Category Archives: Practice

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.

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!

Make yourself practice – do some good

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If I were to be honest out loud, there are more days when I have to force myself to practice than I care to admit. There are always so many other things that need to be taken care of and which require my attention. And often sitting and playing feels too decadent to be work – making it even more difficult to practice and do the work. I know many of us have this same challenge. (And we know this is different from the occasional, “I just don’t feel like practicing! <whine>” malaise we sometimes find ourselves in!)

I recently came across a quote that is modifying my perspective on all this. This is an excerpt – it was part of a talk delivered by Karl Paulnack, Music Director of The Boston Conservatory*. I thought he made a good point – about taking ourselves seriously. He said

Karl Paulnack our value as musicians

“If we were a medical school, and you were here as a med student practicing appendectomies, you’d take your work very seriously because you would imagine that some night at two AM someone is going to waltz into your emergency room and you’re going to have to save their life. Well, my friends, someday at 8 PM someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed, a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again will depend partly on how well you do your craft.”

And he’s right!  There is little more rewarding than chatting with an audience member after a performance and learning that you have created an experience that touched that person very personally and specifically.

He goes on to say more, about our value as musicians, the effect we can have, the good we can do. All of these are important – and we need to remind ourselves of these truths. No matter our level of play or our amount of experience, we have something to contribute, a good to give – and we have to work to bring our best when we are sharing.

So, go practice – the world is counting on us to do our craft.

* read the whole address here

Give it a new twist

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When you learn a new tune, there is a lot to learn and to remember. You are trying to keep a lot in mind as you play – what are the notes of the melody? What are the needed dynamics? What about the phrasing? And then there’s the accompaniment and harmonization!

You may recall that I am a big advocate for laziness and efficiency. To that end, I try very hard to reduce the amount of stuff I have to learn, memorize, recall, and reproduce. So it becomes essential to create a set of tools that allow you to wring the most playing and performance time out of each tune you learn.

One of my favorite tools is to stick to a basic chord progression – with a twist! What is the twist? Inversions!

Inversions

Not sure what an inversion is? It sounds complicated, but inversions are only a twist on a chord.  And with a little bit of practice, inversions can become second nature.

How do you play inversions? Here’s an easy tutorial:

  1. Place a root position C major chord*. [Lost? The root position is the 1 – 3 – 5 chord with the scale name on the bottom (in our example here it is a C – E – G chord). This is the Root.]
  2. Now, twist that C off the bottom of the chord and place it on the top (so now you have a chord in the shape E – G – c) – that’s the first inversion.
  3. To move to the second inversion, take that E off the bottom and twist it to the top (so now you have a chord in the shape G – c – e) – that’s the second inversion!
  4. And, you guessed it, one more twist and you’re back to the root chord, just up an octave!

As you play along (I know you rushed right over to your harp while you were reading!) you can hear that, while the chord is the same, each inversion is also different.  These differences meant that the inversions each give the tune a slightly different character!

Work on your inversions – practice them so they become second nature – and use them make subtle (but easy to remember) variations to your harmonies for the tunes in your repertoire and watch your repetitions become more interesting!

*I’m using the C major chord here but this applies to chords in any key – once you learn to do them, you can use them all over the place!

I’m having an affair with Seth!

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It started when I was 12. My parents introduced us. Seth and I had a rocky relationship for a long time. I was convinced that he hated me and I never really respected him. I let him stew, alone, for years.

But recently, I developed a begrudging respect for him.  And lately, that has blossomed into a raging love affair. I have learned to love him – Seth Thomas, my metronome!

MetronomeI had noticed that as much as I tried to ignore it, and as often as I played it, there was a tune (ok, really a set of tunes) that were just random at best. They gained momentum every time I played, and no amount of toe tapping, counting aloud, or getting dark looks from those around me seemed to help. In addition, I could never play them cleanly – there was always a mistake somewhere. And some of those mistakes were not random. Further, I love the tunes, so I really wanted to clean them up.

Enter Seth. Now, these are reels mind you. I set Seth on the bench next to me and selected 64…for the and! Yes, that meant the tempo was 32. If you’re one of my students it has now dawned on you that this is not just something I made up to torture you – I actually made it up to torture myself! At that speed I noticed all kinds of things. First the tune totally fell apart, so I had to rebuild the tune so I could remember what came next, not just let it happen. Also, my fingers and hands were tense and not ready for what was coming. Finally, because I had played it below standard so many times, my posture was hunched while I waited for everything to come apart.

Now, Seth sits by me, stoically, working with me (although sometimes it still feels like its against me!) to help me do the work to make the tune come out of the harp the way I hear it in my head. We’re taking it slow, me and Seth, and building a future together. I’m so glad to have Seth in my studio – it must be love!

Do you make your practicing harder than it needs to be?

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I’m not a neat freak. In fact, I’m not very neat at all. I sort of thrive on a little bit of a mess. But I have a very selective mess – I have sheet music piled everywhere, and music books mixed with reading books.

clutterBut I also have a lot of bright lighting and a wide clear space for my harps, nothing on my benches and typically pencils and pens on the stand shelf. It is my kind of organized – I have what I need where I need it when I reach for it – and when I reach, I don’t knock over piles of stuff!

How about you? What does your practice space look like? Have you made yourself a space in which to work or is your harp stuck in a corner? Can you sit and play or do you have to move a lot of things (furniture, books, shoes, etc.) to get to it so you can do your work?

This might seem silly but actually, your workspace is important. You will not practice if you can’t get to the most important tools you need – your harp, your bench, your music! You might think you will move things out of the way and get your harp out each and every time you want to practice.  And perhaps you will, sometimes.  But few people are consistent in digging something out to use it and you are unlikely to be consistent.

So, if you are not practicing as well, as consistently, or as regularly as you think you should, take a good hard look at the location of your practice space, your harp, and the tools of your work. Make any changes that will reduce the amount of fiddling around you have to do to get to practicing and see if you gain some consistency and improved practice! Don’t put your baby in a corner – and don’t make your practicing harder than it needs to be!

The notebook is a tool, not a book bag weight

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If you are taking lessons, you likely have a notebook of some kind at the request of your teacher. Many music teachers ask their students to have a notebook, but many students are not able to use these to best effect. How do you use yours?

First, you should know that this notebook is not a diabolical plot on the part of your teacher, designed to make you crazy. Nor is it a thinly veiled means of making you buy more books you won’t use.

Picture1

I like to structure these notebooks to act as a communication device. The notes are not only a place to give instructions but also to start a conversation. I ask my students to write a note each day that they practice – to indicate what has gone well and what has not gone well.

I find that the teacher’s bench is much like the doctor’s office stool – simply sitting there results in forgetting everything you meant to say! Writing in the notebook helps you to remember what you meant to bring up at your lesson so that it does not evade you when it’s time to bring it up.

Think of the notebook as shared with your teacher. But mostly you keep it for yourself. This is where you capture your thoughts about your practice and the music as you work through it – the good, the bad, the indifferent, the incredulous, the awe and the awful! Capture it all – not only to go through the exercise of the capture but also for later review and reflection.

Really your notebook is a journal. As with any journal, the point is to capture your progress, to find what you notice seems to be bubbling up, and to reinforce the discipline of both practicing and journaling. It will help you get more from your practice. The added benefit is that it will help you get more from your lesson. If you don’t have a notebook now (or if you always seem to “forget” yours at your lesson) get one you like and start using it now – when you try to remember what you did this week, you’ll be glad you did!

Don’t check out when you’re practicing

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Do you practice every day? Or nearly every day? If so, you might think you are a really good practicer.  But are you really?

It is a good start to sit on your bench for practice time, but what do you do once you’re there? To get anything from your practice time you need to be there to work.  What sort of work do you need to do?  Well it isn’t just playing through all your tunes halfheartedly! Here are six things to include as you think about your practice:

  • Picture3Problem solve – unless you have something down perfectly, there is work to be done – the trick is to determine what needs to be done and to suss out the best way to get that work done
  • Define the work – do you partition your practice time to spend time on the aspects of playing that are important? Warming up, technique and exercises, detail on tunes you are learning, development of music you have in work, polishing and tweaking music that is learned are phases to include in your practice times.
  • Check your attitude – if you think practicing is a waste of time, it likely will be…so make sure you set your attitude to get something from the time.
  • Pay attention – be engaged with your practice and expect good performance from yourself.
  • Have a plan – know what you want to do with your practice session.
  • Work the plan – don’t just make a plan, use the plan to achieve your goals.

Don’t practice longer than you are able.  You need to build the strength and stamina to practice for longer practice sessions – and if you don’t work your way up to it, you will be too fatigued to get anything from a longer practice session.

Be sure to stay engaged with your practice – don’t check out when you’re on your bench!