Spderyak
271 posts
May 16, 2019
4:15 AM
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I would be curious what, if anything people do to stay in "playing shape.. for gigs practice etc.
for example..play using your abdomen. So one would think it might help to actually have some muscle tone to do that.
I see that if my notes are coming readily one day but not the next..more often than not it is my posture as much as anything.
Sit or Stand when playing..or practice...I find if I have a 1 hr gig I'm okay..but 2 hrs..probably not...I need to work to have the stamina to do that etc..
plus if I practice an hr a day would we have the chops for a 2 hr gig ..etc.
How many practice while sitting looking at the computer with the neck bent down...cutting off the airflow..and wonder why the notes are not playing...
Just wondering what folks do..There are times watching a performer and think..even if I had the notes...would never have the energy to perform them..
So what if anything do you do ?
(beer and weed don't count)
Thanks
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The Iceman
3848 posts
May 16, 2019
4:34 AM
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I eliminated what I used to call "practice" and now only "perform" even if it is just myself sitting by my piano.
It is a subtle mental shift and probably not for beginners.
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The Iceman
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jbone
2924 posts
May 16, 2019
4:51 AM
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I'm with Iceman here. I've been a player for so long the associated muscles are very much on line. Add to that a fairly active life- work, walking, etc., and a sort of laid back seated-position playing style, and I seem to be in good shape. We typically play 2 hours with built in breaks, when we are gigging. We've actually played about 4 hours but with breaks every hour.
Early on I found it helpful to walk in the woods or country and play as I walked. It was sort of a Zen thing.
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Music and travel destroy prejudice.
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Pickn5
24 posts
May 16, 2019
7:03 AM
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Being new to the harp, I have to practice. First, I listen to the tune over and over to get the melody in my head. I try to sit up straight when playing and if I'm using tab, I put it at eye level to prevent poor posture. Once the notes are memorized, I play along with the lesson track to work on timing.
jbone, after reading your post, I'm thinking that getting back in shape might help, especially with lung capacity and breathing.
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Jeff B
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nowmon
210 posts
May 16, 2019
8:11 AM
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I been playing 52 years and to warm up.i`ve been chugga-chuggin,Train, funkit,or, Dit-dit-hu-Dat-dat, stuff...5 MIN. OF THIS STUFF,Has me ready to go any place,have fun...
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20REEDS
55 posts
May 16, 2019
9:18 AM
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I like to use vocal warm up techniques before a play... helps a lot with strengthening the same parts of my body that I play harp with- namely my diaphragm/ air column as well as mouth and tounge
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nacoran
10118 posts
May 16, 2019
12:06 PM
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I've been doing a lot of walking to try to help with my asthma. I'm actually getting set to go do a 5 mile walk right now. That seems to help my breath support. Frequently I play my harp for at least part of it. I'm less self-conscious about working on my overblows when I'm a few hundred feet from the nearest house too!
I haven't been playing out lately, but stretching a bit always helped. I've been doing some vocal exercises too, trying to get back my upper range a bit. There was a time I could sing the high notes Steven Tyler gets in songs like Angel. I've been trying to work on getting the gap between my upper range and my true falceto start to overlap again!
I do a couple short riffs with each harp, but that's (lol, caught that typo, almost said 'butt hats') mostly to make sure all the harps are working well.
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Nate
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Spderyak
272 posts
May 17, 2019
4:47 AM
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I love my practice time. I set my harps down for about 30 yrs and it was actually a tick bite that brought me back to music.
I noticed someone mentioned doing a little facial stretching. I was really surprised at how tight my jaw was when I started doing some of that jaw side to side playing..(like buddy greene style) and my jaw sounding like... snap.. crackle.. pop.
...Nowadays I try to remember to do that at least a couple of times a week.
Are you folks playing sitting or standing..esp those who play for a couple hrs ?
...on a 1 hr gig... we usually put in a solo or two for my wife..I bring a chair to the gig and I can sit out the song fairly discretely.
So we play standing up..yesterday we were at a small recording studio when the fellow asked we we played sitting or standing..we both play standing so there was no chair in the booth for me.
The tunes went well but after an hr or so of standing...well finally I just laid on the floor between takes...next time I'll know how to answer that question eh...
(yes we had practiced those songs. I don't know any other way to learn new tunes..old school I guess.
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jbone
2925 posts
May 17, 2019
5:17 AM
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My wife Jolene can't use a guitar strap since an injury to her shoulder/neck some years ago, so we have matching folding chairs and always sit to play and practice.
I have worked with bands for years and always stood up, but since wife and I made the duo our only music endeavor it's been a sit down deal.
Re: practice, we have spent a lot of time honing our material, be it covers or originals. We also use a songbook and music stand since a lot of what we play we need a reminder!
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Music and travel destroy prejudice.
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Spderyak
273 posts
May 17, 2019
4:25 PM
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We do much the same with the music stand at the gigs.
I should have said I'm slow school.
My wife can sit down with a song book and play whatever but I can't. I covert everything to tablature. Then memorise the melody and work my solos off them for the most part.
So more accurate to say I rehearse with my wife a few times a week.
but I practice daily I think I seldom play a song the same way twice, a liberty a vocalist doesn't often have.
..my teacher 78 just started up again taking lessons and of course practicing..He always wanted to learn that overblow stuff so he went for it.
For us we have a fairly busy June so that what got me to thinking of...
gettin in... playing shape... to play longer sets. Though for our audience mostly people book us for an hr.
Glad others bring a chair or two with them...course I get to do the roadie work heh heh..
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SuperBee
5970 posts
May 17, 2019
7:37 PM
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I do sit down sometimes but mainly I think I’m standing when I play. That goes with gigs, where I believe I’m always standing but think sometimes it’d be nice to take a seat.
Rehearsals with band I used to often take a seat but somehow the place we use now just feels right to stay upright.
At home, it kinda depends what I’m doing. Mostly I’m standing but if I’m trying to learn off a recording I might need to access a computer and I’ll probably be sitting for that. If it’s a disc I’m playing I’ll likely be standing. If I’m working from memory I’m usually on my feet.
I don’t do any specific exercises apart from musical exercises.
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jbone
2926 posts
May 17, 2019
8:13 PM
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I never learned tab or notation, my parts are similar but rarely the same. We like to do 2 sets at a typical gig.
Our songbook has chords written in for Jo, and I put root key and harp keys in just as a reminder.
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Music and travel destroy prejudice.
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