Why Ultralight Backpacking?Written by Steve Gillman
Want Safer, More Comfortable Backpacking?Contrary to what many think, ultralight backpacking is not just about freedom to hike more miles or to take your whole pack up mountain with you. It is also about comfort and safety. Backpackers with heavy loads work too hard and threaten their joints too much. Challenges may add to experience, but why suffer more than is necessary? The Disadvantages Of Traditional BackpackingLack Of Freedom You can't easily take a side trip up that hill, just to see what is there. If you do it without your pack, you have to go back same way to get your pack. It's A Hassle Putting on and taking off your heavy pack quickly becomes a chore. You start leaving it on even during rest stops, just so you don't have to deal with it. It's Tiring Backpacking is clearly more tiring with a heavy pack, and you probably won't enjoy yourself as much when you are tired. More Injuries Sprained ankles, blistered feet, sore muscles, and back and knee problems are just some of common consequences of too much weight on your back. Slowness More weight equals slower progress, which means less access to wild places (you can't go as far on your four-day trip), or it means less time to for enjoyable activities, like a swim in a mountain lake, or a relaxing evening in camp. More Dangerous More injuries, and inability to move quickly when a storm is coming or an emergency requires you to get to a road, means that backpacking can actually be more dangerous with a heavy load. Add to that possibility of bad decisions due to tiredness. The Ultralight Backpacking AlternativeDone right way, ultralight backpacking gives you more freedom, more comfort, more safety, more enjoyment and less suffering than traditional backpacking. It allows you to move faster, but notice that I say "allows." It doesn't require it. It just gives you option. That's more freedom. I have yet to meet or hear about a person who has tried lightweight backpacking for a while, and then gone back to a heavy load. I'm not saying it is for everyone. Bad ankles may require heavy hiking boots, and bad habits may require a big pack to satisfy them. But even a backpacker who needs a pillow and big rectangular sleeping bag, can find these in lighter forms.
| | How 'Easy' Is Piano Playing?Written by Emily Sigers
Has anyone ever told you how easy a thing it is to play piano? Have you ever had people convey to you idea that piano playing involves little skill, and therefore, does not stand very high, in their estimation, as an art - that it cannot be classed with art of say, painting or sculpture, as an indication of possession of brains? Such opinions only show that anyone holding them has given subject little, if any thought. Until we begin to think, very few people realize what a really complicated thing it is to play even simple piano music. We have, first of all, to read notes on two staffs - bass and treble. The same sign, placed in same way is, for example, G on bass staff and E on treble staff. We must, therefore, always know whether we are reading bass or treble notes. Various signs of different shape denote various time lengths which must be exactly correct when played. Other signs denote periods of silence (rests) between tones, also of exact duration. We must be able to place right finger upon key which each particular note represents, with right kind of touch, at right moment. We must read not only one note, but chords of three, four and even ten notes at a time. We must use right kind of finger, hand, wrist and arm actions and play, at same time, with movements which are totally different in each hand. We must always keep in mind proper key signature and be prepared for all accidents, and for changing from treble to bass in either hand or vice versa. Now added to all this, we must observe all marks of expression, shading, phrasing and tempo, use pedals properly, and finally interpret style and spirit of piece in such a manner that composer's ideas will be carried out.
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