Keeping Time

I ventured to a wonderful local string instrument store and found this gem... It's exactly what I was looking for! Compact, old fashioned, delightfully annoying! They also had some $100 owl metronome that I just couldn't bring myself to buy... cute as it was. I haven't used a metronome since I practiced piano at my parents' house, probably pre-2004. I find it helps to have the metronome going as I familiarize myself with a new tune... It's been ages since I've read sheet music regularly, and I am completely rhythmically challenged. In high school band I remember always laughing with my friend Caroline that our section (the pit! Yay, vibraphone/marimba/glockenspiel!) went through a time warp because we would continually find ourselves lost in different measures than the rest of the band, much to our director's dismay. Beat on our stands all you want, Dr. Spencer, it's not helping! We did better in jazz band, I on bass guitar & Caroline on piano... but the nature of jazz music only allowed for a partial masking of our shared affliction.

Harp Practice (Episode 2: Harp is Hard.)

Alternate Title: Tyler Attempts to Learn 'Sur Le Pont d'Avignon' ................maybe next week! It can be so frustrating sometimes, between lessons, when no one is there to say "Oh! Here's the obvious thing you're doing wrong with your wrist that is causing you to be so bad at playing this song.." - As I fiddle with repositioning and playing and replaying the same dang song over and over, I find myself fading out, happily... just glissando myself into a trance.

Harp Practice (Episode 1: First and Second Fingers!)

I'm a total beginner on harp. I've had 3 lessons so far. At the moment, I am only practicing songs with 2 fingers on each hand. This week I am working my way up to using 3 fingers... and hopefully gradually get better at positioning my arms and closing my hands after playing a note! It's so awkward getting started. Fortunately, my cat Edwin is totally supportive.