Written January 13th, 2021​

“The key word for our time is practice. We have all the light we need; we just need to put it into practice.” – Peace Pilgrim​

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I hope you have been able to find time to devote to music. I know it has been critical to my sanity lately. These are the kind of times when having a refuge from the endless drama of the news cycles can be an extra sweet spot in your day. I’ll be honest – it is HARD for me to resist clicking on my favorite news sites to see what is going on NOW. I feel an almost constant pull to get sucked into another story and then another… One of the few things saving me is I also have a pull to pick up a harmonica or a guitar and start playing something, anything. That and a morning meditation that gives me a few moments of sanity before I start my day.

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I love the quote from Peace Pilgrim because it is so down to earth, optimistic, and easy to understand. Having an insight feels good but putting an insight into action feels great. Sometimes as I write words with a keyboard I flash back to when I developed my touch-typing skills and how effortless it was because of a simple practice routine I got into.

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I used to work at the Penn State University in the Publications Department. I had this job doing old school paste up and layout, making the boards that would be photographed and then turned into metal lithography plates used to print books. During this time the first Apple computers started coming out and little by little, they invaded our work-spaces.There was a Macintosh computer that I had access to, and I got a kick out of playing with the machine. At first, I played a simple solitaire card game on it. Then I discovered “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing”. It was a program that gave you a series of drills to teach you how to type without looking at the keys. I got into a regular habit of using this program once or twice a day for about 15 minutes. In a few months I was amazed that I could look at a screen, think of a sentence and watch the words drop into place right before my eyes while my fingers tapped away on autopilot.

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The thing that made it work for me was that it was a game. I also did not put a lot of pressure on myself to become great at typing. I wasn’t comparing myself to anybody but myself. I was simply curious to see where this could go. When I think of how to put this magical process to work for me with music, making it into a game means having some way to keep score. One of the best ways I have found to do this is to use a metronome. Playing a scale is usually boring for me till I start using the metronome. Then it turns into a challenge – a little like riding a bucking bronco without danger or high levels of adrenaline. How fast can I go before I lose my grip?

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You can use the numbers on the metronome to adjust it in small increments to find that sweet spot where you are in the zone, not so fast that it’s frustrating, not so slow that it’s boring. Then the magic happens. Just like the best part of the morning meditation, you forget all the thoughts that make your mind worried and upset. It is just you and your harmonica and the game of can you ride this scale (or riff, melody, piece of sheet music) without getting thrown off?

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I can tell you that no matter how depressed, anxious, or heartbroken I feel about the world this simple game gives me some peace. And it only takes a couple of minutes to dial in the sweet spot and then go for a winning streak.

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The other thing about this process is that you develop skills. You start having moments when you suddenly realize that you have mastered some new set of moves, and this is one of life’s great legal highs. Think of some musical skill that you would like to have. Is there a way to find or design a fun game you could play to learn this skill? Do you associate practice with suffering? I don’t know about you, but in the back of my mind a woodshed is also a place where you get your ass whooped. Maybe it doesn’t have to be this way anymore…

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Thanks for taking the time to read this!

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More news: I have a new website – ultimateharmonica.com – it is an online harmonica school and my first course is a free beginner harmonica course that you can get here: https://www.ultimateharmonica.com/p/the-ultimate-beginner-harmonica-course​

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It’s worth checking out no matter what level you are at. It is focused on breathing techniques, embouchure, tone, and timing. It is also for harmonica teachers to use to get their students off on the right foot with a thorough explanation of the basics. There is also a forum at this school where you can leave me feedback, and I would appreciate that – I am still tweaking it to make it better….

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I have more courses in process and will be putting them up as I work my way through the process of distilling my ideas and formatting them as videos, pdfs, and mp3s.

 

Thanks for reading this!

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