Practice Practice Practice

And so to the end of the Paddies Weekend and Day celebrations.

My rough estimate is about 18-20 hours fairly solid playing over the 2 & half days. I’m now chilling out for a couple of days. I don’t want to exacerbate any latent RSI’s. So leave out the practice.
Does anyone else take days off - several at a time - or is it all practice practice practice?

Also - something I’ve meant to ask for ages - does anyone think a level of fitness - I mean general physical fitness, like doing some kind of active sport training - can help with the playing/practice, or could it be counterproductive?

Value for money eh? 2 discussions for the price of one (although I believe are related especially if, like me, you’re borderline OCD[joke- I think!]).

Feel free to go off at appropriate tangents.

Physical fitness may play a part in the issue, but at least for me it can also be counter productive. I have been battling RSI for 9 months now. At times I wonder why can’t I get it to go away. I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m not patient enough and that it is partially caused by stress… and I’m not sure how to get rid of the stress.

My MO for exercise is to swim back and forth for about an hour and a half. Interestingly, I recently started swimming with several other people and this has coincided with the development of my RSI pain. Of course, swimming does use the wrists and hands to some degree, but if I don’t swim it doesn’t go away. Of course, the RSI might also have had something to do with me starting to learn to play the mandolin, and several deadlines at work.

Pardon my ignorance, but what in the jeepers is RSI?

Repetitive Strain Injury. I did my science fair project years ago on RSIs. The judges for the projects gave me nearly… nearly… 15%.

Yes, by God, this is something I know slightly more than nothing about. By all means engage in one or more aerobic activities. This will help oxygenate the brain (yours perhaps). Which is a good thing, and it helps offset alcohol consumption, which it seems is a frequent concommitant to pub playing. However, if you engage in muscle building, there could be problems, especially with upper body building. Specifically, large muscles can inhibit freedom and speed of movement. This would not be good for fiddle players. I’m an ice skater in the winter time and the muscles I build in my legs don’t inhibit my fingers when playing the flute or whistle, or guitar for that matter. It is however excellent non-impact (until I fall) exercise that sends all the little O’s running around in my cerebrum with glee. I particularly recommend skating to music, even music you’ve recorded of yourself playing. Aerobic Narcissism at it’s best.
Seriously, exercise is good, and for women can prevent osteoporosis. In fact there is evidence that exercise actually contributes to the restoration of bone density, and within reason (don’t go overboard except when swimming), helps keeps joints operating smoothly. I’m convinced that supplements for joint health are also good, such as MSM, glucosamine, chondroitin, etc. This advice is worth what you’ve paid for it.
Oh, OCD means Old Crotchety Derelict?

Steve, I was just as ignorant *blush* 🙂

I used to play every day and feel guilty if I skipped a day. Seems like most of us go through an obsessive stage, especially in the early years, and that can be a good thing. It takes an ungodly number of hours to master some of the techniques and amass a suitcase full of tunes.

So maybe it’s obvious, but it seems to me the more years you’ve played this music, the more you can gain from taking a couple of days off every week. In my younger days, I usually felt rusty if I missed a day of practice, but now it refreshes me and lets my joints and muscles recover.

But I’ve never been the best poster boy for “practicing.” Sometimes, when life intervenes, I play only once a week--at our local Tuesday session. More typically I play at least every other day. I also keep tunes fresh just by playing them in my mind, and this saves wear and tear on the hands and bow arm. Sometimes it helps to just play for 10-15 minutes, just wallowing in one or two easy tunes, and then put the fiddle away till tomorrow. Regardless, I rarely “practice” anymore in the sense of playing scales or exercises or working over the tricky bits of a tune. I just play, whatever comes out, for the fun of it. And I’d say I suffer fewer RSIs and have improved my playing more with this approach than when I’ve tried to be more structured and “practice” oriented.

St. Paddy’s Day was low key for me this year, so I don’t need time off from playing. Except that in gutting and remodeling our kitchen, I’ve aggravated a shoulder injury (bow arm), so I’m taking it easy on the fiddle. Exercise definitely helps--even just a long walk. I agree about ice skating too--great exercise and stress relief. Bicycling’s my favorite. Anything to get the blood pumping--oxygen in, lactic acid and Guinness residues out….

Yep, that’s me….I feel soooo guilty when I miss a day, and then I feel that that is why I’m not improving….I also have to fix some health issues in order to practise more, e.g. jaw clenching…it’s the worst, and it makes me feel like I’ve practised for hours, when in reality I’ve only practised for 15 minutes. :(

My scarcely remembered physiology lectures from uni strongly espoused the virtues of physical exercise. Not only for the benefits of better supplying oxygen to the muscles (which lessens the liklihood of cramps and injuries) and brain (which makes one more mentally alert), but also for the ‘side effect’ of helping to reduce stress (of all kinds). If you are prone to muscle cramping (eg in the fingers after three hours of playing) try taking mineral salt supplements (calcium magnesium) before you start. Once you are underway, medicinal Guinness also seems to help 🙂 For RSI in the joints, try ‘Arthro-Aid’. It contains products of shark fin and it really does work. And as for practice, I used to play every day for at least an hour (years ago!), but these days it is hard to find enough time. The solution has been to arrange several times to get together with friends to play music. (For me thats Mon and Thur evenings and every other Sun - by the way, if your in Melbourne and want to join in, just e-mail me and I’ll pass on the details).

Unique - your definition of OCD could well apply to me!, but it’s normally taken as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Real sufferers are fairly ill people, but to be a regularly practicing player and in regularly training, sounds a bit dodgy as well.

Well now, this thread covers a deal of ground from the very path I’ve trod of late. With four days to go before St Pat’s I woke up with my right arm feeling battered. Grinding pain in the elbow, tightness in the wrist and just plain soreness in my shoulder. I couldn’t even rest my forearm on the mandolin.

“Take a break!” I told myself. With a plethora of light chores around the house and social events I didn’t even open the case for two days. Lo and behold things got better! Now I’m fairly certain I just *blew out* my arm from too much picking and too little of any other activity.

I made it to the Sunday night session but played played lightly and infrequently. I still had a GREAT time. Moderation?
I guess I’ll give that a try.

Will, I’m curious as to how you, “keep tunes fresh just by playing them in my mind”? Are you thinking in ABC, or sol-fa ? Visualizing fingerings? Lilting?

What’s anyone else doing along these lines?

Music and multidimentional thinking quantified. (I hope.)

Peace,
Gra5ity

When I know a tune, or any other piece of music for that matter, really, really well I can “play” it in my head, and then I “hear” it as the sound I would expect to hear in reality - and usually far better than the reality! I don’t, in general, see the music in my mind’s eye as a score or ABC. As regards cello music (which I have been playing most of my life) I can visualise what my fingers and bow are doing, and I am now acquiring that ability for the fiddle I took up playing a couple of years ago.

If, in an orchestra, a string section has to hit a note very high up the fingerboard without being able to prepare for it then the conductor may advise the players to mentally “hear” the note before they play it, and then they are much more likely to hit it accurately. The same must apply to singers.

I was told once that the great pianist Artur Rubinstein had the ability to learn a new concerto from the score in the course of a long train journey, to the degree that it was completely in his fingers and brain and performance-ready when it came to the rehearsal and concert at the end of the journey.

Elgar could work out the complete score of a work in his head during his long walks on the Malvern Hills, and then on his return transcribe the music onto paper in virtually its final form. Mozart could do that as well, if not better. But not Beethoven - for him getting the music onto paper in its final form was a monumental struggle.

And doesn’t Paddy Fahey think up his marvellous tunes when he’s working in the fields, and then play them later in the pub?

The great physicist Tesla had the ability to visualise a 3-D working model of a new machine or electrical device even before sketches were put on paper, and apparently the machine finally built would have been identical to his mental visualisation.

Athletes are now being coached to visualise themselves actually running the 100m or doing the triple jump or whatever, and this helps them to overcome pre-race nerves.

Yep, Trevor’s got it. I lilt the tunes in my head (because they sound better there than when my vocal chords kick in 🙂, and this lets me “play” tunes wherever I am (business meetings, bike rides, stuck in traffic). I’ve been able to do this for as long as I can remember, even as a young little snot. I also use this to work up tunes I’m just learning--experimenting with where to put ornamentation and coming up with variations, besides just cementing the tune in my memory.

One of the advantages of doing this is that you can play the tune at any speed, in any key. So you can slow way down and take apart tricky spots, or adjust the tempo until you find that tune’s “natural” cadence--and then really play it there on your instrument later.

I’ve also found that my mental lilting is very specific to the instrument I play the tune on. Mostly fiddle, but now that I’m learning whistle and flute, I find I can think of the fingering and breathing as I hear the notes in my head. In fact, it’s easier to hear places to take a breath than it is when I have the actual flute or whistle in my hands.

I am so glad to have read this discussion. I constantly have a tune of some sort in my head - the only time I don’t is if I’m doing something that requires reasonable concentration such as an interesting tv prog or a book, or (even) working! I was beginning to wonder if I was some kind of weirdo, because the music wasn’t a voluntary thing in that I didn’t force myself to think of it -it’s just there all the time. I think making music is my brain’s natural ticking-over state. So now I don’t feel as odd! Cheers.

Con

It’s the highly arborised neurons in yer superior temporal gyrus (Heschl’s gyrus) firing off, Conan. Same here, I get it, and I bet lots of musicians and non-muso’s do also - so don’t worry, you’re not schizophrenic!
Schizophrenics tend to hear voices, emanating from the same brain area, but the voices often are talking about the person (in 3rd person singular) in a derogatory manner. If you get that, go see a doctor!

Con

Heh, Dom, we were posting--and firing neurons--at the same time. A great example of entrainment, eh?

I can’t remember who we (meaning, me, my husband Pete, and the other three members of our band) were talking to last week, somebody who was just beginning to learn this stuff, and they said something about it not being very helpful that you couldn’t sing these tunes (meaning, that she didn’t have words to hang the notes onto like you do with a song), and everyone started laughing at me. (Okay, actually, they were mocking me.) My husband says, “You’ve never spent anytime in a car with Zina.”

Because when I’m just sitting around, say in the car or doing housework or whatever, anything that doesn’t take active neurons, I lilt tunes under my breath, largely without thinking about it, or I’m trying to work out a phrase of a tune I’m not getting right or that I’m trying to come up with a reasonable variation for.

I never noticed that I did it, actually, until my husband pointed it out one day.

Zina

I love that story Zina. I remember as a child, my mother (a great flute player in her own right & now a woodwind repair guru), her hands would be resting on my arms or legs or something, like when she was reading a book to me. Her fingers would press down on my skin without her realizing it, & I came to find out she was unconsciously fingering melodies. Sometimes if she’s holding a coffee cup, I can see her fingers twitch as well. The scariest thing, is that now, I find myself doing it too, unconsciously fingering phantom melodies. We are our mother’s daughters, thank goodness. 🙂

This is fascinating - I’ve had tunes stuck in my head before, but nothing like you guys are describing. Let me ask you this, out of curiousity: did that happen to you before you played an instrument (if you can remember that far back, for those who were very young at the time)? Or do you think that it comes from having learned the instrument and spent so much time with it and the music that it just “sunk” in to your brains to the point that your brain doesn’t actually need the instrument? It does seem to relate to something that an old ITM flute player told me once: “Don’t even try to play the tune until you can whistle it” which suggests that if your brain can “play”, then your fingers are a cinch. As I find much less time to actually practice with the instrument than I would like (and I’ve *never* been good about practicing every day, to answer the first post), I’m going to try some of this mental practice.
Colleen

I don’t think that I have tunes going *all* the time like Con

i had tunes going round in my brain over and over for years before i ever played a note. i think it was a big part of what pushed me into finally learning to play music.

sarah

I can wake up in the morning and be singing (in my head) a tune. Now I’d think that must be one of those I’m learning, but no. I can’t locate it. So it drives me mad for a while until I finally find it. I can play it but have no name. I hum it to my husband, friends and search through CDs, books etc. It’s usually a tune I didn’t think I knew well enough to play. How’s this happen? NO IDEA. And once the initial annoyance at trying to name it has gone, it’s great to have a new tune!

Once I have a tune in my head, I can play it, even though it’ll have rough edges. BUT I do have to have names for them, or they disappear. It’s my way of storing them in the brain database.

Colleen, I’ve never been a fluent instrumentalist, although I did play the cello when I was younger. But I’ve always been able to hear tunes in my head, since I was little. I’m sure anybody could use that technique in one form or another.

If I learn a new tune at night, I sometimes lilt it in my head to make sure I still remember it the next morning at my desk. Then when my lunch-time practice rolls around, I can usually still play the new tune on my flute. Seems to work.

Back to the original topic: I’ve been playing for a little over 2 years now and feel the need to practice every single day. I’m completely obsessed about it. Although when I’m feeling ill or really hungover, I might skip a day. Yesterday i was in pretty rough shape from the St-Patty’s day festivities. I was so sick I couldn’t even think about picking up my flute. So there will always be days here and there where I might not be able to play. But it’s probably good in a way that it does give my tendons and joints a break.

The other question asked was about exercise. I think that the running and resistance training I do has helped me to prevent any more repetitive strain injuries. My first year was a night-mare in regards to a wrist/hand RSI. Once I got back into resistance training (weights), my wrists and hands got better and have remained injury-free. After 3 hours of solid playing, they do get fatigued but then recover after some rest or a break.

Joyce

Helen - I work at the Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill as a lab manager kind of geezer. Although I graduated in Microbiology, I’ve soaked up enough Neuroscience over the years in day to day work and in seminars, conferences & so on, to be able to pretend that I know what I’m talking about on an Irish music website!

I was recently working on an STG project so I had to read up stuff beforehand, and that’s how I know about the function of the STG. I know my way around various other parts of the human also. It would be a fascinating line of business if I didn’t have to face Monday mornings after Sunday nights.

Arborisation just means branching, which is how nerve cells contact other nerve cells, sort of like an internet inside your head, so the more arborised a population of neurons are, the more extensive and sophisticated are the connections, and the more they’ve been stimulated to become arborised. If your STG neurons keep having to fire off to jigs and reels, they will be stimulated to branch out and get together with other lads of that ilk.

My guess is that they fire off spontaneously and with such regularity that it ultimately impinges on yer consciousness (although I’m no expert on the neurobiology of consciousness - but that’s a growing area in this game - and they’ve got mystics and religious experts in on that one, as well as yer run of the mill reductionist neuroscientists and philosophers.)

Considering 40% of your circulating blood is going to your brain and increasing with intense mental effort, such as playing a set of four reels solo, it’s no wonder you’d be sweating buckets after the effort. In my book it does help if you’re physically fit for the job - thought I’d throw that one in to craftily bring the thread back to one of the points on my initial post (joking - I don’t care really.)

I would bet Conan’s STG neuronal arborisation is very extensive, having heard him play!

This would make a good PhD thesis - the extent of neuronal arborisation in Irish traditional musician’s STG’s compared to controls - a post mortem study. The only trouble is alcoholic brain damage in the experimental cohort would be a confounding factor in any statistical analysis.

There was something else I meant to say, but it’s gone now, anyway that’s enough for now.

Danny

2nd paragraph - I meant to say “I know my way around various other parts of the human BRAIN also” as the way it’s stated there could be open to all sorts of interpretation.
(Sorry)

well, i have to chime in on this one, in reponse to the original query about fitness. I have of late been experiencing an unbelievable trasformation of my playing (flute/whistle), which i amost entirely attribute to yoga. Started taking yoga lessons a few months ago. the practice of yoga is almost entirely centered around your breathing, as all of the exercises/poses are practiced in close harmony with your breathing.

As a beginner yoga student, my breathing carries on in hacks and spurts, and my “poses” are usually ill-formed and at times about to topple over. But when you really get it going, coordinating breathing and posture, what an amazing effect it has--the sense of focus and energy; letting go of waves of stress. while recently i haven’t been practicing flute/whistle as compulsively has i have in the past, when i do sit down to play, i feel i’ve been making amazing improvement nevertheless. my posture is great for once, and my breath support on the flute in particular is better than ever. the tunes feel more like they are coming from deep inside of me, rather than simply from my instrument, if that makes sense.

now, i’m not taking yoga to improve my ITM playing, but the pay-offs for my playing are quite tangible. so hey, if you need a break, or have hit that infamous plateau, try out some yoga for size.

Tunes have spun around in my head as long as I can remember. As most tykes tend to vocalize what’s on their mind I’m told that I was always singing. I still recall the effect the pavement had on my voice as I rolled down the street in my wagon. (I later learned this was called vibrato) 🙂

The more I learn about music theory, (Just because it’s a theory doesn’t make it a fact!) I’ve come to realize that it’s all just applying accepted labels to sounds I already know.

During my practicum I bonded with a wonderful musician who had studied at the Kodaly Institute in Hungary. She started me singing folk songs with sounds beyond the usual sol-fa, using scale degree numbers, or letter names, (I later learned this was called ABC) or even on a neutral syllable. Kinda like lilting. We started with simple pentatonic melodies and worked up to Bach inventions. Funny how I settled into Irish Traditional music.

Now when tunes swirl around in my skull I visualize the melody on a few different levels. This proves useful coping strategy during tedious meetings while others allow their eyes to glaze over.

I had to check if you were the same Brendan as Breandan, who wouldn’t seem the yoga type ( I may be wrong though).
But that’s interesting - do you think it’s all about the breathing or have your powers of focussed concentration improved also?

Danny

Interesting stuff, Danny! I was thinking a while back, it would be great to see an MRI* of the brain of someone like Paddy Keenan, while they’re playing, or listening to, or even thinking about a tune. Or anyone else who’s been hearing, playing and thinking about Irish music since the crib, or in fact the womb (although I don’t think even PK was *born* playing the pipes - nasty image there…)

And then also to see what lights up in their brain when they listen to some other kinds of music - such as totally unfamiliar music, and conversely, over-familiar, non-interesting music.

And then look at the brain of an ordinary mortal and see what’s going on in the less arborised mind…

I don’t suppose they let you play with their fancy equipment at the Institute, do they? 😉
Well, I’m off now before my own neurons go kaput - still at work, 10.15pm and have to get to the other side of town…

*if that’s the thingy

yes, my ability to concentrate has really improved too. letting go of stress, relaxing the mind and body doesn’t translate into turning into a noodle (although it can), but allows your thoughts to be more free and agile. at least that’s the impression. but it all seems to be a part of one holistic package. breathing/concentration are explicitly linked (i.e, the yoga instructor is constantly saying “Now, concentrate on your breathing..”)

“I would bet Conan’s STG neuronal arborisation is very extensive, having heard him play!”

And here’s me thinking that you were making some sort of crack about Con

Would have written in to this discussion earlier, but alas -- after nearly 18 hours actual playing (that’s subtracting breaks, etc.) between Friday and Monday, my fingers literally did not work until now. Couldn’t type a lick. (Always a fun thing to tell the boss)

In fact, St. Pat’s itself was kind of funny -- about halfway through the day our band seriously considered changing its name to The Lame and The Halt because we were all so pathetic. Limping around, back & neck muscles seizing up, sucking down WATER by the pint, sharing around Advil like it was candy …. anyway, at some point we decided that next year we’re each going to kick in part of our day’s share and see if we can schedule a two-hour break somewhere to bring in a masseuse. It was that bad.

(Of course, I suppose now that we’re older we all drink a little less, too, so maybe we feel it more?)

Anyway, I’m originally a classically trained flute player (and Lord knows how much practice trying to unlearn *that* can require!), but in my experience days off are not bad things. They’ve always helped me come back with a fresh perspective and definitely an improved attitude. This is, after all, supposed to be something I love.

But I definitely believe in the value of keeping tunes in my head -- in fact, I find that I actually learn them BETTER when I “think” them, as I’m not caught up in the mechanics of playing them. I’ve also spent many years riding dressage horses and show hunters, and I’ve become fully convinced of the value of “envisioning” tests and courses.

Many’s the time I’ve laid in bed the night before a show and ridden a test in my mind, and it’s amazing the nuances I pick up. It’s almost like I can think through the riding without the distractions of the horse. I know that sounds weird, but if you haven’t tried it with music, do! You’ll be amazed.

Okay. Home I go. To practice or not to practice? Hmmmmm. Another gig tomorrow, but ….. God help me, I love it so.

😉

cat.

Helen - yeah, they do loads of fMRI studies at the IOP, covering various aspects of mental health and conditions, in fact they’re always looking for healthy control volunteers, which can be well remunerated. I’ve never got round to volunteering, don’t know why - I’d be using my brain to make some money for a change. If you’re interested I could get you details.
I wouldn’t be allowed to play around with that sort of kit. Also I’m one of the guys that does the ‘allowing’ for some other fancy gear, and I make sure any potential user has passed his/her test before being let loose on it.
As for fMRI studies on top musicians - they’ve done it - there was a man on the telly the other night….naw, only kidding. Just employing my current silly phrase (so juvenile). I do believe some work has been done like that - if I don’t fall asleep in front of this electronic brain with a screen, mouse and keyboard attached, I’ll do a quick search for it later, and report back.

Brendan - sounds good, seriously. I tried a yoga class once, mostly for the stretching side of it (for my running - increase stride length, get the muscles stretched thus reducing chance of injury) but the instructor guy had such a quiet laid back voice I couldn’t hear him very well, so didn’t get into it and being a bit hypermanic, I got bored and never went back. My loss, I suppose. Unfortunately, I have got into the habit of using the traditional Irish relaxation technique, which is black in colour and has a white head, and comes in pints - no, NOT Michael Jackson, you dirty perverts.

Oh. And one other thing I’ve learned -- if it hurts too much for too long, there’s a chance you’re doing something wrong position- or playingwise. Playing too hard, holding the instrument too tightly, cocking your arms/head/shoulders at a weird angle, or even just standing/sitting wrong -- they’re all things to examine, and can make a big difference in your endurance.

i’m all for the tradational irish relaxation technique too. in fact, i often feel so damn good after yoga, i often hit the irish pub down the street or this other place that serves fabulous margaritas. they constantly say “drink lots of water” when you do yoga, but simply “drink lots” seems to work fine too. i once invited the yoga instructor to join me and another classmate out for some rounds after class and, while declining, he gave me this friendly and enlightened “boy, you’re a dumb-ass” look. oh well…

Danny, yes please - I’d definately be interested in the MRI studies. (What’s the ‘f’ for?). If my brain qualifies as a healthy control, they’re welcome to poke around in it. Well, look at its magnetic resonance, anyway.
Send me an email…

I know that if I listen to a tune long enough, usually on CD, until I can whistle along with it verbatim (vertoneum? verbeatum?) then I’m in a good position to start playing it solo until I work up the speed to play along with it.
When performing, if I’m really with it (or without it?) I play best if I forget that I’m the PERFORMER (I release my self-consciousness which makes me shy), and simply listen to the tune as part of the AUDIENCE, because I know it by heart! It just so happens that my breath and fingers are involved. The music plays itself.

An essential component of “practice, practice, practice” is “think, think, think” about what you’re doing. In other words, it’s self-defeating to practice mistakes until they’re ingrained.

Too right, Trevor - and listen, listen, listen, not just to different tunes, sets, etc., but technique.

Wish I could practice what I preach……

It’s funny -- sometimes if I’m teaching a class of dancers and they make a general mistake in form or whatever, I’ll demonstrate what I don’t want them to do…and then they’ll try it the exaggerated way I show them! I usually then give them the speech about “don’t practise it incorrectly!”

I remember reading somewhere that a sports writer somewhere noted that one of the great golfers always re-swung, slowly, a really good swing, as if to “set” the thing into his muscles. It made a great impression on me for some reason, and I try to remember it when I dance or play.

zls

Brendan - what style of yoga are you doing??? I used to do the Bikhram yoga in a heated studio, where temps reached 110F. It’s a really hard-core type of yoga and a tremendous work-out. But it’s also time consuming. Between the driving, and 90 minute session, it took too much time out of my flute playing. Your post has made me reconsider adding some yoga back to my exercise regime.

Joyce

I talk to the trees thats why they put me away. Subliminal practice As a guitarist i could hear the
tune visulise the fingering left and right hand but could never match the result. As a fiddler
like Susie i wake with full tunes going. I notated one so i could remember it and low and behold
it was a well known tune but i was playing in a different key. So my subliminal practice is not perfect pitch
BUMMER

Unlike yourself or susie I usually wake with full hangover going - at least on Sundays.
But I do have a problem - being a lazy git I never bothered to get very good at sight reading, thus writing it down. But b’jesus, am I not forever messing around with making up tunes inside my head? especially after a wee nippy sweetie or two - or even a shmoke of the quare stuff (rarely these days).
If things are hunky dory I can flute them onto a tape - then forget where I put the goddam tape!

Coming into this discussion very late as I am just getting over the flu, which I had for a full week and wasn’t able to practice at all. All I could do was sleep. Now I’m just feeling plain lumpy and lazy, unlike my usual practice-all-the time self. Wish I could break out of this feeling--well it’ll be my birthday in 2 hours, maybe I can make a fresh start into spring and a new year…..

Emily--laughed to myself when I pictured your mom pressing into your chubby little baby arm or leg while she unconsciously “practiced” her flute fingering on you!!

Harp-y Birthday Andee!!

Happy Birthday Andee! At midnight, I will have to face another Birthday. But I will be at a house session full of great Irish music and musicians who I absolutely adore and worship. So this will make hitting the big 33 much less painful… : )

Joyce

Happy birthday, Andee and Joyce! And wishes for many happy returns. 🙂 (And feel better, Andee.)

zls

Thanks guys! I feel better already….Happy Spring!!

And Joyce--33 is a great age to be--and a magical number, too--good stuff happened to me when I turned 33…

So many good tangents, so little time! Actually, I might be able to tie up a few of them at once.

*Good exercise? How about contra dancing? A good 2 1/2-3 hours of balance-and-swinging, aleman lefting and righting, ladies chaining, etc., and you will definitely have worked up a good sweat.
It also has its potential musical benefits: You can take a breather and watch the band, focus on whatever instrument you’re most interested in, and watch the musician’s technique, ability, etc.
And you’re likely to hear some new tune that makes you say, “Oh, I gotta learn that! I wonder if anyone at thesession.org knows it!”
You’re also likely to hear tunes of all kind roaming around in your head after you leave the dance. This may be a distraction if you’re driving.
OK, living in eastern Massachusetts, I may be at more of an advantage than some here as regards finding contra dances to attend. So, hey, come visit!
*I’ve had, for the better part of the last couple of months, a tune in _my_ head. I didn’t know the name of it, but I knew it was on an album in my vast collection, and I tried and tried to think what it was -- I could hear the arrangement in my head, and knew it included (at least) pipes, fiddle and whistle. Finally, last night, I could stands it no more, and I went pawing through my LPs. I put a couple of them on to the track I thought might be the one I had in mind, but no good. Then, for some reason, I pulled out an album I hadn’t listened to in donkey’s years -- I mean, well over a decade at least (“Good Friends, Good Music,” by the Boys of the Lough). I looked through the track list, saw one that looked promising…and sure enough, there it was: “Rolling In the Rye-Grass.” It’s a Tune-Request-of-the-Day, incidentally.
Amazing how one’s brain cells assemble themselves at times.

*One of my favorite practice regimens? I like to put on a televised sporting event -- baseball, basketball, football -- with the sound down, and play away, usually with a pint (or a 12-ounce) at the ready. Combine one’s pleasures as much as possible, I say. Of course, there’s another thing I _could_ add to the mix, but not sure the missus would go for it…

That would be https://thesession.org/tunes/87, I think.

Zina

Zina--
Sure enough! I did search for it, but unfortunately I used “Roll _Her_” rather than “RollING.” Ah well. Thanks, and sorry for taking up the request line!

Joyce,
Apparently, I’m involved with Hatha yoga. but i don’t know enough to say what is distinctive about this approach…