How to practice more-
I’ve talked before about spending your practice time wisely so that you get something from every minute you’re on the bench (here and here – or just type “practice” into the search box above this blog post!). And I stand by that, but…the “right” answer is always more complicated. Today, let’s talk about the actual time practicing.
The busy workshop/festival/camp season will begin soon. Days on days of back-to-back opportunities to learn and interact. And hours on the bench – playing, listening, reading, waiting.
You want to be ready for it!
Sometimes your practice needs to include time to accommodate yourself to sitting behind your harp, playing for way longer than your normally do. As an example, say you’re going to a week-long workshop and each day you’ll spend 2 hours in each of 3 workshops. That’s 6 hours right there. And then there’s practicing what you’ve learned, getting together with friends, and sharing tunes, having sessions (or just session-ettes) and you’ll have easily spent 8 – 10 hours behind the harp.
How much time do you spend behind the harp each day now? 30 minutes? An hour? That’s kind of a big difference – an order of magnitude! Yikes, it’s tiring just thinking about it.
So, it’s not too early to begin building your stamina so you can not only endure but enjoy every minute of your summer experiences! What would be some good ways to do that? I’m so glad you asked!
First, you can simply increase the amount of time you devote to practice. I use 10% as a guide – I try to add 10% more to ease into more time. If you practice for 30 minutes a day, you might add 3 – 5 minutes a day every 3 or 4 days. If you’re practicing for an hour, you might add 5 – 10. You get the idea – add a little so that it’s manageable. You don’t need to work yourself into a frenzy or an overuse injury!
Or you can add another practice session. If you practice in the evening already, you might add a morning session. If you’re practicing 30 minutes in the evening, you might add a 10-minute session in the morning. You can divide up your work too – in the morning you might only do technical book work and in the evening, you could work on your tunes.
Building on this, once you have the two sessions fixed in your day, you can increase the time of each of them (again using the 10% rule). In our 10-minute/30-minute example, you’d add a minute or 2 in the morning and 3 – 5 in the evening. This has to fit into your life, so plan ahead. Because the morning session will be 30 minutes before you know it. You have to be willing to wake up that much earlier – which might be easier when it’s 10 minutes than when it’s 45!
If you have the luxury of working from home, coming home for lunch, or having a harp in your office, you could add additional short practice breaks. Adding two (or more) 10-minute sessions will get you there, especially when added to your regular practice time.
Building up slowly gives you the best chance to increase your playing time. Doing so consistently gives you the most opportunity to be really ready for the summer. This approach is appropriate for all players, from children to seasoned adults – just be sure to start where you are (and not where you “wish” you were or where you think you “should” be).
Another aspect of this strategy to be raring to go by summer is to use one of those sessions to focus on technical work. Fundamentals like you learn from the “torture books” (who comes up with these nicknames?) will stand you in good stead by honing your form and ingraining those basic elements of playing. Spending that time now ensure that you won’t have to work so hard when you get there because things will “fall” into your hands easier!
How would you go about building your strength and stamina for the summer? Let me know in the comments!
For extra practice, I like to play through the list of tunes that I have memorized. I have an alphabetical list with title and key.
I also have a binder with the tunes I play for background (wallpaper) events, but I try to play without using the music.
Sometimes I play through each tune once. Other times I try playing 3 times making each repeat a little different. This is both practice and pleasure, since these are the pieces that I really love.
That is a great strategy! And making time for a separate “in my head” practice would certainly get you on the bench longer too – and you’ll like it! 🙂
Good idea! I find myself getting tired and not even making it to my usual one hour of practice. Think I’ll add a few minutes in the mornings to see if that helps. My husband taight me about always having the harp available so I can sit down and play anytime- as you know, we have a music room with both instruments ready to play.
That additional time will definitely improve fatigue and might just improve attention as well! The upside to sharing a music room is that you had an additional prod to get in there when your partner is practicing
I’ve gone to many, many workshops and retreats over the years and never specifically prepared for any of them as a participant. But if I did, I would think about more than just preparing to spend a few days playing more than usual. I would think about *what* I would actually be doing with my time.
A lot of workshops teach tunes by ear, for example. I’d probably get more out of those workshops if I prepared by doing more figuring out tunes I hear on the harp. Some workshops are easier for good sight-readers, so I might work on that.
All workshops require long periods of sustained attention and focus on an instructor that participants might not be accustomed to. How could I prepare for filtering out distractions? What kind of mental and physical breaks would be helpful during the event to keep my mind and body as ready to learn on the last day as the first? Children have “brain breaks” built in to their school days now. These often involve watching a fun and/or silly music video and moving to them, before getting back to math. Maybe I can load something like that on my phone for use during breaks or between sessions, or plan to use an app for short guided meditations in the morning or evening?
You’re right that there is so much you can do to be more prepared for workshops – learning tunes by ear at home (remember that if you’re watching a youtube video, you can often slow it down to catch the notes that go by too fast!) and doing sight reading on your own are both things you can incorporate year round.
Focusing attention can be practiced too (and will stand you in good stead outside harp practice!). During the workshop itself, you can focus on the presenter – what they are saying and playing. Don’t worry about the others in the room (if someone else is lost, you probably won’t help by “helping” them). Be mindful of what is being taught just then – not how well you think you’re playing, what might come next, or whether you remember the previous phrase. It’s a serial process so it has to happen in series.
Things you might do on a brain break could include having a beverage or small snack, getting a little physical movement (walk around the room, do a few stretches), chatting with other attendees, or taking a step outside and just breathing. The short meditation app is a good idea too, if you’re already using it. Personally, I’d avoid email or Facetikgramx because they seem to spool people away from where you want to be going on a break. You could also spend a little bit of that time jotting some notes on what you have already learned, reviewing what you’d like to walk away with (what is your goal).
Things to Don’t Do would be to stay seated at the harp, reviewing feverishly – you’ll remember it better if you give it time to marinate and the break will do you good.
adding a session worked for me. we get used up quickly behind those strings. Longer time isn’t necessarily Better.
also: having the harp handy can help. mine stood in the middle of the liv room! handy to run a passage or two
You’re right about keeping the harp handy too! Every hindrance we can dismantle thing makes it easier!