Welcome to Notes from the Harp! The month flew by! I hope you enjoy these ideas for shaking up your practice routine. If you have a question you'd like to ask, please do so. I might feature your questions with answers in a future issue!

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In This Issue:

Article
Get Off That Practicing Plateau Without Even Playing

Technique Tip of the Month
Latin-Style Right Hand Octaves & Chords

Improvisation Starter of the Month
Adding a New Melody to an Old Friend

Resources
Latin American Music & Techniques

Baby Waves & Other Hand Exercises

While you’re waiting in traffic, or any other time you would be twiddling your thumbs, go ahead . . . twiddle your thumbs! Any kind of hand and finger stretching is great support for your harp playing. Not only will your hands and fingers be happier, but you will be increasing your flexibility. Here are a few ideas:

To do the baby wave: raise your hands and wave all your fingers together, the way a baby does. The fingers, as a unit, open and close, and the thumb stays relaxed. (Why is it that babies wave like this? Because it's much easier than moving their hands side to side).

Hand warm-ups: Try this sequence to warm up your hands before you play. There are three different ways you gently tap your hands. First, tap inner wrist to inner wrist. Next, tap outer edge to outer edge. Finally, tap the spot between thumb and forefinger to the same spot on the other hand and alternate which thumb is up.

Finger Stretches: Use the fingers of one hand to gently tug downwards on each outstretched finger of the other hand, and then reverse hands.

Squeeze and Release Hand Forms (at the Harp)

This one I just learned from Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, who taught some fabulous workshops on his recent trip to Colorado. He calls it “squeezing the Charmin”!

Place the fingers of one hand on a four note chords on the harp, preferably one at least as big as an octave. Make sure your hand position is correct, and then pay attention to every part of your body to check for any tension (not just your hands, but your shoulders and even your hips).

When you are satisfied that there is no tension anywhere, gently squeeze the strings with your fingers (do not play). Now release the squeeze, making your hand completely soft (without removing it from the strings).

Repeat this sequence several times before taking your hand just a little way from the strings on the release. Repeat this sequence again before taking your hand slowly all the way to your lap. Just for fun, try replacing your hand with your eyes closed. You'll be amazed at what you've learned!

This is simply the best kinesthetic training I’ve ever learned. You can adapt it for killer chords by making the stretches bigger, and then going back to the original chord and seeing how much easier it is.

Clapping Rhythms

If you are starting a new piece, or even practicing something you know pretty well but stumble sometimes over the rhythm, stop playing it badly and do this instead. Clap the rhythm until it’s totally easy. If you need to do two counter-rhythms, the easiest way is to tap one on each leg, or clap one and tap the other with your foot.

You can also use the metronome to play one rhythm (say, eighth notes) while you clap the other (say, triplets) over it. (This suggestion came from my daughter, a student at Interlochen Arts Academy and a passionate French horn player).

Only when the rhythm is easy with your hands and/or feet should you try the piece on your harp. A little patience with this seeming delay will net you huge gains in learning your music.

Dancing & Singing

Take the clapping idea a step further and do it with your feet, dancing your piece around your living room. If you sing while you dance, that's even better. You’ve heard it before but it’s really true: if you can sing it, you can play it. My teacher has always had me singing the jazzy rhythms I love with do-wahs. Have fun and get the rhythm "in your body" at the same time!

Mental Practice: Score Review

If you want to really know your piece, even if you don’t plan to memorize it, study the notation away from the harp. Use a highlighter to mark lever changes, dynamics, and other things you might otherwise miss. Write in chords, fingerings, and brackets. Draw a colorful star or arrow to mark the beginning of each section; this way your eyes will go right to the spot when you need to glance at your music.

If you don’t want to mark up your music, try putting it in page protectors and then using wet-erase markers. Later, you can erase the marks and get back to your clean score if you want to.

Color is a wonderful learning aid! Sometimes, I ask a visually-oriented student to map an entire short piece with colored lines on a plain piece of paper. This process will teach you a lot about the texture and design of the music.

Visualization

Go one step further with your mind and visualize playing your piece perfectly. Don’t just imagine the music in front of you, though you can do that, too. Imagine your hands playing each passage with grace and the dynamics you want. I like to do this when I’m about to fall asleep. Experiment with what works best for you.

Arranging and/or Learning Music at the Computer or Playing on Another Instrument

If you want to really know a tune, use music notation software to arrange it, or at least to notate your own copy. Notation software will also play the music back for you, which can be a great boon for learning!

If you don’t use computer notation software, you can write out the piece by hand, which is great kinesthetic reinforcement. Another idea is to try playing your piece on another instrument. Of course, a piano is great if you have one handy and know how to play it, but how about picking out the melody on a recorder or xylophone?

Listening

This idea may seem obvious, but when was the last time you listened to a recording of the music you’re practicing? Repeated listening will really teach you the intricacies of the music. Worried about copying someone else’s style? Relax. It would be almost impossible to sound like Kim Robertson or Deborah Henson-Conant anyway, don’t you think? You will always play with your own personal quirks, and that’s as it should be. However, you can purposefully try to play the piece with tempo, dynamics, or other features of a great performer. It’s a wonderful way to learn.

(Later, if the recording isn't too fast, you can even try playing along. Some music comes with CDs that lend themselves to that. Though this is outside the subject of this article, it really helps and can also get you off your practicing plateau).

Music Theory Study

Last, but not least, no matter what level you play at, you can vastly improve your understanding of music by studying music theory away from the harp. If you’re a beginner, drill your notes and rhythms with flash cards. Here are some free flash cards to download.

And don’t forget Ricci Adam’s wonderful and free Music Theory Net. You can download all the lessons and drills to your computer and use them anytime without having to be online.

I hope you use these practical ideas to shake up your practice and move from any plateaus you’ve been experiencing. Let me know how it goes!

Last month, I talked about making octaves easier to play with a C shape. Here is the original tip.

I've since learned from my workshops with Alfred Rolando Ortiz that Latin American harpists use an open-handed technique for the right hand as well as the left. Not only are the fingers up and the hand open, but there is that same curve to the fingers that allows them to close like crab pincers.

I've been experimenting with this technique on octaves and large chords, and I have to say it's a far easier way to play them fast. This isn't to say you need to abandon your traditional technique (as Ortiz would be the first to point out), but it's a great tool for your technique toolbox. The bottom line for me with hand positions is effectiveness and lack of tension, and this one is a winner on both counts!

This month, I'd like you to try improvising with a piece you already know. If you're an intermediate player, you could also start with a simple arrangement for piano, such as Amazing Grace (level 4, first page only) on Gilbert Benedetti's Free Music site.

First, play through the left hand alone. If you already know your piece, this should be very comfortable. (The less experience you have on the harp, the more important it is to begin with something you know really well).

Now, play the left hand as written, and play anything you want to in your right hand ~ anything except the melody, that is.

At first, unless you've done this before, it will feel awkward as you search for something that sounds good.

Don't know where to start? If you get stuck on a chord, keep playing that one chord while you try different notes in your right hand. Next, do a single phrase until you like it, instead of trying to work the whole piece.

If you can keep the left hand going as written and feel a little braver, try this: keep playing that left hand, let's say five times through, while trying different patterns of single notes in your right hand. If you stick with it, you will find pleasing snatches of melody that you like and you will start to repeat them when you get to that spot again.

Here is one suggestion to try with your right hand. If your left hand is playing a G chord, try all the notes from g to d (the five notes that fit within the G triad). When the chords changes, the five notes you can play also change.

Most of all, have fun!

This month’s resources take you to the world of Latin American music for lever harp. At Alfredo Rolando Ortiz' website you can buy far more than CDs and books of his lush music. He also offers two instructional DVDs, one that teaches basic harp technique and one that teaches fun special effects common to the Latin style, many of which you can use to spice up your other repertoire. Find it all here:
Alfredo Ortiz Home Page

The first lovely Latin music I heard in concert was played by Sharlene Wallace. Besides playing some of Ortiz' show-stoppers, Wallace writes her own delicious compositions in Latin and other styles, all for lever harp. You can explore her recordings and published sheet music here: Sharlene Wallace Home Page


Thanks for reading Notes from the Harp. I welcome your questions and comments. I'll be back with a few more inspiring ideas next month . . . in the meantime, happy harping!

All content by Susan Zevenbergen, Copyright 2007.

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