Practicing with a cold
Probably a silly question but a week after signing up for 1 month free access, I got a cold and am leary about using the harmonica. Do you folks continue to practice or wait until you recover?
edaly:
I really didn't want to say anything, but ... yick! If you're actually blowing stuff into your harps while playing with a bad cold, you might want to sit out for a bit, to avoid having to spend a lot of time cleaning your harps after the reeds have gotten gummed up. (And I shudder to imagine what a bunch of mucus might do to the windsavers in a chromatic. The gunk in "healthy" breath is bad enough.)
But if you feel like playing, by all means play away. The good mood from playing music will definitely help counter the bad mood that comes with being under the weather.
And if you're concerned that the germs you blow out while you have a cold might survive in your harps and re-contaminate you after you've recovered, pick up one of those "bug blaster" sanitizers marketed by folks like Seydel and TurboHarp.
Get well soon!
Thanks for your reply. Yeh, I waited. Feeling better now, so I'm going to start again.
If you can’t play, listen, listen, listen. I had to stop playing for several months for medical reasons, but during that time I downloaded several of the upcoming study songs and added them to a playlist. The song that I need to learn next I added it in the playlist about every 3rd song so I would hear it more. I’m now learning the song and it is coming so much quicker and smoother, because I already have the rhythm and melody in my head. Even if you are still able to practice a good tip is to listen to your study song several times a day.
Brian in Tennessee
If you're able to enjoy it then go ahead. Otherwise just rest until you're better. I usually wait when I have mouth sores (something which happens often to me) because what's the point if you are not enjoying it?