I had planned to blather on about theory this week, but let’s hold that for next week, shall we?  This week I wanted to follow up on a question from last week.  I’m delighted that you enjoyed the video as much as I did! 

One of you asked if there was sheet music for the great ensemble arrangement of America the Beautiful those amazing harpists are playing in the video. (I’m always so delighted that you actually read my blog that I’ll usually do just about anything to answer your questions!) 

So, I used my super-sleuthing skills to contact the military harpists to email them to ask if they would share the arrangement (ok, I looked them up in the American Harp Society Directory).

Two amazing things happened from this – first, I met a bunch of super delightful harpists that I didn’t know before!  They were, to a one, so warm and wonderful.  They responded quickly and were incredibly gracious.  And they are all located near me (Yea!!) except for Megan Sesma from the US Coast Guard who is in New London CT (which is a convenient train station if you’re going to compete at the Scotland CT Highland Games, btw). 

Second, from them I learned a little bit about this music.  For those of you who might not have seen my other posts (on Facedegram), the sheet music is available from Vanderbilt Music*.  It was arranged by Daniel Burton for six harps.  But perhaps more interesting and exciting – it was commissioned by the American Harp Society and these six military harpists!

Now a clarification.  While the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Army are part of the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard is is actually part of the Department of Homeland Security.  Even so, the Coast Guard is the oldest continuous sea service of the country.

And the last little bit of update.  After the video was completed, Chief Musician Emily Dickson retired from the Navy and Madeline Jarzembak has been selected to be the principal harpist with the United States Navy Band. Welcome aboard Madeline!  In the email discussion, the military harpists mentioned that they are not currently planning to do another video together (and hopefully we’ll all be off video and IRL sooner than later!), so revel in this unique experience.  And watch for them – military bands perform all over the country and they may be near you soon!

Thank you so much for your questions and comments.  And for the opportunity to answer them!  I am consistently struck by how diverse, interesting, warm, and welcoming our very small harp community can be.  Keep asking away!  I l-o-v-e finding answers, meeting people, learning more – and getting to share it with you!   

* As usual, I’m not clever enough to have affiliate links – this is just to make it easier for you to find it!

We all like to succeed.  And it’s always more comfortable to do things we already know that we can do and do well.  And we are, if nothing else, creatures in search of comfort.

Unfortunately, there’s no challenge in always doing stuff you’ve done before.  And there’s only paltry reward in continuing to do things you’ve succeeded at before.

Last week I suggested that you should make goals for the year and capture them.  I suggested you do that visually if you didn’t want to do it in writing.  And I wanted to do it too.  I’m

t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e

at pictures – I don’t really enjoy drawing and I never know where to start when someone says find pictures that show (just about any idea) (because you never need to find pictures of concrete things!).  Ok, I really didn’t want to do it.

But I did it anyway.  Here it is:

But the point is not my collaging abilities.  The point is that, by doing something I’m not good at, I learned a lot.

1.  I really can do anything if I just get over myself.  I hemmed and hawed before getting started, but once I made up my mind to get going, it wasn’t as bad as I had feared!

2.  Doing something in a medium you don’t prefer is challenging, but it also is eye-opening.  In order to come up with ways to present my ideas graphically, I had a to really think about what my goals meant.  I also had to get over worrying about whether you would understand what I was trying to say…when the point of the exercise is for me to understand what I was trying to say!

3. Not doing something the “easy” (or preferred) way really makes your brain work – none of your “usual tricks” work so you really have to use other techniques and strategies to get the project completed.

I hope you tried this exercise – if only to help record your ideas for what you should be focused on this year.

But perhaps the real take away is that these points also apply to our music! (you knew I’d come around to music, you just might not have known how I was going to do it!).  

First, you have go get over yourself (and get out of your own way).  How often do we inhibit our own learning and playing? 

Second, you have to think about what you’re practicing and the music you’re playing so that you can you want to share.

Third, when you do things differently you have the potential to uncover new approaches to your old (or typical) way of doing stuff. 

You can learn new ways to think about ongoing challenges.  And you can bring these new ideas to your practice (as well as to all the various parts of your life). 

While trying to capture my ideas graphically I had a couple of ideas on how to look differently at scores that might help me learn more music faster.  My explorations of improvisation may improve my questionable recipe modifications.  And the strategies I use on the bench to push through something hard may help me improve my running. 

And most importantly, I have now got multiple representations of the things I’ve identified to keep in focus throughout 2021 – so I might be even more likely to complete progress toward my goals throughout the year. 

Of course, as a product person, I will need to keep referring to my captures (graphical and verbal) to keep myself on track!

Hope you were able to capture your ideas graphically – anyone want to share?  Let me know in the comments!

In December, I wrote about learning versus memorizing.  You left some great comments, and one of you asked how one would go about actually doing this (learning rather than memorizing).  You graciously waited through the madness that is the holidays and the reset that is the new year.  But now, it’s your turn!

Let’s start by acknowledging that learning music is not really different from learning anything else.  And just like in school, when you try to brute force memorize – everything deserts you when the pressure is on.  And because memorization is so fragile, you can’t even salvage the memory gap – because there is noting of substance behind it.

So we’re back to learning.  The first thing to understand is that learning is not passive.  You have to be engaged, checked in, and thinking to learn!

The easiest way to do this is to do some analysis.  I don’t mean a big research study.  To analyze – ask yourself some questions.  these questions will help you make connections and discover patterns.

1. Does any of the piece remind you of anything else?  That could be anything.  Those of you who have had lessons from me have experienced this – “chocolate chords”, “the Oreo phrase”, “the donut part”, “the walk in the park”, and “this is just like in that other tune”.  These are all just things the tune remind me of (never mind that most of them are food!).  Do parts of the tune bring something to mind – waterfalls? sheep? fairies? storms at sea?  If so, these are all things you can connect to that bit of the tune which will help you hang on to it (learn it!).  You can also say the connection (e.g. “this is the Oreo part”) out loud while you’re playing that part will also create another connection that you can learn.
2. Find the shapes.  This can be as basic is up or down.  Or as complex as “this reminds me of Katahdin” – I didn’t get that, but he did, and that’s what matters.  If you’re reading, you can see the shape.  You can also see the shape when you put your hands on the harp.  Have you already learned the shape in some other tune?  Does the shape repeat through the tune.  Learning the shapes is another way to learn.
3. Find the story in the music.  If you’re not sure, make up your own.  That story can be another set of connections.  Tell yourself the story as you play.  You can also do this with songs.  Sing the lyrics as you play – they are another set of connections that will help you learn the tune.
4. Break it down.  If you are more advanced, you may be able to learn an entire 8-bar phrase in one go.  If you are less experienced, you may need to look at one measure at a time.  Size doesn’t matter – break the music into pieces you can successfully ingest.  Because….
5. You’re going to stick those pieces back together eventually!  As with breaking it down, stitch it back together in portions you can handle.  Don’t overdo it.  These are more connections…and patterns – and you have a chance to connect the patterns!  This is true for challenging tunes, but its also true for “easy” tunes with their nearly identical phrases which come together differently in parts of the tune.  Make specific links between the parts – be sure to connect the various pieces to each other.
6. Savor.  Take it slowly We are always in a rush.  We want it to be instantly performance ready, faster, more complicated, showier than anyone else – we want to have the tune now!  But rushing leads to a half-learned tune that is wobbly with wishy-washy fingering and phrases built on momentum not confidence, all of which can lead to heartache. 

Need more specifics?  How about:

Fingering is one of the greatest losses of not analyzing your music enough before you start and then moving out too fast.  I wish I could remember who taught me this trick (and if you know who it is, tell me so I can give credit!): place the shape (all the fingers needed in that direction…all of them, even the 4 if needed!); squeeze the strings a couple of times; then play the shape.  Think about the shape, where it sits in the phrase and the tune, where else you might use that same shape in the tune.  Replace the next shape, and repeat. Yes, it can be frustrating (especially if you didn’t actually analyze it first). Yes, it means you can’t just bang out the tune. 

But equally, yes, you will get the fingering.  Yes, you will be preplaced and ready to go.  Yes, you won’t be chasing strings with fingers that weren’t quite ready.  And yes, you will learn the tune more quickly – because you don’t have to relearn any of it!

That might sound suspiciously like practice.  Because it is.  Learning must be active.  Analysis is not a nice to have – it’s one of the things will distinguish your learning.  Each time you run through the piece you will be building connections – in your brain but also you’re your eyes, ears, fingers, and your entire body.  If you have some knowledge of theory, that will also help you make connections and notice patterns.  Talking out loud creates connections in another modality.

The more connections you have and the more patterns you have found, the easier time you will have learning the tune.   And by extension, the more confident you’ll be when you play it – because it won’t desert you under pressure!

Give some of these ideas a try and let me know what you think.  Do you have any other ways to learn you’d like to share?  Make the connection via the comments below!

Cromarty Harp Village

So this week, we’re stretching to include summer all the way to the equinox!

And to include a slightly broader view of workshops.

I cannot recommend Cromarty Harp Village* highly enough!

Cromarty is in the Black Isle – yup, you read that right – it’s in Scotland (and where better to learn Scottish music?). It is a village on the Moray Firth and while the village is captivating and interesting, the Harp Village is even more compelling.

The Cromarty Harp Village will be held 22 & 23 September at The Old Brewery. This is a two-day workshop (and if you’re going to go all the way there, you might want to spend a little more time – you could organize to learn more or just sightsee!)

There is such a broad trove of talent – the instructors include innovative harpers Rachel Newton (www.rachelnewtonmusic.com) and Cheyenne Brown (www.cheyenneharp.com) along with the irrepressible Corrina Hewat (www.corrinahewat.com) all leading a special weekend of harp workshops and sessions. It will be a magical weekend of tunes, songs, accompaniment ideas and tips to recognize the distinctive gifts you bring to your instrument. And – there is a workshop for beginners taught by the wonderful Issie Pendlebury (www.isbelpendlebury.com). The workshops are very reasonably priced and out of towners can also organize accommodation (book early to be sure you get in – the Brewery is a lovely venue and that includes the accommodations!).

I think the best thing about Harp Village – beyond the great venue and the amazing instructors – has to be meeting and making friends with harp players I would never have met otherwise. I am so fortunate to have remained in contact with a few of my classmates which is not only fun but also so encouraging to know harp players from other countries but with shared experiences.

For more information and to register go to: http://www.cromartyartstrust.org.uk/the-harp-village.asp

* as before –this content (less commentary) has been unceremoniously lifted directly from the Cromarty Arts Trust Harp Village website.

If goal setting is so last year and this year we are going to do better – what are we going to do? How will we know if we got where we meant to?

First, we’re going to acknowledge that this is where that maxim about life being a journey not a destination kicks in. And to that end, I’d suggest that this year – we bimble.

To bimble is to walk about aimlessly but not pointlessly, to get nowhere in particular, while enjoying the walk.

In other words – there is no “there” to get to. The time is spent enjoying the time.

Seem like a good idea? For so many who play for enjoyment, this is the ideal approach to the work of playing throughout the year. No deadlines, no stress, simply playing to play…and to enjoy! No goal setting. No getting to December and feeling like you have failed after working so hard!

But even if we play to enjoy, we would like to improve, to see some progress. How will we do that without setting goals? We’ll bimble – enjoying our music and our lessons – without being fussed about how fast we are (or are not) progressing or that we are not ready to perform well enough.

To make improvements, we can focus on what we’re doing. Change the focus from “where am I trying to get by some specific time” to instead be “what am I doing just now – can I do it just a little better right now?” We can focus on practicing or learning. We can spend time reading, listening, analyzing music, thinking about the tunes.

This enjoying the journey means that we don’t have to “work” so hard that we forget what we enjoyed about playing in the first place. It means we can pay attention to the little things –

• how our hands feel as they close
• how the harp vibrates on our shoulder or thigh
• how the bass wires tickle our feet when we don’t wear shoes
• how we particularly enjoy the sound of those specific strings that made us buy that harp in the first place
• how buzzes sound terrible but are kind of fun to make!

Take time to enjoy the various parts of your practice time – the simple yet difficult task of performing scales, arpeggios, or other exercises. The delight in getting through a tune you’ve been working to learn. The fun but determined way you have to work new music into your head. This focus and enjoyment is a motivation to get back on the bench, to spend the time, to play the harp, to practice.

We can bimble on our instruments – play and enjoy – aimlessly but not pointlessly.

And pay attention.

Pay attention to how you have an easier time now with some particular technique. Do your hands close fully now, without you having to think, “fingers all the way to the palm” each time? Do you move your elbows as needed to address the strings at a good and ergonomic angle? Can you sit comfortably for long enough to satisfy yourself?

Notice that you are more able, with each passing practice, to play more easily. Do you remember more of each phrase without having to read every note? Are you able to control your dynamics?

Use tools to capture your thoughts (recording, journaling, etc.). Are you able to note that you played straight through for the first time? Did your approach to working a tricky section work?

In the end, as we enjoy the time, we get where we end up – probably right where we wanted to be. Because really, there is no “there” there. There is only our time and our enjoyment at the harp. What are the things you want to notice while you’re at your harp?

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!