Stand Up

I’ve been playing guitar since I was fifteen, and I’ve always played sitting down. On the floor, on the bed, on the couch, on a chair… This is how I’ve trained my body to play the guitar and other instruments.

So when Heart Lake Owl started performing late last Spring I took that habit with me onto the stage. Does it work? I’m still not entirely sure. Plenty of performers sit down while they play, but what are their reasons? I had simply convinced myself that I was unable to play standing up due to clumsiness or muscle memory (or whatever excuse sounded good at the time) and I shut that option down.

So the other night while Jake and I were practicing, I nonchalantly put on the guitar strap and decided to run through our sets standing up.

It was fine. Sure, it will take a little getting used to, but doesn’t everything? In fact, I suddenly felt this sense of freedom, especially as I continued to stir my French onion soup whilst in the middle of a song.

Why had I convinced myself that I couldn’t do it?  How many other things (not just in music but in life) have I convinced myself that I can’t do? Or how many times have I said I can’t do something when the truth is that I simpy don’t want to?

This standing versus sitting issue may seem insigificant, but really, every time we move past a wall that we’ve built in front of ourselves it is a huge moment and the effects ripple out in ways that we can’t even imagine.

We perform again on the 20th. I’ll stand.