Turn it up to 11

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Turn it up to 11

Did you know there are apparently four musics of the harp? They are Goiltai (for crying), Geantrai (for cheering), Suantrai (for sleeping), and Thrashai (for being heard over any other sounds present on the earth). (ok, I might have made up that last one)

Have you ever noticed how many people play their harps like they are auditioning for the Scorpions or MegaDeath? It seems as if playing as loudly as possible is their only goal. Now, I get it. You sit behind the instrument, and it is designed to project in front of you so you really might not be able to hear how loudly you’re playing. And if you sit in enough sessions between the other instruments, you could be forgiven for thinking that thrashing away at the strings is the best possible way to get out there.

But ugh – stop! Whacking away at your poor strings is not what you need to get better at. If you really want to join a death metal band, buy an (really big) amp.

If you want to be a better harper, work on dynamics.

Dynamics are an easy way to differentiate your playing, bring musicality to your music, and help your audience to know which of the three musics you’re trying to convey. Dynamics allow you to play at varying loudnesses. There are two major parts of adding dynamics to your tunes – storytelling and technique. Let’s start with the easy one this week.

Storytelling is essential to your playing. Remember that when you play, you are communicating with your listener (even if the only listener is you). For each tune, you’re telling a story. For many laments, airs, and songs there is a specific related story or tale. For others there isn’t (or the story has been lost, or you just haven’t heard it). When you play, you’re going to tell a story – whether you mean to or not. Might as well tell the story you mean to (even if you have to make it up).

The story you convey will be put forth on the tune and will be told through the tempo, the rhythm, the accompaniment, and the dynamics! So having some (dynamics) is a great place to start. If you doubt what I’ve said, I refer you to Prokofiev’s Peter and Wolf a very easy example of this point.  But also, Holst’s The Planets or Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture * or Muse’s Uprising as other easy examples. **  When you listen to these pieces you can quickly hear how much the dynamics support the story being told.

You can do that!

When you’re preparing a piece of music, think about the story you want to tell and how your dynamics will help you tell it.

How? (you already know what I’m going to say….)  The way to get better at varying dynamics is to practice. Next week, I’ll share some exercises you can incorporate into your practice to develop your dynamics!

If you have tips or tricks for playing dynamically, I’d love to hear them – let me know in the comments!

Keep breathing

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Keep breathing 

I think we could easily agree that playing requires concentration. A lot of concentration. Of course, some things make us concentrate harder than others.  For instance, we have to really focus when we’re learning. Maybe when a tune is really well learned we don’t have to focus so much (or at least we feel like we have more brain capacity available).  When we perform we probably focus carefully as well (at least we hope we will!).

One of the challenges of concentrating really hard is that when we do, many of us actually stop breathing (I can’t make this up). While you’re focused, you may hold your breath. When your brain is working hard, it gets busy and has a harder time of keeping all its plates spinning. Things like breathing can be one of those plates that gets dropped. (Don’t worry, the rest of your body will demand a breath when you really have to have one!). Of course, not breathing doesn’t make you think very well and all in all, it’s best if you can keep breathing.

The good news is that you can overcome this not breathing. You just need to practice doing it. Yes, even though you mostly don’t even think about breathing – you DO need to think about it if you’re not breathing consistently when you’re practicing (or performing).

When should you be breathing? Well, it’s best to breathe normally but if you notice you’re not (or your teacher points it out to you), you can add it to each tune or exercise! Here are a few ways to incorporate it so you can keep breathing:

Phrasing. If you’re learning by ear, you’re getting the tune in phrases. Phrasing might be easiest to understand in the context of singing because you must breathe (other blowing instruments are the same – no breathing, no playing). Phrasing is how the tune breathes, Watch (good) singers and you’ll notice that they never leave off in the middle of a word to take a breath – they breathe in “obvious” places…between the words. Just like they do, when your music calls for a breath (the end of a phrase) – take a breath. If you’re reading, you can still breathe at the end of a phrase – just remember to mark it!*  When you’re practicing be certain that you breathe there and make it part of how you play the tune.

Mechanical. I’m not keen on this one, but it could work. In this approach you specifically incorporate breathing as a “movement” just like placing, closing, changing levers, and all the other movements of playing. I don’t like this because it’s not natural (which might interrupt your breathing rather than improving it) and because breathing is a very different type of movement. More importantly, this approach doesn’t support the music either. It doesn’t tie your breath to the phrasing (above) which could knock your musicality out of whack (and who doesn’t need more musicality).

Relax. You might hold your breath when you are stressed – so relax. You’ll get the tune, you’ll learn the melody, you’ll get the fingering! And your brain will be glad of the oxygen!

Pay attention. This is related to Mechanical, and it might seem silly – because we are paying attention….to something else! Like Mechanical, set yourself the additional task of paying attention to your breathing while you are concentrating on learning the music. Post a sign on your music stand or make some other reminder to keep it front of mind!

Breathing is fairly important when you’re learning and when you’re playing. Do you notice specific places you aren’t breathing? How do you remember to breathe? Let me know in the comments how you are going to keep breathing!

*If you’re not familiar with the marking, use an apostrophe above the treble staff to indicate where to take a breath (ok, it’s your music, use anything you’d like but the apostrophe is the standard marking).

What’s the question?

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What’s the question?

One of the best things about harp players is their innate curiosity (in the main). It has been my experience that we are, in general, interesting people who tend to be interested in loads of things.

But we’re also human and so sometimes we can do things that don’t move us forward. This is true whether we are teachers or students – where two sides of the same coin might be helpful and not!

For example, being curious. I think we’re all a little curious. That leads us to ask questions. Lots of questions.

Asking questions is imperative! It is a wonderful thing to ask questions. And we have a lot of resources – from teachers to friends to colleagues to learn from. Whether we know it or not, this searching for information to satisfy our curiosity helps us maintain a beginner’s mindset which has been celebrated as an important part of continuing personal growth. Beginners are curious because there is so much they don’t know! It is easy to stop being curious once you know some stuff. But no matter how much you know, there is always more to learn, to build on, to enhance, and to expand what we already have. Staying a beginner on the inside can be freeing because it allows you to give yourself permission to keep learning. A significantly experienced performer doesn’t have no questions. They have different questions! Hopefully, you are always coming up with questions as you learn.  Cultivating an interest is certainly one way to continue to push yourself – to be always learning. Sometimes the questions are simple and other times they are complex.

However, it is possible to confuse curiosity with diversion! I’m all for asking questions and learning, but focused questions based on your playing and learning are different from constantly scrolling fa-sta-gram-to-x watching videos and reading websites looking at content. That only draws in more information that fills your head but doesn’t actually inform you. Wasting time searching up info because it might be useful or getting into a loop of searching to search will never improve your playing. It won’t make you a better musician. And it will always leave you feeling like you should have learned more (and possibly like you have wasted time you could have been playing!).

I’m not suggesting there’s nothing of value to be learned online. But I am suggesting that letting your intuition, playing and experience drive your questions. And, you know that journal I’m always suggesting. That’s a great place to keep your questions so they don’t slip out of your head when you have a chance to ask them! Keep your questions focused on your development, your playing, your progress, and you’ll learn something every day!

Now, if there are no more questions? Go practice!

Where has your curiosity and questions led you? Let me know in the comments!

Tiny Snowmen

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Tiny Snowmen

We’re having our first measurable snow today. After a 2-year hiatus, we are having a visible bit of winter. Like so many other things, snow happens whether you love, like, hate, or ignore it.

But one of my favorite things that has come out of our (barely) measurable snow days is the local Small Snowman contest, run by a local meteorologist (not shilling, just sharing).

It makes me giggle (which I won’t be doing later when I’m tired from shoveling the snow that is still to come!).

What do Small Snowmen have to do with anything? Well, they remind me of other things that I love about this including the attitudes of 1. Make a fuss over small but fun things, and 2. Work with what you have, and 3. Find the beauty and celebrate the small.

Make a fuss over small but fun things – It’s so easy to slide into cynical and to stop valuing the fun things that bring you a mote of joy each day. We focus on what went wrong with our practice rather than rejoicing over the small wins. Whether it’s finally remembering the phrase or nailing the fingering, these are the little successes that move our playing along.

Work with what you have – these tiny victories occur no matter what your level of play. They are really obvious when you start. Each practice you have “aha” moments, more control over your fingers, and a better idea of what’s going on! As you mature as a musician you might feel like these events get fewer and farther between (which likely they are) so instead enjoy your ongoing growth and appreciate that your changes are far more subtle but just as important. You might have to look harder, but enjoy that you now have to look hard for the incremental improvements.

Find the Beauty and Celebrate the Small – sometimes we wedge playing our harps between homework and dishes and dusting and making dinner. That means that we might not necessarily be thinking only about what we’re practicing – but “thinking ahead” to what we have to do next. Don’t. Focus on your practice so that you can find the things that are beautiful. Some of the best compositions or improvisations come from recognizing a “mistake” that is a gorgeous addition (and then building on it)!  Be present so you find those and then celebrate. And never minimize those steps you make. Cheer for you!

As you do these things (and put away cynicism) you will get better at identifying and enjoying your successes, no matter how small. And that will give you something else to celebrate!

More later.  I’ve got to go make a Small Snowman – quick before we get more snow!  How are you celebrating your small achievements? Let me know in the comments!

 

 

 

Word

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Word

Happy New Year and welcome to 2024! It’s the time of year that our thoughts turn to new endeavors, self-improvement drives, goal setting, and making plans for our days. Some people craft  rigorous goals. Some others make vague guesses. Meanwhile still others select a word of the year as a guide star. I’m (uncharacteristically) not going to bang on about goal setting (I’ve done that here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) as a nod to those who are not “Team S.M.A.R.T. goals”. If you are, you’ve probably already set your goals. But if you’re not, you might be floundering.


Let’s focus on what you told me interests you. Thank you to all of you who completed the survey (if you missed it, go here – I’d still love to hear what the rest of you have to say). Your inputs definitely helped me see what we should be sharing here! Your thoughts seemed to fall into two broad categories – Personal Development and Playing Better.

Personal Development includes learning, memorizing, performing, and managing how you deal with each of those. Playing Better encompasses specific techniques, theory, theory in practice, and figuring out what to practice. We’ll talk about these things throughout the year and I’m looking forward to your thoughts, questions, and experiences!

Maybe we should take the Word of the Year approach. One thing all these topics have in common could be captured in a word. This would be a single word to help us quickly get back to what we think is important and bring our attention to what we think is essential. You could write it on your mirror, put it on the fridge (or, if you’re like me, IN the fridge!), or tape it to your steering wheel. Put it where you will see it so that you can remind yourself of what it means – to you, to your playing, and to your progress. 

I’m going to nominate Consistent as our Word of the Year. Because we know that consistent is what we need to be to get there (wherever we have decided there is). And being consistent will help us with both Playing Better and Personal Development. It is through being consistent that we can best find what you need to work on, what you want to work on, and applying your progress to your practice.

Consistent isn’t a sexy word. It brings ongoing hard work and it dribbles out small rewards. However, it will be in these little, activities with tiny feedback that will, given the chance, pull together over time to yield results you might be awed by! But you’ll never know unless you are consistent in your attention, practice, journaling, and analysis.

We’re going to have a great (if sometimes wild) ride – thanks for consistently reading and letting me know what you think!

 

As the year comes to an end

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As the year comes to an end, it’s time to reflect and ask questions.  I have been writing to you since 2009 (!) and I hope some of those topics have been interesting and informative.  And I hope you know that I genuinely appreciate your taking the time to spend here.

So this week, I’d like to ask you to tell me what you’d like to know more about.  What gives you trouble?  What would you find interesting?  What do you need to learn (or want to learn)?  Anything you don’t want to know?  Please (pretty please!) let me know your thoughts so we can talk about important stuff in the new year!

Just fill in the blanks with your brilliant thoughts and I will be ever so grateful.  And, of course, you’re always welcome to use the comments!

 

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Gift Guide – Part B

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Gift Guide – Part B

Last week we listed some gift ideas you could share with the people in your life who might ask what you would like to receive this holiday season. Now let’s flip the script. What gifts could you give from there on your bench?

Like any gift guide, this means matching the giving intention to the recipient and there are so many possibilities!

  • You can play for your family. You might think that your family listens to you play every day so this wouldn’t be a good gift. But the reality is that they probably don’t listen to you practice. They might hear you, but they’re probably not listening. They will enjoy having a specific time to sit and actually listen to the fruits of your labors. They are, after all, your biggest supporters.
  • Jane Austen is calling! There was a time when it was expected that each person would take their turn being entertaining for guests. Invite your supportive friends over and, as part of the time together, play for them. You’d be amazed how many of your friends don’t even know you play the harp, and how many of those who do know have never heard you play.
  • Play for someone special. This can be as complicated or as simple as you want to make it. You have all the tools – just get out of your own way. Play the music you hear in your head.  Don’t have a lot of noise going on up there? Stumped on where to start? Set your harp to C major and play only the white strings (thank you Marianna!) and diddle around. Run your recorder. Go back and listen, find what you like and put that stuff together. Practice that, toss in a left hand (hint – start with G) and boom! a handmade present!
  • Give a concert. Why not! You need a venue (your living room?), an audience (friends, family, neighbors), and you need 3 to 20 tunes (depending on how long you want to perform). Add some “patter” (it is a show, you are the MC) and wine or tea and cookies and you’re in business. It doesn’t have to be Carnegie Hall, just play.
  • Volunteer. Go to a nursing home or a rehab facility and play for them (or for the staff). You can do this anytime of year but the holidays seem like a good time to start (this does require a bit coordination, but so worth it).

It’s also amazing how good you’ll feel after sharing your gift of music.  What else could you do with your harp to give someone a lovely gift? I’ve given you several ideas here, but I bet you have better ones – let me know in the comments.

Updated Gift Guide

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Updated Gift Guide

It is holiday time and someone might ask you what you’d like to receive.  A couple of years ago, I posted a Gift Guide and it’s that time again, so I thought I’d add to the list. 

Don’t just go out and buy these things for yourself – leave them as gift opportunities!  You can be very specific so you do receive what you want.  It’s easy when you send a link and include the size, color, number with it!  And your givers will be delighted to have gotten you something you are sure to enjoy.

Some things (including your suggestions):

  • A nice, comfortable, packable performance dress. Preferably washable and flattering.  And pockets! (gotta put your key somewhere while on stage!).
  • A nice, comfortable pair of performance shoes to go with that dress.
  • Memberships/Subscriptions to your favorite Harp Journals – Folk Harp Journal, American Harp Society, Harp Column, Scottish Harp Society of America
  • Accessories bags. Corral your stuff in your harp case pocket or gig bag!  A bag for your spare strings or your electronic tuner or your key.  You need a place for your stand lamp, your cough drops, Kleenex, etc.  Believe me, it’s easier to find stuff when you need it if it’s organized!
  • Music sounds – cds, downloads, membership to some horrible-rip-off-streaming-service – we all learn better by listening.  It’s also good to hear new-to-you music.
  • Music paper – sheet music you’ve been drooling over but haven’t been able to justify buying? Here are some excellent choices!*
  • Workshop or lessons – there are loads of workshops, summer schools, and getaways offered all over the country (actually the world). And lessons or coaching are always a good idea!
  • Travel – What could be more fun than going on a cool trip – with me to a places known for harp?!  Check out the 2024 itinerary here.*
  • Tickets – few things are as exhilarating – or motivating – as attending a live performance!
  • Cleaning supplies – whether you prefer a Swiffer or a soft bristle brush, put it on your list. You could get two, one for home and one to keep in your case.
  • Harp jewelry – can you ever have too many harp necklaces or earrings?  And you can support a small business while you’re at it.  I’ve really enjoyed the things I’ve gotten from harpjewelry**

So, while you’re making your list and checking it twice, what else would make wonderful holiday gifts that you’d love to get?  Let me know in the comments!

* Shameless plug!  ** Unaffiliated, but if you’ve ever met me in person, you know I love my harp necklace!