Jenius Creations

Tag: Teaching and Learning

  • Just one thing

    Just one thing

    When you have an unexpected variation occur (less charitable people might refer to this as a mistake) what do you do? 

    If you’re like most people, you might do a bunch of things all at once.  You wince, you stop playing, you look at your hands, you look at your harp, you look at the music, you look at your teacher (or other audience), and you panic a little. 

    And then you might try to fix everything – all at once. But is this the best thing to do?  Probably not.  Because what’s the most important thing to come away from a mistake with?

    The lesson that was buried in it. 

    To learn the lessons the “variation” can teach you, you need to unpack it from all the detritus in which you found it.  And to do that, you have to look at each thing – just one thing at a time. 

    What things are you going to look at?  Well you need to know how you ended up there.  Were you going too fast? Was your fingering not solid? Did you lose focus? What happened once you ended up there? Was it a trainwreck or were you just off a little? Did you know where you were?  Were you able to quickly determine what happened or were you completely lost? Were you surprised or did you know it was coming and were hoping you could ride it out? Did you have a solution immediately or did you need to figure a bunch of stuff out?

    Of course, there are a nearly infinite pool of possible questions but to get at the answers, try to answer one question at a time – don’t try to solve everything at once. Parse the problem and identify solutions. And then go from there.  The solution for going too fast is a very different than for losing focus, for example. 

    So, the next time you have an “opportunity to excel” try doing one thing at a time in pursuit of an answer or a way forward.  Stop! Don’t move.  Be still.  Rather than be a flurry of activity, take a breath.  Because being a flurry of activity works well – until it doesn’t and something doesn’t go right.  Now you can think, observe, and assess what’s happened.

    Give it a try yourself – it does take a little practice to pause, but that gets you time to replay in your mind’s ear what you heard and feel where you are in space.  Commit to only doing one thing to get your bearings! Don’t fall prey to the impulse to fix everything – because you probably don’t know what is wrong, so how can you fix it?  If you forge ahead you’ll just confuse yourself and make it more difficult to find the solution.

    Next time you find you’re in a “variation” give yourself a beat to stop, be still, think, and decide what to fix first.  Give it a try and let me know what you learn in the comments!

  • Should you have a lesson if you haven’t practiced?

    No practice?

    There must be something in the air (besides pollen) because last week a disproportionately large number of my students sent some version of this message:

    “I think I should skip my lesson this week because I haven’t practiced at all.”

    I get it – I even remember uttering those same words myself.  It’s easy to think that.  After all, when you have had a “week from hell” (that seem to occur more and more frequently), you won’t have had time to practice. 

    But this is incredibly wrongheaded.  Why you ask? Well….

    It comes from thinking of your lesson as a mini performance.  But if you think of your lesson that way, then you do need all the practice you can get to be ready to be on that stage with the critic sitting in immediate proximity!

    But that’s not what a lesson is! 

    A lesson (especially if you’re an adult) is an opportunity to glean knowledge and information from someone who is guiding you to grow into the musician you profess to wanting to become.  I sum it up this way,

    “I’m telling you these things so you can avoid my mistakes and I expect you to go on and make your own, new, original mistakes!”

    A lesson couldn’t be farther from a mini-performance for your worst critic (you) and your perceived harshest critic (your teacher).  It is meant to be a learning opportunity.  In fact, if you come into your lesson and play flawlessly, then what’s the point?  It’s in the lesson you want to fail – spectacularly!  That way you can receive additional instruction that moves you forward.  You’re not a dog, you don’t need a pat and a biscuit – you need constructive feedback and tuition, so you can keep moving!

    In addition – playing the harp isn’t just about flinging out the sounds of choice, is it?  Of course not!  There is so much more to being a musician and all those things can also be a part of your lesson when, due to other circumstances, you’re not prepared to play tunes in various states of dishabille.  What, you might ask?  Here’s a long but not exhaustive list of things you could work on:

    • Reading and Notation
    • Theory
    • History
    • Listening
    • Composing and Improvisation
    • Harmonizing
    • Rhythm
    • Effects
    • Tuning
    • Techniques
    • New pop tunes*

    So, the next time you’re not feeling prepared, or feel as if you’re going to be “wasting” your teacher’s time, or like you are setting yourself up for humiliation, remember that there are loads of things to be taught that might not get covered when you are more prepared to play a piece and the focus is on learning or perfecting.  Also remember that your teacher has many things to teach to and share with you and this could introduce time to cover some of those (especially since there’s never enough time in lessons to cover everything). 

    Have you ever canceled a lesson because you felt like you were not prepared? Have you ever thought you should have, but then had a great lesson in spite of your misgivings? Do you remember a time when you were dreading going to your lesson but it ended up being a great time?  I’d love to hear your take – leave a comment!

     

    PS – Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate!

    * No really, your teacher is still a person and might actually have other interests…but you’ll never know if you only ever talk about harp!

     

  • SWOT’s it all about?

    Another crazy title – SWOT’s it all about?

    I have an unending search for ways to get better at…everything!  And because I have a diverse background and work experience as a researcher, scientist, artist, entrepreneur, and person, I thrive on crossing boundaries between disciplines and practices, particularly applying tools from one disciple to problems from another which is a hoot.  At the least I learn something and at best there’s a huge breakthrough!  One of those stalwart business tools is the SWOT analysis – and it’s a nice fit for our harp playing. 

    What’s a SWOT? It breaks into: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.  Clearly this is applicable to business, but to playing the harp?  Yup!

    SWOT Chart

    Think about it – taking a moment to complete a SWOT on your music could certainly help highlight where you should spend your time*.  Here’s how:

    Strengths – What are your strong points?  Tunes you know (really well).  Techniques, at which you excel.  Sets you have put together.  And more.  These are likely your go-to tunes that you always perform, the ornaments you always use, your “signature” approach.  These are solid and need to be maintained, but certainly don’t need the bulk of your attention.

    Weaknesses – What aren’t you good at? These are tunes (or tune types) you’re not so comfortable with, techniques you don’t know or don’t do well and avoid.  It’s not tunes you haven’t learned yet – just the ones that clearly aren’t ready for prime time (else they’d be in the Strengths pile).  These are things you need to work on (whether you know it or not).  These things require time and attention to get up to snuff and to be moved to the Strengths.

    Opportunities – These are things you could nurture and take on to grow.  It can be tunes to learn, chances to perform, participating in workshops, lessons, or master classes, or sharing tunes with other harpers.  These are all chances to grown and develop and to move (eventually) to the Strengths column. 

    And last is:

    Threats – which might be the biggest head scratcher, but it’s also the biggest opening.  The word “threat” can be a little off putting so it might be better to think of it as things you might not think about or that you would love to skip (and maybe you do!).  It could also include not having learning opportunities (e.g., beginners without a teacher or not being able to get to workshops because you live far from other harpers).  So, they’re not “threats” as much as “thrusts” – places or things you can pursue to make progress including things to focus on or even gigs to seek.

    A SWOT isn’t hard to do – it just takes a little time, some thought, a bit of self-reflection, and maybe some feedback if you have it (and a cuppa might help).  Set aside a half-hour to spend on it.  I’ve included a handy tool to help you do the analysis (click on the graphic (or here) to download).  The first time you do it, it might feel like a lot of work, but I promise it gets easier each iteration – and it certainly can help sharpen your focus.

    Give it a try and let me know what you find!      

        

     

    * And if you’re a professional, of course a SWOT can be helpful for business too!

  • How to

    Ever looked at your bookshelf and realized that you have about 100 versions of (in effect) the same book?  I have – and it’s not entirely pretty.  It’s the How To book collection…

    I have a lot of “how to” books – how to cook, how to garden, how to measure things, how to calculate what those measurements mean, how to knit, how to relax, how to be creative, how to teach, how to repair your house, how to fly an airplane, how to decorate, how to get rid of everything in your house, how to play the harp … the list goes on and on.

    They are filled with details.  After all, I don’t need to smooth the plaster over a statistical analysis (ok, that’s debatable if we are being conceptual, less so if we’re being concrete).

    When push comes to shove though, they all pretty much say the same thing – be organized, be familiar with the steps, do a test, then do the thing.  That might be some of the least useful information in each of those books.

    What are the most important things then? you might ask. They’re buried in the book somewhere.  Often, it’s only a sentence, in the middle of a paragraph, unhighlighted, unremarkable, and unrelated to each other. They are some version of:

    The more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll feel.

    and

    Once you know the rules, feel free to do your own thing.

    Because when you know the rules, you know which ones are real rules that cannot be broken with impunity, which can be broken but at your peril, and which are merely strong suggestions – guide rails for the uninitiated, which can be freely broken by the mavens.

    We can break those down to be more useful.  The first one is pretty clear – practice practice practice.  The more you do something (correctly and preferably with feedback), the easier it will be to complete and the better you will do it.  No surprise there.

    The second one has a more mysterious translation.  And it is by far the scariest.  What it really says is, “to thine own self be true” – Thanks Polonius for help/not help.  So, let’s pull it apart a tiny bit more (because after all, I’m no Shakespeare scholar!) – the modern way to say it is to “have your own voice”.  How do you know what that sounds like? Well…..

    First you have to know the rules to break them.  And by “know” we mean inside and out.  A shaky knowledge of the boundaries doesn’t result in cutting edge – just sloppiness.

    Next you need to know how much rules can bend and still be unbroken.  Some rules “change color” as you gain experience – because your experience allows you to see relationships you were unprepared to predicted before.

    Finally, you must understand which are really guidelines.  Following these leads to pablum – playing that is ok and offends no one – but also doesn’t excite anyone.

    Which brings us back to be yourself.  As you grow as a musician you can learn the rules and follow them.  Or you can internalize those rules and use them to find you voice.  What rule are you interacting with just now?  I want to hear it – and how you’re finding your own voice – let me know in the comments!

     

  • Are we there yet?

    Remember asking that? “Are we there yet?  …How ‘bout now?  …yet?  I’m bored!”

    Amazing some of us survived to adulthood!

    But why did we always ask that question?

    You already know – when you don’t know what the end looks like, it feels like you’ll n-e-v-e-r get there.  And that is a terrible feeling!

    So, when we’re at the beginning of a tune, that road stretches ahead, uninterrupted – and you might feel like you’ll never get it.

    What about when you have been working on the tune for a while?  Then you might ask yourself again, “Are we there yet?”

    How do you know when you get there? How do you know you’re done? When is a tune “finished”?

    The long answer is that you have to decide what you mean by finished. Is it finished when you’ve learned the tune?  Or is it finished when it’s perfect?  Or performance ready?  Competition ready?  Moved unceremoniously into the Bored with/Don’t want to play any more pile?  What is your definition of done?

    I don’t have a definitive answer for your definition. It really depends on you, your level of development, the time you have available, your goals, your personality, and loads of other things that only you can answer for you.

    There is also a short answer (but you might not like it).

    Short answer – you’re never finished! WAIT – what?!?

    Of course you’re never finished – the tune will never be done.  What? (I did say that you might not like the short answer)

    After all, making music is a creative activity – you will have to decide for yourself what done will look/sound like.  Yup, it’s entirely up to you (and yes, I’m v-e-r-y aware just how uncomfortable that can be!).

    If you stop working on a tune, it’s definitely done, but is that what you wanted for that tune when you started?  If you “finish” it and never let it be a living element of your playing, it will stultify and die (which isn’t really what most of us want from our music).

    If a tune is “finished” then it’s done.  But why do you play and perform (even for the cat and the curtains)?  What keeps you coming back to your harp?  I’m guessing it isn’t because you want to be stagnant.

    So how do you know when you are done enough? Here are some ideas:

    • You got where you were going (that is – you met your goal).
    • You have run out of ideas to continue to add to the playing – your arrangement is fairly stable.  But keep an open mind so you can continue to create as you go – forever!
    • A trusted mentor has suggested that the work is good.
    • You are comfortable when playing the tune for your audience (whoever that might be).
    • You’ve “got” the tune but you’re not enjoying playing it.
    • You feel “bored” playing a tune.
    • The holiday you learned the tune for has arrived(!).
    • Now that you’ve learned the tune, you just don’t enjoy it.
    • As much as you’ve worked on it, the tune is just not coming together (this is likely because it was a stretch for you in which case you should set it aside and pick it up later).

    Think of tunes as being somewhere on a continuum from performance-ready or shelf-bound.  Either they’re good for sharing with others (performance ready) or they’re not going to see the light of day (shelf-bound).  There are, of course, various stages in between, but what that continuum looks like is up to you. 

    Do you have any tunes that are finished?  How did you decide?  If you don’t, how would you define done?  I’m curious to hear your thoughts – let me know in the comments!

  • What We Can Learn from Drummers

    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!

  • Which teacher do you need?

    In a previous episode we talked about what lessons are for (and what they’re not for) and a comment was made about learning going on forever.  How true!

    But you have to start somewhere.  And we all have teachers.  Even teachers have teachers!  The question really is – which teacher do you need?  Or perhaps more appropriately, which teacher do you need now?

    Because we need different teachers for different stages of our harp life.  These different teachers might all be housed in a single body, or you may move from one teacher to another.  Or you might make a loop and eventually have the privilege of teaching your teacher!  One important thing we’ve learned over the last two years is that we’re not constrained by geography any longer (which is excellent!) with teachers available online, you can learn a great deal. *

    Which teacher do you need?

    In your harp infancy, you need a Mother. A teacher who works with you to learn the things you need to know to be a competent harper without hurting yourself.  This teacher gives you a  foundation from which you can grow. You learn how to care for your harp, how to interact with it, and start to build a repertoire.  Perhaps most importantly, the teacher initiates you into the tips and tricks that make playing easier (technique) and helps shape you into a musician.  I think this is the most important thing people who are self-taught miss out on – these not so obvious things that make playing easier (Don’t worry self-taught people! You can get there too – read on!). 

    As you continue, you grow and your needs change.  Once you’ve learned to play make sounds come out accurately, now you need a Professor.  You are ready to learn the why for the things you do.  It’s important for you to understand how your initial technique underpins more advanced skills, how all the elements are related, and to point out areas for focus to nudge your progress forward.  And to corral you when you (inevitably) move backward a little – to help form you into a musician.

    Then you are ready for a Coach. **  This shift is important because this is where you shoulder most of the burden of steering your own boat.  Rather than sitting like a baby bird, mouth open waiting to be fed, you know enough to ask yourself questions – what is still weak? What is becoming your “signature”? What music do you want to learn?  What music do you need to learn to fill in your repertoire?  As the student, you push the envelope while your teacher helps you to structure your questions, honestly evaluate your feedback, constructively apply what you learn, provides suggestions for your continued growth, and helps you discover answers. 

    Finally, the Peer.  This teacher is someone with whom you share the joy of playing – trading tunes, making suggestions (as needed), encouraging trying new things, and energizing you to keep on growing.  This is a less formal teaching relationship and reciprocal.  Don’t be fooled – you are still learning (perhaps more than ever before), still growing, as a musician. 

    You might move back and forth along these lines – as needed.  And you might find all these in a single body.  You might be in a regular relationship with one person, or you might go to all the workshops you can manage to get different perspectives and approaches. 

    Now for the tricky part – which do you need now?  A good teacher will provide a bit of each of these, as needed, and in varied measures as you grow.  Of course, early on, you will need more mothering.  But don’t be fooled, I have more than one student who has come for lessons because, although they are advanced harpers, they recognized that they needed to go back to shape up their technique.  And frankly, I’m grateful, because that helps keep me focused on examining my own!

    It is also easy to slip into a crack – you might “outgrow” a teacher and decide you’re good on your own.  And you probably are for a bit, but if you’re not actively teaching yourself (by doing all the things we expect the professor or coach to add to your learning), then you may lose ground, lose motivation, lose excitement.  That would be sad.  But it’s easily fixed by finding another teacher.  

    Remember that, like hairdressers, teachers understand that sometimes it’s not a good fit, or something has changed and you’re ready to move on.  And like a good hairdresser, a good teacher will be sad to see you go, but wave you a cheery fare-thee-well and look forward to seeing you at a harp event soon!

    Do you have a teacher for where you are now?  Which teacher is the right fit for you?  Are you in between?  Let me know in the comments!

     

    * I will stick a caveat in here – if you are geographically constrained and don’t live close enough to have in person lessons, be sure that your online option is a good teacher.  One downside to everyone having an internet connection is that anyone can say they are a teacher – and as a beginner, you’d be at their mercy.  Caveat emptor.  In addition, if you are taking lessons online (and any competent teacher will tell you this…in fact, if they don’t, reconsider their competence) – go to workshops to work with other teachers in person whenever humanly possible.  There are amazing options like the Ohio Scottish Arts School, Somerset Folk Harp Festival, the Harp Gathering (which I’ve not participated in but have heard great things about), Feis Seattle (again, I haven’t been to this, but I know a guy), Catskills Irish Arts Week (again, haven’t been but I hear good things), or individual workshops anywhere near you – and you will learn incredible things, and not just about playing the harp!  Go!  This isn’t an exhaustive list, just a sampling, just go!

     

    ** The Coach refers to an approach to teaching and isn’t necessarily someone who is presenting as a coach.  It’s about the approach not the title.

  • When do you stop taking lessons?

    The other day, someone asked me when do you stop taking lessons?  Sounds like an easy enough question.  If only.

    There are a lot of reasons to stop taking lessons – money, time, fit with the teacher, and more.  Money I can’t do anything about for you, so we’ll just glide past that.   

    First, let’s get time off the table and let’s separate time available and time duration.  We have to assume that you have time available – both for lessons and for practicing between lessons.  As for time duration, you can’t really expect to set a timetable.  If you’ve been playing the harp any length of time, then you already know that learning the harp is anything but a linear process.  And that some things feel easy while others feel like insurmountable obstacles.  If you haven’t been at it for long, you might still think that there’s an end – a point at which you’ll have nothing left to learn (quick hint – there is no end).  Those of us who have had more experience already know – you will always have something more to learn!

    OMG – is she saying that I’ll be taking weekly lessons forever?!  No, that’s not what I’m saying.  That’s not the right question. 

    The better question is: 

    What are lessons for? 

    There are at least four reasons for lessons:

    Lessons can give you a foundation. The harp isn’t easy to play. It requires finesse and skill to play well.  A teacher in regular lessons can help you build the foundations you can grow from so that you can (eventually) play the music you are moving toward.

    Lessons can help to protect you – Leon Fleischer called musicians “athletes of the small muscles” and in lessons you’ll typically learn good technique which can help protect you from injury.

    Lessons can teach you a framework – We don’t make music in a vacuum and lessons can help you build your own framework from which you can develop your musicality and musicianship.

    Lessons can help you learn to teach yourself – I’m going to let you in on a dirty little secret – teachers don’t want to have you in lessons forever! (for a lot of reasons)  But no teacher will want to “graduate” you until you have learned how to teach yourself.

    A teacher can use the time in lessons to help you navigate the pratfalls of playing, make clear those things that are opaque, and illuminate the path so you make progress faster.

    Of course, the flip side is just as important.  So another good question is:

    What are lessons not for? 

    There are at least four things lessons aren’t for:

    Lessons are not to keep you motivated to keep playing. In the end, music is a solo pursuit. Even if you’re in a group, ensemble, band, or orchestra, there’s only you playing the harp.  Only you can motivate you to play and while lessons might contribute to your motivation, they will not act as your sole motivation.

    Lessons are not to provide you with accountability. Relatedly, if you only practice because you’re afraid to look bad at a lesson, you haven’t solidified your self-accountability. Lessons won’t change that.

    Lessons are not to keep feeding you music. While we expect child students to need a lot of guidance on music, adult students would have increasingly greater latitude in music selection – which would include selecting the music you want to move toward.  But you need to figure out what that is for you.

    Lessons are not to prevent you from being a responsible musician. Lessons are not a substitute for thinking for yourself (ref earlier comment about teachers wanting to help you learn to teach yourself).  This goes beyond selecting music and includes analyzing the music, self-critiquing (not self-criticizing!) your playing and developing your repertoire.

    What other reasons are there to take lessons? And to not take lessons?  Let me know what you think in the comments!

  • It’s time to plan – Summer Camp!

    I know, I know, it’s only mid-March and we’ve just turned the clocks back so it’s still dark through breakfast!  But…

    SUMMER IS COMING! Time for Summer Camp!

    I know it seems like summer is really far away.  But really, summer starts in just 99 days (when I wrote this, so even fewer by the time you read it!).  So, if we want to be ready, we should start planning now.

    Summer CampThere are a lot of summer programs available.  You can tailor your planning to your type of playing.  I have some real favorites and I’d like to encourage you to join me at all or some of them!!  These are all adult friendly, beginner friendly, and well, just friendly!  Here’s a chronological list:

    The 41st Edinburgh International Harp Festival, 8 – 11 April 2022.  Ok, not strictly summer, but… This year has a hybrid program so you can participate in classes and workshops, attend concerts all from the comfort of your home computer or you can be there in person!  This is very exciting because so many of us have wanted to go and have now had our appetites whetted with two years online but with travel still a bit snarled, this is a great option for those of us who don’t live in the UK.  There are a number of exciting presenters and the concerts are fab – even if you are watching on your computer.  The events are available online during the Festival and on demand afterward.  The price is very reasonable – and a la carte!  All the info is available at harpfestival.co.uk

    Ohio Scottish Arts School, Saturday, June 25 – Friday, July 1, 2022.  Aaahhhhh – to me, OSAS is the quintessential Harp Summer Camp!  This year OSAS is breaking in a new venue – with Air Conditioning!!  Woohoo!  An entire week of great in-person instruction, wonderful tunes, amazing people, and Scottish music coming out your pores!  I liked Scottish music before I came the first time, but I LOVED it by the end of my first week.  I think the best sales pitch for OSAS is the number of students who have come year after year after year – both adults and kids (and adults who started as kids!).  This year’s instructors are Corrina Hewat, Sharon Knowles, Seumas Gagne, and me.  Registration has started and will close when the class fills so don’t wait.  For those of you who have come in the past (or specifically haven’t come) – I’ll highlight – AirCon!  All the details at ohioscottishartsschool.com

    Somerset Harp Festival 21 – 24 July (in person and 1 July – 31 October online). Somerset is possibly the most flexible event I’ve seen – even in this new world of working!  There are in person events, online events and subsequent events that will occur throughout the open online period!  There are options to fit every schedule whether you can travel or not.  And there are still the additional events like Harpers’ Escape and special add-on workshops.  Be sure to read the registration page and sign up for the best fit for you.  I’m excited to be teaching two workshops this summer in person and I hope you’ll come see me!  All you need to know is here: somersetharpfest.com

    There are loads of other summer programs as well.  I can’t list them all here.  Many are pedal-y-er and oriented to younger harp players (by which I mean kids).  Most are listed in the Harp Column with info available here: harpcolumn.com/summer-harp-camp-directory

    If you have never come to a harp summer camp, you have missed out!  I can’t tell you how much you will learn, but you’ll definitely learn a load of great music, applied theory, excellent arrangements, and what a great community the harp world is.  If you are hesitant, give yourself a little push and give it a try.  I think you’ll be surprised – and delighted!

    Are you going to a harp camp this summer?  Which one(s)?  What made you choose it? What did I leave out?  Let me know in the comments!

  • Do You Count? 

    I often think about tunes in “layers”.  All the layers are important, but some are easier to master than others.  The layers include the notes, the fingering, the phrases.  And then there’s the counting.  There are loads of elements that define the music, but time might be the most challenging to really get learned and honed – to get right. 

    Do you Count?

    When you get to brass tacks, music is really a sequence of sounds and not-sounds (rests) over time.  And so, to be true to the melody, share the message, and communicate with our listeners, we have to keep the count.  

    Sometimes, as harp players, we become inured to the silence – we get so little of it with our wonderful resonant instruments. Harps love to keep on playing and that lovely sound “hanging around” may make us lazy – it may feel like it will be easy to get away with not counting.  But that is an illusion.

    Counting can be a challenge when you first begin to learn a tune.  There is so much to learn and all of it important.  We have to keep the important stuff in mind – actively use it.  Time is challenging but it can be so rewarding!  It will help your audience follow your message, it will make playing with other musicians a greater joy, and it will help ensure your tune is what the original composer meant it to be.

    Previously, I have said that I don’t advocate rigid adherence to the beat.  That wasn’t really accurate.  Rather, it is essential to know that timing of the piece and work within that.  With poignant airs you might bend the time to build the expression, but that works best by manipulating the times. Laments need to be sorrowful, but it should never be lamentable!  But the difference will be in how you deal with the time. 

    It is essential that you learn to count.  Ok, I know you can already count.  You have to learn to count while you’re playing…and keep counting, maintaining your counting throughout your playing. Only when you have mastered this tool of communication can you begin to modify its application as appropriate to tell your story.  I know counting can be hard – it’s one more thing to do while you’re also trying to remember what notes come next, which fingers to use, that you need to breathe, etc.  Pesky layers!

    So how do you add counting to that task?  Carefully.

    First, start slowly.  This really is another task you will have to perform while also doing all the other things you have learn. Counting is another thing you have to think about as you bring the tune together – make sure you go slowly enough that your brain can keep up!

    Second, practice.  Counting while you’re playing takes practice.  You want to practice counting enough that it becomes automatic – no matter what you’re playing or where you are in learning it (just starting, polishing, anywhere in between!).  One method I suggest is to include this in your practice away from the harp.  An easy way to practice is while you’re walking or running.  This gives you a physical beat to follow so you can work on counting.

    Third, be consistent.  You can’t practice counting the tune once and be done!  Make practicing counting a regular part of your practice.  If you really are not counting at all – start with simple tunes you already know.  As it gets easier, move on to more challenging tunes and tunes you are learning.  You will get better!

    Finally, always be working on it.  Once you can consistently and accurately count, start making things more complicated and related to other music.  Remember to count to the smallest note value (e.g., the eighth notes if they’re present or 16ths – you will have to do some analysis).  Use whatever counting device works for you – vocables, fruits and veg – whatever works!

    Of course, there’s (always) more to the story, so send me your questions and share your insights in the comments.  In the meantime, stand up for your music – make sure you count!