It’s the little things

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You know that I am always suggesting that you develop a journal. I have told you that writing things down will help you in the long run. And I bet you believed me. And I’m nearly as sure that you still haven’t started journaling.

You’ve probably told yourself that journaling would be good for other people – those that have less experience than you do, those that have more experience, those that are professionals, those that are hobbyists, et cetera, ad nauseum.

incremental-progressBecause journaling is like cod liver oil – yes it’s good for you, as long as “you” refers to someone else!

But look at this way – writing it down will help you remember…where you’re going…where you’ve been…what you’ve been through to get from one to the other. And this is important because it will allow you to see small, incremental changes in your playing.

Because no one makes giant leaps every time! We all progress in little (tiny? minute?) steps. And those small steps ahead are difficult to see – especially if you (actually do) practice every day! It is a forest and trees problem – it’s just perspective. Regardless of the metaphor – we are not especially good at seeing our little victories. Ever notice how your nails always need cutting but you can never catch them growing?! Same thing!

You wouldn’t wake up and say, “I think I’ll run a marathon today”.  You know it would take a lot of work and exercise.  You would build up – slowly, over time, while you adjust to the work.

You do the same thing with your music – with incremental progress you will be able to do amazing things – by working at it a little over a long time. That’s not news – so you might as well help yourself by making your progress clear.

In effect, you can use your journal to catch your nails growing! And to see those little progress markers in every day.

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You might have seen that there are only 90 days remaining in the year (fewer by the time you read this!).  Have you made significant progress toward your harp goals for the year? Do you remember what they were? Did you write them down? Did you make a plan?

Fear not – all is not lost – there are, after all, nearly 90 days remaining to make some progress.  So you can end the year with a strong (and deserved) feeling of accomplishment!  And if you are no longer aligned with the goals you set (or if you never got around to setting goals), here are seven things you can still finish this year to end on a high note of accomplishment!

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  • Now is not the time to be wishy-washy – identify specifically what you want to work on (e.g., “I want to play Glenlivet at 200bpm” rather than, “I want to play faster”).You can file your paper music – Alphabetically? Chronologically? By type? Up to you, just do file in a way you can find it!
  • Make your 3 x 5 card index of tunes so you can keep more of your repertoire in your fingers (see this previous post).
  • Identify “little things” that need to be fixed in tunes you are already playing – and dedicate the remaining year to fixing them (you know, smooth out that fingering that always makes you miss in the fast tune; actually do the exercises and etudes that will allow you do perform a technical element accurately; commit to memory that chord progression for that air that you love but always stumble in).
  • Identify appropriate, strong, measurable goals for next year – and write them down! (and there is nothing magic about 1 January – you can start now)
  • Commit to actually practice every day for the rest of the year.
  • Write down what you do each day so you can see your progress.

Just keep focused on what you’d like to accomplish and make a plan to spend the end of the year moving toward that!

It’s a mistake to worry about mistakes!

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John Cleese, legendary funny person and noted actor is quoted as saying, “Nothing will stop you from being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.”

And truly, that is not funny.

We are often our own worst enemies, telling ourselves repeatedly that our mistakes are not creative, just errors, cowering in our harp space not playing so we don’t miss, harboring the fear that we are not good enough to be creative, that other people are creative and we just appreciate their gifts because while they make charming mistakes. our own mistakes come out more like farts.

Hogwash!

not-creative-hogwashSo how will you get around this?

  • Acknowledge that mistakes are not failures. Not getting where you meant to only means that you have an opportunity to learn from where you ended up.
  • The cool stuff only arises from “mistakes”. Pay attention to where you landed and how you got there – some of the best tunes only get captured by turning on the recorder and collecting everything that comes out of your harp, good, bad and indifferent.
  • There really are no mistakes – there are sometimes elements that are not as pleasurable as others but they are stepping stones to the next note.  And if music is too perfect, it gets boring.
  • Acknowledge that, like fine wine, sometimes an idea needs to age or mature before it is really what you wanted.  Give yourself time for creativity to happen.  You have no idea how many times the creator tried before you get that perfect “Pinterest” photo!
  • Failure – what’s the worst that could happen? While you’re alone in your harp space something you didn’t intend comes out? Get over it and move on! Unlike the movies, creativity is not going to smite you with virtue…you’re going to have to work at it…and take the good with the bad.

Some of the best stuff ever has arisen from having the wrong levers set, not quite remembering how the tune starts, landing on the wrong chord, or some other mistake. So, make a beautiful noise and work with it – nothing that comes out of your harp is a failure!

Where do tunes come from?

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I often get asked about tunes, their provenance, their history – in other words, where do they come from?  Whether you are just generally curious, preparing for a Scottish Harp competition, or you simply want to correctly catalog your tunes, knowing where the tunes come from can tell you a lot.

First the easy answer – tunes come from all over and are held everywhere (and sometimes nowhere).  Many people learn the tunes they pick up in lessons or workshops, enjoy them immensely and go on.  Some learn tunes from popular books (such as Sylvia Woods’ many collections or the copious books available from MelBay, Afghan Press* and others) and play them for their own enjoyment. Some musicians learn tunes, play them, and are there for the tune and nothing more.  Take off your judgment hat – because there is nothing wrong with that!

tune-collectionsThe second answer is a little more nebulous – tunes are everywhere.  Some are breathtaking, but difficult to find and others are in every book you pick up (or so it seems) – so where do you find new tunes?  Here are seven places to look for your next best loved tune:

  • You can go to workshops – some workshop tutors are known for their scholarly approach to the tunes and you can learn a great deal at these events.
  • You can listen, listen, listen.  Find tunes you like being played (and remember to look beyond the harp – there are spectacular tunes out there being presented by pipers, fiddlers, whistle player, concertina, guitar, piano – it’s the tune that’s the thing, the instrument is simply the vessel.
  • You can hunt up stuff on the internet Part I – there are a lot of interesting nooks and crannies in the web, patience, perseverance, and a good scratch pad are all you need (the scratch pad is to note the search terms you have already tried and to capture ideas for additional search terms as you go.
  • You can hunt up stuff on the internet Part 2 – there are also some easy to find caches of tunes including thesession.org or www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/ or abcnotation.com.  these are a bit “wiki-er” so they are a great place to start but if you are searching for authenticity, I’d suggest keeping on looking after you find a tune you like.
  •  You can hunt up stuff on the internet Part 3 – YouTube – while this might be a corollary of the first bullet, you can often find a couple of different renditions of a tune (which for me makes it easier to “hear” the melody).  This works best if you look for a specific tune title and then daisy chain yourself through a bunch of links.
  • You can chat up a music librarian or the reference librarian at the local university or community college – it’s amazing what is in those libraries.  Of course this is much easier if you live near a music school but, don’t let those plain facades fool you, libraries hold some amazing stuff!
  • You can  build your own assemblage of published collections books.  There are loads of collections, printed in various ways (I have hardbound, softcover, pdf). Some are old (like use gloves and turn pages ever so carefully old) and some are new (like smell the ink new).  Some are noted for piano, fiddle, pipes – remember it’s the tune that’s the thing so the notation just gives you an idea where to go.  Many of the collections include other important information that is helpful – the story of the tune, the composer, the times, all of which might be helpful for arranging the melody when you decide to present it.  And you know, the appropriate number of books to own is much like the appropriate number of harps – one more!  You’ll find these collections on line, in (regular) bookshops, and in used book shops.

Do your homework and you will be delighted to find your next favorite tune!

* I don’t have the good sense to do affiliate marketing so this is just my opinion – there’s no kickback from Sylvia or Mel Bay or Afghan Press, this is simply an observation.

Harp 2017 is coming

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We are excited to be doing a Harpa trip in 2017!  (If you want to go on the Harp the Highlands and Islands Tour, start planning – we’ll be going in 2018!). We are scheduling the trip for 11 – 25 May 2017.

Join Sue Richards (Concert Mistress), Beth Kolle (Harpa Founder), and me as we travel to the Isle of Skye, the Borders and more.  We will meet old friends and new. And we’ll be playing lots of music. We will also perform and give back through concerts for good causes.  Bring your harp and have a good time – we will have some ensemble parts to share.

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You don’t have to be a harp player – we welcome other (small) traditional instruments and appreciators.  We are delighted to be going back to Scotland and the opportunity to see some new places.

While the schedule is still taking shape, but we are looking a trip along the lines of the following:

Day 1 – Collect everyone in Edinburgh and head to St Andrews

Day 2 – Head to Ft William via Aberfeldy, Falls of Dochart, and Glencoe

Day 3 – Go on to three days on the Isle of Skye

Day 4 – See Scenic Skye including Dunvegan Castle

Day 5 – Visit the Talisker distillery, the Fairy Falls and Eilen Donan Castle

Day 6 – Travel to Loch Lomond, and the Trossochs and Glasgow highlights

Day 7 – Spend the day in Glasgow

Day 8 thru 13. While we’re finalizing the specific days, we will visit Ayrshire and Dumfries (Burns country) and will have five concerts including performances at:

  • Culzean Castle (for National Trust for Scotland)
  • Robert Burns Birthplace Museum
  • Dumfries House (for the Prince’s Trust)
  • Others are still in work

Day 14. Return to Edinburgh

Remember that we will have only 14 seats on this trip. You will (as before) need to bring your lever harp (we learned last time that hiring a harp there was in the “just too darn hard” category).

As we have updates they will be posted on the website. I’m already taking places so let me know if you are interested soon.

As always, questions welcomed and encouraged.

I’m so looking forward this trip – I know we’ll have a great time! Hope you join me –

Contact me for more information and to reserve your place.  And watch this space for updates.

A la Mode

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Sometimes, you’re trying to put together a set of tunes – some jeels and rigs or a march, strathspey, reel set – and you might be at a loss on how to begin.  You could just slap a few tunes together, and there are many ways to go about this. But for now, let’s think about theory and how knowing a little more about music structure might help us make some better decisions.

First, we are harp players so we’ll already be doing a lot with our hands, so we need to put together tunes that don’t require lever changes (or maybe just a couple but, really we’re going to try for none).

Second, we want the tunes to sound like we put them together on purpose rather than like we were grasping for any tune that would come into our head next to be played.

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So, how are we going to use theory to help us out?  Isn’t theory just a bunch of dry, boring, un-understandable blahblahblah that I will never use?  The answer is a resounding – NO!  Learning theory gives you the tools you need to put those tunes together – in a good way, that will make musical sense, will save you some lever changes, that brings your audience along with you – you want all those things!!

What theory lessons would be helpful for putting that set together?  Well, you’re already part of the way there if you really, r-e-a-l-l-y don’t want to make lever changes! Because when you set your levers, you have automatically put the harp into seven different scales – and there’s probably a great tune in one of those seven scales (ok, really there’ll be about a million great tunes in a couple of those scales and possibly none in the others – but…made you look!).

What are these seven scales?  You already know, but you might not know their names.  The first is the scale you think of when you set the levers – no sharps or flats? You’re in C and you know it.  But you’re also in…

Ionian mode (sounds pretty exotic).  If you move everything up one note (start on the D) you’ll be in the Dorian mode.  You know this one, that’s what Scarborough Fair is written in.  Up another and you’re in Phrygian (someone suggested the theme for Dr. Who is an example).  Start on F you’re in Lydian, but being on G and now you’re in Mixolydian – and if you’re playing trad, you’re used to playing here with its “flatted” seventh (the “pipe scale”).  Start on the A and you’re in Aeolian (also known as relative minor or the natural minor) and again if you play trad, you probably know a lot of things in this scale). One more, start on the B and you’re in the Locrian mode which you would probably avoid because it sounds “wrong” to western listeners.

So, find some tunes that are in Ionian, Dorian, Mixolydian, and Aeolian and you’ll be well on your way to building a set – with no lever changes!*

*there are plenty of other considerations to putting a set together so don’t be surprised as you go along trying this find that the set doesn’t quite work – we’ll talk about other elements to building sets another time – I’ll let you digest this first!

Put on your thinking cap

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I don’t know about you – but when I’m excited about learning a new tune I want to get right into it. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, just start playing. I want to sink my teeth into the music and hold on for dear life while I learn it.

How dumb is that?

There is a smarter way – an approach which would probably allow me to learn the tune faster and get past the ugly stage sooner so I really could get to the part where it’s pretty much just a joy to play. How, you might ask, would that work? I’m so glad you asked!

Analyze your music

Well, you can think first! By spending some time focusing on analyzing the tune, you can save yourself a lot of grief and be playing sooner. Now, this isn’t sexy and it might not be fun, but it sure does work.

You can analyze a lot of things about the tune, all of which will help.  Identify the time signature.  What scale is the tune in? How does the tune lie on the harp? What are the big patterns? What is it telling you?

And do not assume that this can only be done for written music. Although the analysis is done differently – by reading the dots or by listening, the bottom line is the same. Find the patterns, where they repeat, how they move, and more.

Put on your thinking cap, do that work up front and you will be able to move into new tunes more quickly and maybe even more confidently!

Box it up!

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Being organized will help you get more from your practice time by allowing you to spend more of your precious time at the harp rather than trying to find music. There are many ways to get organized – lists, practice journals, etc. will all help you focus your attention so you can spend the limited time you have to practice on practicing. But once you learn tunes, then what? How do you keep them in your head? You can have a Tune Box.

Organize your musicThis is a DIY project – you can be as creative (or not) as you choose on this project. You can make it fit your décor, your time available, your favorite color, or you can leave it as you found it – it’s up to you!  Here are the Step by Step Instructions:

  1. Get a packet of 3 x 5 (or 4 x 6) cards and a recipe card box (sized to the cards).
  2. Paint and decorate the recipe card box as you like (or leave it plain if you’d rather have more time to practice).
  3. While the box is drying (assuming you’ve painted, decoupaged, or glued things to the box), for each tune you know, write a card. On the card put:
  • Name of the tune (as well as it’s “real” name if it is in another language – if you’re squeamish, also include the phonetic pronunciation of the name).
  • Key signature (or write out the key in which you play the tune) and mode (if you know it)
  • Time signature
  • Type of tune  (or how you tend to play it – air? song? march? reel? jig? etc.)
  • You can also copy (and shrink) the first few measures and glue that onto the card to help you remember how the tune starts (if you only know a few tunes this seems silly….until the time you start to play Tune A and belatedly realize you’re actually playing Tune B which can be a bit disconcerting!)
  • Other tunes with which you might put the tune to make a set
  • Other items of interest you care to add – they are YOUR cards after all!

I’d suggest you put the cards in alphabetical order just to make them easier to locate in the box – I typically file by the way I think of the tune title (for instance, although the tune is Amhran na Leabhar, I think of it as The Song of the Books, so it is filed under Song not Amhran. But you can do them however you choose (I had them sorted by tune type but that didn’t work for me, so back to alphabetical).

After polishing but before you play your reward tune, pull a card at random and play that tune*. As you learn more tunes this will become more challenging – but it will help you to remember what you have learned and to refresh (to keep in your fingers, not concert ready) all the tunes you have worked so hard to learn. And you can also see physical proof of how much you have learned as you have worked so hard at the harp – it’s all in the Box!

*hopefully the tune (the melody at least!) goes swimmingly, but if it goes pear shaped, then you know you need to work on the tune some more, so you can leave the card out to remind yourself to give that tune a little extra practice so you remember it the next time

Quote of the week

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Typically, I see or hear things that lead me to think about everything else. This week isn’t like that! This week, the quote pretty much speaks for itself.

We’ve talked before about the importance of being kind to yourself in your practice and in your performance. But this quote takes it another step closer to the origin of the thinking. Here’s the quote:

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.

Art is knowing which ones to keep.” Scott Adams

You’ll recognize the source – the creator of Dilbert. He usually has an incisive, if cynical, take, but this quote is certainly spot on – it couldn’t be more right!

Make Mistakes

There is an craft to making art and it stems from your own willingness to make mistakes, and then to pick up those mistakes and lick them, and keep the ones that taste good (you know, the sonic taste) as you keep going in the music.

My early teachers who taught me two important things with respect to this, although it took me a while to appreciate these gems. The first gem was that, no matter what string you land on, you are never more than one string away from a sound you might prefer! The second nugget was that we don’t make mistakes, we make impromptu improvisations.

For a long time, I really didn’t believe them – I thought they were being “nice” because I made so many mistakes. But over (a very long) time I learned that they weren’t just being nice – they were giving me gentle permission to make mistakes and to learn not only which ones to keep but also to learn my processes for selecting them. They were helping me to learn to do my own taste testing so I could select what worked and toss out what just didn’t speak to me. They were showing me that being willing to make “mistakes” was the point. That this was how I would make my art – by transitioning these excursions into elements of my music. That while safe was comfortable, and it might be creative, it certainly wasn’t moving my art.

So, go make some real whoppers, some complete stinkers, some small and some large mistakes…and see what you can make of them!