Author Archives: Jen

Tune it

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Last week after I exhorted you to tune every day, you asked about tuners – good question!

A tuner is certainly an important tool.  Unless you are born with perfect pitch, you’ll need one (and only about .0001% of the population does – that’s only about 775,000 people in the world!).  But a quick internet search for tuners may set your head spinning – there are so many, and they are all shiny, and they all do different things, and are they even right for the harp?!

So, this week, a little walk through the veritable Candyland of tuner types.  Hopefully this will help you decide which one is right for you.  We should start with the (boring but required) caveats – all of this is my opinion,  If you click on a link and buy one, I won’t get anything and I have no endorsement arrangements with any organizations (because I’m an idiot and I don’t make any money by “influencing” you!). 

Tuners are simply tools.  They range from simple and old school to amazingly complicated and precise.  I have tried here to cover the basic types.  I have included some to improve your knowledge even though you are unlikely to need or want them.  Here goes.

First, you DO need a tuner of some kind.  You will, of course, also use your ears, but since the pitches of the notes are mathematically related to one another, some level of precision is needed.  When you are tuning, you will consult with the tool but you will also want to hear that your harp is in tune – that your octaves are aligned and that you are getting harmonics where you expect them. 

Second, no matter which tuning tool you select, you will get better, faster, and more precise if you practice using it. That tuning every day thing will really help with that.  In addition, the more you tune your harp, the better it will stay in tune.  Yes, this is an infinite loop but it ensures you get better at it!

The first tuning tool you could use is a Tuning Fork like this one.  Definitely old school.  Also, it’s a tuning fork not a pitch fork!  You can buy them at the behemoths or at a music shop.  For harps tuned to C, F, or other major scale that keep the A string open, get a 440Hz fork (because they do, in fact, come in pitches) (Note that if you are tuned to Eb, you will want to get a G# like this one because you’ll want to tune with the levers off).  I’d suggest the ones from a music shop because they have the rubberized handle which lets the fork vibrate while you hold it without impacting its frequency.  To use the tuning fork, strike the tines on your arm or leg and then hold the base (the single end) to the sound board.  You’ll hear the reference pitch emanating from the soundboard.  Now play A3 (the A above middle C) and tune the string until you only hear one sound.  If you can hear two separate tones, the string is not in tune.  Once that string is in tune, then tune all the other A’s to A3.  Then you can use the Circle of 5ths to tune the rest of the harp.   

  • Benefits of the Tuning fork –
    • Works in any light
    • Needs no batteries
    • Lightweight, sturdy, and easy to carry
  • Drawbacks –
    • Only as accurate as your hearing and discipline
    • Difficult to use in a noisy environment (like with other instruments also tuning).
    • Significant learning and practice curve

The second tuning tool you could use is the Strobe tuner like this one.  Honestly, I have seen these but have never used one.  They are an electronic tuner which displays the difference between the reference frequency (what the note should be) and what you’re playing.  They are a “gold standard” for tuning. They are scary very accurate.

  • Benefits of the Strobe tuner:
    • Accuracy!  More accurate than any other tuner (likely more accurate that you can hear)
    • Easy to determine if you’re in tune and if your harmonics are in (or out) of tune
    • Easy to see the display and what’s going on
    • Easy to use in a noisy environment
  • Drawbacks –
    • Expensive (even the smaller ones)
    • Challenging (if you don’t fully understand how it works, you’re not easily going to find another harper to explain it to you)
    • High precision can lead to “chasing” the pitch up and down around the center

Third we have Chromatic tuners.  This is probably the most prevalent type of tuner you’ll see at any harp event.  Chromatic tuners allow you to tune your strings to the closest note of the twelve-note chromatic scale (think going up the piano playing C – C# – D – D# – E – F – F# – G# – A – A# – B – B# – c).  These are called semi-tones.  This allows you to tune to whatever major scale you happen to tune to (C, F, Eb, or whatever you have chosen). 

There is the handheld.  This is probably the type of tuner you have.  They come in a lot of forms but most of us are familiar with the Korg like this one.   There is a more complicated Korg like this one. 

  • Benefits –
    • Inexpensive
    • Easy to read
    • Easy to use
    • Can be used in noisy environments if include a pick up (a small microphone you plug into the tuner like this one)
  • Drawbacks –
    • Battery powered
    • Likely to break if you drop it

Another increasingly popular chromatic tuner is Clip On such as the Snark ST-2 like this one.  You can clip it onto the tuning key or onto one of the sound holes on the back of the harp (which can be a challenge to see while you’re tuning).  The microphone is in the clip, so they work well in noisy or quiet environments.  These are flexible and work well – just make sure you get the right (red) one – the others are for guitars and don’t have the response you need.  Same benefits and drawbacks as other chromatic tuners, but additionally even lighter, easier to carry, don’t need a pickup, and they’re just cute!

Finally, the last type of Chromatic tuner I’ll mention is a Phone App.  There are plenty of free versions for Android and for Apple.  I use gStrings but I don’t think there are vast differences between the available apps.  These work as well as your phone can hear (so, pretty well) and are easy to read.  Like the Snark, they have the same benefits as other chromatic tuners, the display may be more precise than your handheld (mine is at the single Hz so much more precise than my handheld) which can be good but may lead you to chase the pitch.  The benefits are enhanced by the ubiquity of the phone – if you’ve forgotten your tuner, you’ll probably still have your phone!  The don’t have a pickup so in a noisy room you may (or may not) be able to use it. 

Regardless of the type of tuner you select – a few more sage thoughts –

  • Having a backup is a good idea (and essential if you’re gigging).  You might consider carrying two different tuners.  In my gig bag I have a Korg, a Snark, and a tuning fork…and my phone – just in case.
  • No matter how good your tuner is, carry spare batteries!
  • Since your harp life is likely going to be long and you never know what kind of music you might be playing or who you might have the opportunity to play with, make sure your tuner can be calibrated (for instance you probably tune to A440Hz as a current convention, but you might move into other music that might have a different setting (like A4 = 432Hz)).  You might also look for other types of tuning – does your tuner have non-equal temperament such as Pythagorean?
  • No matter which of these you choose – practice using it!  The more you use it to tune, the better you’ll be able to correlate what the display tells you with how much to turn the wrench.
  • Finally – nothing beats listening.  It really doesn’t matter what the display says if the harp sounds wrong!  Be prepared to retune a string that sounds off.  Do that before you start playing!

I hope some of that was helpful.  What type or brand of tuner do you have?  Do you like it?  What does it do that you like?  What is it missing?  Let me know in the comments!

 

It’s the little things

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The year is still young so we’re probably still thinking we should be setting goals.  One thing about goal setting is that it is really focused on a later time and on achieving big things.  Now, don’t get me wrong, achieving big things is good and important and really nice to accomplish. 

But the challenge is that it’s easy to get caught up in the “big goals” and forget about the smaller goals.  You know the ones.  The goals that actually provide the foundation for those big goals.  They are usually small enough that they don’t make the cut for a goals list (or a visi-mood board).  Why?  Because they are small.  But they are also essential.  After all – it’s the little things.

These are the sort of thing that I tend to write on each day’s Things To Do list.  Not because I won’t remember to do them, but rather because they are that important. What am I talking about?  Where here’s one you might want to include on your list for 2022:

Tune your Harp(s) EVERY DAY!

I know, right?!  And yet, it’s easy to just let this one slip – “I don’t have enough time,” “It’s tuned enough,” “No one is listening” – the list of excuses goes on and on. 

We know that tuning your harp is important as part of harp maintenance.  As I have mentioned before, tuning is good for your harp.  And the more you tune, the better you’ll get at it, so it will become faster and easier. 

But tuning your harp is a daily activity that has absolutely nothing to do with keeping your instrument in tune!  The biggest benefit of tuning as an activity is that it can become a ritual.   

Rituals are important – they can help you settle and become attuned to the upcoming activity.  A ritual can act to help you enter into your practice and playing time in a useful frame of mind.  A ritual is a process, repeated daily, that can aid in transitioning from your everyday life to your harp life. 

And tuning is a good ritual to build into your day – it will help you focus and prepare to play.  Think of the ritual of tuning as a quiet, focused way to make the shift (and it will make you sound better!).

Adding a ritual like tuning – a small goal performed daily – might be that all you need to be comfortable that you can get moving on those big goals.  Every time you finish tuning you will have moved a little farther along on your (small) goals and set yourself up to feel good about tackling the next step of your larger goals. 

Do you really need to tune your harp every day?  Nope – just on the days that end in “y”!

Please tell me you tune your harp!  Do you have a ritual for your playing?  Did you define small goals?  Did you have small goals?  Let me know in the comments!

 

What do you see?

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So – did you make a vision/mood (visi-mood?) board?  What do you see?

This is meant to be an exercise that allows you to explore your thinking on what you’d like to accomplish (translation – your goals) for the year.  I hope you did make a board.  It’s an interesting way to get started on moving forward to where you think you’d like to be.  It’s certainly not writing up a load of resolutions or wishes.  If nothing else, it’s a compelling way to go about thinking about what activities you’d like to contemplate for the coming time. 

I did one.  I liked that it really required thinking.  It meant not only conceiving of what to do and focus on, but also then find a graphic way to represent it – yikes! 

Going graphic meant that I really had to examine all the things I was thinking about and generate ways to represent that.  Here’s what I came up with.

Vision Mood BoardHow about yours?

Of course, mine doesn’t mean anything to you – it’s my board!  But it does incorporate all my big goals for the year for my music.  More importantly, it helped me figure out which were actual goals (things that I can actually accomplish with a defined finish line and more than just a little detail on the process for getting there) and which were just wishes (of course I’d like to do all kinds of big and exciting stuff …but a lot of those things are just colossal stretch – and more a hankering than a goal). 

Making a board also really shone light on the “shoulds” that were crowding in.  You know the sort of thing – I should do x and if I really wanted to move forward, I should do y (where x and y are things that maybe a lot of other people are doing but that I just don’t value or am just not interested in doing).  The problem with shoulds is that they weigh a lot but don’t actually help you move.  Being able to identify those shoulds let’s you set them aside and focus on the goals you want to meet rather than to fixate on things of no import.

So, did you make a visi-mood board?  Did it help you define your goals for this year?  Did you learn anything?  Do you feel ready to codify your goals for the year?  Let me know in the comments!

Vision of the new year

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Happy New Year!  It’s that time of year when it seems like everyone is setting goals and resolutions – our vision of the new year.  This year, we just don’t know.  There is still loads of uncertainty going into 2022, but we go on anyway.

Of course, the reality is that at this point of any year we have no idea what’s coming!  Our vision is limited.  It’s only in the last couple of years that we’ve been made very aware that we don’t know what’s coming, certainly in a way we haven’t been in the past.  So really, this year is beginning like every other year we’ve seen the start of.  It just seems more unavoidable this year.  Maybe it’s unavoidable, but it’s also status quo.

Vision Mood boardNow that we’ve established that this year is just like every year, we can get moving setting some goals.  Even though this year is like others before, we do feel more uncertain and actively setting some goals and writing them down may be more important this year than any other year.  After all, even though it’s the same as every other year, it still feels different.  And we could all use a little bit of support to make it through the unknown. 

But let’s not be hasty.  While we know that setting some goals will help us to keep focused throughout the year, we also know that most people don’t even get through January before those goals have been forgotten or overcome by events.  So, we can get to our goals but let’s get there smartly. 

Let’s start moving forward by looking back.  Start by asking yourself about the good that has come from our previous year.  Actively recognize your previous successes – all of them!  Might as well start on a positive note.

Now, for those goals.  You might have heard the oft reported  study that people who write down their goals are significantly more likely to achieve them (like so much internet data, the “Harvard study” that reports only 3% of people actually achieve their goals is apparently an urban myth, but actual research has also shown this!).  Writing goals down can be broadly defined – the point is to develop the goal and get it out of your head so you can refer to it (rather than either forgetting about it or allowing it to “morph” from a goal to just an idea you had).

Let’s set ourselves up for success.  Rather than just throwing some goals on paper and then forgetting about them (whether they’re written or not), how about starting with an exercise to really help focus and define good, achievable, success-oriented goals.  Let’s bastardize the Vision Board (which captures your view of what you’d like to manifest) and the Mood Board (which is really a visual planner).  You don’t have to buy into the hype of either of these tools to use them – and smushing them together into a single entity is just more useful.  Because really all these do is help you to see:

  • a representation of where you’d like to go (these might become your goals)
  • how you might go about getting from here to there (these might become your process)
  • and the outcomes along the way (these might become products or outputs along the way). 

The important thing is to capture your thinking and then to look at it critically, make sure you have captured your thinking accurately, made changes as needed and capturing those too. 

Of course, you can use any medium – you can make a visual representation as a collage, drawing, painting, make paper dolls – whatever.  But don’t be focused on how you get it out – you could also write it out.  Use what works for you – write a puppet show, compose a song, choreograph a dance!  It really doesn’t matter as long as it helps you refine what you think you’d like your goals to be. 

This week, take some time to think about what you’d like to do this year (don’t be too focused on when you start  or how long you will be working on it.  After all the “new year” is just a calendar convention, January is when we’ve come to consensus on when the year begins).  Give yourself some time and space to do this – have a cup of tea and a slice of quiet and think about it.  When you think you have an idea, start building your board (in whatever format you choose).  Be free.  Be creative.  Be flexible.  Get it captured in your format.  Don’t just think about it – we’re going to move on from here, so you need a place to start.  Remember, you’re thinking and capturing – not committing!  And if you’re willing, share it with us – let me know in the comments. 

Last Minute Gift Guide

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It’s that time of year when nearly everyone is gifting – no matter their tradition.  There’s a joy to receiving a gift that can only be exceeded by the thrill of giving the perfect (or near perfect) gift.    And that’s the rub – because finding the perfect (or near perfect) gift can be a challenge. 

Those who love you and love your harping would also love to give you an appropriate gift that will not only encourage you to keep playing but also will be something you want and that fits perfectly.  So this week, ten last minute gifts you can suggest to someone to buy for you (or to buy yourself – nothing wrong with getting the joy of giving and the thrill of getting!).

1. Tuning wrench (yes, another one).  Whether you call it a wrench, a key, or a thingamabob, you need one when you need one and having an extra one to keep in your case so you never don’t have one makes this a great gift!  Ranging from completely simple and inexpensive to incredibly complicated (and costly) you can always leave a photo or the appropriate URL laying around to assure you get the right one for your harp.

2.  Snark Tuner.  Compact, accurate, easy to use, and cute – what more could you ask of a tuner?  I have one of these.  Put it on the tuning key (or clip in in one of the holes in the back) and you’re good to go, no matter how many other people are tuning around you!

3.  String buttons or leather lace. I recently bought some of the new Dusty Strings String Buttons – and just in time before two strings on my Dusty 36 broke!  I thought they were clever, but now that I’ve had to use them, I l-o-v-e them!  You can find them here.   Now, I get that not everyone is ready to move to the String Buttons in which case you might prefer to go for my previous favorite solution – leather shoelace (like this one).  Either solution gets you a strong knot that won’t buzz.

4.  Candle Stick-um.  This wax adhesive is great when you use a spline in a string knot on the higher, thinner strings.  It holds everything together while you’re getting the knot set – no untying, no dropping the spline, no needing three hands to get everything put together.  I got it online like this but you might be able to find it in a store near you.

5.  Gloves.  No matter where you live or when you’re playing, nothing will make you feel less like playing than not being able to feel your fingers!  But gloves are an investment, and you have to keep track of them, and they’re in your other coat pocket and they don’t go with your outfit.  Ok, all of those are excuses.  The small stretchy gloves are perfect – they’re in small, inexpensive, go with everything, and because they come in bundles, you can have them everywhere.  Seriously, I have them scattered all over the place – in my car (actually 3 pairs in there), in my case pocket, in my purse, in my gig bag, and in the pockets of every coat (including my raincoat).  And, because they’re really inexpensive, if you lose one, it’s not so bad.  While I’m not a fan of urging you to shop at evil vortex of commerce, they do have them there.

6.  Hand Warmers.  Sometimes even those little gloves just won’t do the trick (like that time there was a nor’easter during the national competition?).  Then you might be glad to have hand warmers like these.  They last a long while and I know they work! 

7.  Hand Lotion.  Winter is hard on the skin on your hands.  With all the washing and drying and cold air and heated air and dry air, using hand lotion becomes a no-brainer.  Failing to keep your hands lotioned leaves you open to getting split (and bleedy) skin, hang nails, flakiness, and leaves you susceptible to infection.  All that is easily avoidable, and you should be better about this than I am.   I have lotions at each sink and little travel containers in my harp case and purse – but it works best if you use it!

8. A Journal Book.  You didn’t think I’d leave this off, did you?!  The first step to keeping a journal is to have a book for it!  Whatever is the right size, shape, and paper for you is the right one.

9. Tea or cocoa.  You want to be ready when it’s time to take a break from practicing.  Or to have a small refreshment while reading your music or practicing in your head or planning your practice.  Whether you’re “Team Tea” or in the “Cocoa Club” it will be nice to know you have it when you are ready!

10. Lesson Gift Cards.  While I don’t usually launch into shameless commerce here, lessons do make a great gift.  You don’t have to have them with me – I’m sure others would also offer them (but of course, I’d be delighted if you did get them from me).  For the holidays, I am offering a cute printable gift certificate and in December if you buy ten lessons, you’ll get 11!*

The links provided are for information and aren’t an endorsement of any particular retailer.  Once you know what you’re looking for, you can make your own decisions on where to buy. 

If you have other ideas, please share them – we’re at the holiday gift buying crunch and I’m sure more ideas would be appreciated by all! 

* Legal stuff – Offer valid for new or current students.  Subject to availability, all lessons must be completed in 2022.  Cancellation and other studio policies apply.

 

 

 

 

Theory – All in Good Time

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The other day I was torturing one my students with an element of theory.  She didn’t look happy about it.

I’ve seen wet cats look happier.  

In my usual way, I blathered on and one and on about the point and what it meant and why it was important and how it could inform playing.  You know, the usual.

Her eyes glazed over.

The learning had to be salvaged (because contrary to popular belief, I really do not do this to torture anyone, but rather to prime the pump). 

So, I followed all those words, thoughts, and deeds with this,

“Don’t worry – you’re not going to remember any of that anyway”

And I meant it (I’m motivational like that).

Recently I decided that my piano technique needed woodshedding.  So I broke out a couple of books that I loathe – but keep, because, like Kaopectate, Mercurochrome, or VapoRub, they are horrid, but serve a purpose.  In the margin, in the hand of my teacher, are notes that I’d forgotten about.  They were all theory elements, put there to help me learn.

She had the right end of that stick!  She didn’t teach theory by rote out of a book.  Her point was that it will all come in good time – learning the rules by using them.  She told me things and left them to marinate.  I hadn’t realized until then how much of my teaching I had learned from her!

Because I dump a lot of theory into heads, knowing that it may not (yet) be comprehensible.  But also knowing that, while most of it will flow in one ear and out the other, little bits will stick.  You know, like glitter.  But you won’t even know it’s there, marinating, waiting for the time when it will all make sense.

In its own good time, other bits of theory glitter will also stick.  It will be a gradual process (like the formation of sedimentary rock).  But as time passes – learning, playing, picking up more glitter – some of the glitter will catch the light.

And suddenly, some arcane theory thing I droned on and on and on about in the past will, in a flash of glittery brilliance, become an insight with clarity and usefulness!

And I’m ok with that.  Because developing your own insight in a glittery flash may require a good long time, but it will be more meaningful – and sensible – than if you had memorized a bunch of theory facts.

There will be things that become understandable rather quickly and easily.  And other things will take (what feels like) eons.  Those things will make you work for it, tease you into thinking you’ve got it before kicking sand in your face, before suddenly it catches the light, glints and then clicks and makes sense.

That’s ok.  Remember, there are loads of things in theory you might never learn (because you won’t use them, or they don’t apply to your instrument (I give you alto clef as an example)).  So you might not develop an encyclopedic knowledge of music theory.  Oh well.

What you will get – all in good time – is a strong understanding of the rules you can use.

In a steady stream of content that may seem incomprehensible, your brain becomes primed to learn something useful now, and a little more later when the pieces begin to click together like legos.

So hang in there, keep learning, and feel free to marinate.  I’ll keep telling you stuff and you’ll get there – all in good time.  DO you have a theory thing still eludes you?  Or an insight that came, like the glint of glitter?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Holiday Boundaries

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Well, Thanksgiving is in the books for another year.  Thank you for all your lovely messages – they totally made my holiday that much more better!

As one holiday recedes in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to tee up the next event.  Yup – the winter holidays.  This is the time of the year when people who know you play the harp come out (in droves) to ask you to play for their event.

If you’re gigging (or hoping to), I hope you get mobbed with requests and that your calendar is so full that the added ink makes it perceptibly heavier!

However, if you are not really interested in gigging, you are reticent to perform, or you’re a new harper not quite ready to get out there, it’s time to establish some boundaries!

If you haven’t experienced this before, people are typically hungry for entertainment – especially at the holidays.  They would love to provide you an opportunity to share your gift.  Typically, they don’t fully understand what they are asking of you.  And if you are new or relatively inexperienced, you may not fully understand what they are asking either (this is another “don’t ask me how I know this” moment).

So, before we hit full holiday stride, you need to ask yourself a few questions.  By the way, there are no right answers.

1.  Do you have enough repertoire to perform?  How long are they asking you to play?  Do you have enough seasonal tunes to fill that time?  Not have you learned enough – do you have enough music ready to perform?  That doesn’t mean you can just practice them for that same amount of time – rather, can you entertainingly fill the time comfortably?   As an example, for a half hour performance, I aim for at least 15 carols.  Ok, actually I aim for closer to 20 because I like to be prepared for randomness!  But remember that these tunes are short, so even three times through will only last about a minute and a half.  If you have 15 of these, that will be about 23 minutes.    There is also the phenomenon of time on stage, where although it feels like time is slowing down (probably due to terror!), it is instead speeding up (probably because your natural metronome (your heart) is racing!) so what usually takes 23 minutes now only needs 20 and leaves you wishing you had five more tunes.

2.  Do you feel prepared to perform?  After all, these tunes are really well known so each misstep, jazz variation, arrangement variance (other people might call them mistakes but we know better!) feels huge.  Like a pimple on prom night, these are much worse to you than to your audience, but each one is easier to weather with experience.  Remember that performing is nothing like practicing in your living room – even if you are performing in your living room!  This shouldn’t surprise you – it’s just like running through tough conversations in the mirror while you brush your teeth – the real conversation never goes like your rehearsal! You want to be confident in the tunes you have and that you can weather any variances that crop up.

3.  Why?  Yup, WHY.  Why would you say yes?  If the answer is that you are eager to play the event, then go for it!  But if the answer is that you don’t know how to say no, put down that tuning key!  If you can’t give a heartfelt “YES!” then repeat after me, “No.  Thank you, but no.”  Don’t elaborate.  Don’t dither.  Don’t explain.  Don’t make excuses.  Just don’t.  If you are of a mind to, you could pass along the contact information for someone you know does want to, but you are under no obligation to do that.  A variation of this question is “Will doing this enhance my holiday season?  Or will it distract me and stress me out?”  Are you ok with the answer?

4.  What is my time worth to me?  Let’s be honest – there are a lot of people who will want you to play for free.  Are you ok with that?  Another way to phrase the question is “Do I like the requestor well enough to give them a gift of (your perceived value of) my time?  Because that’s what it is.  When you’re calculating your perceived value, remember that it includes not only the performing time but also the preparation time (which is not insignificant).  Because in the end, if you didn’t want to say yes but you did, you’ve given a very dear gift to someone you don’t esteem as well.  Only you will pay that price.

Whether you are just starting out or are a seasoned pro, set your boundaries now.  Know the answers to your questions and give the right answer for you.  If you are ready to say yes, your tunes should already be ready (BTW if, as you read this, you are thinking that maybe you should start now, just say “maybe next year”!).  And if your answer is no – stick to it!  Practice saying it – out loud if you need to.  Focus on assuring that your holiday season is enjoyable and happy rather than focusing on making everyone else’s holidays entertaining while you twist in a stress knot! 

Because you know that we’ll go through this again next year, you might also consider one additional question – How do you define being ready should you decide you’d like to be for next year?

And remember, how you spend your time is up to you.  Don’t allow anyone josh, cajole, press, bully, beg, or persuade you into performing if you’re not interested.  If you are completely uninterested in playing for others, I give you leave to use my line that you “only play for the cat and the curtains” (this is particularly jocular if you do not have a cat!).

Get out your metaphorical post hole digger, we have boundaries to establish!  How will you do that?  Let me know in the comments!