April is the Cruelest month...?

Well, it is now April 20th, and no one has blogged for quite some time!  I cannot believe we are here already.  Easter came early, so much of March was consumed by music prep for church services.  I love Palm Sunday through Easter- very emotional and spiritual time for me.  BUt March was strangely warm for NH, and things started acting like late April normally does!  Then, as I flew down to Florida to help a friend drive back, the weather up here became frightful- dumping heavy snow on fragile daffodil stems, and setting the weather clock back to February!  Yikes!  I had my first experience ever of Florida.  An interesting place, but quickly succumbing to the FRANCHIZIFICATION disease that so much of our country has done.  So much natural beauty, hidden behind the same plazas, restaurants, strip malls and more, that you can find everywhere.  Makes me very glad I live where I live.  Makes me sad to see it happen anywhere. Sad....
Also, I have been very involved in trying to get the messages of Bernie Sanders out there.  Never one for politics, this has been a learning experience, to say the least.  And a discouraging growing awareness of the corruption inherent in our political process.  Ugh.  Not a democracy, but truly an Oligarchy, run by the wealthiest, worldwide.  We need a revolution.  It has begun.  Can we keep it up?  The world needs more MUSIC!!

Speaking of, I had a terrible time with a pinched nerve in my neck/ shoulder region.  For too many days I was feeling pain and tingling in my arms and fingers. Not constant, but recurring.  It happened a few times in the past, but always righted itself with stretching, heat and massage.  And usually fairly quickly,  Playing the harp definitely exacerbated the condition, and my fingers felt pretty clumsy. UGH. Decided to take a break, and then concentrate on the stresses in my life, and my posture when playing the harp. Just as I was about to cave in and seek a chiropractor to help, it cleared up.  But I feel the problem is lurking in the background, waiting to reappear.  Has anyone out there in this blog used a chiropractor successfully?  I am feeling I need to get over my fear of being "crunched" and just find a good one.  Ugh! 

So, that being said, I am playing familiar tunes, with an eye on my body's relationship to the instrument.  Hand forms, arms floating, shoulders back, not craning my head to watch the strings.  Any ideas or hints would be appreciated.  I feel like I need an observer to help me correct whatever issue may be causing the issue, if you know what I mean!  I have not played in public for so long.  How does this happen?  Just as my confidence was high, and my joy in sharing was greater than my fear of failing, I have either dropped the ball, been excluded from playing places I normally would have, and allowed time to slip away.  I have great intentions, and lack of follow through!  As usual!! AARRGGHH!  I am still enjoying my 2 students, and that is keeping me somewhat grounded, musically.  And preparing music for piano and organ also is good. But....plate too full?  Life too disorganized??  Sigh.

So- enough moaning.  To myself and whomever is ever going to blog on this blog again!  I feel like I need to surround myself with people making music.  Maybe I will move to Ireland and bunk with Andee!!

Happy Spring to you all- Harp on!!