Pieces of Practice

Like you, I have a schedule which often defies description.  And I don’t know about you, but one thing my schedule lacks is consistency.  Not only is every day of the week different, every day is different – this Wednesday will look completely different than next Wednesday.  And sometimes, despite meticulous planning, I have no idea what happened – some random thing changed the whole shape of my day.  

You’d think I’d be used to it by now, and yet each and every time I remain amazed and a little irritated that nothing has gone to plan.  This is exasperating and impacts all the activities of the day.  One activity that almost always gets impacted (in a bad way) is practice time. 

Having the day “eat” the time for practice is almost as annoying as the day changing when you had already planned for it to change on you.  Mostly this annoyance arises from having gone all day and still not making any progress.  With no regular practice time, you’ll find that you don’t learn a lot of new tunes.  You don’t feel confident in the tunes you have.  And you don’t have the time to be creative either! 

For a long while I would let it slide.  I would try harder to get to practice the next day.  I would get up early.  I’d stay up late.  I would practice for a long time on an “open” day but then miss three days in a row. Lather, rinse, repeat and pretty soon you’re not ready for any events.  Worse – even your go-to tunes start to suffer.

That’s not just annoying, it is frustrating.  When your day is bent out of shape, you need to put the pieces back together!  But what do those pieces look like?  Well there are two types of pieces: the Basics and Details.

The Basics pieces include those things that underpin all of your playing.  (yes, I have come up with another way to disguise fundamentals!) This is a small but essential part of your practice.

The Details pieces are all the other work – reading, rhythm, remembering (the tunes you’re working on), and rough spots!  And that can be a big and vital part of your practice.

But, there’s still the problem of getting the pieces to fit into the day.  Schedule and planning gurus always tell you to make an appointment with yourself and to keep it!  This is actually a sound strategy.  Except…well, then the day gets away from you and you get busy making sure you make all your “real” appointments (why do we dis ourselves like that? That's a topic for another post!).  So, you may find that you need to finagle the practice pieces back in.  Give it a try – and you’ll probably be well on your way.

One thing working in pieces does is giving you built in structure.  Each of these pieces is something you need and want to work on (ok, I use “want” loosely).  This structure includes working on both the basics and the details - in a balanced way by selecting pieces of each.  Another thing pieces give you is built in breaks (which you know you need to help keep you healthy and to give the music time to get into your head).  But perhaps best of all, working in pieces means that you can practice in smaller wedges of time.  You are unlikely to have an hour (or more) to practice.  But you probably can find 15 minute unoccupied chunks throughout the day.  No one wants to get up an hour early to practice, but just 15 minutes early sounds pretty do-able. You probably won’t miss your favorite show, but you might want to use 15 minutes of the sitcom that comes on just before it.  Or 10 minutes.  Or 5 minutes!  Just think about the pieces of your practice in the bite sizes that work for you. (by the way, you can also bump the pieces together when you actually have an hour (or longer) to practice!)

But even if you have the time, you still have to figure out how to spend it.  Here are two different suggestions based on practicing for an hour each day, but divided into pieces.  The time should be kept with a timer.  That can be from the timer function on your watch, or a kitchen timer, an alarm clock, or the clock on your phone.  No matter what kind of timer – make sure it sets off an alarm to tell you that the time is up.  Set the timer for a segment of the available time (e.g. 15 minutes).  Do NOT overrun the clock!  You are working to the time you have so the piece has to fit.  Most important - for each piece of practice time, identify – before you start – what you will do in each segment. 

Here are some ideas if you can use 15 minute pieces:

1. In segment 1 – warmups, exercises, and careful technique work and review
2. In segment 2 – Sight reading.  No matter what type of music you prefer, reading is a skill you need to develop, cultivate – and practice this frequently.  Just do it and don’t whine
3. In segment 3 – learn new music – parse the tune, find the “hard parts” and work through anything that gives you a hard time
4. In segment 4 – work on “polishing” tunes that you have gotten into your fingers, end with free play

But you probably have a busier day than that, so you might need to work in 5 minute pieces, so here are some ideas for those smaller bites:

1. Warmups (stretch, air harp, small movements)
2. Scales – be careful, mindful, watch your technique
3. Arpeggios (or other warmup/useful shapes work)
4. Exercise book work – just do this, no whining
5. Reading away from the harp (this is work you should do and you know it.  It really will save you time, but you have to do it to get the benefit)
6. Reading at the harp (like what I said for 5 above – just do the work)
7. Listening/ear training away from the harp (another piece that you just need to do – do not sell this piece short!)
8. Ear work at the harp (either from a recording or from memory)
9. Repertoire review (clearly it will be a small slice, but still)
10. Free play – Remember why you play the harp? ‘Cause you enjoy it? Then spend a little time enjoying it!

You need to have a regular “diet” of these pieces to make up a practice.  You might not get every piece every day, but the combination (over days and weeks) needs to be even and must move you forward.  Each day you can fit the pieces together to make a practice that fits your time and your goals.

I'm sure you already have some pieces you like to use to practice - share them here so the rest of us can give them a try too!  Use the comments section and let us know - 

Planning ahead – for the Somer(set)

I’m very excited to share that I will be teaching at this year’s Somerset Folk Harp Festival in Parsippany NJ!   I’ll be presenting a workshop on my own.  And even better – I’ll also be co-teaching another workshop with Donna Bennett!  It just gets better and better - two workshops!  Yea!! There will be more than 100 workshops and I’ll be in great company with an amazing pantheon of presenters!

In case you have missed it, the Somerset Folk Harp Festival is amazing.  It is a 4-day conference that celebrates diversity in music, as well as the talent and experience of the folk harp world. It provides a great opportunity to do what you need to move forward, whether that is to focus on one type of music, or to solidify specific skills, or try out something new. There are opportunities to learn new things in every--single--session!  And the Exhibit Hall – yikes!  It’s jammed with harps and music and accessories and stuff and more stuff…so much harp shopping in one room!

The festival begins on Thursday and runs through to Sunday.  I will be teaching Friday afternoon.  First up is a workshop called Sounding Scottish from 1:30 – 3pm.  This will be a hands-on workshop, for all levels of play.  We’ll be working and learning by ear.  And yes (don't worry), there will be paper too!  Here’s the write up so you know what you’re getting into:

Love Scottish music? Wondering how to make your tunes sound more Scottish? Scotland has captivated people for hundreds of years and inspired composers, artists, and authors. In this workshop you will learn specific elements and techniques to ensure your tunes sound Scottish. Jen will teach tunes to apply and practice those techniques and use images, video, language, sounds, geography, myths and legends of Scotland as muses to provide inspiration for your own take on the music.

And then, in the very next workshop session, Friday from 3:30-5pm, I will be working and teaching with Donna!  This will be so much fun!!  We’ll be teaching Creativity Tools to Improve Practice & Performance.  This is also an all levels (including companions!) hands-on workshop exploring your creativity – and you know we are all creative, so bring on the companions!   Here’s what you’ll find in the workshop description on the website:

In this workshop, you will learn the skills, tools, and techniques that bring the creativity secret to your work as a musician or a teacher. Find out how to actively apply creativity tools and techniques to improve your personal work processes and your overall approach to harping. These tools can prepare you for projects and gigs, regardless of your level of accomplishment or years of experience. Jen and Donna will give you techniques to help generate better ideas and expand your arrangements and repertoire without adding to your learning load.

If you haven’t looked yet, the hotel is already available and there is a lot of information already available on the Somerset website.  You can also register at the early bird rate until 1 May (which is a really good approach - not only do you get a lower rate, you get your summer planned!).  The registration includes all the workshops you can fit into your day, entry to the Exhibit Hall (otherwise known as Harp Shopping Nirvana), tickets to the concerts (where you will see and hear Harp players you probably always wanted to see in concert).  If you can’t make it to all four days, you can register for individual days too (Kathy has thought of everything!).  To register, you can go here.

I hope you’ll come along to the Festival – and come to my workshop!  Will I see you there?  If so, let me know in the comments below.  Hope I see you there -

New Year – new repertoire? Eight places to look for tunes

Did you notice how far we are into the new year?  And still I haven’t encouraged you to set goals, or intentions, or to pick a word for the year, or any of the other ways we get around to identifying what we think we should accomplish in the coming 365 days?  Are you wondering if I am ill or when the other shoe will drop and I’ll be getting on you to set some goals and make some resolutions?  It is January after all.

Well, the answer is – I'm not!  You already know that stuff and even if you didn’t, you hear it everywhere you turn.  And, if you recall, last year I suggested you skip it all together. Instead, let’s talk about something else – your repertoire.  Yup – repertoire. 

I am often asked where tunes come from.  Everyone knows that – the Stork brings them.

Ok, maybe not.

Your repertoire isn't a solitary thing.  It is the backbone of your playing.  It stands as a culmination of your work.  And whether you’ve been playing for 2 months (and have a tiny but well-practiced set of tunes) or playing for 1000 months (in which case you may have a large and varied repertoire consisting of tunes you learned at the beginning but never played, tunes you’ve been playing the whole time and tunes you just learned) your repertoire is certainly one measure of your work.  And you can always add to your repertoire - because there are so many tunes out there still!

But where do tunes come from?  Especially the tunes that are cool, or captivating, or just plain fun.  There are l-o-a-d-s of places to get music!  Tunes are everywhere!  You almost can’t not find new tunes.  Here are eight places you might look for tunes to play:

1. From your friends.  After all, what are friends for?  And what could be more fun than sharing tunes?
2. At Harp Circle you’ll have at your disposal a collection of tunes clearly suited to the harp (and you can either combine this with 1 (above) OR make a new friends and then (see 1, above).
3. At sessions there are continuous tunes – some of which you’ll know, but loads of others that you’ll have never heard before!  And remember, just because you’re at a session doesn’t mean you have to play all the time – sometimes you can just listen and find some stuff you’ll want to play later.  Those are the tunes you can capture in a notebook or record them so you can find them and learn them for the next time you are at the session.  If you session regularly, you could learn 12 – 50 tunes each year.
4. Books! Harp books are full of harp tunes – and are readily available online.  If you’re especially keen you can even buy a download of a book – instant gratification!  There are loads of places to find these – I usually get mine from Sylvia Woods Harp Center* or the Virginia Harp Center**
5. Pipe and Fiddle books capture tons of tunes – most of them playable, all of them worth at least reading through.  Fiddle books are pretty easy to read – after all, they only use one line!  Pipe books are conveniently full of tunes.  You might have to work a little harder to find the tune, what with the tiny print, the sometimes odd font (some are typeset to look hand written (or that actually are handwritten)), and the omnipresent ornamentation (which could be viewed as a playing and fingering challenge, but often is just kludging up the page for the rest of us).*** 
6. Published collections.  There are a number of collections that have been published including the Athole, the Glen, the Mackintosh, the Marshall, and the Lochnagar Collections.  I purchased a number of collections from Thistles and Things****. There’s nothing quite as grand has having a real-hold-it-in-your-hands book copy of the collections.  And I find that every time I comb through one of the books, like magic, tunes appear that I swear were not there before!
7. Online sources. You can search the web for all kinds of tunes.  Weather you trust The Session or you are looking for J. S. Skinner tunes in his own hand (from the University of Aberdeen Library), music is available online.  Not looking for traditional music?  You can also find non-trad music online.  Having trouble finding what you want?  Change up your key words and keep looking beyond the first page of google results.
8. YouTube/Spotify or other video/audio tracks. Ok, technically these are also online sources, but they’re different from finding sheet music.  This is a great way to find tunes by bands you already know, by bands you’ve never heard of, in varying presentations (harp, fiddle, pipes, didgeridoo, other instruments).  Again – just keep looking. You might have to use the English name, the native name (the title of the tune in Scots, Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, French, Spanish, etc.), or multiple titles (e.g. I love the tune “Over the Hills and Far Away” – do you have any idea how many tunes have that title?  No, I was not looking for the Led Zeppelin version, but I found it!).

All these sources will help you find new tunes to add to your repertoire.  There are so many tunes out there – let’s find as many as we can…and keep ‘em in circulation!  I’m sure you have other sources – let me know what you have found in the comments below and we can share that here soon!

* Oh, come on, who doesn’t buy stuff from SWHC?!?  She’s got a number of books that might just have exactly what you need – usually in a very approachable way. This is not a paid advertisement – don’t freak out.   

** It’s my blog, I can tout my local Harp store.  And they have a knowledgeable staff and good stuff on the books racks. This isn’t a paid advertisement or product placement – please continue to not freak out. 

*** Let's be fair, the pipers do use all that ink, it is just a little intimidating when you first start to look at it! I have gotten a lot of lovely fiddle and pipe books from Skye Music Shop and lately from Duncans Highland Supply - both lovely people and very helpful.  If you'd done well so far, I'd urge you to continue to not freak out at this point.

****Just a shout out to my friend Patti Tillotson who’s run a great little shop from Harpswell Maine for a long time.  This is not any kind of paid advertisement – you've done well holding off so far, still, don’t freak out.  She’s got great stuff! 

I do not receive any kind of compensation for any of these links – they’re just places I go and sources I use.  Please don’t freak out - I'm not trying to sell you anything nor are these affiliate links. If you elect to visit my suggestions, I am confident you will receive good service and excellent source material.  If you happen to mention that you saw them here, then maybe they'll be glad - I know I will be!