Ah, Paper

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Jen

There is a lot of music out there. Probably millions of tunes through the ages. Last week we talked about the joys of learning by ear, which are many.

But for all the lovely tunes available out there, if you’re going to learn them by ear, you have to find a source from which to learn. And that’s not always a possibility. You might live in the hinterlands. Your SpotiTube could be clogged. You might have eaten your Apple tunes. It might be that no one has thought to record the tune. Or possibly that no one remembers it?

And this is where writing music down is so helpful. I’m sure even the most amazing of harper bards of old would have been hard pressed to learn, know, and use all the tunes available – then or now. So, I hope we can agree that writing the music down is a helpful thing – if only to try to keep track of (at least a little corner of) the universe of tunes. Ah, Paper.

This is true for any type of music. Don’t be fooled – even the hallowed classical music is not meant to be played strictly as written. Mozart made his stock and trade writing and performing his music. And when he performed – his shtick was improvisation – that is not found in the writing! And he is just one example.

There is an easy trap in believing that the printed music is better than aurally transmitted tunes. It absolves one of all need to really internalize the music. And unquestioning devotion to the dots (the notes) excuses us from putting in the effort to make the music our own.

Written music is simply a tool. It can serve as a memory aid or it can act as a framework from which to pull the music. But it isn’t unassailable, nor does it require strict adherence. Ick.

As a tool it has myriad uses including keeping a record of a tune for later use, holding a tune for others not present when it’s being played, and for memory keeping. Writing it down allows one to capture of ideas, snippets, measures (and other stuff), even if they’re not “interesting” just now (not everything is popular all the time – but eventually the wheel turns).

Like any tool, the written music has limitations. For instance, it can’t capture all the feeling or the interestingness with which individual players imbue a tune. It will, with time, lose parts of its meaning, leaving future generations to conjecture (ok, just guess) what was meant by what was written, how it was played and what it was for. Don’t think that’s true? Look at the Song of Seikilos (found on a grave marker) – I’m pretty sure they thought they were capturing that for posterity*….

Which highlights another limitation – the written music can’t really capture the “à la mode” or “dépêche mode” (like how I did that?!) for the tune – you’ll get the bones but not the juicy cultural meat – you have to research (or guess) what the tune might have meant. You can have dogmatic discussions all day long but, in the end, you’re going to play it the way you hear it in your head – because that’s all you can do with the dots.

But most importantly, the dots can serve another function – that is helpful in the concrete, rather than in the abstract. This visual representation of the music makes music more accessible to those who are not good at hearing (don’t process auditory information well). When you look at the dots you have another avenue to getting at the tune – the relationships between the notes are spaced in the plane of the staff rather than over time (as in auditory representation). Some people can better understand the relationships of pitch and rhythm when looking at them than when listening to them.

Perhaps the most important point is that there is no “better” – learning the tune by ear has many benefits and some drawbacks. Learning from the paper also has many benefits and some drawbacks. These benefits and drawbacks maybe different, but they point to a potential strength – using both!

Using both auditory learning (learning by ear) and visual learning (learning by reading) may help you learn even more faster and more better (yes, I meant to say it that way). Just like learning by ear, the more you read, the better you’ll get at it.

Ah paper, a wonderful tool!

* If you’re not familiar with the Song of the Seikilos, it is the oldest surviving musical composition, believed to be from the 1st or 2nd century. The composition was found on an ancient Greek grave marker https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/oldest-song-in-the-world/

Hear Hear!

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Jen

One of the most interesting things you might hear a musician say is that they can’t learn by ear.

Ok, when I say interesting, I really mean odd (and maybe a little horrifying).

Because it is kind of funny that people who enjoy making and sharing sound admit that they don’t think of themselves as being able to learn via that same sound! And I’ve heard a lot of harpers say they are not able to learn by ear. Typically, I hear this as I prepare to teach them … you guessed it, by ear.

But learning by ear is an important skill. It really is central to playing. And like any skill, it can be learned and needs to be practiced – and the more you do it, the easier it will feel and the better you will get at it.

You might be one of those who resists learning by ear. You might wonder why you should bother. After all, there’s loads of written music and it tells you everything you need to know. Or you might not be interested in playing traditional tunes, focusing on classical or modern music – and that’s all written*.

But there are loads of reasons to learn to play by ear:

You will learn music faster. After all, making music is an auditory activity, so listening is pretty much essential!
You will think about the music differently (than if you’re simply reading). Of course, when you look at the music you see relationships of the notes and rhythm, but when you listen you perceive those relationships differently and detect other relationships.
You might just be more playful and creative with the music – without the tyranny of the dots telling you what you must do, you might just branch out and play what you feel rather than what’s written.
You may learn things about your instrument while you’re playing (and maybe about yourself?).
You will learn to hear. Really hear, not just listen.
You will become a better musician (ear training is taught at conservatories!).
You will understand theory better – because you’ll be experiencing it in a new way.
You will gain confidence as you become more proficient…and you’ll not be held back by a lack of (sheet) music again!

All this for the low, low price of – listening.

Just listen.

Don’t be fooled – it isn’t easy at first. The first tune I learned from a CD took me forever. I had listened to it a lot, than then I started counting… I listened to the tune over 1000 times (after I started counting). I’d get lost. I’d be listening and then realize I was enamored with the accompaniment and hadn’t been listening to the melody. Or I couldn’t tell the parts apart (not realizing it was a four-part tune not a two parter). Even now, when I listen to music, I hear it in layers (and the most important layers hide from me until last … maybe I should have been a drummer?).

You’ve probably been told,

“If you can sing (or hum) the tune, you can play it”

If so, you have been given the nugget to begin to understand how this works. When you can sing the tune, you know the pitches, the relative lengths of those pitches, and the relationships of the pitches to one another (up or down to the next one? a small interval or a large one? a third or a sixth? (ok, that last one takes more practice)). But think about it – if you “can’t learn by ear” and I challenged you to find Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – you could do it. You know the tune and that’s a big part of the challenge. When you know where it’s going, you are a long way down the road of playing the tune!

Now, to find Twinkle, you might have to do some picking at the harp. After all, if learning by ear is new to you, you’re not practiced at finding the first note, nor are you adept at identifying intervals (yet). But you can find the tune (even if by trial and error) … because you know how it goes. And that’s all you need to get started.

Let’s not put lipstick on a pig – it does take practice and it can be frustrating. But stop comparing yourself to that person sitting next to you at a workshop – just keep at it. Practice on your own. Hear, hear. Listen and Hear. Start with something you can sing – and go from there.

If you want to build up your ear, practice, just like everything else we do –

Start by finding a tune you already know – Twinkle? Happy Birthday? Frere Jacques? Memory (from Cats)? Back in Black (from AC/DC)? What it is doesn’t matter as long as you actually know it and are patient enough to pick it out on your harp. I’d suggest you start with simple children’s tunes – they are designed to be easy to learn!
Be patient – you’re trying to capture and recreate an entire conversation (or soliloquy) – give yourself permission to take your time. And even if you’re a product person, try to enjoy the ride…because this ride will take you to many destinations!
Keep track of your progress. Remember that learning by ear is more than just finding the tune on your harp – this is just a first step to playing new music.
Don’t be afraid to mess up – if you really know the tune (can sing it) then you’ll get back on track quickly. And if you don’t – you’ll need to go back and practice listening to it more, but you also might find some cool stuff on your harp along the way.
Don’t forget to record it – use whatever mnemonic devices you need to keep what you’ve found available to you.
Like everything else we do, the more you do this, the easier it gets. But if you avoid it, when you “have to” do it you will not only not have that practice under your belt, but that lack of practice will chivvy away at your confidence.

Hear hear – work on learning by ear. You CAN do this! It might be a challenge, but you can do it. Focus on the music rather than on the voice in your head telling you that you can’t.

What are you learning by ear? How’s it going? Let me know in the comments below! Are you hopelessly lost or so frustrated you can’t speak? Let me know and we can schedule a lesson – I’d love to help you!

*BTW – classical musicians also learn ear training. Never mistake written music for instructions. If you learn to think of it as a “cheat sheet” – a quick and easy memory aid – you’ll temper your love affair with the staves! More on that another time.

The Other Modes

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Jen

It’s already February! But that’s ok, you have goals! You have thought about them, codified them, captured them – possibly in multiple ways. You’re ready to go! Woohoo! Your goals are where you’re going – mental joy ride time! But how are you going to get there?

You may have heard of the various modes of learning. You might even know what your particular strengths are. The question is – do you use these in your practice to help you learn? Before we go on, we need to agree that for our purposes, practicing is actually more about learning than anything else. And possibly even more about learning that your lesson!

In your lesson, you get the gist of what you’re meant to be learning. But even the best students learn relatively little while in the lesson. In the lesson is where you get the basic materials and the guidance needed to build your music. So, no, I’m not saying you don’t need lessons – we all need lessons! There is so much to learn. The lesson is actually not about you playing. Lessons are far more about the guidance you receive from your teacher than about anything else. This is especially true for adult learners. You are guided on how to interact with the music, how to coax sound from the box, how you might think about what you’re doing, and of course, the physical stuff you must do to accomplish your goals. Your teacher is helping you learn how to think and interact with the music so you can do it yourself.

So, of course you are being taught during your lesson. But let’s say you practice one hour each day that you don’t have a lesson. That means of the seven hours each week you spend at your harp, only 15% is spent in direct interaction with the teacher. The other 85% of the time is by yourself, leveraging what you got in your lesson so that you can learn the music. When you realize that, it’s clear that it will be while you’re practicing you need to spend your time wisely. This is when you will learn the most through implementing the information you received in your lesson.

Then the question becomes, how can you best spend that time, so you maximize your learning (while also maintaining your enjoyment)? Because now you really know that pointless, unexamined iteration is a waste of your time. What should you do then?

The first thing you might consider is how you learn best. You’ve learned lots of things over your life in many different ways. You’ve learned to talk, to read, to cook, to drive, to balance your checkbook, to play the harp, and so much more. And while being taught those things you might have noticed that you really prefer to be left alone to read the manual. Or you might instead prefer someone who knows what they’re doing tell you how to do it. Or you might want someone to do it while you watch and then watch you while you try. You might be very disciplined and work carefully through a piece. Or you might analyze and examine the tune before you start working on it. Or you might just pick at bits and pieces until something sticks. You have a preferred mode of learning.

All of those are good approaches – and using your best approach will certainly help you learn while reducing your frustration. You already know that not everyone learns the same ways and you probably intuitively know that when there’s a mismatch, you are likely to become exasperated – or just get in your own way.

So the second thing you might consider is which ways are not for you – and give those a wide berth! Using methods and approaches that you know do not work for you is just pointless (unless your intent is to learn nothing but to bother yourself in the process).

However, this leaves another pool of ways to learn – those that are neither your strengths nor your weaknesses. These all hold some (potential) promise. If you listen really well but read really poorly (that is, you are auditory but not visual), you can read the music while listening to it (yea youtube) thus combining them to give yourself a new way to think about the tune. If you are tactile but all over the place, you might set yourself the challenge of finding the similarities and differences in the fingering patterns throughout the tune. Combining modes of learning can help you learn better. This idea of pairing up two ways of doing it opens up some new ways to get the music into your head!

Next, we’ll talk a little more about some descriptions of ways of learning and how those strengths might apply. Until then, learn your practice. Are you visual? auditory? tactile? Something else (there are loads of ways to talk about how you learn) – let me know how you learn in the comments below…I’m sure between us all we have similarities and differences.

Take it in smaller bites

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Jen

My good friend and I were chatting the other day and she asked, “What’s the tune of the week?” To which I replied, “ummmmmm” (because I’m a clever conversationalist like that). And because I had started working on five tunes all at once, I couldn’t answer the question because I wasn’t really learning them very well. Ok, really I hadn’t learned any of them (up to and including not being able to remember any of the titles!).

That got me to thinking – when you’re trying to learn new music, do you often have that sinking feeling that you are never going to get it? Does it seem like every tune you learn is longer than you thought (or maybe the harder you try to learn it, the more the number of phrases telescopes!). Do you laugh inside your head and blame increased age? Do you secretly think maybe it’s just going to be too hard to get into your head? Does it seem like everyone around you is always learning about 50 tunes really quickly while you struggle to get just one?

Asking for a friend.

So, how can we make the whole process of learning a tune a little more palatable? Take smaller bites! You’ll enjoy it more. And it’s better for you.

There are so many ways to get the music into your head but you can be sure that the “all at once” approach is one of the most frustrating. Let’s think about this. Ok, I really mean, let’s extend my eating metaphor. For your next tune, try taking “smaller bites” and like fine dining, arrange your learning into “courses”.

First, we’ll have the Appetizers – Study the music. No matter if you are ingesting the tune from printed music or learning by ear, take time to actually study the music. Analyze it. What is the structure? Where is it? What type of tune is it? What are the small motifs? Are there larger patterns or “story arcs” (if it were a TV show would you know who did it at the end of the episode or the end of the season?). Do not skip this course – it may feel like all you’re doing is killing time, but it is actually the start of learning. This is also when you might start listening and beginning to try to sing along.

Then we’ll have the Entree – Bring out the knives! We know that music is a collection of patterns. But also keep in mind that it is a bunch of small patterns that banded together to make bigger patterns and those bigger patterns banded together to make up the tune. The smaller patterns might be phrases and the larger patterns might be the parts. And of course, the biggest pattern is the overarching tune. While the smaller patterns maybe be easy to find, these larger patterns may be difficult to discern (or to remember) as patterns. So if necessary, break those larger patterns into smaller bites. And just like the entree, you need to be sure not to eat one thing at a time on your plate before going on to the next – DO NOT spend all this time playing from the first measure – break it up and work on the parts that need work. Start at the end and work backward, or pick a measure in the middle and start there. This is, of course, where the bulk of what feels like work will occur. Do not be fooled…the other courses are also work – value that time!

Like any fine meal, no matter how tasty or satisfying the Entree is, one simply does not leave out the finale.

Dessert!! – How sweet it is. If you have taken the time to do the work of the previous courses, you will find that the music has become easier to learn and that you learn it more quickly – what could be sweeter than being able to play the music you like so well! However, this is just as much a part of the meal as the other courses – the sweet stuff is when you are polishing, finishing, and finalizing your music. Be sure to include the dynamics and expression, develop your accompaniments, and put your touches (or interpretation) on the tune. Really enjoy – no, revel – in the dessert!

Once you’ve tried this bite sized approach a few times, just like meals, you’ll find you have favorites – those approaches that you enjoy and get the most from. That’s a great idea – these are the “macaroni and cheese” of your practice, but be sure not to stick just to the comfortable dishes – be sure to have a balanced diet of techniques, analysis, and thinking about the music as you continue to grow.

Of course, like a full course meal, you want to take your time, savor the delicacies, and really enjoy the process. Unlike a fine meal, when you are practicing, you don’t have to worry about which fork to use!

The Secret Way to Learn a Tune

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Jen

One of the benefits of longevity at the instrument is growing a large repertoire. To be fair, having a big repertoire comes from a long-time learning of tunes and working on them.

The longer you spend learning tunes, the more you learn about learning. Not only about learning in general but also about your specific way of learning. If you pay attention, you learn what is challenging for you to take in and what comes so effortlessly to you (by which I probably really mean painlessly!).

You also learn some tips and tricks along the way. The short cuts. The work arounds. With time, you begin to be able to identify little patterns in the music. And eventually you learn to identify (and remember) even bigger patterns. With enough practice and exposure, you might not even be aware that you are learning. This is equally true whether you are learning by ear, learning from the paper, or the combination of the two. If you know your music theory, you also know that there are “rules” of the game (which could be construed as a different type of pattern). And you know which rules are malleable and which are inviolable, and when those rules can be bent, broken, or ignored.

But there’s a secret way to learn a tune, inside and out, up one side and down the other, whether you know the rules or not.

Are you ready for the secret?

Like most secrets, you’re going to slap your forehead at its obviousness.

Drumroll…

Cue “building suspense” music…

The secret is to teach the tune.

Told you it was simple.

When you are learning a tune, you look at it like an oncoming train – a whole bunch of notes, headed straight for you (that’s why it is so much easier when you begin to hear the little patterns that make it up).

But when you teach a tune, you look at it completely differently. For one thing, the notes aren’t all ganging up and headed at you! Instead, you have lovingly collected them so you can spoon them out. You are looking at them from the other end! And it is funny, but when you look at this this way, the tune looks completely different.

I can’t tell you how many tunes I have changed fingering for – after I had played them for years – because when I taught them, I realized how dumb my original fingering was. My thought process at that moment goes something like, “I can’t teach that! It’s really difficult, not to mention stupid. Why am I doing it like that? I’m going to show it this other way instead!” And then I change the way I play it!

Sometimes I see whole phrases differently. Sometimes I find little bits that are seminal building blocks of the tune. And if I’d noticed those things earlier, I would have learned the tune faster.

Give it a try. Next time you’re with a group, play some fun tune you love (I promise, we’ll be together again soon!). Share it with others. Teach it to them – so you’ll have another tune to play together!

You might think, “everyone’s better than me, I won’t be able to teach them anything!” That may be, although I’m always surprised what tunes other people don’t know/haven’t heard before – so it’s always worth asking. And even if you have a small repertoire, as you learn, it will grow bigger. Eventually, you won’t be the newest harper in the room – so you should be prepared for it. You can also ask someone who is “harp-older” than you if you can teach them the tune – just as a means to “test” your knowledge…you’d be amazed how many people will play along (even if they already know the tune).

Still convinced you’ll never teach anything to anyone? Then pretend! Or teach the tune to your (very disinterested) cat*. Go through the exercise of figuring out – how would you teach it. Stumped? Then ask yourself, “How would Jen teach this?” (or your favorite teacher or your harp hero).

How would I teach the tune? I’d look for the repeating patterns. And I’d give them names (or numbers, or characteristics) – one of my favorites is a tune with a cookie in the middle – two patterns that make an Oreo (or Hydrox) – a bottom cookie (one pattern), the creamy middle (second pattern), and another cookie on top (first pattern again). No one forgets that part of the tune!

Pick a tune you know and decide who you’ll teach it to. Typically, summer workshops are a good opportunity because friends share tunes (and we will, just maybe not this summer!). Look for the patterns and how they fit together. Where do they go? How much is there to learn really? I love teaching tunes where the B part is the A part with one measure changed (not even different, just changed)! What will you teach? Let me know in the comments – and if I don’t know it, hope you’ll teach it to me!

*Someone recently asked me about my cat (since I’m always writing about playing for your cat). I don’t actually have a cat. I haven’t had a cat in a very very very long time. I borrow other people’s cats. But, I like cats so they come up in my thinking. If you’re a dog person, please do not take umbrage. I also don’t and haven’t had a dog in a very very very long time either. I like dogs too but I don’t seem to think of them as much. I also know from experience that dogs will sit there and listen because they are loyal and sweet…but cats will listen because they choose to.

OSAS 2020 is coming!!

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Jen

If you’ve read my blog for more than about 15 minutes, you know that one of my most favoritest harp events each year is the Ohio Scottish Arts School. I have participated as a student and as a teacher – and I can tell you the view from either window is just marvelous! The instructors, the students, the Thistle Sisters and Thistle Brothers – all outstanding!

And you also know that this spring has led to a lot of cancellations. A lot of cancellations.

BUT NOT OSAS!!! OSAS is going ON LINE.

It’s taking some planning – and creative thinking (I’d say “out of the box thinking” but clearly, as you can see in the picture below, we’re each in a box!)

OSAS planning – things you learn in a COVID world.

If you’ve always wanted to come to OSAS but haven’t been able to – this is your chance! Live too far away? Live so many timezones away, we’re upside down? All no problem this year! OSAS CAN STILL BE A PART OF YOUR HARP LIFE!

You will have the opportunity to study with the inestimable Sue Richards, the incredible Rachel Hair, the wonderful Rachel Clemente, and the incalculable me.

The fun of working together to learn a tune and play it! PS, do not sit like this when you’re playing your harp (like I am – sidesaddle) or you’ll be calling me for an Ergonomics Lesson to fix all your injuries and pains!

From Monday, June 29 to Friday, July 3, 2020, we will have 3 – 4 sessions per day. In the morning, we’ll learn tunes. After lunch, we’ll gather to review the morning, learn more, and participate in group lectures and/or one-on-one sessions. More specific details will be coming (as we firm up and finalize everything).

Tuition for this special week is $250 (includes $200 non-refundable deposit). Please note that class sizes are limited. Registration deadline extended to June 8, 2020. Here is the link to the online registration form.

I am very passionate about this event (as you can tell by the plethora of exclamation marks throughout this post) – because I know how much you have the potential to learn, from incredible tutors that you won’t find all together in one place in any other workshop. In addition, over time, OSAS has lead to many lifelong friendships, collaborations, and happy memories.

You should join us this summer at OSAS ONLINE. No, we won’t be all in one room, but we will be all in one space – we’ll be TogetherApart! If you have any questions you can go to the OSAS website or you can leave them for me in the comments below. Hope to see you there!

Power tool

Posted on May 11, 2020 by Jen

As musicians, we use all kinds of tools. This, of course, includes our harps (duh!) and our tuning wrenches. But there are plenty of other tools we use all the time. Don’t believe me? What about your practice journal? Your metronome (yes it counts, even if you barely use it!). Your electronic tuner? Pens, pencils, sticky notes, highlighters – all tools. Books and books and pages of music? Also tools. But perhaps the most useful tool is one that can help you learn, improve, and focus. What is this magic power tool?

Your phone!

Yup, your phone really can be a life saver (well, practice saver at least).

No, not for watching videos (although that’s a good way to learn new tunes). Not for surfing Facebook. Not to check the weather, be a Twit, or to surf up irrelevant factoids.

I’m pretty sure there are two things my students can hear me say before the words can actually get out of my mouth. The first one is: SLOW DOWN! You might be tired of me saying that too. But I repeat it because — it’s true.

The other one they know is coming is: RECORD YOUR PRACTICE! Use your phone camera to record yourself.

I know that often, no one believes me. But every once in a while, I hear back from someone, “Oh! You were right! I didn’t know I was [insert your current technique foible (sticking out my pinky, not bringing my 3 back in, actively making roach antennas, not actually placing, etc. the litany is long!)] but I really am – I thought you were just being mean.”

This is, of course, a variant of, “Oh, I didn’t know I was slowing down/not waiting/not counting/consistently playing the wrong note” that arises as well.

It is really important to acknowledge that there is a lot going on when you’re playing a tune. You feel this keenly when you’re learning a tune (when even an 8-bar romp seems to last forever, none of the notes will stick together in clumps, and you are sure you’ll never learn it). But once we get past the initial feeling of fear/dread of having to think about each note, we think we got it.

But we don’t. Mostly because there is so much to get – fingeringandplacingandtoneandharmonyandpostureandbreathingandeverythingelse

What you lose – almost immediately – is the ability to monitor yourself! There are so many things to think about and you can only pay attention to so many.

And that’s where your phone comes in – set your phone up on your music stand (obviously point it at your “work area” of the harp – at the strings where you are playing). Make sure you use the video function rather than the still camera. Then push the button and let it go.

Don’t worry about making a huge video – you’re going to record– review–delete. After you have recorded, then you’ll review – watching for what you can learn. Following reviewing, you can then delete that file (or upload it for your teacher) and start the process over again. Make sure you record with sound so you can hear the tune (and the metronome!).

What are you reviewing for? Well, the list is long and distinguished! You will probably need to review it a few times to catch everything. You’re looking for closing, placement, good contact with the string (or getting enough finger on the string), no hesitations, relaxed hands, appropriately raised elbows, no grimaces, etc.). And you are looking for places that you fumble*.

You won’t record your pieces just once. You can repeatedly record when you’re learning the tune (as above). Later, when you’re more facile with the it, you’ll be looking more at the musicality with which you’re delivering the tune – still fingering and placing but also dynamics, phrasing, accents, and those places that sounded good in your head just don’t sound as good in the real world.

No matter which stage of learning you are in with a tune, you are also looking for the places that you need to focus your work. The tricky fingering not working? Focus on just that bit, work it over until you figure out a new fingering and a better way to do it. Then you can append the bit just before (coming into the tricky bit) or just after (coming out of the tricky bit) and build up a larger and larger chunk of the tune until the whole thing just works.

Have you tried recording your practice? Want to share what you learned in the comments? I’d love to hear about it.

*I classify fumbles into two buckets, each of which has a different solution. The first bucket is “I had no idea where to go next”. The solution there is to review the tune and keep working on it because you don’t have all of it in your head yet. The second is “I knew exactly where I needed to go, I just couldn’t seem to get there”. The solution for this bucket is…SLOW DOWN!

Not SLOW again?!

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Jen

I saw it in the eyes. I thought that maybe while teaching online I wouldn’t see that look – the “oh no, she’s going to make me play it even slower – how can I play it s-l-o-w-e-r? I can’t remember it that slow, pleasepleaseplease don’t say to play it slower. Crap, she said it!”

I get it. We want to play more, we want to advance, we want to achieve. And now that most of us are at home, we are being sent subtle (and not so subtle) messages that we should be achieving great things with all this free time we have now (that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish – because I don’t know about you, but I seriously am working more that I was before!).

You might have heard this same thing from your teacher*. So, what does “practice it slower” really mean? Well there’s the obvious – just play everything at a lower tempo. But does that really serve you? What is it that you’re meant to learn while practicing slower?**

Here are six things you can get from practicing slower:

Get the notes. I’m not kidding – sometimes when we feel the need for speed, we are so busy going fast that we don’t realize that we don’t actually know the notes! You have to know what comes next – not just by momentum, but each and every note, and the relationship of each note to the notes that come before and after. Can you start in the middle of a phrase or shape and play? If not, perhaps you don’t know the notes as well as you think. By slowing down and focusing on the notes – and only focusing on the notes, you will be able to learn and remember them, individually and as a group.
Get the rhythm. Once you have the notes and you’re not struggling to remember what comes next each time you run through, then you can focus on the rhythm. This is actually another way the notes are related. But since you know what comes next, you can instead focus on how long, how short, how they fit together to make the rhythm. And you can focus on being accurate – get the snaps right, give the half notes a-l-l of their time, etc.
Get the harmony. Now that you know how the tune goes, and you’re able to play it fairly strongly, you can add the harmony. (If you’re reading, you might want to treat the LH part as a different sort of melody – working on each hand separately to get the notes and the rhythm. If you’ve done that, at this point you’ll be that much farther ahead). When you’re learning a tune and arranging it, it helps to first know where you’re going – what’s the chord progression you’re hoping to end with? You really can begin to develop that with just 1 finger. You’re playing the melody, the rhythm is good, you don’t want the whole thing to fall apart while you try desperately to remember what comes next in the harmony! So just use one finger – if you’re going slowly (this is one of those places people speed up – after all you know the tune right?) you’ll have time to remember what the chord progression is and get one finger there – on time. As you get the progression in your head, you can expand the harmony to bigger and more complex chords – but go there in stages. It always seems to amaze people that going from one finger to two in a fifth is hard, but it can be, so give yourself the time – by going slowly – to get there. Only later will you be able to comfortably move into more complex chords. And that’s ok. (caveat – on fast tunes, things that work here were you’re going slowly may not work as well at speed (and vice versa) so keep that in mind as you develop the accompaniment…of course practicing slowly and carefully coming up to tempo will allow you to work this out)
Get the feel. Ok, no one likes wooden music. No one. Even Pinocchio doesn’t like wooden music. But you can’t really get the feel in there until you actually know the music. So, once you’ve got it together, then you can (slowly at first) add the feel – dynamics, idiom, articulation – all those are things you have to remember, so add them in slowly and learn them.
Get the tempo. Now that you actually know the music, NOW you can begin to increase the speed. I suggest to my students that you start “stupid slow” by which I mean a tempo that will challenge you to keep it together – that is so slow you have to subdivide your subdivision (e.g. something like one-tak-ee-tak-and-tak-ah-tak) just to get through the slowness between metronome beats. There’s a reason there’s a 40 on your good old fashion Seth Thomas! Imagine how much better you’ll be able to think when you’re done with that! My rule of thumb is to play it at a stupid slow tempo and then move the metronome one tick (on an mechanical metronome) or four clicks on an electronic metronome (e.g. from 40 to 44).
Get the polish. This is the thing we all want to get to! We think it’s the prize, but really, it’s the culmination…you cannot polish what you don’t really know yet. But when you’ve worked slowly and built the tune up to tempo, you actually have something to polish. Because let’s be honest, typically when we say we’re here, we’re typically not really polishing – we’re still fixing and learning. But by going slowly, when you get here, you’ll actually be polishing.

Do yourself a favor and slow down! You will know your music better and you’ll be more comfortable playing it. You will also, whether you mean to or not, learn what gives you the most trouble so the next time, you can give it the time it needs while you’re learning…by going slow.

How Slow Can You Go? Let me know you’re great slow going experiences in the comments.

* Not everyone agrees with this approach and I am sure some may read this and clutch their pearls. And that’s ok. I like to see people succeed in learning and breaking the music down into small pieces and working on the parts systematically has worked really well. Probably because at each step you are only focusing on learning one thing. It won’t work for everyone, but isn’t it worth a try to see if it will be a good fit for you?

** I am a-l-w-a-y-s telling my students to practice slower. Heck, I am always telling myself to work slower. Even I get tired of hearing myself say it (I do still say it, because it works). In the time of Coronavirus, blog posts ideas are being shuffled and I found the notes for this post on a sticky note on my desk. I can tell by the color of the sticky that I made the note months ago. So, after I wrote the post, it occurred to me that I may be this brilliant…or I might have read something or listened to a podcast by someone else and that’s where I got the six points. It all sounds like the sort of thing I do and teach, but if I have inadvertently stolen someone’s idea, unfortunately, I didn’t write down whose. But, I do not intend to plagiarize – if if you recognize this – please let me know so I can attribute credit.

COMMENTS BELOW THE LINE

For good or bad, photos don’t “fit” into the comments – but I LOVE when you share them, so I’m going to start incorporating “Comments Below the Line” in posts so there’s a place for them to show. You will have to email me the photos, but that’s ok, I’ll get them up here asap. Thank you so much for always helping me learn more!

From Helen:

Memorize or learn?

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Jen

A few years ago, I set myself a goal of having enough music in my head so that I could play a three-hour background gig without sheet music. This was largely driven by my innate laziness – I just didn’t want to have to pack up and carry a music stand, a binder of music, a lamp, an extension cord, laundry pins, and whatever else I might have needed to read music to fill the time. And, to be honest, I also liked the clean look of just a set list, no music stand cluttering up the place. But mostly I liked not having to carry all that stuff.

Some of you have asked me how you could memorize all that music. And you’ve likely seen the questions of memorization come up repeatedly in forums. So many people believe that they must have sheet music. That they cannot possible hold music in their heads. One or two of you have indicated that it is impossible for you to memorize music, that you must read, you cannot depend on recalling anything.

You say that you can’t memorize, but clearly you can memorize some things – e.g. how to spell your name, how to spell my name!, the recipe for your favorite cookie, the names of the days of the week, the rules for bridge, etc.). It has been my observation that often what you think is a failure to memorize is often something very different.

Memorization is the ability to recall information from memory. Learning, on the other hand, focuses on the content of the music, the relationships between the notes, and the structure of the tune.

Memorization is fragile. Learning is resilient.

Memorization, because it is fragile, will desert you when you most need to be able to rely on it! this can lead to gaps in your ability to deliver a tune when you’re stressed (like on stage!). Sometimes failure to memorize is actually just a crisis in confidence. In lessons, when I turn the music over and ask you play, often you do a good job – maybe not perfect, but usually fairly accurate. That suggests that you actually do have it memorized, mostly, you just think you don’t.

Sometimes it’s a crisis in speed. When I teach tunes aurally, we always want to go faster. When I ask if you know it, I ask in two different ways. One is that, even though your fingers aren’t keeping up, you know where you mean to go (and if you’d slow down a little, you’d be fine!). This is a lack of confidence. The other is that you have no idea what comes next! So, you haven’t learned it yet – easily fixed by spending more time. This is a lack of information.

When the tune falls apart (when the music is turned or you have no idea what comes next), it’s easy to move on and continue to work – the tune is not yet learned! But we often skip the learning step. In a wild-eyed zeal to memorize the tune, we brute force our way through it. We repeat and repeat and repeat. And we bash it into our hands and our heads. But we don’t actually know it. And when you come back tomorrow, you’ll have learned a part of it, but you’ll just have to keep bashing away to get more of it in your head.

What if we spent more time learning the tune? Figuring out – for ourselves – where it goes, how it gets there, why it works? This would allow time to think about the tune as a whole (or at least large sections) rather than focusing on each individual note. We can learn the relationships between them rather than each individual note of the right hand and each note of the left hand.

Be honest with yourself – have you learned your tunes? Or have you just bashed them into your head? Have you given yourself the time to be thorough and careful, to identify the relationships and to make them meaningful to you? Have you used your time to identify how the harmonies work and what you like (and don’t like) about them? Come at them different ways and build strength in the learning so you have a cogent foundation.

Start today. Build a collection of tunes you have learned, not memorized. From that you can build your go to set list that can be as long as you need for each event. You can even go back to tunes you know you have bashed into your head and specifically work on learning them. You’ll be surprised how much easier they will be to play! Be comfortable that those tunes will be there when you need them – and you can lose your music stand too!

Starting again, again

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Jen

I’m on that high you get when you’ve had a great lesson where you’ve worked hard, learned a ton, enjoyed receiving information, knowledge and wisdom from a good teacher, had a genuinely good time, and are now exhausted!

Woohoo!!

What? you want to know why I would be taking a lesson?

That is an easy answer to give – because I needed to start again, again.

There is so much to know and to learn. We all have some of the pieces, but none of us has all the pieces. However, I keep working on the puzzle, so I gathered more pieces from another source – and I think the picture in the puzzle is starting to take shape and be visible!

I have a beautiful Wurlitzer Starke. I am so fortunate and grateful to have it. But, to be honest, it has been collecting dust in the corner. Of course I play it – occasionally. But I didn’t play it enough. And I was making no movement toward the music I got it to work on – music I insisted I needed to play!

I have a confession to make. I don’t just like Scottish music. I love music. I particularly like Baroque, Classical, and Romantic music. I’m also a picky taster at the modern table. But it was hearing Faure’s Impromptu on the radio that compelled me to venture into the pool of the pedal harp.

Yes, I heard that piece and I was smitten! Just one teeny-tiny problem – I didn’t actually know how to start. Because, while yes, a harp is a harp, I was a little bit afraid of my pedal harp.

So, I needed to start again.

In that weird way the world works, just before all of this, separately, two of you mentioned needing to start over again – in the same week! So, I’ve had this idea of starting again, again in mind as I headed out to my lesson.

Do you need to start again, again? It’s not a bad idea, and here’s why:

Beginner’s Mind. You might have heard this concept of keeping a “beginner’s mind” – holding curiosity forefront, being eager to learn, being grateful for each step forward no matter the size. And perhaps most importantly, the beginner’s mind has no expectations of performance – no disappointment on not getting something right the first try or impatience that it’s “taking too long” to learn something.
No matter where you go, there you are (but you’ve worn down your shoes!) – you might want to start again again just to get a “tune-up”. I’m always amazed how quickly small bad habits can build (and band together!) – a little slump leads to a little neck craning leads to dragging your arm on the sound board and a one way ticket to poorer playing and possible injury.
Someone out there knows something that could push you just a little farther along on your path. But if you don’t ask for the help and information, you might never get that little shove you need! And you never know who will have it or what it will look like, so you need to pay attention.
No one wants to become stale. And it’s easy to do. It’s so much easier to play the same ten tunes forever, but it’s very motivating to have new repertoire the next time you see your harp buddies. Whether you have a lesson, go to a workshop, or find new music to learn, you’ll prevent yourself from becoming musty and have an opportunity to start again.
Something worth having is worth fighting for. It is easy (as in the above) to become complacent, but you know you want to be as good as you can become, and while it might not be a “fight” per se (although that might depend on the tune!), working for something you want has it’s benefits while not working will have significant drawbacks (like being disappointed in yourself!).

Taking the perspective of starting again, again can be freeing. Of course, we’re not always in a place where we need to start again, again so if you’re not there that’s great! But if you find yourself thinking that starting over might be the best way to move forward, really step into it and begin again…again!

Have you found yourself in this place? How did you know? what did you do? Was it worth it? Let me know in the comments!

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