“Doing the early jazz-stride piece Ain’t Misbehavin’ with my brother Bill ~ Betty Herloski

Betty Herloski is joined by her brother for their rendition of Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’. Betty adds video effects, such as giving the suggestion of old-time movies.

Betty is one of the daring harpists who are challenging themselves to develop new ways of self-expression in Hip Harp Academy by combining the skills and tools of improv with each person’s natural abilities and passions – creating new hybrids of expression that expand what it means to be a harp player.

BETTY SAYS …

“You don’t always have to go it alone. In fact sometimes you need to give up a little freedom to gain it.”

You don’t always have to go it alone. In fact sometimes you need to give up a little freedom to gain it. Share on X

1. Describe your final project.

Doing the early jazz-stride piece “Ain’t Misbehavin” with my brother Bill. Practicing playing along with others and also playing around with a few video effects.

2. What principles from this course or from chats did you use to develop, perform, and record this project – and how did they play a part in your process?

Slap base and stride – watching other people playing play in groups. The idea of connection not perfection. Looking for the patterns in the music. Getting courage to post my own videos from others posting their videos. 

I had to talk myself into taping and not being too critical of myself. Share on X

3. Give a short description of what it took for you to be able to play what you did – both logistically and emotionally.

Emotionally I had to talk myself into taping and not being too critical of myself. Logistically, I needed to get together in the same place as my brother and try to tape with a lot of commotion going on outside the room we were taping in. 

4. What freedoms and blocks within yourself did you connect with (or struggle with) in the process?

I had the freedom just to play along and have fun rather than being the focused on playing the whole piece perfectly by myself.  My blocks – just getting myself to do it. I have severe performance anxiety.

Being perfectly imperfect is okay. Life is more than perfection, it’s the connection we have with others that are important. Share on X

5. What challenges did you meet while connecting with your own freedom of expression in this project?

Sharing the spotlight with someone else – working together off the page and just listening and looking for cues. Just being in front of a camera and videotaping has always been hard. Overcoming extreme feelings of nervousness. 

6. What other parts of your life were impacted by what you learned in this class, and how?

You don’t always have to go it alone. In fact, sometimes you need to give up a little freedom to gain it. I learned from the chats and office hours that every situation has the opportunity to learn something, and it’s not always what you expect. 

7. What were your personal “Ahas”?

Personal ahas – looking at music and discovering the chord progressions and realizing that it was easier than I thought. When I’m playing along with someone else my mind wasn’t on the taping or performing – it was just fun. Also I learned even very technically advanced players got nervous too! Being perfectly imperfect is okay. Life is more than perfection, it’s the connection we have with others that are important. 

8. Is there anything else you want people to know when they watch your video?

My family has always played music together for fun and usually the really old songs. It’s something I haven’t done in a long time.  I also had fun trying out video effects.

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Hey, thanks for reading this example of what it’s like to go thru a course with me! Did you have Aha’s or revelations watching the video & reading the answers she wrote? Add your comments below. Please – no critiques – just share what you learned from someone courageously sharing a project that’s the BEGINNING of a lifelong learning journey.

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Want to do some courageous learning yourself? Click here to check out Hip Harp Academy where daring harpists get their creative wings.