Tag Archives: Musicianship

Follow through…

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Follow through…

I love it when you ask me questions! They are always good, they make me think, and they give me something to share here! (hint hint – if you have a question, I will do my best to answer you).

One of you recently asked a question and I wanted to share it. I want to highlight it now because it’s the holidays and this seems to be a time when other people have no compunction asking you to play for them – for money, for free, for whatever. It’s just likely to happen around this time. And, frankly, it’s hard to say no – because it’s the holidays and who says no to heartfelt requests at this time of year? I think it’s hard to!

So, what was this problem – let’s hear it from you:

Here’s my latest issue- I’m having problems at the end of pieces during a performance. I almost always bungle the last few notes and end up playing the wrong chord or nothing at all. I think I lose focus because I’m almost done. Should I memorize the ending? Practice it more? Take drugs? Let me know what you think.

Great question! If only because it happens to us all.

You might be tempted to assign blame to your aging brain, or lack of preparation, or nerves, but I don’t think that’s it at all. Will it take drastic measures?! Nope!

Here’s my answer:

You might be suffering from “get-home-itis“. What’s that? Well, that name for it comes from aviation where it is often not just an embarrassment – it can be fatal.

Get-home-itis happens when you can feel the end is coming. It’s pretty exciting – whether you’re flying home after being away or closing out a tune (or program). But get-home-itis causes you to shift your attention away from what you’re doing, and instead think about what will come after that. It can be momentary. You might not even know you’ve done it. But it’s just enough of a shift to make you bungle, and leave you shaken, frazzled, and embarrassed (which one can argue is better than actually being dead – even if it feels like you’d like to die right there on your bench).

So, how do you get over a case of get-home-itis? It’s actually fairly easy and much more comfortable than bracing yourself for impact!

  1. Memorizing your piece is a good place to start. That’s more for the reality that if you’re shaky going into the tune, you’re going to come out worse for wear at the end. Doing significant preparation will mean not only memorizing the beginning but also nailing the end. To do this – don’t always start at the beginning when you’re practicing. Break out portions of the tune that are not going smoothly. A strong start will encourage you, but the finish is what your audience will remember.
  2. Practice thoroughly. This will, of course, support memorizing the tune (because the more you practice it, the more facile you will be with it – all the way through). And extra preparation never killed anyone. Unless you’re being paid to deliver a specific tune, you should always feel free to shelve something that feels shaky until it’s actually ready.

Here’s the biggie:

  1. Think of your tune as having a follow through. Picture focusing on the end of the tune and its follow-through (like a golf swing, bat swing, doing a grand jete, or using an egg whip). The follow through includes not just the last note of the tune, or even the final chord but also your final gesture, the breath you take (and release), and putting your harp down. If you’re having trouble picturing this, think about how a beginner ends their tune – they typically spank their strings and we’re done – no follow through. Train yourself to think “through” the tune, focusing on playing all the way through to the end. Don’t skip a (brain) step between where you are and the end of the tune – picture all the notes, dynamics, gestures, phrasing – all the things. And remember that the end is not when you stop playing! Rather, it is after the final gesture, whether you muffle the strings and/or put the harp back on all four feet. T-h-e-n you’re done.
  2. All of this is in aid of focusing on what you are doing. Don’t be thinking about how glad you’ll be to get off the stage. Or what flavor ice cream you’re going to have on the way home. Or how many more times you’ll have to play this tune this season. Or even how tired you are and how much you just want to go home. Keep your head in the game! We’re not done here – not until the last ringing of strings is hovering in the air on the bated breath of your delighted listeners. Only then are you finished playing that tune. Don’t pull up short! Commit!

Stay present. There is only this moment. Later moments will have their own time – after you follow through on this one. No need to be thinking about what comes after – enjoy this right now.

I’ve sort of avoided the topic of taking meds for this. If you experience crippling performance anxiety, then you should definitely seek professional help, and medicine might be part of that solution. However, if you find you’re only a little anxious, I’d point out that you’re human. If it’s just a frisson in the pit of your stomach, breathe. * In addition, while medicine might take the edge off – equally it might cause you to lose your edge. Then you have a different problem (not playing like your usual self).

Whether you have experienced this or not, give it a try and see if the end of your tune isn’t just a little bit better when you purposefully follow through. As always, you know I want to know what you find! Let me know in the comments.

 

*I’m not a psychiatrist, nor am I opposed to using medicines if needed. Feeling nervous before performing is normal – in fact, one could argue that not feeling nervous is not a good sign). If you aren’t sure, try this (not very rigorous) self-test – next time you’re feeling anxious before performing, do some breathing (deep inhale for 4 counts, hold for 5 counts, exhale for 8 counts a few cycles). If that helps (your head clears a little, you feel less like throwing up, and you can remember how your first tune starts!) then try to go it unaided. If it doesn’t help, definitely find a physik to help. Don’t ask me how I know this.

Do you agree with your metronome?

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Do you agree with your metronome? 

I don’t have a great sense of rhythm.  Well, that might not be true, but it is true that I don’t have a good sense of time.  Whether it’s estimating what time I’ll be ready to leave my house or the interval between notes within a beat, I’m usually wrong. I typically don’t leave enough time to get out the door but in between beats, I inevitably rush!

For a long time, I struggled to improve my timing by torturing my metronome.  I grew up with a Seth Thomas – the classic “tick-tock”.  I’ve been a musician for so long that my Seth has an actual real wood box.  I look at it every day and will always be grateful to my parents for giving it to me.  But it took me a long time to be grateful! 

Why?  Not because I wasn’t delighted to be given such a lovely gift, but because the darn thing defeated me at every turn!  I found it confusing and dispiriting and frustrating.  Usually I didn’t know I was off until I was done.  And even on the few occasions when I knew I was off, I was never sure how or why!

GRRRR.

But one day I had a revelation.  I finally figured out that I was using my trusty Seth all wrong!

Whaaaa??????

I had always set Seth to tick the quarter notes.  But Seth is much more versatile than that!  And one day I finally realized it.  That day I was so frustrated.  I was off the beat almost immediately – how the h***?  I was like 2 measures in, and I was already off? Curses.

So, I decided that I wasn’t getting it and I needed to slow down (see, I don’t just say that to torture you, I say it to myself all the time!).  I set Seth even slower.  And then, (finally!) I realized that I could make the tick the beat and the tock to be the “e”, then the next tick could be “and” and it’s tock could be an “ah”.  And suddenly all was right with the world.

Ok, not really.  But because I had subdivided the beat formally, the wobbliness of my timing became crystal clear.  No matter where in the subdivision I was lagging (or speeding up), it was a lot easier to find now.  And then I had another thunderbolt.  If I used my metronome app, I could actually set the number of ticks and tocks to be whatever I wanted – so if I needed 32nd note precision, I could have it.  16th note precision? I could put sixteen beats in.  If I only wanted 8ths, I could have them.  And if I counting in quarters would do the trick, I could have TICK tock tock tock, so that I was not only on the beat but on the right beat!

And perhaps best of all, I could turn the volume up really loud – and wear headphones – so that I can indeed hear the ticks and tocks, no matter how hard I was concentrating (because we only have so much brain and if I’m working more than my brain can keep up with, then I don’t hear the metronome at all!).

There was another magical property that arose from this exercise – I found that I was actually mindfully counting more/better and relying less on “getting it”.  And once I was more accurately counting, then I could pick up the tempo more carefully – and accurately!

Now, as a matter of practice, once I have the rhythm down, then I can “step down” the metronome. I can go from 16ths to 8ths, and when it’s steady then I can go down to quarters.  Occasionally I can test myself and go back to 16ths to see if I’m as precise as I think.     

Now, don’t be fooled.  I still rush.  But now I’m much more aware of where I’m rushing.  I still struggle with picking up speed on triplets and with feeling like everyone else is faster than me.  But at least I have a strategy for improving. 

So, I challenge you to give this a try.  If you want it to be easier, start with a tune you already know and can play. Set up your metronome for the subdivision you need (not the one you want) and give it a try.   Remember that the metronome is a tool in service to you – set it as you need it at that point in time.  Be ready to add more subdivisions, slow down or speed up, make it louder or quieter, you’re driving.

Let me know what you learn!  Are you rock steady? All the way through? Is there a particular element you are always rushing (or late with)?  I’d love to hear what you learn – let me know in the comments!

What’re you doing?

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What’re you doing?

Do you ever feel like your practicing has fallen into the trap under the sink. It can be really easy to get caught in the comfortable swish of the U joint.  Just be and don’t move.  Don’t practice, or barely practice, or practice but don’t actually change or learn anything.  Loll here in the dark and wait.

Maybe you don’t fall into that trap, but I sure can – especially in “between times” like now – too early for the holidays but after the buzz of the summer.  It could be so easy to stay in the trap because there is so much stuff that needs to be practiced that it can be daunting.  Stuff to be dwelled upon.  To think through.  To work out.  To review.  So much stuff! 

Or maybe we’ll just stay here in the dark (so little motivation). 

Fortunately, playing is more like a diamond ring.  When it’s caught in the trap, it isn’t as enjoyable!  It is totally worth the work of disassembling the drain to rescue it so it can glitter and sparkle. 

No, staying here in the dark isn’t ideal, but sometimes we just need a push to get moving out of the trap. How do we get moving? Well you could start by asking – what’re you doing?  If there’s no succinct answer to that question, the right answer is focus!  On what? Well, how about:

Start small.  Settle on one thing to work on.  Maybe it’s sight reading? Or counting? Or refreshing stuff you were playing but set aside?  The point is to focus on one thing rather than trying to work on everything all at once.

Count the things.  Figure out what needs to be done.  Maybe this should be the first thing – how can you focus on just one thing if you haven’t figured out what the pool of all things is, prioritized them, and then selected one?

Set an end.  After all, you’re breaking out of a trap so while you’re going to focus, it’s not an unending focus!  Figure out how long you want to work on the thing you selected to be first.  Will it be a timeline of a week or a month? Or will it instead be an accomplishment like playing at tempo or steadily or accurately? When you define the end, you will know when you are going on to the next thing.

Keep track.  You knew I’d get around to this.  You won’t know you’ve gotten to the end if you’re not tracking your progress.  This doesn’t have to be elaborate, just note what you did and how you did it.

Compare.  This one can be tricky.  Because you’re not going to compare your progress to anyone else, only to YOURSELF.  You will never know how someone else got to what you’re looking at, but you can know where you were yesterday (or the day before or the last time) and compare yourself to the you before, not someone else ever.

Be consistent.  Pick your timing.  Help yourself by not only doing the thing as you decided (every day, every other day, whatever you determined) but also by sticking to the same time of day every day.  Or tie your time to another event (for example, always practice right after you walk your iguana (or some other event of your day)).

Be nice. You’re not striving for perfection.  In fact, if you do it perfectly, you won’t learn anything.  By the same token, by remembering that mistakes help you learn, you can be your own biggest cheerleader!  (bonus tip – I find that sometimes I need to let the mistakes I make simmer before I can really figure out what I’m learning there, so I write them down so I don’t forget what happened)

Focus!  Don’t “task share”, don’t pick up your phone (unless you’re adjusting your metronome app!), don’t pet your fish, don’t drink your tea.  Just focus on what you’re doing while you practice.  You can do all those other things when you’re done.

What’re you doing?  Do you ever get caught in that sink trap?  If so, how do you get yourself out?  If not, how do you maintain your equilibrium?  Let us know in the comments!

 

 

 

Pencil me in

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Pencil me in

There are some mistakes that get made all the time by an awful lot of people.  And some of those are the ones that leave you shaking your head because the solution is so simple and so easy.  But despite how easy the fix is, it still doesn’t happen, for some reason.

No, I’m not talking about something complicated like putting the coffee and water into the maker at night before you go to bed so the morning is smoother.  I’m talking about something even simpler.  Something that can make you a better musician.  Something you can do with the stroke of a pen.  Well, a pencil, actually.

MARK YOUR MUSIC!

You’ll be amazed at how simple your life becomes when you embrace this fix!  It has three steps –

First, make a copy of your music (Do Not write on your original!).  If you have a download, print a couple. Or use your home printer to copy it.  Or go to the local big box office supply store and use the self-copy machines.  There is no excuse! (Of course, this is you making a copy of music you have bought for your use – no violating copyrights!).

Second, now that you have extra copies to write on – find a pencil.  Not a pen!  Any ol’ pencil will work (or buy some while you’re in the big box office supply store making copies). 

Third, and this one is a biggie – use the pencil on the copies!  Mark anything you need to have marked.  Forgetting a fingering? Write it in.  Not used to reading all those ledger lines?  Mark them. Missing a dynamic? Circle it.  Any time you have a hitch in your reading, leave yourself a note so that you have a smoother experience as you continue to play.

Why not a pen?  Well, you want to be able to correct errors in your marking. But you also might change your mind as you continue to work on the music. Or you might completely change your understanding of the music and decide to mark it differently.  Or you might no longer need the notations.  There are a ton of reasons that at some time in the future you might want to erase what you’ve written.

A quick point – consider using colored pencils to highlight different items.  I usually use black for fingering, yellow for lever changes, red for dynamics, blue for repeats, etc.  This is your system for you to play your best so do whatever it takes for you to feel comfortable and confident while looking at your music. 

If you’re not a strong reader, then make two copies and use one as a “note speller” which will help you read the music and will improve your reading (because like everything else, reading gets better with practice too!). My students suggest putting the note speller copy in a sheet protector and use a dry erase marker so you can read, reread, and rereread – as often as needed until you build your reading strength. 

Remember, it’s not a library book.  You can write all over the music – it’s your copy!  Feel free to mark it up, erase it, mark it up again – as often as you need.   And if you want to, you can even leave yourself a sticker for doing a good job!   If you’re one of those people who tries to remember what you were doing before (and forgotten) – are you ready to mark your music now?  If you already mark your music – what do you do?  Let me know in the comments!

Dancing a tune

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Dancing a tune

Do you ever think about how your fingers dance over the strings? When you watch a really good player, their hands really do seem to dance among the strings.  They place surely and there is a fluidity to the movements that belies all the thinking that goes into those fingers in the moment.  But maybe more importantly, that fluidity is built on all the thinking that happens before the playing ever begins.

Early in learning a tune you might be focused on learning the melody, but you also need to work the fingering.  This is true regardless of your means of ingesting the tune.  Whether you learn it by reading or by listening, you still have to get your fingers on the strings. And in a way to makes it sing!

And this is where some of the trouble begins.  Because we need to think about a bunch of things.  And also think about a bunch of “groups of things”.   Groups of things are also known as Patterns.  And music in simply patterns. * 

What things?  Well, there are things that are easy to detect and we can easily find the patterns –

  • we can hear the pitches (and where they go)
  • we can hear the rhythm
  • we can see the dots (and where they go)
  • we can see the grand staff
  • we can see the bar lines
  • we can see the strings
  • we can see our hands
  • We can feel our hands

Not only are these things easy to note and each is a dimension of the tune.  What is more challenging to find is the relationships between all those things.  Because the pitches and dots, and the grand staff and the bar lines are related to the strings and where the fingers go (duh, I know that you know that I know that you know that).  But sometimes they don’t quite line up, like when

  • there’s a pickup at the start of a long line of notes (the bar line can distract you)
  • the phrasing makes is seem like there’s a break but really the fingers need to keep on going
  • there’s a place where you haven’t fully accounted for the notes in a particular direction (or how many ups for how many downs leave your fingers tied in knots – yikes!
  • there’s a note on one clef and you think you must take it in the hand for that clef

To avoid the unpleasantness of running out of fingers, having a finger fumble every time, never getting that eccentric note, or getting weird phrasing – because your fingers are not ready to take on the pattern you’ve encountered – take time to really notice what all the patterns are, first in each “dimension” of the music (sound, rhythm, staff placement, etc.) and then try to find the higher level patterns that may be concealed if you focus on only one thing.

Keep at it.  Don’t let it defeat you – it’s like a Rubik’s Cube only way more complicated (and a lot more entertaining).   Once you draw your focus away from the individual patterns you’ll be able to suss out the multidimensional patterns that will define the fingering for you.  And then your fingers can dance over all the strings!

What pattern gives you fingering fits?  Is it a particular tune, or a specific single pattern, or series of patterns that just won’t fit together? Let me know in the comments!

 

 

* I can’t take credit for this wisdom.  I learned this way of thinking from Kris Snyder, and I have unceremoniously stolen it from her.

Taking the Lead

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Taking the lead

Here we go!  It’s December and that brings, well, you know.  We have a lot going on (why yes, even more than usual!). All that can get in the way of your practicing which might make you fell less than sturdy when it’s time to share all your holiday tunes.   

After all, everything you play (typically) is a tune everyone who’s listening already knows.  And, since it’s material we only get to play if for about a month (well, this year it was more like more than two months starting before Halloween), it’s easy to get less learning and practice in.  That might leave you feeling not quite prepared.  Feeling comfortable could end up being a luxury. 

Of course, that wobbliness can leave you feeling vulnerable – if you make a mistake – everyone will know – because they are so familiar with the tunes.  That can feel like a lot of pressure on you. But what if we turn that on its head?

Because when everyone knows the music, you are sort of free.  Stop looking at me (metaphorically) like I’m crazy!  When everyone knows the music – it makes everything you play even more of a connection to those you’re playing for – how cool is that?! 

You might feel like you must play perfectly, but…yawn.   That everyone knows the music is exactly what makes this repertoire so much fun!  So what if you add some “flourishes” or “jazz improvisations”?  Here’s a great opportunity – you may find you have a knack for generating your own arrangements (on the fly).    If you’re afraid (or just still telling yourself that you can’t do it) maybe start a gentle transition.  Find the tunes you already play in a lead sheet form.  Then you have the backup of knowing what should get played there – but you get to decide how it should sound. And if you’re not struggling to get a prewritten arrangement read through, you might also have time to insert some ornaments or variations (on purpose!).

I’m not suggesting you do this on the fly – but there’s still time to make the shift to a lead sheet so you can get used to reading that form and practice making it up as you go along (so it will be easier).  Keep notes on what you’re doing, what you like and what you don’t, as well as keeping all the kind comments you get – that way, next year, you’ll have a leg up!

Where are you playing for the holidays?  Do you have a favorite tune that you might move to a lead sheet on?  What is it?  Let me know in the comments!

How’s your Transposition?

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I started learning a language just before the pandemic began.  If you hadn’t already sussed it, I’m a bit of a word nerd.  I like knowing words and where they come from – and how that same thought can be represented in another way.  When you make those translations while speaking, they need to be rapid and seamless.  Then you can hear the sameness of the thought and the slight differences in the translation.  In effect, switching the language transposes the thought.

When we’re playing, sometimes we need to do the same thing and transpose to a new key.  Why?  Well, we can transpose to play with someone else (e.g., all the Bb instruments), or to support a singer, or to fit a tune on your harp (so you can use all of it without “running out of strings” or because you just like the sound of it better in a different key.

Are you thinking “ugh”?

Transposing is a very useful skill that will serve you well.  It’s a good workout for your brain.  It’s good for building flexibility in your playing too. It’s also intimidating to many – after all, if you’ve not learned how or just haven’t practiced, it can leaving you feeling be uncomfortable and embarrassed.

Before I go on, let’s start with – what is transposing?  It’s a big, scary word for moving from one key to another.  For us as harpers, it’s actually not too scary and certainly less work than for some other instruments.  We just have to move to the new lever/pedal setting and everything else stays the same – the fingering, the spacing.  In fact, the only things that change after resetting the lever/pedal are the look of your finger on the string and the pitches.

I won’t lie to you – when you start trying to transpose, it’s challenging (that’s my fancy way of saying it’s harder than lots of other things).  Your poor brain is going to try to “translate” every note, one at a time. Often, at the beginning, you might just be guessing.  But like everything else we do, taking a moment to think will help us become better and get faster sooner.  All of this will also help you become more facile with theory (or it will come to you sooner if you already know your theory and how to apply it).

The hard way – that so many people go through – is to identify the relationship of the key you know the tune in and the key you’re transposing to.  But don’t fall for thinking that a small move is easier than a bigger one.  It’s easy to think that moving from C to D (for instance) will be uncomplicated – after all you just have to move up a string.  But that’s why it’s hard – you have to second guess every note, keeping track of which is the “old note” and which is the “new note”.  If the new key is farther away, then you have to “translate” every note.  If you move from C to A, each note is now a 6th above (or 2 below the old right note) so you have two opportunities to second guess – did you do the math right (in one direction) and the close problem (in the other direction) – ugh.

Do it the hard way often enough and you’ll be glad stop and think first!  Because you already know what you need – the intervals are what matters.  If you know what the intervals sound like (yup, ear training!), you’ll be even closer to making the transposition easily.  The fingering and patterns will help solidify the move when you transpose.

While you can think about all this when you’re transposing, imagine how far ahead you’d be if, when you learned the tune, you’d been thinking about the intervals and relationships, rather than just the note names and sequences!  Same thing with the harmonies.  Rather than memorizing the chord names, think about their place in the scale and the chord progression.  If you know I, VI, V – you’re on the way.  Learning the chord progression as a set of relationships will make it so much easier to remember.

If all that makes sense to you – now practice doing it.  Take some well-loved, well learned, often played tune, and put it in another key.  Keep at it – the more you practice doing it, the easier it will become. 

If all the above is so many words that don’t make sense to you, don’t worry.  They will.  They just might need to percolate.  That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also try it.  The practice is what will help get it into your head.

Before you say, “yeah, yeah, whatever” – think about your next harp circle or session.  There will be some tune you love that you want to play along with everyone, but they’re all playing it in the key of Qb mijor, so you’re left either sitting there wishing you were playing OR you’ll employ your new skill and tuck in!  What tune do you love that everyone else plays in some other key?  How are you going to transpose it?  Let me know in the comments!

Again

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Again – a word I’m pretty sure most of my students get tired of hearing.  Probably because I say it a lot –

Do it again.

Let’s do that again. 

One more time.

Three times for luck.

To be fair, I do say these things again and again and again…

I love doing things one more time – again – when I’m doing (whatever) I think is important (practicing, for instance, and maybe eating cookies!).

______

I have a dear friend who is an amazing artist.  She paints beautifully.  But her drawings just make me happy!  She thinks I’m pulling her leg, but I adore her sketches.  I enjoy them so much that I want to be able to do them too.  I can’t.  My sketches look like…well, like I drew them.

So, I follow a lot of artists. They are from different modes – some painters, some sketchers, some mixed media-ers, a sculptor.  They each talk about a lot of different stuff.  I read their posts, but I don’t improve my sketching.  Why? Because I read them, enjoy them, often apply the thinking to my playing, but never seem to get around to applying it to my drawing.  They often point out the importance of doing things – you guessed it – again and again!  I don’t do it and unsurprisingly, I don’t get better.

Interestingly, in the same week, two of them talked about failure.  But not really.  They used the word “failure” but what they were really talking about is the mismatch between what you wanted or expected to come out and what actually happened. 

One of the artists I follow is Danny Gregory*.  Danny is the author of a number of books including Art Before Breakfast and Shut Your Monkey.  He more often than not says smart things about being the artist you can be and about being unafraid.  I interpret that to mean not so much being unafraid but being comfortable with being afraid…and doing it anyway!  I really enjoyed his latest post which focuses on – doing it again.  He shared an amazing video about sticking to it until it comes together.   

The video he highlighted is entitled – One More Try.  You can watch all of it (it’s only about a minute and a half):

One More Try – an experimental skate video from Najeeb Tarazi on Vimeo.

The first thing I noticed in the video is how easy we have it!  If we don’t play what we meant to, we don’t hit the pavement at speed!  And we certainly don’t get bruises every time we attempt something that may (or may not) work the way we envisioned it. So, there’s that.

But also, I was struck by the embodiment of “again” – you might notice how many tries some of those tricks required (and probably more because, just like when we play, I’m sure you’re not seeing all the background work that goes into each of those events; nor how much technique or other technical work needed to be learned and embedded before even attempting them).

And so, I say, again! and say it over and over!  Because not doing the thing you meant to isn’t a failure – it’s an opportunity, if you let it be.  The other thing you might notice you’re not seeing in the video is the time each of those riders thinks about and evaluates what they did, what worked, what didn’t work and what they might try next, and how they might do it.  This is a crucial step that can be overlooked if you’re only kicking yourself for your “failure”.  Think about it and do it again.

What do you think? How comfortable are you with doing something over and over again?  How tired are you of hearing me tell you to do it again?  Let me know in the comments!

 

* Again, because I’m daft, this is my thinking and not a paid product placement.  I don’t get anything if you check it out.  Well, that’s not true, I will get a tiny frisson of happiness each time something I share becomes something that helps move you forward! I’m goofy like that.  If you want to follow Danny too, go here to sign up for his posts.  You might, like me, learn a lot – all while not learning to draw! 

 

 

What We Can Learn from Drummers

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People often ask if we are angels.  That makes it easy to forget that on an orchestra chart the harp is part of the percussion section.   As we tune our strings, we shouldn’t forget where we come from!  We can learn a lot from other percussionists.  Here are some things we can learn from drummers:

Drummer

Precision is important – Drumming is often presented as fairly straightforwardly built on a series of “rudiments”.  And that means exactly what it sounds like – they have building blocks and they build everything from them.  To make those building blocks work together, precision is important.  How many rudiments do we have?  Do you think of them as precision pieces that can be fit together to make good music?  That precise use of unambiguous elements is important, and you should mean it when selecting a specific element that is fit for its purpose.  Put plainly – think ahead, plan and go with purpose.  Don’t just shove some available finger onto a string, leap for that next note, and hope you got it right.  Build a way ahead from your fundamentals!   

Rhythm underlies everything – pay attention.  There is a reason we count.  I get it, it’s hard to count (whine).  And there’s all that other stuff to do at the same time (like remembering and playing the right notes and all).  And yet, there’s an exquisite sweet spot that only becomes apparent from counting accurately and really getting the rhythm that we all should be reaching for.  This is a fundamental that we need to hone rather than dampen.  Yes, it’s delicious to pretend that playing the harp is all running through meadows with butterflies, but… it’s not.   When you are learning a new genre or idiom, pay close attention to the rhythms so you can match them to achieve the music you are pursuing.

Technical work lets you be you – when you have a strong foundation, you can do amazing things.  Learn your fundamentals.  Make sure you do all of the work, not just the things you like.  Do the rhythm work, fingering work, phrasing work.  Practice your dynamics, tempos, and transitions.  There are loads of exercise books available to help you learn these things.  I will tell you though, that you have to dig those books out because this stuff won’t come looking for you.  Remember too, that as fundamental elements, some of that stuff will make you cry if you don’t take it one bite at a time!  But once you’ve mastered the technical elements, you can build your own castles your own way for your own use.  Once you have them licked, they’re yours!  How can you break the rules if you don’t know them?

Being uncomfortable is not ok – there aren’t many instruments bigger than the harp, but the drum set is one that might be even more challenging to move around.  Smart drummers reposition their instruments so they can play based on how they sit.  NEVER form yourself to fit your harp.  Move the harp to accommodate you.  Remember, harps are cheap(er than back surgery!!!).   Yes the harp is big but, it’s not so big that you shouldn’t make it work for you.   

To be better you need to relax – tension doesn’t make anything better (except maybe scary movies… they are better with increased tension).  But playing doesn’t improve with increased tension.  Being tense can make you late – or early, and can make your chords squeak, your octaves buzz, and your melody notes fade away.  R-e-l-a-x.  B-r-e-a-t-h-e.   And, often, slow down!  Being tight makes it harder to play in control. And it certainly makes it harder to enjoy playing.  Perhaps most importantly, continuing to play with tension might lead to injury.  To note if you are tense, you have to pay attention to yourself (yes, while you’re also paying attention to everything else – no one said it was easy!).  If you are tense – explore why.  Are you concerned you’re not going to make it in time (playing too fast)? Or have you not yet fully learned the tune? Maybe you’re not breathing?  Once you know why you’re tense, you can work it right out!  Breathe, relax – you’ll get there in good time.

There is so much to learn from our fellow percussionists.  If you met a drummer today, what would you ask them that might help make you a better harper?  Let me know in the comments!

Being Musical-y

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The president of my fan club doesn’t know much about music but sometimes lofts the question, “how is your musical-y thing going?”.  It’s meant to demonstrate support and caring.  It’s sweet…not helpful, but sweet.

“Musical-y thing” in this context means “everything” …and everything is a lot of stuff when we’re talking about music.

Be musical-y

But we are musicians and so we should understand what makes up the musical-y stuff.  We need to know the difference between and the relationship of the musical-y things.  They sort of easily fall into two elements – Musicianship and Musicality*.

Some people think they are the same thing, but they are actually very different.

Musicianship is the technical stuff – the playing, articulation, fingering, accuracy, closing, good reading, good posture, thinking, incorporating technical elements into your playing, etc.  Musicianship leads to strong playing.  Musicianship fuels analyzing the music to find the patterns, the themes, the work arounds, and applies all that technique to result in solid playing.  Musicianship is the hard work, the repetitions, the focused practice – the discipline. 

Musicality is the expression, the emotion, the feeling, the inflection.  Musicality hears the potential in each phrase, each pattern, each mis-note**.  Musicality is the recasting of the phrase, the on-the-fly improvements, and adds that sparkle to the performance.  Musicality injects the life into the music.  Your listener can feel your musicality.

Musicality is the life of the party while Musicianship is refilling the dip.  Without Musicianship, Musicality (and everyone else) leaves early.  These are both essential to having a great event!  And frankly Musicality is so much easier to bring forth when it’s leveraging strong Musicianship.

Developing each of these is essential to continued growth but that can be a challenge.  For some, the focus is on musicianship – those very technical things that can be measured, assessed, built incrementally, and tracked.  For others, the focus is on musicality – the feelings expressed and the connection with others – things you can feel but can’t necessarily point directly at to assess.

If you have fallen into the trap of focusing on only one, dig your way out!  Why?  Because no one ever said, “I love rote, mechanical, robotic music”.  But also, no one ever said, “Despite almost every note being so wrong that I didn’t recognize the piece, I loved the emotion of whatever that was.”  These are two sides of the same coin – musicianship without musicality is flat and uninteresting.  Musicality without musicianship is just about noise.  To be a complete musician, you have to capitalize both!

You can develop each – but how? (You already know what I’m going to say) Practice!  But balanced and complementary practice. 

To develop Musicianship, do the “usual” practice – careful, precise work.  Deliberate practice of the technical elements applied to your tunes.  Focus on the skills.  You know how to do this.

To develop Musicality, do the “unusual” practice – craft the story you’ll be telling by visualizing the elements, hear the emotions you want to evoke, yep – use your imagination!  Use movement to reinforce your story.  Calibrate your finger control, position of your hands, and placement of your arms so that you evoke the sound you are imagining.  And because it’s hard to do all these things at once and assess the outcomes, record yourself, find what you like, and build on that!  In addition, write down your ideas, thoughts, and insights as you practice.

Here’s a homework assignment – select a new-to-you song (songs are easy – they have words that tell you what the story is – easy-peasy!).  Learn the tune with good technical proficiency (strong Musicianship).  When you are comfortable playing the melody, think about the story and its associated emotions so you can craft your playing and – bake that feeling into your tune practically from the beginning (Musicality).  Keep testing for doneness (make throw away recordings) and monitor your technique (which can so easily fall by the wayside while your brain is trying to focus on everything).  Remember it is never finished, so you can change how you feel about the emotions you seek to evoke at any time!

Are you musical-y?  How do you feel about your musicianship and your musicality?  Have you tried this homework?  Let me know what you learned in the comments!

*Yes, of course there can be more or different bins – be my guest, tell me a better way to characterize this!

**Some people call a Mis-note an error but that would be a mistake 😀