Tag Archives: Technique

The Secret to Playing Everything Better

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The Secret to Playing Everything Better

Do you wish you played better? Ok, the shorter answer would be, does anyone not wish they played better. Well, I have an easy answer – and with one simple trick, you will play better! There is no magic and this is no joke. I guarantee that if you use this simple secret, you will play better.

(this is where, if this was one of those social media videos that offers a “free” secret for [losing weight, getting a perfect body, making millions every month with an email list, etc.], I’d be telling you all about my life and why I am the only expert and that I have the answer)

(But really, you also have the answer already – I’m just going to remind you what it is)

There’s a secret? And I don’t know it? What could it be?

What is this magnificent secret? What is the easy path to playing everything better? Well, since you asked –

The answer is to do your technical exercises.

Ok, that’s a bit simplistic. You need to do those technical exercises in very specific ways:

  • Slowly
  • Carefully
  • Consistently
  • While paying attention
  • Expecting nothing less than your best while you do it.

Told you it was easy.

I know, it’s really not easy, is it? Let’s take a very basic technical exercise as an example – scales.  You know how to do scales.  They are easy to learn, to remember, and to complete. But do you do them consistently, slowly, carefully, watching that you’re actually doing what you know you need to do? Or do you fly through them to just get them done? Or skip them all together because, who needs to do them, really?

Want to know who does scales consistently, slowly, carefully, while watching that the form, intonation, timing, rhythm, and tempo are all good? Pros do, that’s who.

Did you think scales were the purview of the newbie?  That at some point, we each advance to a point that we don’t need to do scales ever again? That would be exactly backward.  In fact, the farther you get from being a beginner, the more you know the importance of doing exercises and doing them with an exacting and consistent attention to detail.

You’re right that you know how to do scales – that’s part of the secret. Because they are simple and you know them, you have the available cognitive capacity to simultaneously play the scales, pay attention, notice things that are going well, determine what needs some focused attention, and make corrections before a problem can grow. In fact, with more practice, it is possible to both have a beginner’s mindset (as the gurus call it) AND have the experience to make your own corrections.

And implementing this secret will allow you to play everything with more ease.

Now you know the secret to playing everything better. How will you unlock its power to make your playing better? Let me know in the comments!

 

Turn it up to 11 – Redux

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Turn it up to 11 redux 

Last week we talked about not playing ALAPATT (As Loud As Possible All The Time) and how you can enhance your playing by adding dynamics. How using dynamics help tell the story you mean to tell through your playing. We noted that if you want to be a better harper, you needed to work on dynamics.

Dynamics come from control of your hands and fingers. This control determines how your fingers interact with the strings. Expression (an outcome of dynamics) does not mean to play limply or weakly or barely or badly. Rather, we want the same rich, warm tones you get at full volume, but at different levels of loudness. You can do this!

Remember, this is not about playing louder or softer. Rather, it’s about controlling your fingers on the strings, learning how to get what you seek from the strings based on how you move. It’s a delicate dance between you and the harp strings. In this case – you have to lead! To gain this control, I want to give you some exercises that will allow you to focus on learning to control your dynamics. 

Let’s start by reviewing the dynamic markings. If you’re not familiar with them, they indicate the loudness for a particular section of music. These run from incredibly loud to incredibly soft (but still audible). The word for loud is forte (noted as f) while the word for quiet is piano (noted as p). There is also the range between them, and more letters indicate more (of that). So f is loud (forte), ff (fortissimo) is louder than that, and fff (fortississimo) is even louder still.  Likewise, p (piano) is quiet, pp (pianissimo) is quieter and ppp (pianississimo) is even more quiet, but still heard. Smack in the middle are mf (mezzo forte) and mp (mezzo piano) which are moderately loud or moderately soft.

There are a few exercises you can incorporate into your practice to get better at playing throughout your dynamic range so you can master your fingers and tell the story you want to tell. These exercises are not difficult and a few minutes a day will train your fingers and your brain to work together to get what you want. The focus of the exercises is to build differentiation between ppp and fff with clear progress through pp, p, mp, mf, f, and ff and to be in control of your fingers for each.

In control means that you play what you meant to when you meant to.This requires good technique with placing and closing, so if those are still something that you have to think about, then get that ingrained and then work on this.

Also, this is a relative continuum (meaning there is no absolute “loud” or “soft” only really really loud, really loud, very loud, loud, quiet, quieter, really quiet, and “what?”).

The exercises can be piggybacked onto exercises you’re already doing and I’ll use a scale as the example. I chose the scale because 1. I’m sure you’re already doing scales every day already (right?); 2. Scales are important, safe, and accessible to all levels; 3. You already know them, so you don’t need to spend a lot of cognitive energy on remembering the notes to be played which allows you to focus instead on achieving the dynamics; 4. you’ll quickly know when you don’t get the result you wanted/expected. 

Here goes:

Play one octave scale (up and down) in both hands at fff (as loudly as you can – while maintaining good form while staying in rhythm and tempo).

Now, play one octave scale (up and down) in both hands at ppp (as quietly as you can – while maintaining good form while staying in rhythm and tempo).

Third, play one octave scale (up and down) in both hands starting at fff, then repeat the scale each time starting at a progressively quieter dynamic (so fff, then ff, then f, mf, mp, p, pp, ppp. Each time through is a different dynamic). Yes, that is 8 times through the scales with graduated volume.

Next, play one octave scale (up and down) in both hands starting at fff, and subtly shift through fff to ff to f to mf. This takes a little planning – decide before you start to play where you make the shift – and how you will do that! Move it around a little and have some fun. For instance, you might do most of the scale fff and “downshift” to mp in the last 3 notes. Or play every two notes at a particular level. It’s up to you – the important thing is, did you get what that you expected? Don’t forget to do the other side and play your one octave scale (up and down) in both hands starting at ppp, and subtly shift through pp to p to mp.

Once those are easy(er), you can really shake it up.  Rather than moving gradually from one dynamic to the next, adjacent dynamic, make big leaps!  Maybe go ppp to ff to mp to fff, etc.  You get the idea – big changes…just like you’re playing music!

Go slowly and carefully at first. Each time you learn something new you need to give yourself time to process it, think about what you’re doing, what’s working (and not working), make changes, experiment, and learn. Give yourself time for all that! Make your own variations – rather than playing both hands together play from one to the other (for example – fff from left hand up an octave to right hand for another octave and down at ppp or something else that challenges you a little bit but doesn’t stop you from learning).

When you are able to successfully do each of these, then do the same exercises but make the movement between loudnesses larger across multiple octaves. At first make really big adjustments from fff to ppp at the crossover or vice versa. Change up which direction you go (loud to quiet or quiet to loud). The point is to test your control (and decision making).

Just about the time you think you’re big and bad and hard to diaper, it’s time to do the really challenging exercise. Because real control will be having different dynamics in each hand – a quiet base line under a loud melody. Or a shift of the melody to the lower register (and in the left hand) with a quiet harmony in the right hand. Remember the idea is to control your hands and make good decisions.

Here we go – Play the bottom of the octave only (e.g., C-D-E-F (up to but not through the cross) in each hand. Select which hand will play fff and which will play ppp. Give it a go. Now, this is much like when you first tried contrary motion – you might feel like your fingers are connected to someone else’s brain! Just breathe and keep on. You want to have each hand doing its thing (now you see why you have to practice!). And when you are feeling pretty confident on this, then do the whole octave up and down.

If it doesn’t seem to be coming along, try letting one hand come ever so slightly before the other so that you’re in control of each finger. Breathe. Relax. Work them closer and closer together until they’re simultaneous. This is hard – don’t rush it. When you think you have it – make a video to assure that you’re not getting tense (and that you’re keeping the dynamic distinction between hands consistent).

Important things to keep in mind (especially when it isn’t going swimmingly):

  • Progress not perfection.
  • This is about control not volume.
  • Whatever leaves you thinking you’ve had enough and can probably get by without is exactly what you most need to work on.
  • It will be worth it – when you bring tears to a listener’s eyes…and they’re not from painful eardrums!

Remember that even fast tunes have a story (of some sort). If you want to tell the story of a frenetic rave + chase scene from a video game, then by all means, keep thrashing away. But if you’d like to tell a more subtle story (Battle of the Somme or Flowers of the Forest anyone?) use your dynamics and tell it!

I’d love to hear how you get on with this – let me know in the comments! If, after reading this, you are a little lost, let me know that too – and we’ll work on it. And if you have other approaches, let me know!

Turn it up to 11

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Turn it up to 11

Did you know there are apparently four musics of the harp? They are Goiltai (for crying), Geantrai (for cheering), Suantrai (for sleeping), and Thrashai (for being heard over any other sounds present on the earth). (ok, I might have made up that last one)

Have you ever noticed how many people play their harps like they are auditioning for the Scorpions or MegaDeath? It seems as if playing as loudly as possible is their only goal. Now, I get it. You sit behind the instrument, and it is designed to project in front of you so you really might not be able to hear how loudly you’re playing. And if you sit in enough sessions between the other instruments, you could be forgiven for thinking that thrashing away at the strings is the best possible way to get out there.

But ugh – stop! Whacking away at your poor strings is not what you need to get better at. If you really want to join a death metal band, buy an (really big) amp.

If you want to be a better harper, work on dynamics.

Dynamics are an easy way to differentiate your playing, bring musicality to your music, and help your audience to know which of the three musics you’re trying to convey. Dynamics allow you to play at varying loudnesses. There are two major parts of adding dynamics to your tunes – storytelling and technique. Let’s start with the easy one this week.

Storytelling is essential to your playing. Remember that when you play, you are communicating with your listener (even if the only listener is you). For each tune, you’re telling a story. For many laments, airs, and songs there is a specific related story or tale. For others there isn’t (or the story has been lost, or you just haven’t heard it). When you play, you’re going to tell a story – whether you mean to or not. Might as well tell the story you mean to (even if you have to make it up).

The story you convey will be put forth on the tune and will be told through the tempo, the rhythm, the accompaniment, and the dynamics! So having some (dynamics) is a great place to start. If you doubt what I’ve said, I refer you to Prokofiev’s Peter and Wolf a very easy example of this point.  But also, Holst’s The Planets or Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture * or Muse’s Uprising as other easy examples. **  When you listen to these pieces you can quickly hear how much the dynamics support the story being told.

You can do that!

When you’re preparing a piece of music, think about the story you want to tell and how your dynamics will help you tell it.

How? (you already know what I’m going to say….)  The way to get better at varying dynamics is to practice. Next week, I’ll share some exercises you can incorporate into your practice to develop your dynamics!

If you have tips or tricks for playing dynamically, I’d love to hear them – let me know in the comments!

The Hand Trap

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The Hand Trap –

Aren’t we fortunate to play with two hands?  When you look at them dispassionately, they are pretty cool – mechanical artwork that also bring joy (by which I mean they bring cookies to your mouth…oh, and they help you play too!).  But for good or bad, there is also a hand trap.

That trap exists in the roles we assign to each hand as we play.  You know the thinking – the right hand takes the melody while the left hand provides the “color commentary” of harmony.  But that thinking can be really limiting.  And it creates a box (read: trap) that can be hard to get out of. 

The box is complicated and has at least three faces (it’s a metaphorical box!) which are interrelated – musical, physical, and mental.  If the hands get trapped in one (or more) that will curb the potential to do amazing things. 

What are the sides of the trap?  Musical, Physical, and Mental.  What are those limits?  How about:

Musical – using only one hand for melody may artificially bound what you play.  And the same could be true for the harmony you generate as well.  In addition, each hand has its strengths and weaknesses and keeping each role confined to each hand closes off options for the other.  The other impact of sticking to specific roles is that you may not make use of the whole harp.

Physical – We can start by going back to those individual strengths and weaknesses.  These will impact your control, power, and balance of each hand as well as your speed accuracy, and confidence.  As above, keeping the hands assigned to roles makes it more difficult to use the entire range of the instrument.

Mental – holding the music separately in your hands will impact how you think about it and potentially change how you might think about it.  This self-limitation may prevent you from identifying and using elements of your creativity.

It would be a shame to allow a rigid adherence to “handedness” limit your musicality and trap you into playing everything pretty much the same way.  Changing things up can help you expand musically, physically, and mentally by helping you develop more strengths and become more flexible.  It’s worth a try!

Like every change, if you decide to try to make a move, give yourself time to work through the kinks.  The first time you try something new it might go well – or it might run off the tracks so fast it makes your head spin!  So go slowly, carefully, thoughtfully, and gently.  An easy way to start is to play a simple tune you already know with your left hand.  Don’t worry about harmonies or tempo – or anything really.  You just want to muddle through the tune until it becomes easier (aka practice!).  Once you’re comfortable, then you can try playing the melody in both hands together.  After the melody is solid, you could then transition to putting the harmony in the right hand (after all, the left hand’s got this).   And just like that, you’ll have pulled a switcheroo!  All the while, you’ll probably learn more about the tune, how you think about it, and how you present it (which might change how you approach it…and you can see a whole iteration starting just by switching hands!). 

Make it easy on yourself.  You could start with something like Frere Jacques or Katie Bairdie.  Once you’ve done it once, each subsequent trial will be easier. 

What do you think – are you willing to give it a try?  I’d love to hear what you get up to – what tune did you try?  How’d it go at first? Are you going to keep at it?  Let me know in the comments!

Do you get a thumbs up?

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The days are getting shorter as the nights grow longer and the year end is hurtling toward us – must be time to take stock to see if you get a thumbs up.

You might have noticed that the holidays began before Halloween this year – and that’s probably here to stay (ugh).  So you are likely still working on material for your events whether they are family get togethers, playing for your friends, playing any one of a number of venues, or playing to impress the curtains and your cats.  Meanwhile, there is just a lot going on and everyone is busy.  I hope you are playing as many events for the holidays as you want to be – not one event more and certainly not one event less!

None of that makes it any easier to play, so it might be high time to check in on your basics to see how you’re doing.  Let’s start with your basic technique – are your thumbs up? fingers and hands relaxed? are you sitting up? breathing?  Are you still doing all those things while you’re playing?  You know good technique is important because it makes it possible for you to play stronger, and to play better for longer. 

Then let’s check on your current self-awareness.  You know that good technique relies on a solid awareness.  So, what better time than the present to give yourself the present of making sure you’re doing well?  Have you checked yourself in a video lately?  Or used a mirror to see what you’re up to when you’re thinking hard?  When you do look at these, do you identify what you need to work on (and then work on that!)?

Now let’s look at your repertoire – have you solidified your tunes for the season (or are you praying that you never get to the point where you have to play the wobbly tunes)?  Did you leave yourself enough time to prepare?  Will you mark your calendar to start sooner in 2023?  Have you noticed, though, that last year’s tunes are (ever so slightly) easier than they were last year?  If so, have you noticed what about them is easier (and what, if anything, is actually more challenging than before)?

So, now that you’ve looked it all over, can you give a thumbs up?  Of course, it’s only November so you have time to make changes if you need to so that you end the year on a high note. 

Have you let anything slide on over the last few months?  What have you found you need to focus on before you can give it a thumbs up?  Let me know in the comments!

Always commit, but not too soon

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For harpers, one of the most challenging things to learn is fingering.  I don’t mean “learn” as in getting it into your head.  Rather I mean internalizing the concept and grounding everything you do in that.

After all, we know that fingering can make or break your tune.  We know that while we’re ingesting a tune, we need to pay attention to getting the fingering into our head so we can do it again.

But making that knowledge part of our intrinsic fabric of self is challenging.  Precisely because you learn it along with the tune.  And that’s what makes it slippery.

Commit

Because when you learn the fingering as part of the tune, rather than embedding the need for fingering in your core, you just let it sort of wash over you.  In effect, you don’t really pay attention to the fingering as an element of the tune, it’s just a means to an end. 

You learn it but you don’t commit. 

And at the beginning of acquiring a tune, that’s a good thing.  After all, before you know the tune, how you can you know what the best fingering can be?  How can you understand where the phrases are going to take you?  Where will you place your stamp?  So, at the beginning, you do need a fingering that will get you through the tune.  But do you need to commit to it?  Or is it too soon?

To successfully play the tune, make it yours, and frankly, to enjoy it, you might need to mix up that fingering, so it might be too soon to commit.  You might change the fingering as you develop your overall approach to the tune and to the harmonies.  You might find that the whole thing will go better if you take this note in the other hand.  Or that a big fat lush rolled chord just there is exactly what you want so you now will play the melody note with the thumb.  Well, those things, those changes, those modifications, those betterments will change your fingering.  If you have already committed to an earlier fingering, it will have been too soon.

If you’ve committed to a fingering too soon, it will chafe.  And of course, once you’re committed, every change becomes harder to implement (because you have to unlearn what you were doing and relearn the new thing). 

Once you’ve settled on what you’d like to have, then you could commit to the fingering.   When you have assigned your imprimatur, then you can commit the fingering to memory, based on the development and analysis you bring to the tune.  And then use it!

When you’re learning a tune, yes, work on the fingering (especially if you’re a newer and shinier harper – if you’re still learning how to play, all of this will apply after more development… learning elementary tunes as taught is helping you build the foundation you need to then later do what I’m advocating here).  As you cultivate the tune, give yourself the freedom to explore other fingerings and approaches to rendering the tune.  Then you’ll be ready to commit, and it won’t be too soon!

How do you help yourself make the commitment at the right time?  When do you feel ready to commit?  Let me know in the comments!

Do You Count? 

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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!

Watching your nails grow – Two steps for progress

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We’re already into February!  That magical time when reality has set in and all our lofty plans for betterment have been shelved.

Typically.

Because, even though lots of people don’t set New Year’s Resolutions, with all the hype around the start of winter and the new year, it’s easy to think about whether one might find areas worthy of tinkering.

Not you, of course.  You’re just right as you are.  But others, certainly.

One of the reasons people feel that way (not you, of course, but others) is because they cannot perceive any changes in their ability to play.  And that is frustrating.  For them, of course, not for you.

Because these changes typically come about very slowly.  You might call them “micro-changes” (nano-changes?).  The farther you are from your first experience playing, the smaller the changes are in absolute terms.  And this might make those changes difficult to detect.

Watching your nails growWhen you first start playing, every day brings new discoveries!  Closing your fingers is an amazing activity.  Placing ahead is a magical mystery which actually does make getting the music out of the harp a little easier.  What you tried to learn yesterday is actually recognizable today!  All great victories.

But after a while, days of work may not result in a change you can observe.  You don’t remember when you started learning that tune, but you’re sure it was weeks ago (or was it yesterday?).  When did your technique take a nosedive?!?  Why is your repertoire not growing by leaps and bounds?

It’s like watching your nails grow.  You know they are growing.  But you can’t feel it.  And they sure look the same today as they did yesterday.

If you measured that growth and marked it on a chart, you would find that your nails grow about 2 hairsbreadths a day.  And yet, while you can see two hairs (in the brush, in the sink, on your sweater, whatever) you don’t see your nails growing.  But they make slow steady progress…and soon you need to cut them!

The growth is there.  Every day.  You just can’t see it.  But there is a way to get a better view and it has two steps.

Step 1.  Decide what you’re looking for.  Too often we decide we’re going to watch e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.  We’re going to perfect our technique while learning ten tunes all at once, sight read another 7 arrangements and work on our posture, finesse gesturing, while practicing 2 hours more every day.  And we’ll know – and remember – everything from today when we next sit to practice tomorrow (or the next day) so we know where to pick up again.

I get it, there’s so much work to be done!  But focusing on everything is actually focusing on nothing.  Focus, by definition, is paying attention to a narrow swath.  You are already multitasking by the nature of playing since you need to place both hands, remember the tune, keep ahead of what comes next, stay upright on the bench, breathe, etc. 

If you have a lot of things to work on – write each of them down.  Then prioritize them.  Be smart – prioritize so that the fundamentals (technique) will be ironed out first, since everything else will grow from there.  After you have finished prioritizing, for each item, write down what “done” will look like.  DO NOT WRITE “always in work”!  If your technique is terrible (!), break it down into the components that need attention and decide when you will declare victory so you can move on.  [BTW – “I’m bored” is not victory!  Being able to perform some element accurately might be your victory.]  Decide if your focus needs an action finish or a time end. 

Step 2.  Mark that!  Do what works for you – you could write in your practice journal.  You could make a progression video recording.  You could make a chart with colored stars.  It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as it works for you – and you do it.

So, the important parts of watching your nails grow? Focus and document.

What are you going to focus on?  How will you capture it?  Share your ideas in the comments! 

 

PS – yes, I know the nails in the photo are horrifyingly long, but you try to paint harps on shorter nails!  And I was trying to make a point!