The view from where I sit ...

This is what I see from my perch in the music room when I look up and out the window ...

The camellias remind me that spring has indeed arrived, despite recent unseasonably cold temperatures. Those lovely blooms help me to remember to BREATHE during intense practice sessions.

CTO ... Don't You Love These Old Cartoons?

They just don't make 'em like they used to!

Check This Out ... I have to admit, I saw it on FaceBook - The Blue Danube, Warner Bros - style. Gremlins in the music notation software. Now I know where those "mistakes" come from!

What's Your Angle?

People who know me might be surprised to see the angle at which I'm practicing this week.

Nobody told me how to set up my dulcimer when I started playing back in 1995. A Goldilocks approach seemed to make sense ... not too steep, not too flat ... just right! Then I began to experience neck and shoulder pain. I met Tina Gugeler at the Swannanoa Gathering in 1998. She was playing at an extremely steep angle. She suggested I give it a try. It didn't adversely affect my playing and it helped relax the tight muscles, so I continued in that style for many years.

The extreme angle was a topic of conversation. Some of you may remember the SG year that Wes Chappell, of No Strings Attached, grabbed a handful of Skittles (or was it cherry pits) and turned my strings and sound board into a game board! No damage done.

Fast forward to 2008. I met Dan Landrum, also at the Swannanoa Gathering. He was my teacher there for three years. He convinced me to try a more flat angle. It felt weird at first, but I continued to experiment back and forth over the years. Now I prefer a more moderate to flat angle, and as a result of all that mixing it up I find that I have a lot of flexibility when it comes to the position of the instrument.

For some pictured examples of extreme angles (including pics of Tina Gugeler and Dan Landrum) and more on the subject, read this blog post by Steve Eulberg:   Angle of Attack?

There's no right or wrong way. It's personal preference. I agree with Steve ... experiment!  Try different positions in different situations. Find out what works best for you. Let us know what you discover!

Monday's Muse

"I would practice while listening to records or learn from musicians who were better than I was." ~ Rick Springfield

CTO ... Get Organized with this Special Offer from ArtistGeek: NEW Evernote Guide

Just in time for that spring cleaning I was talking about the other day, ArtistGeek offers a solution to getting organized! Evernote is a free online service that will keep your random notes backed up and easy to find from anywhere. ArtistGeek's guide to Evernote is geared toward running and marketing the artist's business. Her motto:  "Less Time at the Computer = More Time in Your Studio"

Check This Out ... Read more about the guidebook, Successful Artists Use Evernote , to determine if it could be helpful to you in your music business. Special offer in place through the month of April. I ordered my copy today!

Is Your Music a Mess?

Remember old 'nomes?

Here we are, the first day of spring, and thoughts turn to ....
... spring cleaning?

I've been straightening up and dusting the music room, trying to de-clutter as I go. I think I'm finally ready to give up that old mechanical metronome! I've brought in a couple of baskets to contain small frequently used items, such as the digital metronome, tuners, tuning wrenches, etc, and larger items such as headphones and recording devices. The thing that always slows me down is the mess of sheet music ... and I'm talking multiple piles. What to do with it all?

It's not that I don't try to keep it all organized. At my house, sheets of music notation are organized in a number of different places:

Multiple, thick, three-ring binders full of pages of music slipped into plastic sheet protectors and arranged (mostly) in alphabetical order. Each contains a particular category of music:

• my arrangements
• tunes I've gotten from my teacher, Ken Kolodner
• tunes / arrangements I play with my music partner, Betsy
• special collections, such as Christmas tunes, or Hymnody of Earth, by Malcolm Dalglish

Plastic containers and expanding files that mimic file drawers

• music printed out for workshops that I teach
• music that I commonly give to private students
• music that I've acquired from other teachers' workshops

Bookcases for actual books full of tunes

Baskets for holding (hiding) loose piles of mostly uncategorized music in no particular order

My dining room table for stuff I'm currently using with my students or in my own practice

My computer - the neatest and easiest to search option!

• music notation software containing all my arrangements, written out
• tunes and arrangements scanned into the computer for reference

It's a common problem. My friends and students ask me, "What's the best way to store sheets of music?" There must be as many answers to that question as there are musicians shuffling all that paper. What is your solution to this problem? One master file drawer? Multiple systems like mine? Any words of wisdom out there?

One thing's for sure:

You must find a system that works for YOU.

Then comes the tricky part:

You must USE it!

Monday's Muse

Oh, the music in the air!
An' the joy that's ivrywhere -
Shure, the whole blue vault of heaven
is wan grand triumphal arch,
An' the earth below is gay
Wid its tender green th'-day,
Fur the whole world is Irish
on the Seventeenth o' March!
~Thomas Augustin Daly