As I may have mentioned recently. I have now moved to York (hurray!). So the focus of today’s post will be setting up an ideal harp practice space in the new house.
I absolutely loved setting up this little space, as I feel it helps to set my intentions of all the focussed work and teaching that will happen here. I wanted it to be organised but still pleasant to be in.
When we were house-hunting I was determined to have my own ‘music room’ to put the harp in, but we ended up falling for the charms of this house. I think I’ll be just fine in this space between the living area and the kitchen. What do you think?
I’ll start with what’s on the walls:
- a portrait of Spyder
- a robin, hand-stitched by my godmother, Auntie Janet
- a little harp decoration – when I played Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols with the Leeds Guild of Singers last Christmas, a member of the choir had this attached to his shirt button. I complimented him on his effort and harp-appreciation, and he gave me the little ornament as a gift. I recorded and movement and put it on my YouTube channel, you can watch here.
Here’s a look at what the space looked like before – arghhh clutter! I don’t know about you but my mind can’t think clearly in a cluttered space. I’d much rather have a tidy and serene environment than a messy and chaotic one.
The first thing that needed doing was to install Auntie Janet’s old set of desk drawers ready for my music. These drawers will also double as my table while I’m doing my harp practice:
Supplies for a useful harp practice table
On the table we have:
- two 2B pencils
- a pencil sharpener
- a pen
- a tuning key
- my diffuser – I like to create an ambience and the refreshing scent of essential oils will help keep me focussed
- a coaster for my tea/hot chocolate/coffee – a gift from Elfair and a reminder of Manchester
- little photo of Auntie Janet that I found in one of the drawers – a reminder of her and a reminder to be grateful and appreciate all the ways in which she has helped me in my life. I think she’d be happy to know how much all her things are going to be used and loved. I think about her and miss her every day.
I’ve sorted the drawers as follows:
Top drawer
- Things I’m working on right now
- iPad – which also contains music that needs practising, as well as a metronome, spotify, imslp etc.
Middle drawer
- teaching materials
- harp hire leaflets
- notebooks
- syllabuses (syllabi??)
Bottom drawer
- hanging files to sort my music alphabetically by surname of composer (I’ve been ridiculously excited about hanging files – no more piles of disorganised music for me!)
I found that there is no way that all my music is going to fit into this third drawer. Ha – I wish. I have put solo music in there for now, and left the orchestral and chamber music to be sorted at a later date. I may need a full-on filing cabinet at some point (don’t tell Tim).
There was something really satisfying about setting up this little corner. I know I didn’t do much, but I believe that putting a little bit of thought into the placement of things really sets the energy of the place and the intention that this will be a place of happy productivity.
Final harp practice set-up thoughts…
When you play a large instrument like the harp, I believe there is a tendency to almost apologise for its size – to put it in a corner and hope it’s ’not too in the way’. I am happy to report that I now live in my own house and no longer have to worry about this (I checked with Tim of course). Apologising for the presence of your instrument cements the fact in your mind that your instrument is an inconvenience, that it’s in the way and that the room would be better without it. Not great, is it? So, from here-on-in, the harp has centre-stage in my little harp practise space, and in my life – unapologetically.
Musicians: what does your practise space look like? Are you like me in that you need a tidy and tranquil environment? Or can you practise in less-than-perfect surroundings?
What do you think of my harp practice set-up? Am I missing anything? Let me know in the comments, in the meantime, if you need me I’ll probably be practising…
If you are interested in learning to play the harp, you can read more about it and get in touch here.
Ax
p.s. Thanks to Eira Lynn Jones for inspiring this post. You’ve been teaching me the importance of being organised and thorough since 2005. Thank you so much.
