December Harp Music

I have a great and growing schedule this month for harp performances! I'll be playing background music for a special 2-hour yoga class in Fishers. It will be a very relaxing evening. I'm excited to be playing the "Calm Harp" style music, which includes my own compositions of relaxation therapy music. I plan to make a CD soon of relaxation harp music with my "spa" tunes. My titles include "Rainforest", "Circles", "Light" & "Moonstone". I'll post a link to them when I get them recorded for YouTube. Here's a sample of the celtic tune "Far Away".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz72YZob6ew
I'll be playing other gigs at Health Care Centers and already played an annual banquet at the Milano Inn.

A Calm Harp

A Calm Harp is my program for providing relaxing harp music to health care centers and individuals who desire a day of peace and calm, a time to meditate and rest. The soothing tones of the harp have been appreciated through time as an aid for healing and restoring the spirit. Let my harp music bring joy and peace to your day whether in a state of health care or in need of a calm environment from the stresses of the modern lifestyle.A Calm Harp can aid in promoting a calm heart.

Healing Harp Concert

Host a Healing Harp Concert. It's a wonderful way to connect with friends and enjoy an evening of relaxation and healing. I provide lovely healing harp music while you relax and meditate. Refreshments and drinks are an option for your comfort. Your place or mine!

In the "aural" tradition, muscle memory

The way to learn a folk tune or Celtic tune "by ear", in the "aural" tradition, is to disect the tune, phrase by phrase, or, half-phrase. Listen to it, over and over until you can hum it. I keep stopping the Cd after a phrase, and repeat just that part until I can hum it, then move on to the next phrase. Then work out how to play, phrase by phrase, playing over and over several times. Gradually put the phrases together, 1st 2 phrases, then next 2, moving on till you can string together all phases from beginning to end. Your muscle memory, your brain and fingers, will memorize how it "feels" to play each phrase. Muscle memory will keep you playing with ease.

Muscle Memory

Muscle memory in memorizing music: A musician "feels" the music through his fingers. She feels the music, physically and emotionally. Our personal feeling comes through. Each musician has her own unique personal "touch", so, because of this, we can recognize the player when we hear someone playing a tune even before we see them or hear the name. We can identify their personality, their touch, their own musical fingerprint in the music they play. When I listened to the radio, sometimes I could identify who was playing a new tune by the "touch" of the musician. That can happen with any instrument: piano, fiddle, whistle, bagpipes, flute. Like my violin teacher said, what we "feel" also besides our emotions coming thru in the music we play, is how it "feels" to our hands and fingers. When it's right it feels right. Muscle memory makes our fingers remember the shapes and space measurements between fingers. Our brain and finger muscles have been trained. When I play a concert at the Artsgarden, sometimes, I get "in the zone" and my hands seem to move independently from me. I look down at my hands playing keyboard and it looks like anyway I'd place them would be right, like, it doesn't matter where I place them. It was surreal! I was like floating above the keyboard looking down at what was going on!

Laura the Harper

I’m now reading “Introvert Power” by Laurie Helgoe. Power infused!! It covers a wide range of attitudes and sides of your life and how to use your introverted power, your inner strengths, to live a life free of psychological burdens associated with myths about introversion vs extroversion, or “extraversion”.

Laura the Harper

Introvert Power

Just read an insteresting review of the book "Introvert Power", can't wait to read the book! Another great blog I found is "Shrinking Violet Productions", looks like it's directed toward introverted writers.

Pet Pals

Getting some tunes ready to play for a taping of a TV show: Pet Pals. It's a weekly show to find homes for dogs and cats. I mentioned to the hostess that animals can benefit from harp music, just like humans. Most pets love to lie near the harp and relax from the soothing vibrations. So I'm making a playlist and looking forward to seeing how these pets respond.

View From the Bridge in Cambridge City

Verses which came to me during my walk in Cambridge City, IN, May 27, 2005 View From the Bridge in Cambridge City © Laura 2005 Wherever everyone else is In the world today I stand, alone, at this moment, Looking over the bridge. The stream below Passes under me. There's my shadow on the water! I watch the blossoms Flow on the surface See the sandy bottom through cool water, Shallow enough for wading. I look along the winding banks As far as I can see, Water, twisting and turning Disappears into infinity. The foliage, green and fresh With new Spring growth, Flourishes and Bends to reach the water. Here and there I see dry branches Lodged in the creek-bed Ripples splashing over them, Laughing along their merry way.

Practice Makes Perfect

How did you learn to play so well? It's been said that success at playing a musical instrument is 10% talent and 90 percent hard work. Most musicians will have spent a lot of time alone, practicing, learning, honing their skills. Many are labeled as obsessive about their instrument and music by others who do not share the passion or the skill. This is partly because in some cultures learning to play music (or becoming a professional musician) is not considered a legitamate pass-time or legitimate education. The "hard work" part is the practical side of learning. It means you would be sure to devote time to learning, memorizing and putting into practice any new methods or new theory you've learned. It's called hard work even though it's fun. Hard work merely means developing the skills that won't just come to you without effort and attention to what you're doing. In other words, you would want the results so much that you would give yourself time to learn. You might feel frustrated that you're not progressing as quickly as you'd hoped. Don't give up. You are progressing even if only a little at a time. The time spent will pay off. You cannot get worse. You can only get better.
Memorizing: It takes time and repetition to remember the hand movements, the sounds of each note and the harmonies. You look at your instrument and your hands, remembering your positions, which strings, which keys and which "shapes" you've formed with your fingers. Time and repetition are needed to develope these skills. It takes time to memorize these things, and then, to memorize the tunes. Memorizing is another skill that many have to learn. Some people are born with the "knack" of memorizing. My first music teacher taught me how to memorize and how to play by ear. In order to memorize, you have to rely on what the music "sounds" like, not memorizing the written musical notation. Some musicians do memorize the "look" of the written music, and, even I have put to memory specific measures or notated chords or phrases which proved particularly difficult. But, I memorize by what I hear and by what I "feel" with my fingers. It is muscle memory. Your hands get used to going on a certain path and they will take that path from memory.
You also need to practice scales, chords and arpeggios to develope muscle memory in how these forms and shapes feel to your hands. This will hlep you to have a flow to your playing.
"Practice make Perfect" almost. Someone asked me how often I practiced. Did I practice 2 or 3 times a week? To be successful and to play like a pro or to play proficiently or to play a wide variety or a large repertoire, you need to practice every day. It's been found that the more often you call up a memory, the more likely you'll remember it. The more often you practice, or play, a tune, the more likely you'll remember it. This works better than practicing for an hour on a tune. The more often your brain goes down that path, the easier it is to go down that path the next time, instead of practicing for an hour at a time on the same tune. Just like when you ride a horse down a path often enough that, when you let him loose, he will go down that path on his own. How often: You might have to miss one day a week, but no more. Practice sessions don't always have to be the same length each time. You might not be able to work-in 1/2 to 1 hour (or more) every day. If you can't, then at least, practice 10-15 minutes on those days, but make those days the exception. That might be your 1 day a week that you can't put in your usual length of time. Two or three sessions a day will go further than once a day. A beginner young child might do best to practice only 5-10 minutes, 2 or 3 times a day for a period of time so as not to get overwhelmed or frustrated. The attention span must be considered for the age group as well as the individual. Playing should most of all be "fun"! You don't want to spend all your time at the instrument with hard-hitting practice or a schedule that takes the fun out of it. But if you get started with a good and rewarding program, you will WANT to practice every day. I sometimes played violin or piano 6-8 hours a day. I'd take a few minutes here and there to give attention to other chores, but for the most part I was playing music, improving my skills, learning new tunes for up to 8 hours. I was alone in the house for that time. Other days, if I'd been too busy or away from home all day, I would still make sure I played for even 5 minutes before going to bed. Learning to play a musical instrument does not have to be something only for the young. You can begin at any age and have fun with it.

Creative Tuesday, 2010

On Tuesday I got one of my Creative Highs. I was playing my harp and remembered I wanted to play some "spa" music, "zen"music. In a flash, I thought of, at least, 4 tunes. I played them, just playing whatever I "felt" at the time. I let the music flow from my feelings. I composed 4 tunes and then recorded them so I wouldn't forget them. I put together a CD of 7 tunes: 4 original tunes and 3 traditional tunes. I'll go into a studio in 2 weeks and record them as polished tracks. I want to market and sell the CDs to spas and Natural Healing centers. The tracks are as follows: 1. Light, 2. Rainforest, 3. Circles, 4. Moonstone, 5. Sakura/Cherry Blossom, 6. She Moved Through the Fair, 7. Ode to Joy. © Laura Robinson Hiner, 2010

Harp and Piano for Hire

Contact me for your music entertainment needs. Harp or Piano. I play a range of musical styles: Celtic, Jazz, Pop, Light Classical. I prefer Celtic but love to play Jazz and Swing. Having a party, small house concert, reception, retirement, open house, anniversary, garden party, banquet, private dinner? Why settle for the usual options? Allow me to introduce the WOW! factor to any event with my beautiful harp music! Contact me for details. An evening of Stardust? You provide the guests, the snacks and the seating. Let me provide the Startdust: a relaxing evening of harp music!

My Travel Book

Travel Guide to Britain and Ireland. Accounts of my own travel experiences and tips for other travelers. Suggestions on dining, shopping, getting around, language, foods, towns, castles, my own experiences in meeting James Herriot, train travel, local customs. Contact me if interested in reading a copy.

Shakespeare In the Park

Just returned from Shakespeare In the Park where I played the last 2 nights. I performed Celtic harp and songs before Showtime. The audience really enjoyed the info between tunes, such as, explanation of Scottish rhythms, the Scot's Snap, the Strathspey and information about Turlough O'Carolan. Cousins were visiting from Seattle and we all went together to the park, along with local cousins. Ailis from Seattle danced some Irish Step Dancing while I played the final jig. She is a REAL Irish girl, her dad still lives in Ireland, the rest of her family are Irish American. It was so much fun with our cousins last night because it reminded me of past years when we attending SITP together, back when they lived nearby, and I know they truly enjoy Shakespeare and live theater, as I do!

Laura the Harper

Just returned from Oberlin Scottish Arts School! What an enchanting week! Learned new tunes and met fascinating people!