Category Archives: Fundamentals

When your enthusiasm runs away with your brain

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When your enthusiasm runs away with your brain

One of the best things my students bring to our time together is enthusiasm. They clearly are interested and invested in making music.  They don’t all have the same motivations, but they each bring a big bucket of energy!

Let’s start by saying that I am supremely fortunate to be in that sweet spot of having a wide diversity of students – all of whom I really enjoy and look forward to seeing!  Not everyone (including me) gets that all the time.  It really does make teaching a joy and I am ever so grateful for it!

Energy is essential.  It is also necessary – but it is not sufficient!  To meet sufficiency, we have to add a little bit of focus.  And some fundamentals. *

I know you’re excited to play.  Of course you are – because – it’s a harp!  Who wouldn’t want to do that?!

But let’s look at that sentence – you want to play the harp.  Don’t be fooled by the word “play”, because while it’s fun and captivating, we know it’s not just play. We play based on our work on the fundamental elements of performing.

These basic elements of interacting with our instrument are so important not only for the music but also for ourselves.  Good technique means we will be able to play easily and pain-free for as long as we like.  Good musicianship means we will be able to participate in the music (and the wide world of music) comfortably and successfully. 

It all starts with technique and continues through listening, hearing, feedback, focus, and thinking.**  But the physical act of pulling sound from the harp starts with technique – learning the details of coaxing out music, not just noise.

I know you want to get straight to it.  I know you want to play.  I know you want to bring forth what’s in your head.  And the music in your heart.

But here’s what I want.  I want you to not struggle.  I want you to get where you have set your sights – and farther.  I want you to play forever (or at least as long as you want to).  I want you to succeed.

The shortest path to where you want to go is to get that stuff you need to know into your head, into your hands, into your heart.  Believe me – the music will be there when you’re ready.  And when you are ready, the music will flow.  Sadly, there are no shortcuts (don’t ask me how I know this). 

Your enthusiasm will certainly help you – but don’t let it run away with your brain.  First we work, then we play.

What do you think? Do you let your enthusiasm run away with you (and run from doing what needs to be done)?  Let me know in the comments!

* If you think I’m talking specifically about you – I’m not, but you should probably hear what I’m saying.

** Yes, of course there’s more but I’m trying to keep this short!

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!

 

Do You Count? 

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I often think about tunes in “layers”.  All the layers are important, but some are easier to master than others.  The layers include the notes, the fingering, the phrases.  And then there’s the counting.  There are loads of elements that define the music, but time might be the most challenging to really get learned and honed – to get right. 

Do you Count?

When you get to brass tacks, music is really a sequence of sounds and not-sounds (rests) over time.  And so, to be true to the melody, share the message, and communicate with our listeners, we have to keep the count.  

Sometimes, as harp players, we become inured to the silence – we get so little of it with our wonderful resonant instruments. Harps love to keep on playing and that lovely sound “hanging around” may make us lazy – it may feel like it will be easy to get away with not counting.  But that is an illusion.

Counting can be a challenge when you first begin to learn a tune.  There is so much to learn and all of it important.  We have to keep the important stuff in mind – actively use it.  Time is challenging but it can be so rewarding!  It will help your audience follow your message, it will make playing with other musicians a greater joy, and it will help ensure your tune is what the original composer meant it to be.

Previously, I have said that I don’t advocate rigid adherence to the beat.  That wasn’t really accurate.  Rather, it is essential to know that timing of the piece and work within that.  With poignant airs you might bend the time to build the expression, but that works best by manipulating the times. Laments need to be sorrowful, but it should never be lamentable!  But the difference will be in how you deal with the time. 

It is essential that you learn to count.  Ok, I know you can already count.  You have to learn to count while you’re playing…and keep counting, maintaining your counting throughout your playing. Only when you have mastered this tool of communication can you begin to modify its application as appropriate to tell your story.  I know counting can be hard – it’s one more thing to do while you’re also trying to remember what notes come next, which fingers to use, that you need to breathe, etc.  Pesky layers!

So how do you add counting to that task?  Carefully.

First, start slowly.  This really is another task you will have to perform while also doing all the other things you have learn. Counting is another thing you have to think about as you bring the tune together – make sure you go slowly enough that your brain can keep up!

Second, practice.  Counting while you’re playing takes practice.  You want to practice counting enough that it becomes automatic – no matter what you’re playing or where you are in learning it (just starting, polishing, anywhere in between!).  One method I suggest is to include this in your practice away from the harp.  An easy way to practice is while you’re walking or running.  This gives you a physical beat to follow so you can work on counting.

Third, be consistent.  You can’t practice counting the tune once and be done!  Make practicing counting a regular part of your practice.  If you really are not counting at all – start with simple tunes you already know.  As it gets easier, move on to more challenging tunes and tunes you are learning.  You will get better!

Finally, always be working on it.  Once you can consistently and accurately count, start making things more complicated and related to other music.  Remember to count to the smallest note value (e.g., the eighth notes if they’re present or 16ths – you will have to do some analysis).  Use whatever counting device works for you – vocables, fruits and veg – whatever works!

Of course, there’s (always) more to the story, so send me your questions and share your insights in the comments.  In the meantime, stand up for your music – make sure you count!

Zoom!  Bang!

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As a harper, I have been reading with interest the “sudden” spate of articles on the ills of working from home for over a year.   As a Human Factors Psychologist and Systems Engineer, I am only surprised it took this long for the articles to hit.

Everyone who couldn’t get away from me has received lectures (from my professional perspective).  I have related the importance of chair height and table height, arrangement of keyboard, monitor, mouse, lighting, and other elements of the workspace.  I have hectored friends, neighbors, and people I don’t even know about drinking enough water and not drinking too much coffee; the importance of avoiding incessant snacking; building a schedule; getting some outdoor time; and keeping work-work and home-work separate (not trying to do household chores between meetings) – all things I know from my professional specialty and as a person who has worked from home for over 15 years.

But now, I’m going to direct all that energy at you … and suggest a way forward!

I know you’re used to me prattling on about injury at the harp, but one thing you might not have thought about is what our current altered reality has done to us.  There are so many things we either did differently before or things we haven’t been able to do at all over the last year.  That that time away can build the potential for losing focus and technique…all of which may result in injuries – at the harp or away from it. 

Just this week I have learned of harpers who have sustained injuries away from the harp that are impacting their playing – ugh.  One is a student who fell off a skateboard.  Even if that wrist isn’t broken, it will need to heel.  And that will be weeks away from the harp.  Another was telling me about a big work project – at home, on a laptop doing work that would normally have been done at the office on a desktop – with its ergonomically designed desk and much bigger keyboard.  So now we’re working on caring for the overuse injuries from typing in this new position – injuries to the same structures that are central to playing the harp. 

As we have all languished at home, it has also been easy to allow our basic skills slide.  If you don’t have in person lessons, your thumbs might fall, your shoulders might cave, your chin might jut, and your spine might crumple.  In addition, so many of the cues teachers can pick up on from in-person lessons are missing or are flattened online.  So, it is likely that there are elements of technique that are dissolving from your daily practice and are not highlighted in your lesson.

And that’s not good – ragged technique and poor posture are not just a challenge to overcome – they can be a gateway to injury.

So, what can you do?  Have a zoom call……with yourself!

If you’re not familiar with zoom (zoom.us) it is a free application that allows you to have a video interaction with others. *

At the beginning of each day I do a zoom meeting with myself to verify my cameras are pointing in the right direction, that the lighting is good, and that everything is set up before my first student.   As I’m teaching, I watch my student.  That means that if I need to look at my harp, I would have to look away.  But, I can see my harp on the screen which means I can still see both my student and my harp.  After all, I want to be sure they are able to follow and understand what I’m doing or to verify that I need to do it again.  One day while teaching, I noticed (and was really pleased with) my hand position (I know, silly things make me happy).

And that got me thinking about how on the screen I could see things I can’t see from “behind the harp”.  Moreover, I could make small changes and see the effect right away.

You can do the same thing.  How?  You just have to host a meeting with yourself.  Yup – host a meeting, but don’t invite anyone else!  You have the full screen, you can see yourself clearly, and while you watch, you can make small adjustments.  As you make these adjustments (move to the middle of the string? raise your arm just a tiny bit? create greater space between your thumb and fingers? actually preplace or use the fingering you worked out? the list could go on…) BANG! – you can immediately see the effect of each change.

And seeing can certainly be believing.

I often suggest that you video your practice so you can see what you’re doing…and what you’re not doing.  It gives you a different perspective (and may make teacher comments mean more to you).  I also always remind you of the big red delete button…because the point of the video is to learn, correct and go on, not to hold it for posterity.  However, I also know that many of you still don’t do this.  So this similar (but completely ephemeral) idea seemed like a good one.  Watch yourself play but don’t record it.  See what you’re doing (from the vantage point of your teacher) and make small adjustments until what you see matches what you’ve heard in all those lessons – high thumb, relax, close, place…breathe!

DO ALL THE THINGS!  SEE ALL THE THINGS!

I also find that the meeting view is better – clearer and brighter – than on the video.

So, are you willing to zoom with yourself to help be bang on?  If you do, let me know how it goes and what you learn.  And if you’re not willing to try, I’d like to hear that too.  I’m always looking for better ways to teach and I learn so much from your comments!

 

* And no, of course I’m not getting any compensation – but this is also not an endorsement.  I have used zoom, skype, facetime, and messenger – as long as you have the function without actually having someone else on the line, it’ll work.

 

 

 

When practice time is fundamentally inadequate

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Do you know anyone who feels like they’re not getting anywhere with their harp playing?  Someone who practices and practices and practices.  That person believes themselves to be the poster child for getting enough practicing.  Yet, despite this, they feel like they’re not making any improvement. 

Sound like anyone you know?

Sometimes, it isn’t your practice time itself.  Sometimes it’s what’s happening during that time.

Some people use a brute force approach to practice.  They sit on that bench and whack away.  They do things over and over and over.  They end their practice exhausted and frustrated.  All that time and the needle hasn’t moved, the tune isn’t any more aligned with their vision for it, and it’s certainly not any more ready to be performed!

No wonder they’re frustrated!  If you keep that up long enough, you wouldn’t want to play either!

But why is that happening?  Aren’t the 10,000 hours needed to “master” this gained on the bench?  Shouldn’t more practice lead to more accomplishment?

Wellllllll…. It depends.

It is really easy to focus on the pretty, complex, moving parts.  To try to play faster.  To try to play complicated harmonizations.  To smell the sizzle but not see the steak.

You need to include your fundamentals.  In – every – practice.

Harp is seductive like that.  Unlike the piano, all our scales and arpeggios are the same, no matter what key we’re in.  I see a lot of harp players turn that simple truth into this internal conversation, “since all the scales are the same, I only need to do them the one time, learn them, and I’m done – easy peasy!” 

And yet, it’s not that simple.  We need to continually work on the fundamentals.  We need to keep them sharp and ready to go. Why is this?  Well – simply –

FUNDAMENTALS ARE THE BEDROCK OF ALL YOUR PLAYING!

You cannot do anything well without those fundamentals – that’s why they’re called fundamentals! 

If you critique your hours on the bench – what will you find?

Is your fingering shoddy?  Do you chase the strings, using “just in time” as your placement strategy so that you’re never really confident that you’re where you need to be?

Do you have “roach antennae” fingers? Or do you close and relax your hands when you are between finger shapes?

Are you a slouch?  Or do you have strong posture that allows all of your body to support your music?

Are you breathing?!

Are you critiquing your work without being judgmental?  You can pay attention to what you’re doing, be critical, and only accept good complete work as “done” without condemnation!

If this is new to you, start simple.  Can you play a well-executed one octave scale with quiet strings, and accurate fingering?  Can you do it in both hands?  Can you then do a two-octave scale?  Can you play scales the length of your harp?  Can you do it in time, on tempo, without errors?  If not, start there!  If so, go on to add the chords, inversions, arpeggios.   Remember that you’re focusing on the fundamentals of playing the harp.  While you want this to become automatic for your fingers, you don’t want your brain to be on autopilot!

There’s no need to face these elements of your practice with dread.  I said you needed to do them.  I didn’t say they had to be boring or horrible!  You can spice them up – work in complementary keys, around the circle of fifths, bring over activities from other instruments you play (I’m always recreating my piano practice on the harp). Just do it in a way that allows you to pay attention, learn, improve.

It is worth scheduling time in your practice to work on these (and other) fundamentals every day.  By doing this you will not only improve the specific activities but also help them to become habitual and automatic.  Only then will you have the mental bandwidth to work on the “fancy” stuff!

By adding this bit of fundamental work to your practice, you’ll find that you are able to improve your tune acquisition and retention.  Need help with your fundamentals?  I’m happy to work with you!

What fundamentals are you going to add to your practice?  Let me know in the comments below.

Just one thing

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I don’t just play the harp because it’s there. I really enjoy it. I look forward to the time I get to spend, whether it’s practicing for an event or just playing around. Of course, sometimes it’s work. And I do remember the very early days so clearly – when the certainty that you’ll never “get this” is ever so much higher than the surety that you will. But time passes and that feeling subsides.

Given that, but even so, I was taken aback when a new student asked me what would be the ONE thing that should be done within the allotted daily practice time that would take that student from a beginning beginner to intermediate harper in the short term?

It took me a bit of time to think of an answer. The easy – and inaccurate – answer came to mind immediately. I wanted to say – PRACTICE is the one thing. But that’s not only unkind and flip, it’s also wrong! Because practice – in and of itself – is not the one single thing that will make that movement from beginner to intermediate quick or even possible.

What?!? you say! That doesn’t sound like something you would say here in the blog. After all – look at all the blog posts you have written about the importance of practicing! You must have made a mistake there. But I haven’t. And I’m not contradicting myself either.

Because there is a one thing that every student can work on – starting from the first practice after the first lesson…and on and on until it’s time to stop playing (is that even a thing?). What would this magical one thing be?

FUNDAMENTALS!

Now, I’ve nattered on about fundamentals before, but…from the mouths of harp babes (as it were) we hear the true questions emerge – and the answer is the same – always the same.

So, no matter what level you find yourself – there are always fundamentals to revisit and address. If you’re just beginning, your one thing might be assuring that every finger goes back to your palm. And if you’re more than a beginner but not very advanced your one thing might be placing ahead. And if you’re very experienced, I really hope you’re not smugly thinking that this doesn’t apply to you because you can always be working on thinking ahead, and leveraging those skills you practiced as a beginner to inject more musicality into your tunes.

So take a minute to really think about what your one thing to focus on should be. Don’t be flip – really assess what you could best work on to improve yourself enough to move to the next level. Don’t forget to capture it in your journal so you can see your development. And having this in your journal will allow you to move from the first One Thing onto the second One Thing, the third, etc. Because you know there will always be a just One (more) Thing to work on.

What’s your one thing? Let me know if the comments!