Why am I doing this?

I have recently adopted the practice of occasionally doing a video recording of myself playing the harp and posting it, or a portion thereof to Facebook. Why would I chose to do this? I never have been one to record myself and listen back, but it also has never been this easy to do so. Back when I was a student, a cassette recorder was the best available, and not very good. Now, I have an iPhone that takes a nice video with decent sound. What a different world! I say, music students and professionals, if you are not recording and listening back, start. I am preparing for a live stream recital on the first of 2021. In the isolation of the pandemic and in general, I have found it difficult to find that stepping off place between practice and performance. No lessons, no classes, family already thinks everything I do is art... So, I took a deep breath and videoed myself and put it on Facebook. Since then, I have done this with a few pieces of my program. I have discovered that it people actually want to hear me. As and artist, this feedback is so dear. It is really hard to work in a musical vacuum where there is little to no feedback except for your own hyper critical mind. Dealing with feedback, both positive and critical is also a skill that needs practice. When you post yourself playing you open yourself up to both praise and criticism. Being open like that takes work. It is just like any performance. That is the world. Being able to take the salt with the sugar is part of being a performer. I am also working with overcoming my own self critic. Listening back to myself usually reveals better results than I expected. If not, then more study is needed. I am making myself find at least a portion of each recording that I feel I can share. In these I am being brave in sharing something that is in process. You never stop having to go through all the steps of learning, even if you have been doing so for 40 years!

Here are some of the videos. For more you can go to my Facebook page. Kimberly Taylor.