Category Archives: Learning

SWOT’s it all about?

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Another crazy title – SWOT’s it all about?

I have an unending search for ways to get better at…everything!  And because I have a diverse background and work experience as a researcher, scientist, artist, entrepreneur, and person, I thrive on crossing boundaries between disciplines and practices, particularly applying tools from one disciple to problems from another which is a hoot.  At the least I learn something and at best there’s a huge breakthrough!  One of those stalwart business tools is the SWOT analysis – and it’s a nice fit for our harp playing. 

What’s a SWOT? It breaks into: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.  Clearly this is applicable to business, but to playing the harp?  Yup!

SWOT Chart

Think about it – taking a moment to complete a SWOT on your music could certainly help highlight where you should spend your time*.  Here’s how:

Strengths – What are your strong points?  Tunes you know (really well).  Techniques, at which you excel.  Sets you have put together.  And more.  These are likely your go-to tunes that you always perform, the ornaments you always use, your “signature” approach.  These are solid and need to be maintained, but certainly don’t need the bulk of your attention.

Weaknesses – What aren’t you good at? These are tunes (or tune types) you’re not so comfortable with, techniques you don’t know or don’t do well and avoid.  It’s not tunes you haven’t learned yet – just the ones that clearly aren’t ready for prime time (else they’d be in the Strengths pile).  These are things you need to work on (whether you know it or not).  These things require time and attention to get up to snuff and to be moved to the Strengths.

Opportunities – These are things you could nurture and take on to grow.  It can be tunes to learn, chances to perform, participating in workshops, lessons, or master classes, or sharing tunes with other harpers.  These are all chances to grown and develop and to move (eventually) to the Strengths column. 

And last is:

Threats – which might be the biggest head scratcher, but it’s also the biggest opening.  The word “threat” can be a little off putting so it might be better to think of it as things you might not think about or that you would love to skip (and maybe you do!).  It could also include not having learning opportunities (e.g., beginners without a teacher or not being able to get to workshops because you live far from other harpers).  So, they’re not “threats” as much as “thrusts” – places or things you can pursue to make progress including things to focus on or even gigs to seek.

A SWOT isn’t hard to do – it just takes a little time, some thought, a bit of self-reflection, and maybe some feedback if you have it (and a cuppa might help).  Set aside a half-hour to spend on it.  I’ve included a handy tool to help you do the analysis (click on the graphic (or here) to download).  The first time you do it, it might feel like a lot of work, but I promise it gets easier each iteration – and it certainly can help sharpen your focus.

Give it a try and let me know what you find!      

    

 

* And if you’re a professional, of course a SWOT can be helpful for business too!

It’s coming soon!

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I hate to break it to you, but next week is October!  While there’s been pumpkin spice muffins, pumpkin spice coffee, pumpkin spice tires, and more available for over a month, you would not be seen as unreasonable for not realizing that the most terrifying time of the year (for harpers) is racing up fast – the Holidays (cue Halloween music – after all, that is the next holiday, despite what you might see in the stores).  If you think I’m being dramatic, I have already seen tv ads for Christmas trees!

Now, you might be wondering why I say this is the most terrifying time of the year.  It is, after all, the season of twinkly lights, candy everywhere, pretty ribbons and bows – what’s not to like?  It’s also the busy season (which is nice and helpful to affording gifts to put inside the ribbons and bows).   Well, here are three reasons it can be terrifying:

1. While all the professionals are booking events (yea income), non-harp-playing people also have no problem, upon learning that you play the harp, attempting to press you into performing.  This is all well and good…if you want to be performing.  But if you’re not interested in performing, are extremely nervous about performing, or have only been playing for a month – you might not want to be pressed into service!  And people (who don’t play an instrument but are adept at organizing) are relentless.  I’ve also found that their relentlessness is inversely proportional to the amount of money they are willing to pay you!

2. Everyone knows all the music!  Yup, when the entire audience knows all the tunes, that’s a little intimidating because you are certain they will hear every artistic deviation (not mistake!) from perfection that you introduce.

3.  The holidays can be fraught – fraught I say – with stress.  Even if, like me, you lead a stress-free existence*, it’s difficult to avoid the feeling of stress rolling off all those around you. 

So, it’s time to start preparing!  Here are four things you could practice being ready:

1. Saying “No”.  I know it’s hard but, if you don’t want to be playing for whatever reason (you’ve only been playing for a week, you are embarrassed by sweating navigable puddles when performing, because you just don’t want to) – practice saying “no”.  Sound too abrupt? Then say, “No, thank you”.  You don’t owe anyone an explanation (well…maybe if it’s your mom, but no one else!)

2. Christmas music you’ve played before.  Since you’ve learned it before, it will come back easier than the last time.  Yes, I know it might not feel like it, but it will.

3. New Christmas/Winter.  Well, new to you.  You don’t want to be playing the same stuff year after year.  You need to keep learning.  New things will help you stay fresh and keep you interested.  Adding in winter music will also help you bridge gaps for audiences and give you things to play past Christmas (after all – winter goes for about 80+ more days after Christmas day).

4. Other music.  Since the Christmas music will probably start sooner than later, by the time the holidays actually arrive, everyone is a little fatigued of hearing them.  Keeping your wider repertoire ready to go will help you add to your set lists and avoid burn out…and will keep you ready for the rest of the year!

So, dust off your Christmas books and binders, start reworking your old tunes and deciding on what you’ll add this year.  Be proactive when deciding what you will let slide in your regular repertoire (for now).  And spend a little time with your calendar so you’ll know when you are (and aren’t) interested in playing.  Keep in mind that most of your friends and family would be delighted if you shared your gift of music with them (even if you’ve only been playing for a week – they love you!). 

What are you going to be playing this holiday season?  Which are new to you?  Let me know in the comments!

 

*LoL – I wish!

How to

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Ever looked at your bookshelf and realized that you have about 100 versions of (in effect) the same book?  I have – and it’s not entirely pretty.  It’s the How To book collection…

I have a lot of “how to” books – how to cook, how to garden, how to measure things, how to calculate what those measurements mean, how to knit, how to relax, how to be creative, how to teach, how to repair your house, how to fly an airplane, how to decorate, how to get rid of everything in your house, how to play the harp … the list goes on and on.

They are filled with details.  After all, I don’t need to smooth the plaster over a statistical analysis (ok, that’s debatable if we are being conceptual, less so if we’re being concrete).

When push comes to shove though, they all pretty much say the same thing – be organized, be familiar with the steps, do a test, then do the thing.  That might be some of the least useful information in each of those books.

What are the most important things then? you might ask. They’re buried in the book somewhere.  Often, it’s only a sentence, in the middle of a paragraph, unhighlighted, unremarkable, and unrelated to each other. They are some version of:

The more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll feel.

and

Once you know the rules, feel free to do your own thing.

Because when you know the rules, you know which ones are real rules that cannot be broken with impunity, which can be broken but at your peril, and which are merely strong suggestions – guide rails for the uninitiated, which can be freely broken by the mavens.

We can break those down to be more useful.  The first one is pretty clear – practice practice practice.  The more you do something (correctly and preferably with feedback), the easier it will be to complete and the better you will do it.  No surprise there.

The second one has a more mysterious translation.  And it is by far the scariest.  What it really says is, “to thine own self be true” – Thanks Polonius for help/not help.  So, let’s pull it apart a tiny bit more (because after all, I’m no Shakespeare scholar!) – the modern way to say it is to “have your own voice”.  How do you know what that sounds like? Well…..

First you have to know the rules to break them.  And by “know” we mean inside and out.  A shaky knowledge of the boundaries doesn’t result in cutting edge – just sloppiness.

Next you need to know how much rules can bend and still be unbroken.  Some rules “change color” as you gain experience – because your experience allows you to see relationships you were unprepared to predicted before.

Finally, you must understand which are really guidelines.  Following these leads to pablum – playing that is ok and offends no one – but also doesn’t excite anyone.

Which brings us back to be yourself.  As you grow as a musician you can learn the rules and follow them.  Or you can internalize those rules and use them to find you voice.  What rule are you interacting with just now?  I want to hear it – and how you’re finding your own voice – let me know in the comments!

 

Are we there yet?

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Remember asking that? “Are we there yet?  …How ‘bout now?  …yet?  I’m bored!”

Amazing some of us survived to adulthood!

But why did we always ask that question?

You already know – when you don’t know what the end looks like, it feels like you’ll n-e-v-e-r get there.  And that is a terrible feeling!

So, when we’re at the beginning of a tune, that road stretches ahead, uninterrupted – and you might feel like you’ll never get it.

What about when you have been working on the tune for a while?  Then you might ask yourself again, “Are we there yet?”

How do you know when you get there? How do you know you’re done? When is a tune “finished”?

The long answer is that you have to decide what you mean by finished. Is it finished when you’ve learned the tune?  Or is it finished when it’s perfect?  Or performance ready?  Competition ready?  Moved unceremoniously into the Bored with/Don’t want to play any more pile?  What is your definition of done?

I don’t have a definitive answer for your definition. It really depends on you, your level of development, the time you have available, your goals, your personality, and loads of other things that only you can answer for you.

There is also a short answer (but you might not like it).

Short answer – you’re never finished! WAIT – what?!?

Of course you’re never finished – the tune will never be done.  What? (I did say that you might not like the short answer)

After all, making music is a creative activity – you will have to decide for yourself what done will look/sound like.  Yup, it’s entirely up to you (and yes, I’m v-e-r-y aware just how uncomfortable that can be!).

If you stop working on a tune, it’s definitely done, but is that what you wanted for that tune when you started?  If you “finish” it and never let it be a living element of your playing, it will stultify and die (which isn’t really what most of us want from our music).

If a tune is “finished” then it’s done.  But why do you play and perform (even for the cat and the curtains)?  What keeps you coming back to your harp?  I’m guessing it isn’t because you want to be stagnant.

So how do you know when you are done enough? Here are some ideas:

  • You got where you were going (that is – you met your goal).
  • You have run out of ideas to continue to add to the playing – your arrangement is fairly stable.  But keep an open mind so you can continue to create as you go – forever!
  • A trusted mentor has suggested that the work is good.
  • You are comfortable when playing the tune for your audience (whoever that might be).
  • You’ve “got” the tune but you’re not enjoying playing it.
  • You feel “bored” playing a tune.
  • The holiday you learned the tune for has arrived(!).
  • Now that you’ve learned the tune, you just don’t enjoy it.
  • As much as you’ve worked on it, the tune is just not coming together (this is likely because it was a stretch for you in which case you should set it aside and pick it up later).

Think of tunes as being somewhere on a continuum from performance-ready or shelf-bound.  Either they’re good for sharing with others (performance ready) or they’re not going to see the light of day (shelf-bound).  There are, of course, various stages in between, but what that continuum looks like is up to you. 

Do you have any tunes that are finished?  How did you decide?  If you don’t, how would you define done?  I’m curious to hear your thoughts – let me know in the comments!

What We Can Learn from Drummers

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People often ask if we are angels.  That makes it easy to forget that on an orchestra chart the harp is part of the percussion section.   As we tune our strings, we shouldn’t forget where we come from!  We can learn a lot from other percussionists.  Here are some things we can learn from drummers:

Drummer

Precision is important – Drumming is often presented as fairly straightforwardly built on a series of “rudiments”.  And that means exactly what it sounds like – they have building blocks and they build everything from them.  To make those building blocks work together, precision is important.  How many rudiments do we have?  Do you think of them as precision pieces that can be fit together to make good music?  That precise use of unambiguous elements is important, and you should mean it when selecting a specific element that is fit for its purpose.  Put plainly – think ahead, plan and go with purpose.  Don’t just shove some available finger onto a string, leap for that next note, and hope you got it right.  Build a way ahead from your fundamentals!   

Rhythm underlies everything – pay attention.  There is a reason we count.  I get it, it’s hard to count (whine).  And there’s all that other stuff to do at the same time (like remembering and playing the right notes and all).  And yet, there’s an exquisite sweet spot that only becomes apparent from counting accurately and really getting the rhythm that we all should be reaching for.  This is a fundamental that we need to hone rather than dampen.  Yes, it’s delicious to pretend that playing the harp is all running through meadows with butterflies, but… it’s not.   When you are learning a new genre or idiom, pay close attention to the rhythms so you can match them to achieve the music you are pursuing.

Technical work lets you be you – when you have a strong foundation, you can do amazing things.  Learn your fundamentals.  Make sure you do all of the work, not just the things you like.  Do the rhythm work, fingering work, phrasing work.  Practice your dynamics, tempos, and transitions.  There are loads of exercise books available to help you learn these things.  I will tell you though, that you have to dig those books out because this stuff won’t come looking for you.  Remember too, that as fundamental elements, some of that stuff will make you cry if you don’t take it one bite at a time!  But once you’ve mastered the technical elements, you can build your own castles your own way for your own use.  Once you have them licked, they’re yours!  How can you break the rules if you don’t know them?

Being uncomfortable is not ok – there aren’t many instruments bigger than the harp, but the drum set is one that might be even more challenging to move around.  Smart drummers reposition their instruments so they can play based on how they sit.  NEVER form yourself to fit your harp.  Move the harp to accommodate you.  Remember, harps are cheap(er than back surgery!!!).   Yes the harp is big but, it’s not so big that you shouldn’t make it work for you.   

To be better you need to relax – tension doesn’t make anything better (except maybe scary movies… they are better with increased tension).  But playing doesn’t improve with increased tension.  Being tense can make you late – or early, and can make your chords squeak, your octaves buzz, and your melody notes fade away.  R-e-l-a-x.  B-r-e-a-t-h-e.   And, often, slow down!  Being tight makes it harder to play in control. And it certainly makes it harder to enjoy playing.  Perhaps most importantly, continuing to play with tension might lead to injury.  To note if you are tense, you have to pay attention to yourself (yes, while you’re also paying attention to everything else – no one said it was easy!).  If you are tense – explore why.  Are you concerned you’re not going to make it in time (playing too fast)? Or have you not yet fully learned the tune? Maybe you’re not breathing?  Once you know why you’re tense, you can work it right out!  Breathe, relax – you’ll get there in good time.

There is so much to learn from our fellow percussionists.  If you met a drummer today, what would you ask them that might help make you a better harper?  Let me know in the comments!

Which teacher do you need?

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In a previous episode we talked about what lessons are for (and what they’re not for) and a comment was made about learning going on forever.  How true!

But you have to start somewhere.  And we all have teachers.  Even teachers have teachers!  The question really is – which teacher do you need?  Or perhaps more appropriately, which teacher do you need now?

Because we need different teachers for different stages of our harp life.  These different teachers might all be housed in a single body, or you may move from one teacher to another.  Or you might make a loop and eventually have the privilege of teaching your teacher!  One important thing we’ve learned over the last two years is that we’re not constrained by geography any longer (which is excellent!) with teachers available online, you can learn a great deal. *

Which teacher do you need?

In your harp infancy, you need a Mother. A teacher who works with you to learn the things you need to know to be a competent harper without hurting yourself.  This teacher gives you a  foundation from which you can grow. You learn how to care for your harp, how to interact with it, and start to build a repertoire.  Perhaps most importantly, the teacher initiates you into the tips and tricks that make playing easier (technique) and helps shape you into a musician.  I think this is the most important thing people who are self-taught miss out on – these not so obvious things that make playing easier (Don’t worry self-taught people! You can get there too – read on!). 

As you continue, you grow and your needs change.  Once you’ve learned to play make sounds come out accurately, now you need a Professor.  You are ready to learn the why for the things you do.  It’s important for you to understand how your initial technique underpins more advanced skills, how all the elements are related, and to point out areas for focus to nudge your progress forward.  And to corral you when you (inevitably) move backward a little – to help form you into a musician.

Then you are ready for a Coach. **  This shift is important because this is where you shoulder most of the burden of steering your own boat.  Rather than sitting like a baby bird, mouth open waiting to be fed, you know enough to ask yourself questions – what is still weak? What is becoming your “signature”? What music do you want to learn?  What music do you need to learn to fill in your repertoire?  As the student, you push the envelope while your teacher helps you to structure your questions, honestly evaluate your feedback, constructively apply what you learn, provides suggestions for your continued growth, and helps you discover answers. 

Finally, the Peer.  This teacher is someone with whom you share the joy of playing – trading tunes, making suggestions (as needed), encouraging trying new things, and energizing you to keep on growing.  This is a less formal teaching relationship and reciprocal.  Don’t be fooled – you are still learning (perhaps more than ever before), still growing, as a musician. 

You might move back and forth along these lines – as needed.  And you might find all these in a single body.  You might be in a regular relationship with one person, or you might go to all the workshops you can manage to get different perspectives and approaches. 

Now for the tricky part – which do you need now?  A good teacher will provide a bit of each of these, as needed, and in varied measures as you grow.  Of course, early on, you will need more mothering.  But don’t be fooled, I have more than one student who has come for lessons because, although they are advanced harpers, they recognized that they needed to go back to shape up their technique.  And frankly, I’m grateful, because that helps keep me focused on examining my own!

It is also easy to slip into a crack – you might “outgrow” a teacher and decide you’re good on your own.  And you probably are for a bit, but if you’re not actively teaching yourself (by doing all the things we expect the professor or coach to add to your learning), then you may lose ground, lose motivation, lose excitement.  That would be sad.  But it’s easily fixed by finding another teacher.  

Remember that, like hairdressers, teachers understand that sometimes it’s not a good fit, or something has changed and you’re ready to move on.  And like a good hairdresser, a good teacher will be sad to see you go, but wave you a cheery fare-thee-well and look forward to seeing you at a harp event soon!

Do you have a teacher for where you are now?  Which teacher is the right fit for you?  Are you in between?  Let me know in the comments!

 

* I will stick a caveat in here – if you are geographically constrained and don’t live close enough to have in person lessons, be sure that your online option is a good teacher.  One downside to everyone having an internet connection is that anyone can say they are a teacher – and as a beginner, you’d be at their mercy.  Caveat emptor.  In addition, if you are taking lessons online (and any competent teacher will tell you this…in fact, if they don’t, reconsider their competence) – go to workshops to work with other teachers in person whenever humanly possible.  There are amazing options like the Ohio Scottish Arts School, Somerset Folk Harp Festival, the Harp Gathering (which I’ve not participated in but have heard great things about), Feis Seattle (again, I haven’t been to this, but I know a guy), Catskills Irish Arts Week (again, haven’t been but I hear good things), or individual workshops anywhere near you – and you will learn incredible things, and not just about playing the harp!  Go!  This isn’t an exhaustive list, just a sampling, just go!

 

** The Coach refers to an approach to teaching and isn’t necessarily someone who is presenting as a coach.  It’s about the approach not the title.

When do you stop taking lessons?

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

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

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

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

The better question is: 

What are lessons for? 

There are at least four reasons for lessons:

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are lessons not for? 

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s time to plan – Summer Camp!

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

SUMMER IS COMING! Time for Summer Camp!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Never Run Out of Things to Practice

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Do you ever have that feeling like you’re casting about trying to decide what to practice?  You know you should be practicing, but maybe you don’t know what to work on.  Even if you have a teacher who helps structure your practice time, do you feel hesitant on where to start on other stuff outside your lesson?

No?  It’s just me then?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Never Run Out of Things to PracticeIt can be a little challenging to think of what to practice, especially at those points on the calendar (like now) when we know we should have already started on holiday repertoire (but maybe haven’t).  Or at the end of the year when you’re staring into the abyss of the upcoming year, but not knowing what you might want to come out of it with.  Or thinking about the upcoming competition season and preparing to perform, but not being ready to buckle down.

There are all kinds of reasons that we can be a little stumped on what to be practicing at any one point in time.  And if you’re an externally motivated person (that is, if you need something or someone outside of yourself to get you kicked into action), it can be very difficult to determine what you should be practicing, which can lead to procrastination….or worse, just not practicing!

So, this week, a few ways to help ensure that you never run out of things to practice!

1. Keep track of what you’re working on, how long you’ve worked on it, and your assessment of your progress to date. Why yes, this is just another thinly veiled suggestion that you keep a journal, but it will help you keep in mind what you’re working on right now (and how well it’s going) as well as whether you need to keep working on it.  It also gives you an idea of which tunes might need to be parked so they can marinate for a little while (that’s fancy talk for “put it away and bring it out again later”).

2. Keep a list of tunes you would like to play. Just note them down, preferably with as much detail as possible (title, composer, anything else that helps you find it later). You can’t possibly learn all the tunes at once, so you will be well served to write down the ones you’d like to learn…later.  Don’t worry about it getting too long – you can always add to it, or cross titles off as you go along (and you get the added bonus of crossing titles off as they move to your “learning” list! and you begin to practice them).

3. Focus on what you’re practicing now. When you’re practicing, don’t think about what you’ll practice next.  Think about what you’re practicing now.  Save thinking about what you’ll do another time…for another time… and actually practice while you’re practicing. If you have a great idea while you’re practicing, jot it on your list of tunes you’d like to play and then get back to your originally scheduled practicing.

4. Make connections between music you already know and that you have to learn. It is always useful to be a thinking musician. It’s an illusion that great musicians just sort of channel stuff.  They are actively involved in the music they play.  They analyze the music.  They don’t let it just wash over them!  Thinking about what you already know, what you’d like to learn and how they’re related will help you find tunes you like and will make practicing easier (because similar patterns will be easier the second time and even easier the third, etc.).

5. Be curious. It’s all well and good to know what you like and play that, but be curious about it – what is it about the music you love that captivates you? How far away from the exemplar can you go and still love it?  What other music has those same traits?  Does it appeal to you, and will you learn it?  Being curious means you’ll find new things to play in places you wouldn’t necessarily look which not only broadens your repertoire but also will expand your thinking.

6. Refer to something you practiced before. Why yes, you can always practice something you used to play to death but haven’t in a while.  Keep those oldies but goodies in your hands and in your memory so they’re ready to go when you are!  Those tunes are, after all, the core of your repertoire.

Don’t be left feeling like you don’t know what to practice or how to get started. These six simple steps will help you pull it together so you can never run out of things to practice.  What else should we add to the list?  Let me know in the comments –

Since you asked… Connections and Patterns

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In December, I wrote about learning versus memorizing.  You left some great comments, and one of you asked how one would go about actually doing this (learning rather than memorizing).  You graciously waited through the madness that is the holidays and the reset that is the new year.  But now, it’s your turn!

Let’s start by acknowledging that learning music is not really different from learning anything else.  And just like in school, when you try to brute force memorize – everything deserts you when the pressure is on.  And because memorization is so fragile, you can’t even salvage the memory gap – because there is noting of substance behind it.

So we’re back to learning.  The first thing to understand is that learning is not passive.  You have to be engaged, checked in, and thinking to learn!

Patterns and ConnectionsThe easiest way to do this is to do some analysis.  I don’t mean a big research study.  To analyze – ask yourself some questions.  these questions will help you make connections and discover patterns.

  1. Does any of the piece remind you of anything else?  That could be anything.  Those of you who have had lessons from me have experienced this – “chocolate chords”, “the Oreo phrase”, “the donut part”, “the walk in the park”, and “this is just like in that other tune”.  These are all just things the tune remind me of (never mind that most of them are food!).  Do parts of the tune bring something to mind – waterfalls? sheep? fairies? storms at sea?  If so, these are all things you can connect to that bit of the tune which will help you hang on to it (learn it!).  You can also say the connection (e.g. “this is the Oreo part”) out loud while you’re playing that part will also create another connection that you can learn.
  2. Find the shapes.  This can be as basic is up or down.  Or as complex as “this reminds me of Katahdin” – I didn’t get that, but he did, and that’s what matters.  If you’re reading, you can see the shape.  You can also see the shape when you put your hands on the harp.  Have you already learned the shape in some other tune?  Does the shape repeat through the tune.  Learning the shapes is another way to learn.
  3. Find the story in the music.  If you’re not sure, make up your own.  That story can be another set of connections.  Tell yourself the story as you play.  You can also do this with songs.  Sing the lyrics as you play – they are another set of connections that will help you learn the tune.
  4. Break it down.  If you are more advanced, you may be able to learn an entire 8-bar phrase in one go.  If you are less experienced, you may need to look at one measure at a time.  Size doesn’t matter – break the music into pieces you can successfully ingest.  Because….
  5. You’re going to stick those pieces back together eventually!  As with breaking it down, stitch it back together in portions you can handle.  Don’t overdo it.  These are more connections…and patterns – and you have a chance to connect the patterns!  This is true for challenging tunes, but its also true for “easy” tunes with their nearly identical phrases which come together differently in parts of the tune.  Make specific links between the parts – be sure to connect the various pieces to each other.
  6. Savor.  Take it slowly We are always in a rush.  We want it to be instantly performance ready, faster, more complicated, showier than anyone else – we want to have the tune now!  But rushing leads to a half-learned tune that is wobbly with wishy-washy fingering and phrases built on momentum not confidence, all of which can lead to heartache. 

Need more specifics?  How about:

Fingering is one of the greatest losses of not analyzing your music enough before you start and then moving out too fast.  I wish I could remember who taught me this trick (and if you know who it is, tell me so I can give credit!): place the shape (all the fingers needed in that direction…all of them, even the 4 if needed!); squeeze the strings a couple of times; then play the shape.  Think about the shape, where it sits in the phrase and the tune, where else you might use that same shape in the tune.  Replace the next shape, and repeat. Yes, it can be frustrating (especially if you didn’t actually analyze it first). Yes, it means you can’t just bang out the tune. 

But equally, yes, you will get the fingering.  Yes, you will be preplaced and ready to go.  Yes, you won’t be chasing strings with fingers that weren’t quite ready.  And yes, you will learn the tune more quickly – because you don’t have to relearn any of it!

That might sound suspiciously like practice.  Because it is.  Learning must be active.  Analysis is not a nice to have – it’s one of the things will distinguish your learning.  Each time you run through the piece you will be building connections – in your brain but also you’re your eyes, ears, fingers, and your entire body.  If you have some knowledge of theory, that will also help you make connections and notice patterns.  Talking out loud creates connections in another modality.

The more connections you have and the more patterns you have found, the easier time you will have learning the tune.   And by extension, the more confident you’ll be when you play it – because it won’t desert you under pressure!

Give some of these ideas a try and let me know what you think.  Do you have any other ways to learn you’d like to share?  Make the connection via the comments below!