Author Archives: Jen

It’s Spring Cleaning time!

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Spring has sprung the grass is griz! Time to shake off the lingering winter blahs!  It’s Spring Cleaning Time. 

Ugh, it’s bad enough to pretend like you’re going to air the linens and beat the rugs and clean behind the washer, but it’s worse that we know we could also spring clean our music life. Just ugh.  Not my favorite time of year, but a necessary  evil   activity.

Because, just as our closets cause things to disappear (but also to multiply (and shrink!)), our harp lives can also generate detritus and, well, frankly, dust!

So, what would a Spring Cleaning of our Harp lives look like?  There are a lot of things we could do including:

It's Spring Cleaning TimeClear off your music stand(s)!  Is your music stand a nightmare like mine (again)?  It’s probably also a fire hazard!  So much paper.  So many projects.  So much potential to drop it all and get everything mixed up!  And this is only one of them (yes, there’s another one for teaching – same sorry state, just different music).  It really is an indication of the churn of my thoughts.  A music stand is meant to hold the music you are playing – not to be seconded as a desk.  When you let everything pile up and get jumbled, not only is it slightly hazardous (ref fire and spillage above), but it also actively interferes with your work.  What’s at the back will be hidden (and likely forgotten and later presumed lost).  What’s in front will distract you from the other things that are in front but just behind them. Take some time to sort through it and you’ll be amazed how much freer you will feel to play!

If everything is important, then nothing is important,

so prioritize the music (and notes).  I’m not averse to “horizontal filing” if that’s your thing (it is mine) but use a desk, table or the floor so you can keep straight what you’re working on with which layer (trying to learn, barely learned, ready to polish, etc.).  Don’t let your projects get swallowed up by the Music Stand of Doom (cue scary music!).  

Tidy your space – now that you’re on a roll, don’t stop!  Now you can move on to the rest of your space.  Dust your harp and the legs of your bench (and your bench if you’ve not been practicing so much).  It is Spring Cleaning, so move your harp and your bench and vacuum underneath.  Put away music you’re not using and dust the storage.  Throw away the pens that no longer write, sharpen the pencils.  Wash your coffee cup(s).  If you have a music desk, clear it off and wipe it down.  Yup, this is the romantic part of being a musician.  If you have windows, air out the room a bit too.

Sort your paraphernalia – we’re musicians, we collect a lot of useful stuff.  Sometimes we collect too much useful stuff.  Sort through it all.  Do you have a full set of replacement strings (and do you know where it is)?  If not, order the ones you need.  Toss the string leavings – or cut them in to string ends for later.  How many nail clippers do you need right by your harp?  Are all your tuners and tuning keys collected in a space where you can find them?  Are your index cards in a file box (and in order)?  Have you put your cases away or are you still tripping over them?  Dust all your harp tchotchkes (and fondly remember who gave you each one as an encouragement and in appreciation of your music-y-ness).

Sort your Music – Did you know that there’s no prize for the person who collects the most harp music? Or that you’re unlikely to surpass the Library of Congress with your giant collection?  One of the best things I have recently seen was from A Slob Comes Clean who says that if you can’t find (something), you don’t have it.  So, here’s a good time to sort, organize (and purge) all your music – so you can find it!  Be it sheet music, audio files (come on, I know some of you still have cassette tapes you made at some workshop you took in a year that started with a 1), videos, or velum handwritten by monks, you can’t learn, practice, and play music you don’t know you have.  Don’t let anyone tell you how to organize it – suit yourself and sort and organize your stuff in a way you can use.  I have sheet music sorted by title (the title it has in my mind – whether that’s in English, Gaelic, Irish, Welsh, or whatever (including tunes that I think of as “that tune I learned from….” and are filed by the person’s name).  I have my books sorted by place/style (Scottish, Irish, American, broken classy (baroque and classical), piano, bagpipe, fiddle, song, and borrowed). CDs (sadly) are sorted by last listened to (ok, they’re not really sorted).  Never lose sight of the reality that organization is defined by the user not some on-line guru!

Clear out the pockets of your cases – Did you know that a harp case pocket can hold all the contents of Fibber McGee’s closet?  I am certain that my 18-pound harp weighs about two megatons in its case.  I pulled out about six million old set lists, a fistful of programs, seventeen harp keys, twelve tuners, four thousand pencils, three hundred hair clips, a dozen cookies, three pairs of gloves, two chapsticks, and a partridge with its accompanying pear tree.  I found out my dog hadn’t run away*.  After removing all that, then it weighed about four ounces**.  The pockets are large.  And they are deep.  Horror movie plots have been written about the depths of the harp case pocket.  You might want to check yours and give it a clear out.  Your back and shoulder will thank you too.

Get your harp regulated – no, seriously.  And no, my beloved luthier didn’t pay for product placement.  But really – how long are you going to go on playing slightly out of tune because your levers aren’t spot on?  Take care of your harp.  If you have the patience, tools, and know-how do it yourself, otherwise, visit your luthiers – they miss you!

Instill some order so you have a space in which you can create!   Imagine how much more pleasant it will be to play in your newly spiffed space!  It will be so much better if you have spring cleaned for your harp.  Do it now while spring is young and we’re not entirely sure we’ve seen the last frost.  

Do it for your harp, but more importantly do it for you! What Harp Spring Cleaning tasks do you do?  Let me know in the comments!

 

* Joking.

**Still joking – it still weighs 18 pounds.

 

When do you stop taking lessons?

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The other day, someone asked me when do you stop taking lessons?  Sounds like an easy enough question.  If only.

There are a lot of reasons to stop taking lessons – money, time, fit with the teacher, and more.  Money I can’t do anything about for you, so we’ll just glide past that.   

First, let’s get time off the table and let’s separate time available and time duration.  We have to assume that you have time available – both for lessons and for practicing between lessons.  As for time duration, you can’t really expect to set a timetable.  If you’ve been playing the harp any length of time, then you already know that learning the harp is anything but a linear process.  And that some things feel easy while others feel like insurmountable obstacles.  If you haven’t been at it for long, you might still think that there’s an end – a point at which you’ll have nothing left to learn (quick hint – there is no end).  Those of us who have had more experience already know – you will always have something more to learn!

OMG – is she saying that I’ll be taking weekly lessons forever?!  No, that’s not what I’m saying.  That’s not the right question. 

The better question is: 

What are lessons for? 

There are at least four reasons for lessons:

Lessons can give you a foundation. The harp isn’t easy to play. It requires finesse and skill to play well.  A teacher in regular lessons can help you build the foundations you can grow from so that you can (eventually) play the music you are moving toward.

Lessons can help to protect you – Leon Fleischer called musicians “athletes of the small muscles” and in lessons you’ll typically learn good technique which can help protect you from injury.

Lessons can teach you a framework – We don’t make music in a vacuum and lessons can help you build your own framework from which you can develop your musicality and musicianship.

Lessons can help you learn to teach yourself – I’m going to let you in on a dirty little secret – teachers don’t want to have you in lessons forever! (for a lot of reasons)  But no teacher will want to “graduate” you until you have learned how to teach yourself.

A teacher can use the time in lessons to help you navigate the pratfalls of playing, make clear those things that are opaque, and illuminate the path so you make progress faster.

Of course, the flip side is just as important.  So another good question is:

What are lessons not for? 

There are at least four things lessons aren’t for:

Lessons are not to keep you motivated to keep playing. In the end, music is a solo pursuit. Even if you’re in a group, ensemble, band, or orchestra, there’s only you playing the harp.  Only you can motivate you to play and while lessons might contribute to your motivation, they will not act as your sole motivation.

Lessons are not to provide you with accountability. Relatedly, if you only practice because you’re afraid to look bad at a lesson, you haven’t solidified your self-accountability. Lessons won’t change that.

Lessons are not to keep feeding you music. While we expect child students to need a lot of guidance on music, adult students would have increasingly greater latitude in music selection – which would include selecting the music you want to move toward.  But you need to figure out what that is for you.

Lessons are not to prevent you from being a responsible musician. Lessons are not a substitute for thinking for yourself (ref earlier comment about teachers wanting to help you learn to teach yourself).  This goes beyond selecting music and includes analyzing the music, self-critiquing (not self-criticizing!) your playing and developing your repertoire.

What other reasons are there to take lessons? And to not take lessons?  Let me know what you think in the comments!

What’s this thing do?

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When you’re learning a tune, it’s really easy to know what your right hand is going to be up to – after all, it pretty much completely owns the melody.  But the left hand? Sometimes you’re left wondering what’s this thing do?

When you learn a tune, if you’re given an accompaniment, you’re set.  After all, what do you get when you are given an accompaniment? In modern parlance, you get a

“curated set of harmonies that perfectly compliment the melody”

Of course that’s a little tongue in cheek, but you do feel like you get a free pass because someone who “knows” has put it together.  As long as you play it correctly, you will be “right” (whatever that means).  No argument.  No guff.  After all, some acknowledged shining light has written it, not you.  No one will gainsay you. 

And that’s such a safe and comfortable place. 

What's this thing do?Because once you’ve learned that left hand and “perfected” it (whatever that means), you have a whole package, and it can be incredibly challenging to break out of it. 

It might be a trap.  Safe and suffocating share too many letters!

But what if you only get the tune itself and are left to fend for yourself for the accompaniment?  Then you really will be asking what to do with that left hand!  And that probably feels really uncomfortable.  So, what should you do with that left hand thing?

Well, you know you could just lay your hand on the sound board and wait for the tune to end.  That would be weird.  And possibly boring.  So, you might feel compelled to fill the space with sound.  And that’s an idea.  But let’s think about it for a sec – what does filling the space with sound from the left hand do for us? 

It makes us feel comfortable.  Most people are ever so slightly scared of silence.  Ok, many are deathly afraid of silence.  So, we throw a bunch of notes into the air and expect that to act like a sort of sonic weighted blanket. 

It makes us feel better.  We all know that if the right hand is going, it will be more challenging to keep the left hand going (especially initially).  But most of us are always comparing ourselves to others and we seem to be inclined to find ourselves wanting.  Putting up a bigger sound fence is more challenging and so we can be content that we’re better at playing.

Do we need to fill up all that space?  Probably not.  A very wise teacher told me years ago,

“The Melody is what’s important!” 

The rest is, as they say, just details.  The accompaniment is ancillary.  There’s a reason it’s called an accompaniment after all.  So, we need to press that left hand into the service of the melody rather than hoping to make it so spectacularly mesmerizing that no one can actually play it!

What does service to the melody look like?  Well, it might be:

A simple set of supporting tones.  When I say simple, I mean simple – single notes, light and broken octaves, tenths, or fifths? Simple. And usually beautiful – you do play the harp after all – use it!

The chords of your choice – blocked, broken, rolled, arpeggiated, unstructured – up to you.

Big fancy countermelodies – variants and shifts around the melody can be a nice accompaniment.

Lending a hand – sometimes the left hand can lend a hand to the melody taking a note here or there to help the right hand render the tune better, faster, stronger.

Combinations of those – a little variety is helpful to maintain the interest of the player and the listener.

When you’re putting your ideas together, have the left hand do those things that –

Can actually be done – don’t craft a left hand you cannot actually play! (don’t ask me how I know this)

That enhance the melody – make your accompaniment like a delightful perfume not a cloying cologne!  It should be just enough to keep your interest piqued and not so much as to be repellent.

Don’t steal the show – if the only thing your listeners remember when you’re done is that flashy left hand, you might not consider that a success of sharing the melody.

Help the melody convey the story – one of my favorite exercises is to play a tune and change its tenor via the left hand.  Try it!  Make a “happy” tune “sad.”  Or make a “sad” tune “pensive” then “hopeful” and then try to invoke a crying jag.  It’s up to you what the story is, but your left hand can help you be in control of it.

No matter what you decide to include, ensure that the accompaniment acts in service to the melody – that it improves, impels, or increases the melody.  Because that’s what that thing does!  What do you do with this thing?  Let me know – I’m always looking for ideas!

It’s time to plan – Summer Camp!

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I know, I know, it’s only mid-March and we’ve just turned the clocks back so it’s still dark through breakfast!  But…

SUMMER IS COMING! Time for Summer Camp!

I know it seems like summer is really far away.  But really, summer starts in just 99 days (when I wrote this, so even fewer by the time you read it!).  So, if we want to be ready, we should start planning now.

Summer CampThere are a lot of summer programs available.  You can tailor your planning to your type of playing.  I have some real favorites and I’d like to encourage you to join me at all or some of them!!  These are all adult friendly, beginner friendly, and well, just friendly!  Here’s a chronological list:

The 41st Edinburgh International Harp Festival, 8 – 11 April 2022.  Ok, not strictly summer, but… This year has a hybrid program so you can participate in classes and workshops, attend concerts all from the comfort of your home computer or you can be there in person!  This is very exciting because so many of us have wanted to go and have now had our appetites whetted with two years online but with travel still a bit snarled, this is a great option for those of us who don’t live in the UK.  There are a number of exciting presenters and the concerts are fab – even if you are watching on your computer.  The events are available online during the Festival and on demand afterward.  The price is very reasonable – and a la carte!  All the info is available at harpfestival.co.uk

Ohio Scottish Arts School, Saturday, June 25 – Friday, July 1, 2022.  Aaahhhhh – to me, OSAS is the quintessential Harp Summer Camp!  This year OSAS is breaking in a new venue – with Air Conditioning!!  Woohoo!  An entire week of great in-person instruction, wonderful tunes, amazing people, and Scottish music coming out your pores!  I liked Scottish music before I came the first time, but I LOVED it by the end of my first week.  I think the best sales pitch for OSAS is the number of students who have come year after year after year – both adults and kids (and adults who started as kids!).  This year’s instructors are Corrina Hewat, Sharon Knowles, Seumas Gagne, and me.  Registration has started and will close when the class fills so don’t wait.  For those of you who have come in the past (or specifically haven’t come) – I’ll highlight – AirCon!  All the details at ohioscottishartsschool.com

Somerset Harp Festival 21 – 24 July (in person and 1 July – 31 October online). Somerset is possibly the most flexible event I’ve seen – even in this new world of working!  There are in person events, online events and subsequent events that will occur throughout the open online period!  There are options to fit every schedule whether you can travel or not.  And there are still the additional events like Harpers’ Escape and special add-on workshops.  Be sure to read the registration page and sign up for the best fit for you.  I’m excited to be teaching two workshops this summer in person and I hope you’ll come see me!  All you need to know is here: somersetharpfest.com

There are loads of other summer programs as well.  I can’t list them all here.  Many are pedal-y-er and oriented to younger harp players (by which I mean kids).  Most are listed in the Harp Column with info available here: harpcolumn.com/summer-harp-camp-directory

If you have never come to a harp summer camp, you have missed out!  I can’t tell you how much you will learn, but you’ll definitely learn a load of great music, applied theory, excellent arrangements, and what a great community the harp world is.  If you are hesitant, give yourself a little push and give it a try.  I think you’ll be surprised – and delighted!

Are you going to a harp camp this summer?  Which one(s)?  What made you choose it? What did I leave out?  Let me know in the comments!

What are you going to play?

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It’s March.  And if you play traditional music, you know what that means…. St. Patrick’s Day is coming and we’re about to become very popular (briefly).

What a blessing – a holiday seemingly tailor made for us!

What a curse – stuck playing tunes that can feel almost as trite as Christmas can.

So, what are you going to do about it?  Well, you have to start by figuring out what you’re going to play.  It’s fairly safe to stick to the tradition but that still leaves a lot of tunes to choose from.

What to play?  How about this:

Start with tunes you actually know!  It’s really hard to get a tune learned and ready to go in a short time (after all St. Patrick’s Day is a week away!) – especially if you’re playing solo or are tasked with carrying the melody in a group.  Jot down all the Irish (or near Irish) tunes you know.  Some may not actually be Irish, but if you hear it a session or in the pub, it’ll do.

Then list them AND include what type of tune they are and what they go with or if they stand alone.  The Derry Air is a standalone, The Rights of Man maybe needs some company.

How long are you to play?  That will help you figure out how many tunes are needed.  For a 30-minute set you will be sitting pretty to have ten or so (don’t just wing it – time it!), for an hour, maybe 20 – 25 (again, don’t wing it but also be ready to have to go a little longer).  If you’re a background gig, you’ll need more than if you’re a performance because performing includes more vocal interaction with the audience.

Go back to your list and count up not only how many you have but how many of each type.  If you’re playing a dinner background you can get away with more songs and airs but if you’re performing on stage, you need to keep your audience engaged and interested so more fast stuff.  By more fast stuff I don’t mean an unending torrent of one type of tune – mix up jigs and reels and hornpipes and marches if you have them. (If you don’t have that kind of diversity, now you know what to be practicing to build out your rep!).

Once you can see where your holes are you can endeavor to fill them (although, note above, with one week to go, you will probably fill those holes next time).  And even if you’re not playing for St. Patrick’s Day, you’ll have a good representation of what you do and don’t know and what you should add as you continue to learn.

Think about your audience.  It is said that on St. Patrick’s Day everyone is Irish.  If your audience is from the national Irish Historical Society, they may have a greater familiarity with the music.  But if everyone is Irish that day, they may have only a passing familiarity with traditional Irish music (many fall into the categories of “I love Celtic music” or “it all sounds the same to me”) in which case, you can draw from other parts of your repertoire to make your set list.

Practice like crazy (of course).  Work on your technique and your idiom.  Be sure it looks good and sounds right!

Finally, when it’s time to play, relax and enjoy.  After all this is fun music and that’s why people love it.  They’ll enjoy it even more if it seems that you are enjoying playing it!

Are you playing for St. Patrick’s Day this year?  What are you going be play? Let me know if in the comments!

Play for peace

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It’s not a good time just now.  (Another) War has broken out.  (Un)Fortunately, we have 24/7 media coverage, so you can be forgiven for being unable to escape the reporting.  Its relentless drumbeat is likely to wear on you.  And while you might think it’s stupid/pointless/misguided – now is the time to play for peace.

For your own peace. 

play for peaceThere are plenty of stressors available in our worlds and if the lingering crisis of the last two years wasn’t wearing on us enough, this latest one is a doozy. 

Regardless of your politics, your “side”, or your more general thinking, these events aren’t usually good for most of the people involved.  But for those on the outside, looking in, incapable of drawing away from the window, it will also take a toll.

Because we are all “involved” – some just have the luxury of pretending that they’re not going to be touched.  At this point though, there is not much we can do about it.  It is far away.  The diplomats are doing whatever it is they do over coffee in fancy meeting rooms.  And it’s been a long time since a “mighty war harp” was needed on a battlefield.

But just like there’s a tiger inside your kitten and a wolf in your puppy, inside your harp might be your best defense while we wait and watch and wonder what will come next. 

You have music.  It can help shield you from the ugly.   You can play the music of sorrow and the music of respite and make ready to play the music of joy…eventually.  You can play for yourself – as a balm for your soul.  And you can play for others who find themselves also locked in the thrall of the media, needing the succor you can provide.

You might think that you aren’t doing anything – but you’d be wrong. 

Every act of beauty will counter an act of ugliness.  Each beautiful note you play near an ear will send out sound waves that will bang into and deform the shock waves of a bomb detonating too near the ear of another. 

You might consider playing those simple but beautiful tunes.  Let them act as a salve for your mind.  If you aren’t sure what tune that might be, I’m sending subscribers one of my favorites.  It is the simply beautiful Crodh-laoigh nam Bodach (The Old Man’s Young Cows).  Play it to pour out all your emotions and once they are in front of you, play to move around in your feelings.  No good, no bad, just you, your harp and the defense of the music. 

In the end, which tune is not important – play anything you like that allows you to expel your emotions.  And once again we have a lovely opportunity to share with others who might not have the facility to play the music but will be comforted if you decide to share.

Times are troubled – again, more. Play your harp to help you get through the time and possibly to help others as well.

What do you think of the tune?  What other tunes you would play to feel the same things?  Are you letting your harp get you through (another) trying time?  Let me know in the comments.

Do you love your harp?

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It has to be more than a crush – It must be love.  This feeling has lasted through good and bad.  Through great lessons and broken strings.  You love your harp!  What else could explain it?!

Maybe more importantly, how do you stay in love with your harp?  Well, like any relationship, you have to nurture and care for it!  After all, you want to feel that exhilaration of being in love, but you also just want to have that connection that stems from a love that lasts.

Do you love your harp?How?  Well, the same ways you’d be sure to stay connected to any other love in your life!  Here are five things that might help:

  1. Focus on it – a lot!  Make sure you spend a little time with your harp every day.  Some days you will have more time than you know what to do with – and woohoo, those are great days full of practicing and playing!  Other days, you might only have time to gaze longingly and possibly run your hand over the column.  Value both of those types of time (just try to keep the very short days infrequent!).  We all know that while absence may make the heart grow fonder, long-distance relationships are hard.
  2. Make (and keep) regular “dates” …and show up!  Ok, that might seem corny, but you know that you need to spend time together. One way to fit that time into the rest of your busy life is to make a date (or a meeting if you’re not romantical (not a typo, I meant romantical)).  And when you’re on your date – be present.  If you have time to spend with your harp – be there!  And pay attention to it while you’re playing.
  3. Actually listen.  It can be easy to listen without hearing. Like being present when you’re spending time with your harp, be sure to hear what your harp is telling you – whether it’s that you need to practice more or that your strings are getting old or that tuning might be in order – or whatever it wants to say to you.
  4. Go away together.  It’s amazing what a weekend getaway can do for your relationship!  There are loads of events all over the world, opportunities to take part in workshops and other events.  These are really helpful, so be sure to take them!  You’ll learn something and the time away can sweeten your relationship with your harp!
  5. 5. Be explicit about your needs – good relationships are built on caring for each other and meeting needs. Your harp has needs – to be maintained (and maybe occasionally dusted?) and you do too. So be clear what your needs are – whether it’s more practice time, more emphasis on a particular technique, changing up your approach to your music, better lighting, taking regular lessons, setting a goal for yourself, whatever else you need – make sure you know what you need – so your harp can help you get there.

If you’ve been feeling like your harp love is slipping away, try some of these to rekindle that romance.  Remember that all loves take some effort and work – but it’s worth it.  Do you have other ways to keep the love alive?  Share them in the comments!

 

(I probably should have written this last week for Valentine’s Day – but honestly, it didn’t occur to me in time!)

 

Cards against remembering

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I recently had the extreme good fortune to get to hang out with friends with the sole intention of playing tunes – lots and lots of tunes.   It was great!

It was horrible.

Like every social music interaction we know, we shared by taking turns starting a tune and then we all join in and have a blast!  And then it happens.  I know my turn is coming.  It’s exciting. I’ll get to suggest a tune that I know and love and can’t wait to play with my friends.And just like that, in our wonderful, marvelous, delectable tune sharing, I’m wracking my brain fussing over what tune I should suggest when it’s my turn.  And it’s a tussle…because I can’t remember any tunes that I know!!!

ARGH!

When you have a vast, amorphous collection of tunes in your head (or even if it isn’t that vast), it’s easy to forget what you do know.   It’s the same when you’re practicing and you get to that part of your practice time when you’ve finished the work and now get to play for fun. It strikes again, that remember-y thing and you can’t think of anything you know.  You know you have a library – just not what’s in it. 

How are you ever going to remember what tunes you know?  How will you know the contents of your library?  And frankly, how do you know if you have the Library of Congress in your head or if it’s more like a neighborhood Little Library?

You need a card catalog!

Each time you learn a new tune, start an index card and write all the useful and relevant information – the title of the tune (you could also include what you call it if you don’t think of it by it’s actual title – like if the title is in Gaelic or Irish), the key you play it in, the type of tune it is, maybe what you like to pair it with.  You might even get fancy and include the first couple of measures (trust me, it can help!).  Make a card for every tune you have learned.  Watch your catalog fill up!  And don’t forget that you can “pre-make” cards for the tunes you want to learn but haven’t gotten to yet.

Like any card catalog, you’ll be better able to use if it it’s organized.  The organization approach is up to you – organize it how you think about tunes.  You can do it alphabetical by title.  Or by tune type or by country of origin.  Or by where you learned it? Whatever, as long as you can find it when you need to.

You might be a Thoroughly Modern Millie and have already turned up your nose at my index cards.  No matter.  Make a spreadsheet.  Keep a paper list.  Generate your own code from Legos. I don’t care how, so long as you can use it!  The point is to keep what you know close to hand so you can use it – all of it. 

When you know what you know, you can be more clear on what you haven’t learned yet.  And you can be more deliberate about what you practice.  All of which might make it easier to remember anything you can play the next time you get to play for fun with friends!

How do you keep track of what you already can play?  Do you have a system to keep track? Let me know in the comments!

Have you got the Temperament?

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So, we’ve talked about the tools you might use to tune and a few approaches to assuring you tune all your strings to particular pitches.  But last week, Sara brought up a good point that I had been dancing around. 

Why?  Because it’s easy, but not simple.  What?!

So, let’s start with a caveat.  I’m not an expert in tuning or the mathematics and music theory behind tuning.  I’ll share what I know but please understand that this will be a skimming of the topic*.  Here goes.

The Social Component.  You might not have known there’s a social component to tuning, but there is.  We use A= 440Hz as we mentioned before.  But why?  Because this is the current convention.  Translation,

“We do it that way because that’s the way we do it.” 

In times past A = 432Hz, and who knows what it was before that (ok, someone probably knows, but I don’t).  This consensus on what “in tune” means is the social component of tuning – we’ve agreed,  we’ve come to consensus that we will use this standard (A = 440Hz) to tune our instruments. 

After all, why do we tune at all?  Because making music is social – and we want to enjoy playing together. 

Having said that, there are other elements of this social consensus.  More plainly, there is more than one “tuning system.”   These tuning systems “define” the scales you tune to.  There are loads of systems, and variants on them, and like every other human endeavor they have grown, developed, and changed (morphed?) over time.  Here are the two Temperaments you are most likely to bump into playing the harp.  I’m presenting them here as fait accompli but realize that they are all defined through and across music, philosophy, culture, and history.

Equal Temperament.  I’ve started here because this is the system you have likely always used (and unless you have changed a setting on your tuner, it’s what most electronic tuners use).  This system has the twelve tones that match the keys on the piano (C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B) and the pitches are distributed equally.  This is the tuning that makes it possible for the piano to be played in each major key**.  The upside is that everyone can play together.  The downside is that when you smush the pitches like that, they are no longer mathematically “correct” and when this was first used, it “sounded funny” (or more likely slightly off because when they did that, the notes all moved a little, sort of like kindergartners shifting around in line for cookies).  If you’re not sure, look at your tuner (or at the paperwork) –  it likely says it’s equal temperament.

Pythagorean Temperament.  You’ve heard of the Pythagorean Theorem?  Pythagoras thought that all beauty could be captured in mathematical ratios – the right triangle, the movements of the planets, and the arrangement of pitches.  This tuning is based on tuning “pure 5ths”.  This is the tuning you might use if you worked with a tuning fork.  This is the temperament that is easiest to tune by ear – you listen for the glorious pure 5th (remember – an in-tune 5th will “ring” and be audibly in tune.  You can’t miss it – and if you’re not hearing the ringing, you’re not in tune yet).  Each pitch will be near its cousin from equal temperament but only the octaves and 5ths will be exactly the same.    

There are other Temperament Systems including Meantone, all the variations of Equal Temperament (the 12 tone we’ve talked about above and including a lot of others counting up to 72 tone, Well Temperament (which Bach used to make a set of tunes for all 24 major and minor scales available on the keyboard at the time), Just Intonation (which I’ve never run into but is a thing), and many more.  Remember too that the temperament selected might have more to do with the music being played (renaissance had a different sense than modern) or the instrument being played (remember, it’s hard to retain theory that doesn’t apply to you!). 

Here’s a suggestion – play around with your tuning and see what you think.  If you’re typically using Equal Temperament, try Pythagorean and see what you think.  You might make lemon face because, it will be slightly different.  It probably will sound out of tune, but if you’re interested, give it a try.

Which type of tuning do you use and why?  “Because that’s what I was taught” is a perfectly good answer!  Did you try another approach?  What did you think?  Let me know in the comments.

 

*If you’re interested, there are many books on tuning, but one of my favorites is Lies My Music Teacher Told Me by Gerald Eskelin.  It’s a really fun book, and a short read, weighing in under 175 pages, but it is dense going – and having an interest in math will help.   Alternately, you can choose the path many do and stick with the theory you have learned by rote from teachers who have learned by rote.  Another way to say that is,

It has always been thus….

You will do fine if you want to keep it there, but read the book if you’ve always wondered.

 

** if the wording starts to be a little stilted, please note that is me attempting to be correct in an area that I don’t fully understand (nor do purport to), and is language that many musicians have bandied about but is actually quite technical – kind of like you call it a bruise but your physician calls it a hematoma – they’re both right, but one is more technically accurate than the other!

Tune it – Now What?

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Now that you know more about tuners that you ever wanted to, you might be wondering what you should be doing with the one you selected!  Because no matter how ritualized you make your tuning, in the end, you want to get to playing – so you might be wondering,

“I have a tuner…now what?”

Tuning your harpGood question.  Since tuning is pretty essential, people who’ve been at it a while might forget to initiate others into the mysteries of it all – like what you should do when you sit down to tune.

First, some ground rules:

  • There is no one way to tune. Just like there is no single way to play the harp, there are multiple ways to approach tuning. Play around with the suggestions here and find the approach that works for you.  Or hybridize them, or make up your own.
  • No matter how you go about the act of tuning, in the end, be focused on the goal – which is to have a harp that is in tune. Anything that pulls you away from that goal is not serving you as a musician.
  • It is a good idea to tune your harp with all the levers OFF – no matter to what scale you’re tuned. Tuning with the levers engaged doesn’t make a lot of sense – if the levers are doing their job, turning the pin to tighten or loosen the string will have to work against the lever which is designed to hold the string in place – tautly!  Just don’t. Take the levers off and then tune.

So here are some thoughts on the HOW of tuning:

  • The Linear Method* – Start at the bottom of your harp and tune each string, in order, until you get to the top. Yup, easy-peasy. There’s no getting lost or forgetting where you were.  And if you do get lost, as soon as you hear the string you think was next, you’ll have auditory proof that you’re right (or not).  You can also go from top to bottom – there’s no magic in starting at the bottom, so it’s up to you.
  • The Linear Octave Method – Start at the bottom of your harp (my bottom string is a C) and tune that string. Then tune each successive string of that note up your harp (e.g., C6 – C5 – C4 – C3 – C2 – C1). Once at the top of your harp, go back to the bottom and do the next string (e.g., D6 – D5 – etc.).  Iterate until you get to C5) and you’re done.  As with the Linear Method, you could also start at the top and work your way down.
  • The Circle of 5ths Simple Method – This approach is a little more complicated in that it assumes you know and are comfortable with the complete Circle of 5ths**. In addition, you have to pay attention so you don’t forget where you are! Start with your favorite pitch (I start with Ab) (If that doesn’t mean anything to you, and if your harp is not tuned to Bb or Eb, start with A)( If that doesn’t mean anything to you, and your harp is tuned to Bb or Eb, let me know and I’ll address it another time!).  Tune all of the strings of that pitch, then move to it’s 5th and tune all those, move to its 5th and tune all those, etc. until you get back where you started. 
  • The Circle of 5ths Less Simple Method – This method is a little more complicated. Here you really have to pay attention so you don’t get lost! Again, start with your favorite string (I start with Ab3) (If that doesn’t mean anything to you, it’s the Ab above middle C).  Then tune the octave below it (for me, Ab4).  Next tune the octave above it (for me, Ab2), back and forth until all of the strings of that pitch have been tuned.  Then move to its 5th and tune all those, again going below then above, etc. around the Circle until you get back where you started.  This really does require that you pay attention because you have to remember what you have tuned and where you’re going (both direction and 5ths).
  • The Random Walk – I don’t recommend this approach, but I have seen some beginners use no pattern. They just pick a string and tune it and then go on to some other string (and it appears random to me, with no discernable pattern). This really would take a great deal of concentration and it’s likely that you’ll miss a string (or 6).  But I’m not going to tell you not to do it this way – as long as when you’re finished your harp is actually in tune!

Since you might ask, my favorite way to tune is the Less Simple Circle of 5ths Method.  I like it best because everything about it helps me tune – tuning the strings against each other helps me hear them better, using the Circle makes harmonic sense, and for me, not going straight up an octave helps me focus more.  But to be honest, I use all these approaches at various times, depending on the circumstances.  The best method is the one you’ll actually use!  In addition, even the most complicated approach becomes easy if you practice doing it!

Additional Thoughts

Remember there’s more to tuning that slavishly adhering to the tool. Your tuner is not smart. And while it “listens” it doesn’t “hear”!  So, when I have “finished” tuning, I have an additional step to hear that my harp is in tune.  I use this step to correct tuning that might be off.  There are a couple of ways to do it:

  • Play octaves – play a 2 handed one octave scale of octaves from the bottom to the top of your harp. You know how to do this, you learned when you were first playing the harp – play the lowest octave in the left hand (e.g., C6 and C5) and the next higher octave in the right (e.g., C4 and C3) and play a scale straight up until you get to the top of your harp. Listen to what’s coming out of your harp and fix any notes that aren’t sweet. 
  • Play triads – just like above but with triads rather than scales. I like this method best because it really helps me hear when a note is not right. Sometimes, that note will have read right on the tuner and sounded good in the octaves, but played against its 5th (or sometimes its 3rd) then I can hear that it’s just not quite right.  The other advantage is that I can quickly tell exactly which string isn’t right (not just which note) so I don’t have to guess or redo them all (it’s not all the Bs, it’s just B3, for example).  And it’s typically not out by, much so I can correct it fairly easily.

Handy hint – harps are built to be resonant. I place my hand flat against the lowest strings when I’m tuning the middle (remember, I usually start in the middle) – this way the tuner (and my ear) hears the string I’m playing. Otherwise, those lower strings are resonating sympathetically and the tuner hears that, but since, at that point I haven’t tuned those lower strings yet, what the tuner hears might lead me astray.  Then my tuned string is not actually as well tuned as I think and I will have to go back and retune it after I’ve finished tuning – how pointless is that!?!

How do you go about tuning?  Do you have another approach?  Anything that just really doesn’t work?  Let me know in the comments!

 

* I’ve made up these names, they aren’t “official” but feel free to use them 😉

** Whether you use this method of tuning or not, you need to know and be comfortable and facile with the Circle of 5ths – it’s something we use a lot!