Stay between the lines!

I was driving down the highway the other day.  I was going about 1000 miles, so on one particularly long, straight stretch, I started remembering when I learned to drive.   

For me, one of the hardest things to learn was staying in the middle of the lane.  When you start to drive, you know you need to stay in the lane – and between the lines.  The lane is defined by the lines, so I looked at the lines - constantly.  But you know how that goes – the more you look at the lines, the farther you are from your desired position – in the middle of the lane.  The best advice (or training) I got was to look down the road – look way down the road.  After I (finally) learned that, staying in the lane was so easy.  Now, as an experienced driver, I don't even see the lines close to me and keeping the vehicle in the middle of the lane is something I take for granted.  It seems that I just go where I meant to be.   

The reality is, no matter how good a driver you are, you will never stay in your lane to get where you’re going if you don’t look ahead.  So, what does that have to do with playing the harp?  Everything!

When you’re learning a new tune – what do you do?  I don’t know about you, but when I’m having trouble getting a tune into my head, I naturally narrow my thinking down to just what comes next - what’s the next note.  But this doesn’t actually help me learn the tune.  It just frustrates me (thus drawing my focus away from what I’m trying to do – learn the tune).  If I lift my head and keep my focus “down the road”, then I can think of the phrases (as phrases, not as a trickle of sounds).  When I can hear the tune in my head, the notes that come next become so much easier to remember.

When you’re reading music, the notation (the lines and everything else) are helpful – but can be distracting.  Again, sometimes just having all that ink only serves to draw your attention to the individual blops – and you lose track of where you are on the page, in the phrase, in the music.  When you lose your place, your hands may not end up in the right place, or they might be going the wrong direction or be overstretched!  Keeping the long view will allow you to read the music rather than focusing on the ink and better allow you to be more able to play.

When you’re playing, you have learned the tune or become familiar with the dots on the sheet.  When you’re playing, you want to be “in the moment” – and that is important.  But remember that music isn’t static or fixed.  Music is serial, it comes out over time - like the road!  It can’t come out all at once (although there are some composers who clearly do not agree with me on that!).  So being in the moment has to include the plans for this moment, and then for the next moment, and then the following moment, and on and on until the end of the piece - as a flow.  This is not contradictory, rather, you need to hold the music in your head as a piece rather than as a set of notes.  Looking at the whole of the music, rather than on just it’s representation (that you learned or are reading), will help keep you on track.

When you’re performing, you really are taking all that you have learned and putting it out there in the world to share.  This is more than just playing in that now.  Because now, in addition to being in the moment with the music, you must also be present with the listeners.  Whether there are 2 or 200 or 2000 in the audience, your focus has to be “farther down the road” to include not only the music but also the hearers and what your message to them/with them is.  Here, your long view includes them, the music, and the presentation.  Keeping an eye on where you want to take them with the music, what it is you want to share, and how you mean to do that will help give you a smooth ride.

Of course, this is a simple analogy.  There are many things on the road that require attention (like stop signs, traffic, pedestrians, etc.).  And just like that, music (written or aural, practice or performance) has details (like dynamics, tempo, timbre, etc.) which enrich the ride and improve the experience.  But, just as staying between the lines becomes second nature, learning, reading, playing and performing can also become second nature so that your music grows, flourishes, and delights.  And just like any journey, when staying between the lines comes naturally and effortlessly, you can enjoy the journey so much more easily.  What are the lines you have a hard time not looking at?  How do you stay in the lane? When you look down the road – what do you see?  Leave me a comment and share how you do it!

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Give it a rest!

There are so many things we can do with our harps to make a noise – typically beautiful, but not always.  And there are all the effects – from bowing the low strings to PDLT to damping to glissing – we have all kinds of ways to disturb the air and get sound.

We each spend time practicing our favorite sounds.  Or those required by the score (Bernard Andres comes to mind quickly, but there are others…).  We might even spend time actively seeking out new noises to make from our instruments or perfecting our technique to assure we get the effect we meant (harmonics come to mind).  We work hard to get noises from our harps.

And of course, we spend a great deal of time learning to play so that we know exactly how to touch our instruments, so we get what we wanted – beautiful tone, deep, sonorous chords, compelling melodies, captivating harmonies.

But there is something else that we should practice that will enhance all this.  We always let this get by us, and yet, it is often the secret sauce that really “makes” the tune.  It allows the audience time to reflect.  It gives you a space to think.  It helps insert life into the tune.  And it seems to terrify so many of us.

 

What is it that we’re so afraid of? 

Is it a technique that is difficult to master? Nope

Is there some “signature composer” that we should have already thought of (but we haven’t)?  Nope

Is it some advanced riff that only the best musicians get? Nope again.

It’s the magical, useful, and all too undervalued rest.

You know – silence.

The space b-e-t-w-e-e-n the notes.  The ones you might shave in the fast tunes (which is why you end up playing faster).  The ones you wish you didn’t have so many to count in ensemble.  The ones that can completely make (or break) your competition air.  The ones that, when used appropriately, get your audience right where you want them, in the moment, with you.

Why do you need to practice your rests?  Well, mostly so you will be comfortable – with the silence.  We often “clothe” ourselves in the protective wrapping of notes.  We think that we will be protected if we have the notes or that we are vulnerable and exposed in the space between.

How about you turn that thinking on its head.  In fact, the rests are the most free part of the melody.  Rests add a strength to the harmony that the sounded notes cannot.  And they give you a little bit of a breather.

You already know how to make a rest.  You just don’t play (or you also damp).  And you don’t play for some finite amount of time (as described by the music).  You create an absence of sound.  You don’t generate any sound.

Of course, as you practice a piece, you would generate a rest if required by the composer in the piece.  But, there are other useful times for silences – between pieces? Under thunderous applause? When you want to get the attention of the audience?

So, how really do you get comfortable with rests?  Especially the long ones.  Because, contrary to popular belief, that is not time made available by the composer so you can fidget! That’s true whether it’s a 16^th rest or a thousand bars of rest in an ensemble piece.  No matter how long or short, you need to wait, be quiet, and be ready, but not overeager, to come in.

Short rests are relatively easy to practice because they are a direct part of the melody.  You can practice them with your metronome, just like every other element of the music.

For the longer rests, between tunes or to create a mood, here’s a suggested practice element.  This can help you become more consonant with the emptiness of the rest.  Use your watch (but only sparingly).

One of the most difficult things to do is to estimate how long you have been sitting, making silence.  I had the opportunity to play for a meditative event.  In this playing, it is important to leave a little space for thinking, praying, and contemplation.  So, the rests become ever so much more important! A full minute is not too long to wait.  I actually used my watch. 

And learned something so important – when I had finished a tune and was waiting to begin the next, I had thought, “oh crikey, I better get going or they’re going to think I’ve fallen asleep.” 

Watch check – 18 seconds. What?!? Only 18 seconds? It felt like a week.

I was aiming for 90 seconds.  It felt like forever had gone by.  Boy was I wrong!

After that, I start practicing estimating the amount of time that had passed since the end of the tune.  (Reality check – to you the tune might end when you start to play the last chord, but to the audience, the tune ends when they can’t hear the lingering reverb any longer (or you complete your gesture) – which could be a while!) 

My hack for estimating time – because it’s rude to check your watch over and over – is to sing the Birthday Song in my head.  It takes about 10 seconds to sing (don’t rush it just because you’re not singing aloud).  I breathe.  I position (and then check) my fingers when I’m ready to play again.  I don’t rush. Want to leave a minute? Sing the song six times through.  To get 90 seconds sing it 9 times. 

This ability to “tell time” without telling time will also make your presentation easier on your audience and on you.  You can assure you leave some "breathing room" between your tunes.  When you are not in a rush, you are more present which makes your music more lifelike and fuller.  And what’s not to like about that?!?

So, incorporate full rests (no shaving of note value) and waiting rests (silences between) into your playing and Give it a rest!  How do you make space for the silences?

Listen, listen, listen

If you’re reading this, it is likely that you are primarily playing traditional folk music.  One of the beautiful things about trad is that is has always had a significant aural component.  There was a time, according to the historians, that all harpers learned their music by ear.  In fact, they learned everything by ear – the tunes, the words to songs, the epic poetry, the histories – all in the aural (and oral) tradition.

This makes excellent sense – after all, music is aural – we all, musician and appreciator, participate in music by listening.  We know that how it sounds is essential.  In fact, when we make a mistake, we know it because it sounded wrong.  Not very many people will tell you they knew they made a mistake because it felt wrong!

But how are you to know how it should sound?  How does someone new to the music learn how to give it the lift, lilt, or jaggedness to make it sound right?  If you grew up in one culture, how do you know how to make a tune from another culture sound like it should? How do you make your Irish tunes sound Irish and your Scottish tunes sound Scottish and ensure that only your Welsh tunes sound like they came from Wales?  How do you know where they came from???

The best way is to listen!  Listen to the music.  And of course, really listen – find the nuances.  How does an Irish tune sound relative to one from Cape Breton?  What lets you know when the tune is from Scotland?  Can you tell your favorite harp players apart when listening? (Being able to identify my friends by their playing on their cds was a turning point for me – when I finally “got” how important listening is!).

And, of course, you have to do a little homework – it will help when you start causing yourself to listen to have some information handy (to know where the tune is from).  Once you get comfortable with actively listening to music then you can move on to listening while not knowing, guessing where the tune (or the player) is from and then looking it up to check your work.  Just be wary of tunes that are played everywhere (they’ll be tricky - these are typically very old or very popular!).  

And don’t forget to enjoy the listening while you learn how to bring those sounds into your own tunes.