Category: Practice

So, we’ve talked about setting resolutions and setting goals. One of the biggest challenges we face is staying out of our own way. Being organized is a huge challenge for many people but it really helps you to focus. And being organized means that you can spend your time working on playing the harp rather than looking for music, pencils, light, and whatever else is getting in your way.

1. Being organized doesn’t mean being neat. It also doesn’t have to be about complicated systems or collections of containers – use what you have, do what works for you, don’t let someone else tell you how to do it – just do it! 
2. Make to do lists – make lists of the tunes you want to work on, need polishing, what is ready to go.  Use these lists to organize your practice time.  They also let you know what you have ready to perform should you need to perform.

3. Get your music organized – put your sheet music together – mine is alphabetized, but you should put yours together however works for you – by time signature? By key? By tune type? However you think to look for it, that’s how you should organize it.

4. Have your tools close to hand – whatever you need, whether its pencils, manuscript paper, a calendar, good lighting, music stands, arranging your harps in an accessible way – do whatever you need to make your space work for you.

5. Use whatever tools you need – calendar, white board, bulletin board, boxes, shelves, whatever works for you! If a white board will help you keep focused on what you’re working on, put one in your music space.  If you like having everything in sight, get shelves, if you like your space tidy, use baskets or drawers to contain the clutter.

You’ll be amazed by how much more you can get done when you get organized first!

It’s that time of year when we know we should be setting goals. We might not want to have resolutions – they are slightly terrifying and we know that most people don’t stick to a resolution. In addition, resolutions are about improving yourself – but you probably don’t really need to improve yourself – you need to improve your playing! So you need to set seom goals. But you might not really know how to do that. Here are four easy steps to help you get started setting goals:

1. Decide what you’re goal is – you need to know what your goal is so you can persue it.

2. Make it specific and measurable – this sounds harder than it is.  Specific of course means that your goal won’t be “I’ll play better this year” but rather something concrete like, “I’ll practice more this year”.  You can see that this concrete goal is also measureable.  You can improve the goal by also making it measurable.  Rather than saying, “I’ll practice more this year” you might state your goal as “I’ll practice 10 minutes more each day than I currently do”.

3. Write it down – It is important to write it down so that you don’t get confused or lost.  Be sure to leave it somewhere that you can read it regularly – tape it to your music stand, write it on your mirror, or somewhere else that you’re sure to see it.

4. Check yourself – While all those steps get you started, the real work will be in the follow through.  The best way to achieve that follow through is to schedule a checkup.  Put it on your calendar, verify you’re making progress.

5. Modify as needed – Sometimes, despite all your hard work writing your goals, you get it wrong (or you didn’t consider other factors like work or family commitments).  If you are just not going to make it (or your goal turns out to be inaccurate) modify it.  There’s nothing that says you can’t change your goals if needed!

Enjoy the progress you’ll see when you make progress toward and eventually accomplish your goals!

It’s that time of year when people make resolutions.  But will resolutions actually help you?  Maybe, maybe not. 

Resolutions are meant to help us become better people.  Unfortunately they often transform themselves into horrible nascent little guilt trips that we will endure every day that we remember to.  So as you approach your harp resolutions make sure they work for you –

1.       Select a single resolution, not a group of them – you are much more likely to succeed if you have one to focus on. This should work no matter what your resolution is – whether it is a harp resolution or not.

2.        Define you resolution so that it is specific (don’t leave at “I will practice more” – make it “I will strive to practice for an hour every day” or “I will get up half an hour early to practice before I go to work”)

3.       Make a concrete plan to implement the required work to achieve your resolution – don’t leave it to chance.

4.       Be sure to schedule a time in the future to check in with yourself and see how you’re progressing.   No need to go through all the effort of designing a resolution if you don’t verify you’re moving toward it!

I don’t know about you but when someone says, “Play something for me” my mind goes blank.  I can’t think of a single tune I know.  And if by some magic I think of a tune, I can’t remember how it goes.  It’s as if that simple question throws a switch that leaves me unable to think!

So, I came up with a method to help me practice more than the few tunes on my mental music stand.  It’s not high tech, it’s not fancy, but it does work – so I thought I’d share it with you.

I have a recipe box for 3 x 5 cards with alphabet dividers.  For each tune I learn I write out the title on a card, and the key I tend to play it in (or the key I prefer – sometimes I remember to note why I like it in that key – it sounds better, it doesn’t require a lever change, etc.).  If I’m smart I also include the first few notes (at least in TAB but the dots are helpful if I can put them on there) and what I like to play it with in a set.

The cards are sorted in alphabetical order by title. To be honest they’re sorted in alphabetical order by what I call them (sometimes I think of the title in Gaelic not English, or vice versa). The point is to sort and store them so that I can find them.

There are three things that I find amazing about this:

1. I know WAY more tunes than I think I do (since I never remember that I know them).

2. I KNOW way more tunes than I think I do (since I can actually play them when I randomly pull them from the box) – and if they are rusty, that’s ok, they shine right up with just a little time.

3. I know way more tunes than I THINK I do! It is a strong visual reminder of my progress and accomplishment as a harper – proof that I’m growing and developing – it’s very reassuring.

You don’t have to make 3 x 5 cards – you could make a spreadsheet, a list, a “job jar” – anything that helps you remember to play tunes you learned a long time ago but might have set aside.  The random access also helps your stay fresh and enjoy the tunes.  The mini-tune-up the tune gets when you have to give it a bit of a shake also helps improve your memory. 

And hopefully you’ll enjoy amazing yourself!

Breathing is essential – we all know that.  So, why is it that so many people don’t breathe when they get behind their harp?  Most people don’t even realize they aren’t breathing.  Of course, you don’t see people turning blue, but you do see people just not breathing enough.  So, how do you keep the wind in your sails?  Here are three things you can do.

Now that you’ve begun to develop the habits of warming up and cooling down (I know you have started building these habits and that you’re not waiting to start this as a set of New Year’s Resolutions!) you can move your focus to other parts of your practice and development. We practice to improve our ability to play and to develop our repertoire. You can never have enough repertoire – just when you think you have all the music you need ready to go, someone will book you for one half hour longer than you can go or you have so many tunes that you can’t possibly practice them every day…you’ll get to the point (if you haven’t already) that you can’t practice them each week. And if you don’t practice them – I promise you, they will desert you in your time of greatest need.

So you need to build your repertoire. And for this, as in all things, you should have some sort of plan. It can be a loose plan – but you still need some sort of plan. If you are studying regularly with a teacher, your plan may come down directly from your lessons. If you are not regularly studying with someone, you need to take more responsibility for planning. How many tunes do you want to learn this year? What types of tunes? What kind of set lists are you trying to build (are you working toward weddings? Parties? Stage sets? School presentations? Storytelling? Teaching? Therapeutic settings? Regardless of the venue and audience, you need to build a repertoire and you should also be adding to it over time. Even if you don’t play a regular gig, you need to keep your repertoire fresh so you can keep yourself fresh.

Write down your plan and your goals so you can refer to them.  You want to make sure you don’t get off track. Be sure to check your progress. It’s ok if your goals are modest – most of us need to be reasonable. Use your overall plan to select the tunes you’re going to add to your repertoire. If you have limited time, focus on the music you “need” to fill holes you may have in putting a gig together. If you have unlimited time, learn what you like when you feel like it.

And of course, insert learning, refining, and perfecting your new tunes into your practice schedule (and goals) so that you make consistent progress toward your goals. This will help you build your repertoire so you can join the ranks of people that say, “I played for six hours before I had to go back to the beginning of my rep”! (just kidding!).

I find many parts of making music are relatively easy (that is, easier than calculating cubic roots in my head or determining the most simplistic way to present the unified field theory to a kindergartner). But less experienced musicians often express frustration and dismay over how hard it is to play the harp.

To these less experienced people, ease seems to be either a sadistic ploy to make them feel badly about their level of experience (it isn’t, I assure you – we’ve all been there at some point) or a cruel twist of fate that leaves some people finding it easy, with others finding it impossible. I will not take up the nature/nurture question vis a vis musicianship but I will tell you something that will (upon reflection) not surprise you –

That apparent ease is a result of…you guessed it…PRACTICE!

The more you practice something, the more often you perform an act, the easier it becomes. This continued, focused practice results in what is called Automatic Processing. The more you practice something, the less you have to consciously think about it to make it happen. And it comes about through practice. If you practice anything accurately you will become better at it (of course if you practice inaccurately, you will become better at doing something incorrectly!). If you practice counting, you will get more proficient at counting. If you practice reading you will become better at reading. If you practice making hand shapes and blocking, this will become second nature – it will become just the way you do it.

You have already mastered many activities and made them automatic – complex tasks like walking, jumping, writing, etc. all once required a great deal of concentration and effort but are now automatic. If you think this is not the case, I recommend you spend more time with very young children – you can watch them find behaviors and practice them. When walking is new, you don’t just wish to walk better – you walk and walk and walk, and fall down, and get up and walk some more – until you can do it all by yourself!

So, if you are working hard to play – whether it is counting, or blocking, having consistent fingering, sitting up straight, or reading – you now know that you just need more practice with those basic behaviors. Strong practice of these basic skills – making them automatic – frees up your brain to do other hard work, like learning new pieces, adding appropriate dynamics, or writing your own!

So, go practice!

It is definitely summer! Long days with clear skies that just beg you to come outside. And why not – it can only do you good to get a little fresh air (in the shade!).

We get so used to playing in the same room, in the same spot, in the same light. But moving around could be a big help. You might be surprised how much your perspective will change.

Just by moving outside, you’ll get a different appreciation for a lot of things about playing. You’ll learn a lot about light, sound, temperature, and space. Things you might forget to think about if you always sit in the same spot.

Of course, you’ll also get to think about mundane things like how much a harp weighs, how unwieldy a triangular object can be to carry, the challenges of remaining balanced on an imperfect lawn. But each of these things also provides opportunities to learn.

Think about the challenges of playing from your deck and the slats beneath the strings. Or a brick patio that swallows up your Cs!

You’ll start to see the seams in your playing – pieces you thought you had down might be more challenging if you’re squinting. Yes, it is hard to concentrate on the next note or phrase when you detect sweat trickling down your back…just like it does at outdoor summer weddings! It’s really hard to hear yourself when the closest surface is not just 10 feet away, especially if it is a tree not a wall. And when planes fly overhead or the neighbor kids go by screaming on their bikes, you know it will be just like the distractions you overhear wherever you play.

But you can play through all that – and give yourself a fresh perspective on your music.  And if you give your neighbors an impromptu concert – all the better for all of you.  Who knows, you might just have fun!

So, go outside to play – and see how it helps you to improve.

I get inspiration in the oddest places. I write arrangements for traditional tunes based on my appreciation of Depeche Mode’s arrangements, Robert Frost poems, or squash casserole.  And I get ideas for what to share with you from sources just as diverse.

I saw a billboard today that said, “It’s not an obstacle, it’s a challenge” and I thought – “wow” (not very erudite, but sometimes basic is best!). Mostly the wow thought was due to the heartbreaking accuracy of the concept.

Do you ever open a piece of music and just get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of ink they left on the page? Or have you ever heard a lush arrangement of a meaty trad tune and just gotten lost in all the notes in the air? Either of these experiences usually leaves you thinking, “That’s fantastic…I LOVE that…but I’ll never be able to play it”.

But the reality is that you can play anything you like. There is no warning label on complex pieces. There is no gatekeeper on tunes. There is no catalog of pieces that only “really good” people can play but no one else can. If you want to play it, you can.

Of course, some things are out of easy reach. Note I said “easy reach”.

You can reach though, if you want to. You might have to work hard and you might have to practice a lot, and you might have to take more time than you want to admit to having to spend.  And you may have to be patient with you. But think about the reward.

Nothing is out of reach. It just presents a challenge…So ask yourself…when you think, “I can’t play that”, how much do you want to? Are you willing to do the work?

I’m looking forward to hearing your piece – when you have mastered it and are ready to share!