Song Styles

I've gone through a bit of a hibernation period as a harper.  Not that I haven't been performing and teaching, but before I started on my Christmas repertoire, I noticed that practicing had become a chore.  I wasn't looking forward to it the way I used to, and was even putting it off.

I've come to the realization I need to make a change.  Pre-Christmas, my goal had been to take old pieces from my repertoire that had gotten dusty and revive them.  A sensible project, but not strictly necessary:  even without these contributions, I have enough "active" music to play a solid three hour set, which is usually the functional limit for this poor harper's fingers.  (I did seven hours in a day once, lunch and then dinner, but I came out bleeding.  Literally.)

So apart from one or two obligatory repertoire projects - I need to revive / finish a couple classical tunes and make sure The Entertainer is still in the pocket; the latter is *not* a chore, because it gives me a total kick to play - I'm going to let myself play around, goof off, try things on a whim and see where the music takes me.  I don't need the tight discipline from a professional standpoint, and on an emotional level, I think I need to let go of the reins a bit.

Ha ... not like that's in my nature.

I've done this on the writing side.  I was feeling grumpy and that writing was becoming something of a chore.  That's when I decided to do a purely for-fun, goofy project that I thought was unsellable:  the zombie novella.  And I've never had so much fun writing something.  I'm approaching a review of it, and maybe it's not so unsellable after all, but the greater point is:  it rekindled a spark.  Maybe letting myself play will do the same here.

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions, so the timing is coincidental.  From a harp standpoint, I've just gotten out of the Christmas rush, so it's a natural point for, "What next?"

Play on.