While it’s all well and good to be planning, dreaming and thinking about the upcoming opportunities that summer brings, you’ve got to be ready before it gets here!

I think the “workout to look good in your bikini” stories and catalog layouts are a good point in time to start preparing yourself so you can be ready for all the fun that summer workshops bring. But “what could you possible do to prepare to have fun?” you might ask. The best answer is, “Plenty!”

Here are five things you can do to be sure you’re ready to focus on learning instead of focusing on how you don’t feel well:

1. Start doing legwork – spend an appropriate amount of your practice time working on the things you need to work on – scales, chords, transitions, speed, agility, sight reading – whatever “legwork” you need to have in your head and in your hands so you’re ready to learn and don’t have to be watching the basics.
2. Build your stamina – most of us don’t have the luxury of spending an entire day at our harps – which also means me probably don’t have the stamina to be at our harps all day. Start early from where you are with practicing and SLOWLY build up to a much longer time on the bench. Practice sitting, upright, in good alignment and with your harp.
3. Build your strength – most of us don’t get to spend a long time playing so while building up your stamina, play gently to allow your fingers to build strength (and to toughen up those callouses) so you have the tolerance to spend all that time not just sitting at your harp but also playing it.
4. The best beginning comes out of a good ending – start mindfully stretching after each practice. Build in time in your schedule and in your thinking to actively stretch yourself after sitting and working hard at your harp. Be sure to work all the areas you exercised including your neck, shoulders, legs and glutes – and don’t forget your arms and fingers!
5. Thimk – be sure to spend some of each practice time practicing practicing. Build within yourself good habits that allow you to spend your workshop time actually learning something. Spend this pre-workshop time identifying what you need help with so you can ask questions of the workshop tutors and be aware of your strengths and weaknesses so you can build from what you learn.

Being prepared for the arduous work of having fun will help you have a more enjoyable time and will assure that your time and money were well spent on the workshop you chose!

I can’t possibly get to every harp event and there are a few that are on my, “one of these days, I’m going to get to …..” list.  Swannanoa Gathering is one of those events so I asked Mike Connors to tell you about it –

The Swannanoa Gathering Celtic Week July 12-18, at Warren Wilson College nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville NC is an unsurpassed week long immersion with some of the world’s finest Celtic musicians. It is always the week after the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, also in NC. I attend annually to study Irish harp with Grainne Hambly and Scottish harp with Billy Jackson. In addition to beginning and advanced harp classes, there are courses in fiddle, singing, dance, bodhran, flute, mandolin, guitar, accordion, whistle, uillean pipes, banjo, bouzouki, banjo, and concertina. Students can register for up to four classes which meet every day, although I usually just take two so that I can have time to practice and learn to actually play some of the stuff while I am still there. Over the years in addition to harp classes I’ve had the chance to take a bodhran class, beginning pennywhistle with Billy Jackson, DADGAD guitar with Eamon O’Leary, bouzouki with Robin Bullock, and session guitar with Donal Clancy. Ed Miller teaches Scottish singing classes, and the biggest stars in Celtic instrumental and vocal music are there annually. With the likes of Martin Hayes, Kevin Crawford, and John Whelan and too many other greats to list here (see the roster for yourself https://www.swangathering.com/catalog/cl/celtic-week.html) the faculty concerts, extra “potluck” afternoon seminars, after supper slow sessions led by the staff, and late night sessions create such an incredible experience that you will not experience much sleep-there is just too much music.

Afternoon slow session with Billy Jackson, Robin Bullock, and Brian McNeil

In addition to the quality instruction, the campus is beautiful, the food is outstanding, and the musical friendships that are created and renewed every year truly make this a gathering. The sessions last late into the night. Imagine a hillside dotted with open air tents and dozens of music sessions happening at once-complete with a beer truck supplying local microbrews, wines, and a grill cook serving up food and snacks. There are fast sessions, slow sessions, big sessions, Scottish sessions, Irish sessions, Breton sessions, small sessions, alpha sessions, and song sessions. The faculty gets out and plays, with each other and with the students. I have witnessed Battlefield Band reunions, gotten to sit in a slow session and play the Kesh Jig set with members of the Bothy Band, and played music, shared tunes, and made lifelong friendships with people that share the love for this music.

Afternoon slow session with Billy Jackson, Robin Bullock, and Brian McNeil

The only thing that could keep me away from the Swannanoa Gathering would be a trip to Ireland and Scotland-which is where I will be during this year’s gathering, although I’m going to be back in time to visit Friday night and reconnect with friends and jam into the night. How ‘bout a tune?

If, like me, you have listed learning more tunes as one of your goals this year, you may be casting about for ways to select those tunes you are going to spend your precious time, sweat, and tears on. How do you select new tunes? Here are four ways to chose what to learn to play:

1. Listen, listen, listen – learn those tunes you enjoy listening to. I decided that I had to learn pedal harp simply from hearing a gorgeous piece of music on the radio!
2. Learn what’s on offer in workshops that come to your area. This is especially important if you live in moderate to low harp density areas. Get to every workshop you can, especially if they are few and far between.
3. Comb through books and sight read for gems. This is good both for finding new tunes and to practice your sight reading.
4. Host a tune swap. What could be better than learning new tunes? Learning new tunes inside a party! It is great to learn from a friend.

Unless you are preparing for auditions, learn any tunes you like – especially if you like the sounds of them. And be sure to really get the tunes down – don’t just get a passing familiarity.  Really get in there and wear it! And with all these sources you’ll have plenty of tunes to select!

One of the things I like best about the harp community is that it is a community – with lovely people. There is a specific joy from coming together to share music and laughter and friendship and experiences. To that end, there is a lovely opportunity to get together with other harpers coming up soon. If you can make it, you should not miss the Washington Area Folk Harp Society Getaway (WAFHS).

The instructors this year are Seumas Gagne and Emily Mitchell.  The annual WAFHS Getaway weekend will be November 7-9, 2014 at the Wyndham Gettysburg hotel in Gettysburg, PA.

Seumas Gagne and Emily Mitchell, photos unceremoniously snatched from www.wafhs.org

The registration fees are $105.00 for WAFHS members and $125.00 for non-members.  There is also a reduced rate for non-adutls (see the website).  There is a package deal with the host hotel that includes meals during the weekend (including the banquet).  Check http://wafhs.org/getaway for updates.

1. Do you like it?   Early in my harp career I got excellent advice – don’t play music you don’t like!  Just don’t.  Life is short, enjoy the music!  (If you are booking weddings, this does have the unintended consequence of requiring you to know more music so you have something to suggest to counter a request you don’t like.)
2. Does the arrangement work for you?  We all have strengths and weaknesses.  We have “tricks” we like, while there are others that just don’t fit our hands.  Make sure you select arrangements that are a good match to you…or arrange the tunes to make that match.
3. Does it match your comfort zone? This goes both ways – if you are seeking to add to your repertoire, staying in your comfort zone will make learning the tunes easier and faster.  However, if your goal is to learn new things while learning new tunes, work outside your comfort zone and stretch!
   
4. How are you going to play it? What’s it story to you? There is more to playing than getting the notes in the right order – what do you want to do with the tune?  You can be forming those ideas while learning the notes but coming to the tune with the story in mind might make it easier to learn.
5. Is it over-played?   If everyone is playing a particular tune (especially if you’re choosing a “party piece”) do you want to be playing the same music?  Select the tunes to catch your attention.  [Note – this does not include session tunes, in which case the entire point is to learn tunes everyone is playing!]
6. When you play the song for the first time, does it seem easy?  One of my favorite  indicators that a tune is a good fit is that it comes “falls into my hands”.  Don’t beat yourself up learning a tune that will not come together in your hands.  There are so many to choose from.  And if you really, really love the tune – come back to it later – it might just surprise you.

This may be sacrilegious in some quarters, but I’m going to say it anyway.  There really is no substitute for having a teacher.  Now, before you write this week’s content as self-serving drivel from someone who makes money teaching, hear me out.  There are so many things about playing the harp that are challenging, why not learn someone who can save you the difficulty of learning those things the hard way?

1. Give you wisdom, gained at the knees of their teachers.
2. Give you the benefit of their experiences.
3. Provide you timely feedback that will help you spend less time learning (and then unlearning) things that are not productive.
4. Provide you positive feedback that will allow you to focus on growing rather than have you smarting from falling backward.
5. Although there are some very good books available, nothing is the same as having someone who’s walked the road before you to show you the ropes.
6. Inspire you to grow to your full potential rather than letting you fester where you happen to be.
7. Encourage you to stretch and grow, to achieve your potential and reach your goals.
8. Coddle you when you hit the inevitable plateaus that are so disheartening.
9. Give you their knowledge – they’ve been in your seat and left it behind…wouldn’t you like to move along too?
10. Work with you, to help you develop yourself.

You need to find the teacher that fits you and there are plenty of really good ones around.  I highly encourage you to work with a teacher – you don’t have to commit to unending lessons and in the end, the progress you make will be a function of your hard work.  But a teacher can coach you through that progress so you can make good time on it!