When I was a teenager, I would climb through my bedroom window onto the roof and soak up the summer moonlight.
It was one of the ways I could get a delicious taste of some romantic self-reflection time. Along with being a bit adventurous, it also felt dreamy and delicious, a bit otherworldly, a little like it had come out of a novel.
Even though I don’t live in a place now that has a roof I can climb onto, I can still access this place of dreamy otherworldliness… in my ukulele practice.
In the last email I sent, I talked a little about the three phases of how to acheive utter and delicious satisfaction in your music practice.
Today I wanted to talk a little about what I framed as step two: forget the technique.
This is the romantic, meditative, dreamy stage of ukulele playing when you’re alone in your home — if you’re anythink like me, you’re maybe imagining yourself lounging on the roof just outside your childhood bedroom, perhaps? — and just straight up enjoying yourself.
I was recently having a conversation with a student about why she plays the ukulele, and she told me that one reason is when she’s practicing, she can’t think of any worries she might have.
I totally get this!
The meditative power of my ukulele practice is a big reason I keep coming back to it, over and over again.
In the last email, I described this as a “hot tub for my brain” 😉
For me, before I get to a place where I can really feel like I can shine in a performance, it’s important for me to connect with this inner tenderness that connects the ukulele playing and the singing with the song itself.
xx
-s
*** I originally wrote this post for my email newsletter. If you want fresh tasty emails on Sage Harrington topics — ukuleles! hot jazz! ways to study with Sage! — sent directly to your inbox, sign up here: