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Weird but it works

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Before I embarked on this whacky phase of life as a harp player, I spent most of my time thinking about how people think about their work and how to improve that. Now my poor students have to endure my explanations about what we’re doing and how they might think about it. It’s important to know and understand not just what you’re doing but why.

So what I’m going to share today total makes me crazy. It works but I have no idea why. It just does. It’s a “tip” that might help you learn tunes easier and faster. And who doesn’t want that?

What’s this magic thing?

When you’re trying to learn a tune, there’s a lot to do. And even when you have the tune relatively well learned, you often find yourself stumbling. And if there’s a trouble spot, you will begin to build in a “speed bump” – a place in the tune that frankly scares you – and so you slow down and try to get through it.

If you don’t get that sorted out – and quickly – the tune will always have a speed bump and/or you won’t want to play it because there’s a scary spot. To get past those scary spots, you need a way to learn your way over it! So this week, I’ll share a way to get those smoothed out.

Find a shape at the beginning of a phrase. Place all your fingers as you will be going to do when you’re playing. Squeeze – hard. Definitely distort the strings – yes, squeeze that much. Don’t be wimpy! Then close your fingers – don’t play, just close (all the fingers at once). Place the next shape. Think about the shapes as you place and squeeze and then move to the next. Work in phrases. Think about what you’re doing in each shape. Focus on one hand and then the other (unless the shape of the tune makes that untenable). As the shapes become more familiar, shift your focus to the movement between the shapes. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat more than you think you should. Then repeat again.

Once the placing and moving begins to feel easier (than it had been) then you can shift your attention to playing the shapes. This isn’t the speed round – keep your focus on the shapes and linking them together. You can play and work toward making it musical once you can actually get from shape to shape cleanly and on time. If, as you start playing, you find there are still rough spots or ugly transitions, go back to the place and squeeze and come at it again. Don’t be afraid of repetition (and while you’re repeating – pay attention to what still needs work).

I don’t know why this works – and believe me I have generated multiple hypotheses – but it does. If, after reading this, it’s not clear, send me questions and we’ll see if we can make it clear for you.

When you’re working on a new tune, give this approach a try and let me know how you go – you know I love to hear from you!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day – how’s that O’Carolan tune coming?

What to practice?

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We all know that we need to practice, but one thing we often forget to teach is what to practice. While it’s easy to rattle on about practicing, actually teaching how to practice is more challenging.

People typically ask how long to practice, but this is the wrong question. Instead, start by asking how much time you have scheduled into your daily routine for practicing. Why? Because you definitely will never practice more than you have time for and you’re never going to “fit it in” unless you do so explicitly. This may be the number one challenge for adults – you don’t have a lot of “free time” and practicing isn’t free time anyway – it’s very committed time! You won’t luck into a free slot of indeterminate time in your day. You will have an identified amount of time into which you’ll have to fit it – and that is how long you should practice.

So, if the question isn’t how long to practice, then what is the right question? It is better to focus on what you will spend your time doing – what to practice? Here are some ideas to consider to establish what to practice:

What are you learning? When you first start a tune, everything needs work! Rather than having a scattershot approach, start by identifying the layers of stuff to be learned. This requires a level of concentration – because we typically want to do all the things all at once. Instead, name what is to be learned. How does the melody sound? what’s the fingering? how’s the rhythm go? where is the harmony? what is the order of phrases? all the things! Focus on what you can hold in your brain – when it starts to fall apart, focus on a smaller chunk. And while you’re at it, don’t compare yourself to others – I know that I can learn a lot more in one go (fingers, melody, rhythm) than I could when I started learning (when I learned one note at a time!).

“Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory”

– Coco Chanel

To paraphrase – before you start practicing, prune what you’re going to try to learn in one practice session!

What needs work? What is the weakest link? That’s what you want to focus on. Having trouble with the fingering? Just work on that. Can’t remember the melody? Just work on that. Screwing up the rhythm? Just work on that. Don’t try to work on everything all at once!

What are you doing? Remember that practicing is not a one-shot thing. You are going to practice day after day, week after week, month after month, etc. You’re going to practice the rest of your natural harp life. Remember that your practice will have arcs like a series of novels or a particularly convoluted tv series. Keep those arcs in mind – the short arcs (technical exercises), the mid arcs (etudes and “work pieces”) and the long arcs (your power repertoire). Just like novels or tv shows, all the arcs need to be integrated and make sense individually and together! Keep the end in mind.

What are you watching? It’s not enough to just practice or even to just practice the right thing. You also need to be demanding of yourself. Monitor your practice so that you can see what’s coming along and find what needs more work, different work, or both. Don’t accept poor work from yourself, you’ll only be shorting yourself. Each time you play/repeat, evaluate the outcome and determine what needs to happen next. This doesn’t mean be ugly to yourself – you need to be supportive but firm. Not sure if you’re judging yourself correctly? If what you just played would also cause you to check your teacher’s reaction out of the corner of your eye in a lesson, then it wasn’t good, and you need to keep at it.

All this seems like a lot, but likely you’re already doing most of it. It is important to remember that practicing is part of learning (certainly not the only part!). You still can look forward to loads of mistakes, frustration, errors, questions and laughter, excitement, and the thrill of getting it!

If, after you read this, you think, “that’s all well and good, but it’s one thing to know this and another to practice this way” try this. Tell your third-person self how to do it – write a lesson plan for that person. Be detailed and specific – what needs to be done, what you expect the outcome to be, and what to do next. Don’t forget to leave a motivational boost to remind yourself that you’re showing progress, and even if you’re not finished yet, you’re proud of your growth!).

Which parts of this did you need to hear? Do you feel like you are able to tell yourself what to practice? Will this help you make better progress in your practice? Let me know in the comments!

Put it on repeat

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One of the most frustrating things when learning a new piece of music is getting it established in your head. Whether you get your music by rote or by reading (or hybrid), we often feel like we should have a tune quickly. But is that really reasonable?

In a word – No.

Learning a tune and learning to play a tune (and I’d argue those are different but related) require repeated exposure. Repeated means – repeats….and lots of them!

You might wonder why you need so much repetition – even if you’re a quick learner. Well, there are two basic reasons – first, because there’s a lot to learn and second because you probably don’t make as many repeats as you think when you practice.

There is a lot to learn, and I find that we typically underestimate how much we need to learn for each piece we take on. While we focus on our fingers, it’s our brains that have the lion’s share of the work here! We need to recognize and recall a lot of stuff. Here are just a few of the things you need to learn for each tune:

> You have to know how the tune sounds

> You have to know where the tune goes

> You have to know where your fingers go

> You have to know the order of the notes of the melody

> You have to know the chord progression of the harmony

> You have to know the notes of the harmony

> You have to know the order of the fingers

> You have to know the rhythm

> You have to know the dynamics

> You have to know the phrasing

> You have to know how this tune relates (or is contrary) to other tunes you already know

> You have to remember all that

And more. Hopefully, that gives you an appreciation for what you’re doing as you learn.

So, then the question is, how many repetitions. Often, we feel like we’re playing something over and over and over and over. And we are. But look at that list again – each of those things is impacting each repetition. So, you can begin to understand why so much repetition is needed.

Let’s start by thinking about what we’re trying to by making those repetitions. We are trying to memorize how the (entire) piece sounds. We also need to perform serial recall of two different lines – the melody and the harmony which more often than not are completely different, yet related. We have to master the motor activity of placing, playing, closing, moving, and doing it again and again. But more importantly, we have to connect all of those things, in the right sequence within the appropriate relative time, while detecting anomalies (aka mistakes) and correcting them. Whew! No wonder it’s hard!

There is no set number of repetitions required (that would be too easy!). One metric is easiness – how easy does it feel to play? Yes, it’s qualitative, but this isn’t rocket science, so it’s ok. When you’re moving along your learning curve, there will come a point when you realize that it is just easier to play – you’re not struggling as much to remember what comes next, your fingers actually feel like you are in control, your brain doesn’t feel like you’re about to combust! You may be more able to play faster or to keep both hands going.

The keys to getting there probably include not counting your reps, but instead focusing on what you’re doing, what you’re thinking about, what you’re not able to do just yet, and how you have done compared to yesterday, the day before, etc.

If it helps you to keep focused on practicing, you can use pennies, beans, or beads to keep track. These tools can be helpful to show yourself that you are actually practicing as much as you think you are. As long as you recognize that time (and number of repetitions) isn’t all that matters – what you do with that time is what matters.

The last thing to keep in mind is repetition has to happen across days and weeks, not just within individual practice sessions. You can’t really learn all that (see the list again) in a single sit down, so don’t think you will! If you feel compelled to have some detail, the next time you learn a new tune, keep track of how much time you practice, over how many days/weeks, and how many repetitions you actually perform each time – it should be fairly eye opening.

What’s your experience with repeats? Let me know … in the comments!

Something in the Air

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Harp care is one of those things that I know we all keep at the back of our minds, but one element is easy to overlook. Shockingly easy. And that would be keeping your room at a comfortable humidity for you and your harp. Why shockingly? Because when the humidity falls low enough, you’ll know it because that’s when static electricity rules!

How much is enough? Well, you want it to be higher than constantly getting static shocks and lower than sticky! What will be about 40 – 50% humidity which will feel pretty comfortable. And if you want to keep an eye on it, buy a hygrometer. They’re inexpensive and can sit on the shelf near your harp so you can have peace of mind.

Once you know what the current humidity is, there are a number of ways you can improve it. Here are eight ways to enhance yours:

  1. You can get a room humidifier. They have cute ones for children’s rooms, and they do the trick. Or you can get a larger one, but they’re not cute. (and they do the trick too, just industrially).
  2. Run your crock pot – it’s designed to run all day (or night) so you can be comfortable having it on. If you’re fancy, put some cinnamon and cloves in it (or essential oils). Set it to high and fill it with water. Put the lid on until it warms up then remove. You can see the steam rising. Be sure to watch the level of water and add as needed.
  3. Same idea but slower – put a pot on the stove and bring it to a boil – all that steam will go into the air! When I do this, after the boil I lower it to a simmer (I stopped this because it’s a lot of energy and you can’t forget about it either!).
  4. Put out a bowl of water – it will evaporate. I use a bowl with a wide opening – larger surface area for the evaporation to occur.
  5. Run a tabletop fountain – it’s pretty, makes lovely bubbly noises, and is soothing as well as hydrating.
  6. Put a vase of flowers in the room – they’ll be a pretty addition and will help bring water into the air.
  7. Bring in houseplants. This is so far down because this only works with living plants. Since I only have dead houseplants, it didn’t work for me!
  8. Get a fish tank!

Managing the humidity around your harp will definitely make the wood happier. And it will probably make your skin happier too. These are all fairly low-tech and impermanent. Of course you can put in a whole house humidifier – or you could use that money to buy a new harp – that’s up to you.

Do you have any other ways to keep your air comfy? Let me know in the comments – you know I learn so much from you!

Christmas Time is Here

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Christmas Time is Here

As the Peanuts Christmas song goes, Christmas Time is Here….

I want to take a moment to wish you the best of holidays, days of friends and family and laughter and love. I hope you make some music, share some harp magic, and enjoy the holidays with sound and joy. I’ll be playing my favorites for the president of my fan club between happy bites of treats and sips of delight.

And I want to thank you for your continued support and participation. I hope you look forward to this each week with as much enthusiasm and I feel creating it. Let’s wrap this year with our shared love of music and revel just a moment in the bliss! From me to you, Merry Christmas!

PS – things are still a little dorked up on the back end, so if you want to leave a comment or send me a note, please click here (so your comment doesn’t get eaten by the website!).

HARP in Space!

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HARP in Space!

This might be old news to you, but I just learned that NASA has a HARP! 

Ok, for NASA, HARP means Heliophysics Audified: Resonances in Plasmas.  What?

NASA HARP Logo

HARPs in Space!

Loads of science-y words to say Hearing the activity of the Sun.

No, really.  The idea is to capture data from the sun and the plasma it puts out, and then listen to it to find patterns.  Patterns that would be harder (or impossible) to find visually.  Or by a computer algorithm. 

The sounds represent the same thing as you see as the Aurora Borealis – how cool is that?! 

As musicians we know all about patterns in sound.  Sound patterns are our stock in trade!  And NASA is inviting you to participate to help explore the data!

This is one of a number of NASA projects open to Citizen Scientists to help them analyze data.  Data is something they have tons of so they need help getting it all poked at.  They provide the open-source tool with which you can poke at (and possibly reveal) what’s hiding in the data from space.  They point out that it’s like using sonar to see the ocean.  They’ll even train you to find stuff so you can identify what they are looking for.  You could find something no one else has identified – again, how cool is that?

Would you like to be a NASA citizen scientist and participate in the HARP project?  If this is interesting to you, you could easily participate!  You can get more information here or sign up to participate here.

Do you think this is as cool as I do?  I’d love to know if you decide to participate – and what you find! Let me know in the comments! 

Thanks, Bunches

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Thanks, Bunches

“Your underwear only bunches when you’re on your way to the bench.”

And it’s true, isn’t it.  It’s only when you’re on your way to the bench that you notice it.  In the short walk that takes you to the bench (and takes forever (cut to bad old movie footage of a hallway progressively lengthening as you walk)), that is when the riot happens in your brain.  You’ve been complete calm, comfortable, and bunch-free…right up until that point.  AND THEN YOU FEEL IT.

And you can think of nothing else. Every neuron in your brain, no, in your body, is reporting that on this phenomenon.  It is all you can think about.  You certainly can no longer hear the tune in your head.  It’s drowned out by the freight train of fearsome awareness.

There is no escape.  No matter how well prepared you felt.  No matter how long you have been playing.  No matter how politely the cat and the curtains applaud your efforts.  No matter how many seats in the theatre.  This is the end.  And you can barely walk for the bunching.

But that’s not true, is it? 

When you begin to breathe again and stop hyperventilating, when your muscles relax and release, you realize the freight train is not running on a different track and the danger has passed.  And when the noise abates, the riot calms, and you can begin to hear the strains of the tune once more.  Without the clenching of your teeth and other muscles, you let go of the bunching, and you become more comfortable…as you settle on the bench.

I’d be bunches of happy to hear what you think! Let me know in the comments.

This bit of wisdom comes courtesy of my dear friend Kris.  We were planning our Moving Forward weekend (formerly known as Harp Quest, but we felt like we wanted to leave that sitting there for a bit and focus more on Moving Forward) and we found this statement – in multiple places – in our assembled history (which includes student feedback, our own feedback when we’re still sweaty and exhausted from teaching, and our musings after a good meal and a glass of wine).  It really is our collected wisdom to date, and we review it to launch our planning to…you guessed it…Move Forward!

We are offering Moving Forward to our students this summer.  The first weekend (25 – 27 August) is for less experienced harpers – you are early in your learning and still getting a handle on playing and are looking to learn, laugh, and meet other harpers like you.  The second weekend (8 – 10 September) is for more experienced harpers.  You are intermediate or advanced and are looking for a challenge as well laughing, learning, and hanging out with other harpers like you.  For either weekend you are interested, engaged, excited and enthusiastic while not judging, pulling back, or withdrawing.  Enrollment in each weekend is limited because we are going to be very focused and have group and one-on-one time.   If you have worked with me in regular lessons, irregular lessons, or in coaching you are invited.  If you’re interested in being part of this or in getting more details, let me know – in the comments!

 

 

Home again, jiggedy-jig!

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Home again, jiggedy-jig!

Harpa are back home after a wonderful trip to Scotland!  I was traveling for over two weeks and loved every minute (even the ones that will eventually be funny stories!). 

This trip Harpa were (from top left): Sue Richards, Beth Kolle, Therese Honey, and (from bottom left) Donna Bennett, me, and Martha Hill, and for the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, Kelly Brzozowski.  We posted photos of our visit on the Harpa Facebook page here. 

Harpa 2023

We started our trip at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival which was an incredible experience.  We participated in courses and workshops (the latter are long format, the former are shorter) learning Scottish, Breton, and Irish music as well as learning to release our inner Diva (laugh not – we didn’t think we needed help with that either, but wow did we learn a ton!). The high point for us was playing a concert – no pressure to play for a room full of harpers – no pressure at all.  But we performed beautifully and were really pleased with it.   We also attended some amazing concerts by friends old and new.  It was delightful.

Once EIHF was finished we headed off to the Highlands. We had three more performing opportunities, including a sold-out show at the Tollbooth in Forres.  At one time, the Tollbooth was the court and county lockup (not the automated money-snuffler we think of today).  It’s a historied building and we were privileged to play in the Courtroom.  While there we also got to share tunes with Cheyenne Brown’s adult students – some that they had performed earlier at the Inverness Music Festival!  Is there anything better than meeting other harpers?  The bummer was that, like any vacation, you never have as much time as you think you will, so we didn’t get to spend a great deal of time with them and we were done playing before we knew it.  At performances I always feel like I’m trying to cram 10 hours into a 1-hour sock. <sigh>

We also performed in Lossiemouth and at Ballindalloch Castle.  I still had the “1-hour sock” problem at each of them, but still got to meet and perform for some lovely people and in support of good causes.  In and around those performances we had the business of vacationing to deal with.  We enjoyed tea (twice! once on a steam train), saw castles, did some shopping, devoured fish and chips, found lovely ice cream, ate more than a few scones, and wandered cathedral and castle ruins. 

We had an awesome trip! We all have great ideas for the next one and we’ll get to planning that soon.  Until then, check out all our photos! I am still the worst at taking pictures, but I did post photos on the Harpa page, my “professional” page and my page (same photos, different accesses).  The Harpa page is where you’ll find all the really good photos that other people took. 

I also need to make a shameless plug for the Dusty Strings Flight Case.  It is light weight (I carried up and down stairs all week!), sturdy, good looking, and protective!  You might think it’s expensive but if you consider how much physical therapy, back surgery, or shoulder surgery might be (from carrying your old, heavy flight case), it’s downright parsimonious!  The harp traveled well (including the time it lingered in Ireland while I came on home).  I particularly like the detachable front wheels that made “driving” a breeze.  The snug fit left me confident that my case could “take a licking and keep on ticking”.  Brief chats with ground crew also suggested that it’s (relatively) light weight made it easier for them to deal with.  Even TSA seemed to have no problem working it.  My one regret?  I looked at the shoulder strap connections before I left and decided I wouldn’t use them – wrong!  I am not quite tall enough to effortlessly carry the case up flights of stairs.  I had to bend my arms more than was comfortable to clear the stairs so it took me about one day of going up and down stairs to really wish I had brought a strap.

I hope you check out and enjoy the photos.  If you want to know more about a specific part of our trip, let me know.  And if you have questions about how you too can travel with your harp – I’m happy to try to answer.  Let me know in the comments!

National No-Brainer Day

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No-brainer

Sometimes, things just line up. I just broke my computer and frankly, I’m too lazy to type an entire blogpost using my thumbs.

Then (on my phone) I got an email reminding me that this week (Monday to be precise) is National No-Brainer Day. That brought two thoughts to mind. First, that sounds like an excuse to spend time just playing to have fun! And what better way to get that into your day than to spend your regularly scheduled practice time having fun? That’s right, there is no better time! And second, what a great way to get a blog post out without having to do all that typing – make a graphic to remind us to have a little fun!

It was…
A No-Brainer!

So, sorry not to bombard you with words this week. Instead we have a graphic I could gin up with my thumbs (good thing they are prehensile).

If you love the little graphic let me know, it can also be a poster (which I would be happy to send you to enjoy).

How will you celebrate National No-Brainer Day? Let me know in the comments!

And please forgive any egregious errors, my thumbs have a mind of their own!

Harp Day 2022

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Harp Day 2022 was presented by Harp Ireland (Cruit Éireann in Irish) which is an Irish charitable organization established in 2016 by a bunch of harpers with a good plan!  They focus on promoting the instrument and its music while attracting more performers and audiences.  They have been busy!

Harp Day 2022 was this weekend with the theme – Harp Together.  It’s one of those activities that makes participation in their activities more accessible to all of us, around the world.  It’s not a hardship – after all Irish music (and Irish culture) is loved around the globe!  And if there’s one thing we learned over the last couple of years – we have enjoy getting together via whatever means is available to us.  I liked what they had on their website about it:

For the sixth year in a row, Irish harpers extend a warm invitation to harpers everywhere to join with them in celebrating the 1000-year-old Irish harping tradition, which is recognised on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Now you can catch up with all the good stuff.  Harp Ireland has put loads of good stuff online, freely available. 

It was exciting to make a video to be a part of the celebration.  A group of us was gathered for something completely different but decided it would be fun – so we did it!  I was delighted to be playing with Sue Richards, Therese Honey, Donna Bennett, and Martha Hill and we had a hoot playing an American tune – Sandy Boys.  You can see it here, at 1:02:23 – but definitely watch the whole thing.  There are four videos so pace yourself! You can find all the videos here.

I think my favorite part of the finished product – beyond the fun of watching some incredible harping – is that they also put together an interactive map so you can see where everyone was coming from.  Since we made the video in North Carolina, we are represented there even though we’re from around the US.  It’s delightful to see everyone in their locations https://www.harpireland.ie/interactive-map/

Hope you enjoy it – we sure did.  If you want more information about Harp Ireland you can find it here.

Did you participate in Harp Day 2022?  How many people do you know that are in the videos?  Let me know in the comments!