Ahimsa Tunes

Last month I embarked on my 200 hour yoga teacher training course.  Because it is in Laramie and the first session starts at 4pm on a Friday afternoon of our training weekends, I have arranged to miss the first practice and agreed to make them up at a different time.  Two weekends ago (halfway through the long month before the next weekend), I decided to head over to Laramie to make the Sunday 9 am class, go to Justin and Katie’s senior recital, take in a master class from a Scottish/Irish group visiting UW, and end with the Yin class at 4. Kill four birds with one stone - - excellent!

On my way out the door, I realized I’d forgotten my whistle and decided I might want it for the master class. Just in case. Popped back in and grabbed in before heading on down the road.

Fast forward about 25 miles. The electronic signs they’ve started utilizing frequently started flashing warnings about an accident ahead, and be prepared to stop. Not two miles after the warning, I came upon standstill traffic. Literally. I’ve seen my share of I-80 accidents, driven an average 15mph down the highway as we all slide by them but never a complete standstill. Frustrated and watching the minutes tick by, getting closer and closer to my yoga class time.

In my yoga courses, our first weekend we focused on ahimsa, or the practice of nonviolence. Interestingly, after reading and discussing the ideals of ahimsa, this is way more complex a concept than one might originally believe. The more important emphasis when practicing ahimsa is being peaceful, gentle, and at home within one’s self. As I felt my frustration rising, I realized that I was not following the principle I was meant to be working on in the weeks between our training. This principle also being a founding part of my life as I develop as a teacher and a person.

Then I remembered the whistle that I (gasp!) nearly forgot. Here I was, in standstill traffic, car stereo blaring Irish tunes, my frustration unnecessarily rising - - and I had a fantastic piece of entertainment just an arm’s length away! So I pulled out my whistle. Granted, playing rather unsuccessfully along with the CD (those darn alternative keyed tunes really a bother), but feeling ahimsa rise up within myself, relaxation overtaking me. And though I do not wish any violence against those unfortunate drivers involved in the accident, thankful to the universe for giving me the opportunity to see a frustrating situation in a new light.

Tunes on the Road

So these last 5 days have been spent without access to my fiddle.  I was thick in the midst of wonderful music making, but Irish music was not the primary focus.  Though I found myself content and better with the constant flow of activities that was afforded to me in Pittsburgh at the National American-Orff Schulwerk, from morning meditation to evenings of folk dancing, it was wonderful to connect with people from around the area and around the world.

But that didn't mean when my ears heard the diddling of Morrison's jig my ears didn't perk up!  The first afternoon of lunchtime music I detoured myself, having several other items already on my plate for the lunch hour.  When the sweet sound of fiddle and guitar drifted through the hallways of the conference center, I couldn't help but investigate further.  Gathered around a table was a group of musicians, one with a fiddle and one with a guitar.  I listened for a short time, then asked to join their table, then got out the whistle (giving them the warning that I'm actually a fiddle player).  A few minutes later I was calling a favor of Elin to grab me something to eat and pulling out whatever stops I could manage to keep up with the tunes.  To my surprise, I even got a compliment from Sue Mueller on my whistle playing (as misplaced as her compliment may be, it was nice to receive).  We all exchanged contact information with the promise that next year we'll have to make sure we get a group together to play some tunes!

No matter the time or the place, Irish music can definitely get you in the door to some fabulous new contacts!

Keeping Momentum

So last night I got my computer out while I was making different kinds of pumpkin seeds to take for lounge duty.  I needed to nick recipes off allrecipes.com (awesome site). So I opened Skype. Because it didn't even dawn on me until l'autre sent me a note about learning "Will Ye Come Wit Me?" to prepare for epic summer 3.0, namely Boxwood, that I should open iTunes and be listening while I was preparing seeds.  So I opened it up and started my newest tunes to learn playlist.

Ahhhhh...tunes to learn playlists.  I started this idea one year after doing a beat activity at school with lummi sticks to two Irish slides.  After about two weeks of  using this track with both second and third grade I couldn't get the tunes out of my head.  It occurred to me that maybe I could play them on the fiddle now - - and sure enough, I picked up my fiddle and there they appeared under my fingers!  Curious, I tried the same concept with a dance I was having some of the older kids do, and, low and behold, the set of tunes from that came under my fingers nearly instantaneously when I put them on the fiddle.

Hence the start of "tune learning CDs."  Since my discovery, about once every spring and fall I put together a set of tunes that I like and burn them onto a CD for my car.  The first time or so through the CD, I figure out which tunes I actually really like (usually these CDs are put together rather hastily and without much consideration for the whole set, so sometimes I've ended up with a surprise tune in the mix).  The next week or two or four I simply listen listen listen.  Sometimes I skip a track if I really don't like it, or I'm not feeling it that day, but overall, I listen to the CD.  Somewhere between a week and a month into the process I often find myself diddling along down the road with each set (usually depends on the complexity of the tune, how much I like it, and how adept my diddling is going for the day).  After a while I feel a burning need to pick up my fiddle, put the playlist or select tracks on repeat, and play away.  Usually this is the time I realise I've either got the tune (whoot!) or need a lot more listening time (and maybe even some time to break the tune down).  I also find which tunes are in alternative keys (sometimes I'll transpose them later, but usually they just get bumped to the bottom of the to learn pile), which ones lay nicely under the fingers, and which ones are complete buggers even if they are in G.

It usually takes a couple of these nights sitting down and playing along with the CD, sorting out more complicated tunes if I think they're worth the effort...and before long, voila! a load of new tunes under my fingers! Not (so far) ever ALL of the tunes from the tossed out playlist, but I figure even if I get 3 or 4 solid sets it's worth it.

Now to figure out how to REMEMBER those tunes in a way I can START them at sessions without flubbing or forgetting them!

Small Steps

Ok....so late this summer I downloaded an app on my phone called the "Meditation Helper." Basically what it does is occupy a little space on the main page of my phone screen with two numbers and a bar. One number is the highest streak of days I've reached my goal mediating (15 minutes or more) and the other number is my current streak of days in a row. The bar shows how far along to my daily goal of 15 minutes I am.  What is amazing is that it really helps me remember to take those 15 or so minutes of time to mediate, whether a formal sit-in-lotus-mediation or a mediating asana practice or a moving mediation. I'm currently on a streak of 46 days (47 if I go meditate tonight). It's absolutely spectacular what it's helped me keep track of!

One thing I made sure I did when I set my goal was set something very obtainable. Fifteen minutes.  Small.  Simple.  Fairly easy to reach even if it's been a busy day.  And seeing it smiling at me from my phone every time I look at the time or check a message or get online is a HUGE reminding factor in my current success!

So, given that the app won't let me install two of it, and I can find another one that's similar so I set up my computer so that every time I open Google Chrome, this Humours of a True Believer blog opens in one of the tabs. My goal is to make it the constant reminder that it only takes a little - - baby steps - - to get to where I'm wanting to go musically.  I'm feeling a little unmotivated overall, and hoping maybe a more consistent record keeping will help.

I tried adding a "poll" to the sidebar - so far I've only been able to answer the question once, so I'm not sure if it will work the way I was hoping (I was hoping to give a new answer every day to sorta "track" my playing time). Will keep looking for another insert that could maybe do this, such as a graphing tool or something similar.

Meanwhile, I spent tonight playing through my most recent "tunes to learn" cd.  I've started diddling the next tune set before it starts when it's playing in my car, which is always a good sign that they're starting to get more embedded in my brain.  A run through the cd (not really focusing on any of the tunes) lets me know that some of the tunes are more solid that others (logically), which ones are in odd keys, and which ones I can start fingering on my steering wheel to practice them.

I did play through "I Wish I Never Saw You" a few times.  Recommended by Amy O'Neill, it's an enjoyable tune that I have a tendency to want to start on B instead of the open E that it's supposed to start on. I tried playing it once before I got the tune key from the cd and was frustrated why my fingers weren't remembering the second part....as soon as I got it into the right key, they were much better.  It also goes into a tune I know from somewhere else that is an easy one to pick up.

So, small steps. My goal, like with my meditation, is to get out my fiddle for 15 minutes a day every day possible (not going to try and take my fiddle to Pittsburgh next week, or my yoga training the weekend after, just doesn't really make sense to do that). Hoping to find a good way to track my time or streak of days to motivate myself to take a small step in that direction. We'll see how it works!