Category: Practice

A lot of people tune their harps to Eb.  The question is, should you?

First, you might want to know why so many people choose to be in Eb.  Many people like Eb because it is a very flexible tuning that allows you to get into eight major keys.  Since you’re asking those keys are:

• Eb (3 flats – E, A, B)

• Bb (2 flats – E, B)

• F (1 flat – B)

• C (no flats or sharps)

• G (1 sharp – F)

• D (2 sharps – F, C)

• A (3 sharps – F, C, G)

• E (4 sharps – F, C, G, D)

Being able to get into so many keys certainly limits the number of pieces you can’t play.

So you should think about your tuning before you commit to it on your harp.  Do you need to be able to get into all those keys or do you typically stay in just a few keys (think about which levers you typically use)?  You can use the answer to that question to finalize which tuning you want.  If you want the best tone from your harp, keep it open and select the tuning that gives you the fewest engaged levers. 

Then sit back and enjoy the full throated singing of your harp most of the time.

Most people use their electronic tuner for a number of reasons – it’s easy, effective, consistent, and it gives you the impression that your harp is tuned accurately.  But are you really in tune?

You can choose to tune by ear.  Many people do this because it results in I won’t kid you, learning to tune by ear requires some willingness to work – you have to practice doing it and you have to practice listening closely.  But if you start tuning by ear it won’t take you long to get good at it.

First, the equipment.  Assuming you do not have perfect pitch, you will need something to give you a pitch to reference.  You can use a tuning fork or a pitch pipe (available on a number of websites) or a piano (assuming it is in tune).  You can choose which pitch you’d like to tune to.  I have a 440 A tuning fork.  That might not have been the best choice as I have my harp tuned to Eb which means that I have to set a lever and occlude the string to get to A.  I’d suggest a pitch you can tune to on an open string.

I’ll focus on the tuning fork as it is easy to carry and use.  The tuning will be the same regardless of your reference.  Strike the fork on something solid (I use my ankle bone) and then place the base on the sound board.  You will hear the pitch loud and clear.  Then tune the appropriate string (A in my case) until you can’t hear it.

‘Til I can’t hear it????  Yup – when you can’t hear the string differently from the tuning fork, it is in tune…they are inseparable.  Remember that the 440Hz refers to the frequency of the string – so if you have it tuned, it will “disappear” into the tone of the tuning fork. Then I’d suggest you tune all of that string (all the As for example).  Tune them against each other (based on the A you started with).  Octaves are directly related (so if the middle A is 440 Hz, the A below it will be 220Hz and the A above it will be 880Hz.  If you play them in octaves you will be able to hear if one is out because of this relation.

If you’re willing to give it a try, start with your A’s strike your tuning fork and bring them in line.  We’ll move on to tuning the rest of the strings later!  Don’t get frustrated, just take a breath and listen – you’ll hear it when it happens.

I diverted last week because of the serendipity of meeting new ideas in the form of new people, but I’d like to get back to tuning because so many of you have asked for more help.

The summer is, for all intents and purposes, over.  The kids are back in school, everyone is back on a tighter schedule, the days are noticeably shorter and (at least in some places) starting to be cooler.  You might have spent less time at your harp while you enjoyed the beautiful summer.

1. Mark it down – write practice time on your calendar.  Just like you would any other appointment.

2. Make it a priority – sitting to your harp is good for your physically and mentally so make (and keep) that appointment with yourself.  Don’t cheat yourself – make your harp time a priority.  Does your time at the harp rates above other pressing tasks like washing the newspaper or reading the dog.

3. Plan ahead – spend a little time planning what you will do when you get to your harp.  What do you need to practice?  What do you want to work on?  What deadlines do you have coming up?  Make sure you have a little time to work on those things you need to work on.  And don’t forget to have fun – it shouldn’t be all work!

4. If it can’t be a priority, make peace with that – there are times where other things are more pressing, or we make them more important, or we allow them to take more of our time. That’s ok, but accept that and work with it.  If your harp priority has shifted lower, for any reason, do not beat yourself up about not practicing, just acknowledge that right not you will spend less harp time each day and accept the loss you will experience (in tune memory, in technique, in strength, etc.). 

When you’re learning new music do you often have that sinking feeling that you are never going to get the tune?  Does it seem like every tune you learn that is longer than eight bars is just going to be too hard to get into your head?  Does it seem like everyone around you learns tunes really quickly while you struggle?

• The Soup Course – Study the music.  Whether you are learning from printed music or learning by ear, you can study the music.  You can review it to begin to find its form and structure.  Skip this course at your peril as it can save you a great deal of time when learning the piece.
• The Salad Course – Find the patterns.  After you have studied the music you will be more easily able to find the patterns.  You already know that music is all patterns, so it stands to reason that if you find those patterns you will have a very good idea what is happening when you attempt to learn those patterns.  When you specifically look for the patterns you will be that much further ahead.
• The Meat Course – Break it up, break it up.  While music is patterns, often it consists of large patterns.  These may be difficult to discern (or to remember), so if necessary, break the patterns into smaller pieces.  And just like the real meat course, you need to be sure not to eat one thing at a time on your plate before going on to the next – DO NOT spend all this time playing from the first measure to the last – break it up and work on the parts that need work.  Start at the end and work backward, or pick a measure in the middle and start there.  This is, the course, where the bulk of what feels like work will occur.  Do not be fooled…the other courses are also work – value that time!
• The Desert Course – How sweet it is.  If you have taken the time to do the work of the previous courses, you will find that the music has become easier to learn and that you learn it more quickly – what could be sweeter than being able to play the music you like so well!

Of course, like a full course meal, you want to take your time, savor the delicacies, and really enjoy the process.  And better still, when you’re practicing you don’t have to worry about which fork to use!

It’s all well and good to have a lot of music but if you can’t find it, it doesn’t do you much good.

No matter how your repertoire is stored, you need to be able to find what you have. Sometimes you really need to quickly put your hands on something so you can play it.  Do not be fooled, this is the same problem for us all – how many times have you heard someone bemoan being unable to find the right score?  Or that they can’t think of anything to play in session? 

To access your music quickly, you must be organized.   And your organization system must work for you.  Here are three ways I organize my music:

For tunes I have learned by ear, or have learned so well that I need no paper, I have a catalog.  This can be a list or a set of index cards.  I include the title of the tune, the key (or keys) I typically play it in, the tune type and/or time signature.  If you’re very fancy you can also include the first measure or two to remind you which tune it is and how it starts.  I sort by the title I use.  For example, although it is properly called, “Tha Mi Sgith” in my head I still call it “Pulling Bracken” so it is sorted under Pnot T. Be sure to sort by the method that makes most sense to you – it is your organization system.

If you typically play from sheet music, you can use a similar organization – you can file your music.  I sort sheets alphabetically by title.  This allows me the freedom to find what I’m looking for when I need to find the dots.  Some things are sorted oddly.  For instance, all my Christmas music is filed under C for Christmas.  I don’t think of these tunes individually – in my mind, they are a group and so they are grouped in my files.  For the books, I sort them alphabetically by composer, arranger, or editor (and some random books that are sorted by title because I think about them that way (e.g. my copy of The Caledonian Companion is filed under “Caledonian” because I never remember to give the appropriate credit to Mr. Hardie.   

So take a little time and sort through your music.  Devise a method that suits you and apply it.  Instill order where there might otherwise be chaos.  And enjoy spending your practice time practicing rather than searching for music.

Do you ever get overwhelmed with the amount of music you are trying to learn?  Does it ever seem like you have too many tunes only partially learned and none of them are ever going to “get there”.  That you’ll never get the tunes down well enough to actually enjoy playing them?

If so, maybe you need to put your music on a diet.  You know, cut back.  Only take in a little bit at a time.  Really savor those few tunes and sink your teeth into learning them, getting comfortable with them, and settling on your basic arrangement.

This doesn’t mean that you don’t learn all the things you want to, it just means that you don’t stack 10 or 15 or 30 new tunes on your music stand.  You winnow that down to a manageable few and really work on those.  When you’re happy and comfortable with the first few you can add another couple on – and build up slowly.  And don’t forget to keep practicing the tunes you’ve just learned – otherwise you won’t get them into your fingers in a way that will get your comfortable enough to play them.

This slow and gradual buildup of repertoire will allow you to enjoy the tunes you’re learning, fight overwhelm, actually learn the tunes, and have successes with your new tunes.  Unless, of course, you prefer that feeling of drowning in dots that can stem from not being able to play any of your tunes at all.  For me, I prefer to actually play tunes rather than swim in them.

It is very easy to stay I am forward looking.  We are often suckered into only looking forward without equally considering our progress.  This is not a very good way to go about assessing one’s progress in any endeavor.  It can also become discouraging.

So, how does one overcome this?  How do you collect information on progress (without swelling your own head with details of only successes)?  Here are three ways to collect useful documentation of your development that will help you not only improve but also assure you you’re not wasting your time (oh, come on, we’ve all had that feeling on particularly bad days!):

1.      Journal – keep a record of your practice and performance.  Make notes about your (honest) assessment of your practice, things that have gone well and not so well, what you would like to focus the next time.  Use what you write to help you.

Any way you select, be sure to make careful assessment of not only where you’re going but the path you have followed to get there. 

We all know we need to practice every day if we want to improve and grow and expand our technique, repertoire, and performance.  But it is so hard to find time to practice…and soon an entire week has gone by and you haven’t even looked at your harp.

The kicker is, we were chatting on Facebook where she is a frequent poster*.  She always has time to post on Facebook and spends a great deal of time online each day.  I don’t know how she does it – keeping all the balls in the air!

In each day, in each moment, we choose how we spend our time.  As harpers we have chosen a beautiful, forgiving but demanding instrument.  It is a hobby or profession that requires much of us to move on and develop.  We either choose to work hard to get that reward or we must recognize that we do not get the prize without the fight.  The rewards are great – but the price is high. 

* before you think it was you, this is actually a composite of people and conversations I have had recently – it’s not you, really, it’s someone else J

It sometimes happens that a long time goes by and you don’t get to sit at your harp.