keefezza – brilliant to hear how you got into it, and to hear your enthusiasm. 😃 Kit looks great – surprisingly (to me) compact. Must be a great stress-reliever – that rhythmic activity involving much of the body.

I enjoy the percussion category at the BBC Young Musician competition … when they first introduced the category, I really wasn’t sure if I would enjoy the untuned percussion, but I find it impressive and quite compelling. It’s now one of my favourite categories, second only to strings.

pondo – about unrealistic targets … this is something I struggled with when going back to the violin after a break of about 30 odd years. I had to really manage my expectations … I was so rusty and just couldn’t play to my previous level … still can’t … and it does cause me some frustration. I don’t really have an answer to that other than trying to relax, take my time, and learn to tolerate being less competent than I would like … ongoing!

Days 13-19 … 4 days with practice and 3 without. Have some violin-related things coming up shortly, so am juggling spending a bit more time with that while still keeping up with the harp. Harp progress seems slow, but I’ve realised that one issue is that with the violin the fingers are numbered 1 to 4 from index finger to pinkie – and this is completely automatic for me – but with the harp they are numbered 1 to 4 from thumb to ring finger … this causes much head scratching and delay while I try to work out which finger I’m supposed to be using for any given note!

Day 13 … featured the slowest rendition of Frère Jacques known to humankind.

Day 14 … ran out of time and played nothing.

Day 15 … played the violin and then the harp. The violin seemed so easy in comparison.

Day 11 … skipped ahead in the book to play some intervals. This was glorious … more below.

Day 12 … busy day, only managed 10 minutes or so, but really enjoyed it. Just did the fun stuff.

Day 13 … off to do that now.

Playing intervals made me think about the reason I decided to play the harp in the first place. It did seem like a decision out of nowhere at the time. I had always thought if I were to play a second instrument, it would be the cello; however, I was watching a prom last summer which included a piece with a prominent harp solo … and I suddenly had the thought: I could play the harp … having never considered it before. I started to look into it and came across the piece Glenlivet (arr. Kim Robertson, played by Duygu Aydogan) … and that was it! The funny thing is, I’ve never really played much traditional music on the violin, I just prefer classical. But for the harp – a different story. Anyway, it seems that this piece is included in the ABRSM grade 7 syllabus, so I have a way to go yet!

But, going back to the intervals … something I’ve always missed about playing the violin is not hearing harmonies as I play … you do play more than one note at once at times, but it’s not the norm really; and I found not playing the piano a real disadvantage while studying harmony at school … the other students would bring their harmony homework in on a Monday morning, and it would sound great when the teacher played it, but mine always sounded terrible … I didn’t have a piano to try it out on, and I couldn’t just hear it in my head. Hearing the harmony on the harp is part of the beauty of the instrument for me.

TLDR: What inspired you to take up your chosen activity? For me, it was a single tune and a love of harmony.

Forgot to say pondo … when I was practising yesterday I was thinking about what you had said about 10 minutes being better than nothing … wholeheartedly agree … but I was laughing to myself, as it took me about 10 minutes to get the harp tuned up before even getting started! 😂

Good advice, thanks keefezza. 👍

Day 9 … nothing – busy, busy day.

Day 10 … finally got some kind of grip on an exercise I’ve been finding difficult since the start – again related to playing a note while at the same time placing fingers on strings for future notes. It seems a bit like playing chess … having to think a few moves ahead … I’ve never been good at chess! … and it’s pretty alien to me in relation to violin technique, which is more like one note at a time. I’m sure it will come in time.

Day 11 … off to practice now!

Day 7 … no playing, but I did watch some harp technique videos. It’s been weird to teach myself an instrument, rather than have lessons – and, having had the harp for almost a month now, I wanted to go back to reassure myself that I’m not making any massive errors.

Day 8 … a good practice session. Slowed down a bit to check my technique was okay … a bit frustrating, but probably worthwhile. Still loving the sound I can make, even as a beginner – even if I play the wrong note, it still sounds good!

p7eaven – not feeling strong enough to look at your image! Get well soon.

Well done on getting something done even though you were low on motivation. Sometimes it’s a struggle.

How’s everyone doing?

Day 5 … nothing. Had a really busy day.
Day 6 … another busy day, but since I missed practice yesterday, I made an extra effort to get something done at the end of the day today. Skipped ahead a wee bit in the book to try the first two bars of Frère Jacques – really motivating to hear something recognisable after playing exercises for days. 🙂

Seeing as Shostakovich was mentioned, I’ll bang on about this incredible story again.

New to me, thanks for posting. Remarkable story – very moving.

Clemency Burton-Hill has a book called Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day. She suggests a short piece of classical music to listen to, every day for a year, and covers a wide variety of periods and styles. The book has a Spotify playlist so that it’s easy to find each piece. Might be a way to get a feel for what you like. I believe she has also written a follow-up book – Another Year of Wonder. Hope you find something you like. 🙂

Edit:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GHTAITHgzLCDwWZYjxzOPhttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GHTAITHgzLCDwWZYjxzOP

Currently reading Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum: Glasgow’s Portal to the World, by Muriel Gray. The building was constructed according to the winning entry in the 1891/92 competition to design a new combined art gallery and museum for Glasgow. Initially, the design was to include an art school too, but at a later stage this was dropped from the plans. I had never considered, as pointed out in this book, that if an art school had indeed been integrated into the overall design, there would have been no need for Mackintosh to design the Art School – a magnificent building (in my opinion) and regarded, by some at least, as a masterpiece.

Anyway, this ties in nicely with one of my next reads – The Flower and the Green Leaf: Glasgow School of Art in the Time of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Have had a browse through and it looks really interesting.

pondo – nice for me to learn some new words, thank you! Glad you liked it. It works pretty well for me for writing (for pleasure) and music – I think it keeps me looking forward to the next session, rather than dreading it, as you say.

keefezza – I think of it as stop while I still have something else to say (for writing), or while I’m still enjoying it, or have just realised I’m not enjoying it so much anymore (for music). The way I see it is … I may get less done today, but I’m more likely to go back to it tomorrow and the next day.

Pics would be great … what you’ve made, built, baked, cooked; musical set-ups; part-finished or completed art … or maybe even write your post in your language of choice (and give us a translation!). Will attempt a pic in a day or two.

Ohayō pondo (hope that’s right! I only know about three Japanese words). Glad to hear it’s not just me!

Day 4 … 25 minutes this morning … consolidated what I’ve learnt so far – starting to feel it come a wee bit more easily. Was excited to finally get onto page 3 of the book, having somehow forgotten the stuff over the page would be even harder! 😆

keefezza – will be interested to hear how your schedule works out.

I’ve tried to develop the habit of stopping if it starts to feel boring or a strain … after something I read about running and writing in a Haruki Murakami book – along the lines of … stop when the going’s good (I’m paraphrasing).

https://www.harukimurakami.com/chapter_sample/what-i-talk-about-when-i-talk-about-running-excerpthttps://www.harukimurakami.com/chapter_sample/what-i-talk-about-when-i-talk-about-running-excerpt

Third paragraph, starting: ‘Right now I’m aiming at …’

Thanks slowoldman. The plan is to play folky stuff, and hope hope hope that I don’t end up wishing for a pedal harp some time down the line … I think I would need to move house for that! Repairing a rear derailleur sounds much harder to me than playing any musical instrument!

100 days update – day 2 … no practice for the second day in a row! Too tired after an afternoon of particularly fresh sea air. Day 3 … finally some practice, which I really enjoyed. Trying to get to grips with the need to play a note, while at the same time placing fingers in preparation for future notes. My head is fried!

I do find that I need to pay attention if I’ve missed a day or two of practice – so easy to fall away from even a fairly well established routine.

How’s everyone else doing?

@slowoldman – I tend to struggle with motivation too, when I don’t have a performance or exam to work towards … or even just trying to avoid my teacher saying: you haven’t really practised this week, have you? (flashback a few decades). Anyway, my strategy is to tell myself I can do just 10 minutes (or even 5 minutes) – somehow, for me, that removes pressure – and, more often than not, I just carry on past that time and end up doing a productive and enjoyable practice session. Also, I start with something fun, rather than scales or studies, and that can help me build enough momentum to get on and do something more boring or challenging. Funnily enough, I’ve found renewed motivation for the violin from starting to learn the harp … I suspect because I can just pick up the violin and play without thinking. I feel your pain about lack of orchestra – my community orchestra has done a couple of online projects in the last year, which have been great, but it’s just not the same as all being in the one room and creating that big sound together. We have some in-person rehearsals scheduled for the spring – fingers crossed they will be possible.

100 days update – day 1 … no practice! Never mind … it happens, and I’ll get back to it today.

Well done everyone. 🙂

I’m in too. I’ve just started learning the lever harp, and will try to do a little every day. I’m finding it challenging to play treble and bass at the same time – having to concentrate pretty hard, so can’t do more than about 15 or 20 minutes at a time for now. I’m loving it though. It’s great to play an instrument which sounds lovely even as a beginner … I also play the violin, and suspect that was not as easy on the ears at the beginning. 😬

Sad to hear this news. Currently reading The Book of Joy – His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams. It has been inspiring.

Feel for you, Houns. I hope she could see how much she is loved.

About halfway, or so, down Le Pleney. Sounds about right – that horrid feeling that your hands might just get rattled right off the grips – scared the holy crap out of me.

Another 👍. I suspect you’ll make their day.

I spent countless days over several summers rolling up to the mouth of the 10 % in Morzine, checking it out for varying lengths of time, before setting off down the chicken run. Then, one day, I was ready! After an age of agonising, I finally minced into it and, before I knew what was happening, found myself screaming down it (quite literally, I suspect), before getting spat out at the bottom, still upright and quite intact. Unbeknownst to me, a family of walkers had been watching my progress, and gave me a round of applause. I felt like a riding goddess.

I have cleared Dalbeaties Slab fully naked, rather a long time ago.

😮 😬 Yikes, could have been nasty.

That contained my bravery pills 🙂

😂

Serendipity – watch it pretty much every year – sometimes not even at Christmas. Netflix says it’s ‘swoonworthy’.

The kindness on this here forum never fails to warm my heart. 😊

Thoughts are with all those struggling, or even just feeling a bit down. Spring will come and clouds will pass.

Caught in trap?

No turnin’ back.

😃 😃 😃

Harp arrived yesterday.
Lost in Music.

Congratulations TiRed. Thanks for being the trusted voice of reason, and for taking the time to keep us updated – very much appreciated. I would doff my hat if I had one.

Not sure if you meant the Baavet ones or the ones I mentioned, but here’s the link to the Devon Duvets pillows page – I got the original ones:

https://www.devonduvets.com/wool-pillows#pmpid_58

I’ve just replaced my wool pillows as they had become a bit lumpy after many years of use. I’ve replaced them with the new version of the same pillows – that’s how much I liked them – but the new ones have a zip so I guess I’ll be able to rummage around inside and sort out any lumps. Also allows you to take some stuffing out if you want them a bit lower.

Slight smell for both duvet and pillows but I didn’t find it off-putting, and it wore off pretty quickly.

Yes … wool duvet from Devon Duvets. Comfortable all year round. Wouldn’t switch now.

Bikes! 😃

Sorry to hear it mikey-simmo. Wishing you all the best.

Check out Andy McKenna here …
https://www.stokedonms.org.uk/

Just sitting down to start The Book of Joy – His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams. It’s been sitting on my to read pile for ages and I’m finally feeling like reading it. Looking forward to some joy, optimism and positive perspectives.

Great thread.

I like a mix of rice flakes and oats, cooked in Innocent’s coconut dairy-free drink. I always add sultanas, a couple of broken-up cashews, and a little bit of ghee. Additional add-ons (not all at the same time) include: crushed or ground – almonds, linseeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts; black grapes, blueberries, mango, raspberries; cream, now and again, if there’s some left over. Love porridge.

Thanks for sharing EGF, and others above who have shared family stories. Shocking and thought-provoking. Indeed we are fortunate these days.

Lovely idea, thoughtful of you. 🙂

Lovely story. Made me smile. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

Black and white images of the teletubbies look very creepy…stuff of horror movies

*&£@%$! – nickc – that’s proper hiding down the back of the couch stuff for me! 😱

Loved Bagpuss – seemed very gentle. Other favourites included: The Herbs; Hector’s House; Mary, Mungo and Midge; The Clangers; Mr Benn; and The Wombles.

Interesting to hear modern children finding Bagpuss creepy – whenever I’ve seen a snippet of Teletubbies, I’ve found that very creepy. Perhaps my favourites from the past would seem creepy to me now.

Glad it worked out for you in terms of the size, and just great to hear about this lovely generosity. 😃

Discovering the existence of veggie fish fingers – thanks Houns!

Bach’s Prelude in C Major played at slow tempo – what a beautiful piece of music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv_9apMJpGs