10 Ways to Counteract Harp Chaos - PHH 173

Do you remember the story of Chicken Little? This is a classic children's story and like a lot of the classic stories there are multiple versions. The basic story goes something like this: An acorn falls from a tree and hits Chicken Little on the head which leads Chicken Little to conclude, erroneously, that the sky is falling. He decides he has to hurry and let the king know about this calamity. Along the way, he collects some of his bird friends - Henny Penny, Lucky Ducky, Goosey Loosey, Turkey Lurkey - who are similarly terrified by the idea of the sky falling and join him on his journey to see the king.  The classic story then comes to a climax in classic gruesome children's story fashion. They meet up with Foxy Loxy who pretends to join them but actually lures them to his den and eats them.  I don't think any of us are going to be eaten by Foxy Loxy today, but Chicken Little's flurry of anxiety is not that different from what many harpists experience in their practice and performance. Chicken Little's misperception of a perfectly natural phenomenon - the acorn falling - created widespread panic which could have been averted with just a little understanding. The panic, anxiety or even chaos that we can feel when we are overwhelmed by performance nerves or when we aren't sure that our practice is getting us anywhere, can be relieved too. All it takes is looking at it differently.  Today, I'm going to talk about ten things that may be causing you anxiety, hopefully not panic, in your practicing and in your playing. I'll give you simple ways to change your thinking about each of these, along with definite action steps to counteract the chaos. Trust me; no matter how nervous or overwhelmed you feel, the sky isn't falling. Every one of those painful acorns could actually grow into a mighty oak that will support your playing, if you decide to plant it rather than run from it. Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:  Learn It Tonight: The Flower Duet free webinar Related resource Flux-ibility: Staying Focused Through the Next Wave blog post Harpmastery.com Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]  LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-173