at 12:29 am #111716
unknown-user
ParticipantMine is to honor my wife’s request to “Play something all the way through”!
How about you?
December 30, 2007 at 2:20 pm #111717rod-anderson
ParticipantMine’s the same as usual: keep the thumbs up . .
Rod
December 30, 2007 at 2:52 pm #111718Ken H.
ParticipantTo practice everyday even if for 20 min.
January 3, 2008 at 2:39 am #111719HBrock25
ParticipantStart volunteering at the local hospital, playing in the NICU/ICUs
January 3, 2008 at 4:23 am #111720ParticipantThat’s a good one! and similar to mine…I need to remember to take breaks every 20 minutes, and not to get so absorbed that I’m there for 3 hours without a break….(injury management!) And I also need to
January 3, 2008 at 5:07 am #111721Jerusha Amado
ParticipantRo,
This is off-topic somewhat, but I just wanted to say that I can relate to everything that you’re saying here.
January 4, 2008 at 12:43 am #111722ParticipantYou definitely want a ten or fifteen minute break in the middle of two hours, or two ten minute breaks sprinkled throughout.
My resolution is to make a cd, only my engineer didn’t want to do it in my apartment and soup it up, which makes it much more complicated and harder to pull together.
I retroactively resolve to decide on my recital repertoire very quickly without equivocation and to practice steadily until prepared. I didn’t do that, I spent six months trying out this or that, and now I have to drop most of that and revive some old repertoire instead. That’s what usually happens, so what I worked on until now will go on next year’s program, or the year after.
January 4, 2008 at 8:17 am #111723ParticipantHey Jerusha,
Hmm, for that sort of work,
January 4, 2008 at 8:20 am #111724ParticipantSorry that last post was full of typos and not entirely coherent…been a hot day here! Up in the 90’s which is really unusual, and my brain is a bit fried from running around
January 4, 2008 at 5:21 pm #111725ParticipantMy resolution is to keep my hands relaxed, thumbs up, and breathe.
-Cynthia
January 4, 2008 at 5:59 pm #111726carl-swanson
ParticipantIvan- I think that all of us who are working on pieces without a teacher or a specific date to finish a piece end up working on this for a while, then changing to that, then trying something else, and as a result nothing gets completely finished. That’s why when I started practicing and learning music again, after a hiatus of 20 years, I made a rule for myself that the very first thing I would do with each new piece is memorize it. I don’t feel that a piece is mine, is finished, until I can play it from memory. And if I don’t make the specific effort to memorize it just doesn’t happen. So with each new piece I work on, first and foremost in the learning process, right at the begining, is the goal of memorizing the whole piece. I actually work out the technical issues, difficult spots, and get it up to tempo AFTER it is memorized. That might help you to finish each piece you work on.
January 5, 2008 at 1:50 am #111727Leigh Griffith
ParticipantOh, you are a Cruel Curly!
There she is frolicing on the beach with her doggy and my doggy is
refusing to do her business unless I shovel down far enough for her to
squat! (Snow, that is)! Last night’s temp. was -26°F (-32°C),
now it is a balmy 15 above (F)! The last two snowstorms (Sunday and
Tuesday) we got 5.5 inches and 18 inches of snow, so at least there is
a little insulation!Back on topic before I’m accused of hijacking, I am practicing more at home and actually doing
exercises! I intend to get good enough at reading notes on ledger lines
(both clefs) so that I don’t have to write them in all the time. The
same goes for several notes in the bass clef, which I never used until
this past July. Of course I’m continuing to work on the ‘both hands’
thing.Leigh
January 5, 2008 at 6:57 am #111728ParticipantDoing exercises! Whoo hoo! Someone actually keeping resolutions! I’m impressed!
My resolution is to keep to the exercise regime my physio gave me to keep the our first instrument (the body!) in good shape for playing…..I’ve been a bit slack since it has been the summer, and instead of doing all those strength exercises and stretches,
January 5, 2008 at 8:46 am #111729vince-pierce
ParticipantLeigh, where on Earth do you live? I guess for a Texan those temperatures are hard to fathom (but I really dream of living up north anyway!).
I love the idea of New Year’s harp resolutions! Being a clarinetist and relatively new to the harp (year three), I’m always trying to commit myself more and more to the harp because I love it so much. I think 2008 will be a good harp year for me (my teacher might let me play harp on a recital at school; I’m studying with her teacher over the summer, sort of like my own personal Camden experience; we’re having a studio recital at school – which was my idea; and by the end of the year I will have decided what I will do after graduating with my bachelor’s degree). Exciting stuff!
My resolutions are:
– be consistent with my technique when practicing, not letting anything slide
– practice my Lariviere exercises (very painstaking)
– not look angry when I’m playing (believe me, I’ve videotaped myself)
– meet as many harpists as possible (always enjoyable)
– get my own harp!
– share my love of harp with as many people as I canI had a chance in 2007 to do the latter, since I got to play harp for lots of people at home who had never seen or heard one (there are no harpists that live in my hometown – El Paso, Texas), including my family and my church, and that was so rewarding. I rented a harp through Harps International, and Rebekah Passmore and Peter Reis were so helpful! It has been great to have a harp to practice on for the 4 weeks of vacation (a long time, I know, but I needed it!). I hope my teacher will be pleased with my work over the Christmas vacation. Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I haven’t posted much lately, and as always, I’m excited about and infatuated with the harp! Happy new year to everyone!
VinceJanuary 5, 2008 at 2:49 pm #111730fay-marie-reinhardt
ParticipantKitchen timers are great practice tools. I was given one for Christmas but concluded
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