It’s St. Valentine’s Day – show your harp some love!

You would think, for as much as we have a fondness for our instruments, that we would treat them extra specially.  But sometimes, like so many other things we love, we may overlook basic maintenance, neglect derived from the familiarity that comes with daily use of our favorite tool.

Since you want it to last you forever (or at least until you fall in love with a different harp), a little maintenance will go a long way to making you happy, make your harp sound it’s best and to make it a keeper (or ready to sell on, if you do fall in love with a new, different harp).  Regular maintenance will keep your harp in good health for a long time. 

Your harp is a system – all the parts work together to make a beautiful instrument.  If you are not going to treat it as a whole entity, you might as well buy one of those well carved HSO's (Harp Shaped Objects) from an airline shopping catalog.  Regular maintenance will assure that your harp stays strong and sounds good.  That will allow you to enjoy its aesthetics – sound, feel, and look.  The major parts of your system are the Strings, the body of the harp and the articulators.  Since most of you are lever harpers, I’ll focus on that here.  If you are a pedaler and would like equal time, send me a comment and I will be happy to oblige!

1. Strings – are the highest maintenance element of your harp.  Take care of them – they give your harp it’s characteristic sound - you know, the sound you fell in love with at first.  But maintaining the strings will also make your life easier – everyday.
• Tune your harp - DAILY.  All of it.  A-L-L of the strings.  DO NOT, as one person once told me, only tune the ones you’re going to use (yes, someone did tell me that one time – I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry).  If you have had to replace a string, tune multiple times a day until the string settles.  How will you know the string has settled?  It won’t need to be tuned multiple times a day!  Tuning has two other potential purposes or benefits.  First, it gives you a chance to really look at your strings to be sure they are in good repair (and don’t need to be replaced) and second, tuning can be a type of meditation in which you are breathing and really focusing on the harp itself and its overall condition.
• Wash your hands!  No matter the material from which your strings are made – wash your hands!  You will get stuff on the strings – skin oil, cookie crumbs, brownie frosting, mayonnaise, cat hair – it will get on the strings.  Did I mention – WASH YOUR HANDS!  (Caveat – be especially vigilant if you enjoy encouraging potential players to give your instrument a go – I once had a delightful pre-K’er get strawberry jam all over the strings of my little harp before I could stop her.  I didn’t think I’d ever get it all off my wound strings!) 
•  Annually (or thereabouts) – hopefully you listen to your harp while you’re playing it and will hear when the strings have seen better days.  They get “thuddy” – they don’t ring true.  They may also refuse to stay in tune. How frequently you need to replace your strings depends on a number of things including how much you play, how you play, and how much money you have.  A full set of strings can be pricey, so factor that into your budget.  A full set of replacement strings for my Dusty 36 would run about $170 (and if I liked gut, that would rise to $400) so plan ahead. When you do replace your strings – remember that you need one set to install and an additional full set so you'll have spares for potential breakage.  You should know how to change strings on your harp (for when they break), but you can also pay someone else to do the restringing for you. Many luthiers offer this service for a charge.  However, like many other chores, restringing can take on a rhythm which makes it, if not fun, at least not unpleasant.  
2. The Body - Protecting your harp
• Protecting the glue – don’t leave your harp in the car in warmer weather.  Some take this to the extreme of never leave your harp in the car, but that can be a little bit unrealistic.  However, when the weather warms up, just like an infant or a dog, you can’t leave your harp in the car when the inside will warm up rapidly and to a high temperature.  At these higher temperatures, the glue will soften and, with the tension on the harp, it may loosen or at worst, come completely apart…at some time (maybe not right away!).  By the same token, protect your harp from harsh sunlight and away from windows.  Also keep it away from fireplaces or other heat sources!
• Protecting the finish.  All harps have some sort of finish.  Each manufacturer uses their preferred method.  You should check with the manufacturer before attempting to clean the surface with any type of cleaning product.  You can, however, dust your harp regularly with a dry microfiber cloth, or a “Swiffer” type duster (do not use the plastic handle/holder – just keep the duster in your hand).  While dusting, be sure you get the surfaces and anywhere dust can easily collect (like the tops of grommets, between the bridge pins and the arm, inside any frippery/scroll work), and where the column meets the base of the soundboard.  DO NOT use anything wet (unless directed by the manufacturer).  Whatever you do – definitely don’t use Pledge or other furniture polish – it’s your harp, not furniture!  By the same token, do not leave your harp in the car when it is very cold.  The cold will not damage the glue but may damage the finish.  
• Protecting the harp from falling.  Harps seem really big and imposing (especially when you’re carrying them any distance) – until they are not.  Make sure your harp is not in physical danger.  Because they are larger on the top than on the bottom, harps may easily fall over - and some harps are more prone to falling that others.  It is a sickening feeling to hear a harp falling and becoming damaged.  Consider stowing the harp in a corner or other protected space (this is essential if you have rambunctious cats, dogs, or small children).  Don’t storing it in its case – because unpacking it becomes a chore that gets in the way of easily practicing.  
• Protecting the wood – Humidity.  Harps are made from wood (most of them).  Wood is from trees – living things.  So, just like other natural materials, your harp will be impacted by the humidity – swelling when the air is moist and contracting when it is dry.  Dry is the big problem.  Just like it is bad for your skin (think of the ashy flaking of dry winters!) it can be too dry for your harp (you can’t smear moisturizer on your harp!).  Try to keep the air about 45% (this can be very difficult when the heat is on).  You can use an inexpensive hygrometer to monitor the humidity in your home studio.  You can run a humidifier or use a fountain (which is not very efficient for humidifying the air but does a little – and looks nice) to help keep the dryness at bay.
• Transportation.  Moving your harp can be tricky.  Simply leaving your house, putting the harp in the car, controlling the air in the car, then arriving somewhere else to play – you’ve gone through at least 3 microclimates all playing havoc with not only the wood but also the strings!  Just plan for that as you time out your transportation to your event.  While in the car, keep the harp in the case and assure that it is stowed with the levers not constrained (either on its side with levers on top or upright on it’s back with the levers protected (so the harp doesn’t fall over and break levers).  
3. Articulators (Levers!) Required Maintenance.  The upside is that your levers shouldn’t need too much maintenance.  However, sometimes they will need to be regulated.  Regulation is the name for the activity of adjusting the levers to calibrate the pitches of the strings when the levers are engaged.  I’d suggest doing this when it needs it.  "When it needs it" will be impacted by how you play, how much you play, and your harp itself.  You’ll know your harp is out of regulation when, after you tune it, you set the levers and it plays out of tune.  You can regulate your harp yourself, but unless you have the patience of Job and you know what you’re doing, I would strongly recommend you take it to your luthier!  It’s totally worth the cost to not pull out your own hair, or continuously move the levers in the wrong direction or too much or too little.  Just take it – it’s worth the peace of mind to let someone who knows what they’re doing take care of it! (but if you really want to do this yourself, there are instructions on line).  You should also check your levers while tuning or playing to see (inspect really) any cracks, breaks, or other flaws that may become obvious with use over time.

If you have multiple harps – not only do you want to do all the above for each of them, but you also need to make sure you cycle through your harps.  Play and practice on each of them.  This assures that you are tuning them regularly, keeping an eye on them, monitoring the strings, and enjoying each of them.  Be sure to rotate through them – and to really revel in the differences between them [there may also be a benefit from changing from harp to harp in terms of being more comfortable with the variations between them which might make you more confident when playing someone else's harp or when on stage!].

I’m sure there are other ways to show your harp some love this Valentine’s day – and every other day – leave me a comment and let me know what you do!  And happy Valentine’s Day! 

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Tracking practice

So here we are at the beginning of February.  New Year’s resolutions have probably petered out.  Winter blahs make it hard to keep focused or to be disciplined.  And there aren’t too many weddings or events as everyone recovers from the peak of the holidays and stores up reserves ahead of the burst of energy that the coming spring will require.

But you already know that being a musician, at any level, requires constant, steady work, even if it’s in small pieces.  We know that if we slack off a little, we likely will return refreshed.  But if we take off too long, we come back having lost proficiency and needing to work hard to catch up to where we were.

No matter how much time we let pass between practice sessions though, we have the same goal for each session – to make progress.  How we define that progress is up to us – and our teachers, coaches or mentors if we have them.  No matter how we define that progress though, we really on have one method for assuring that we make it – we have to write it down.

I have been advocating for documenting your progress in a journal.  Journals give you a wide-open place to write out all the good and the bad with your practicing in a single place that will allow you to review your thoughts in both the short and the long term.

But I realize that journal keeping is not for everyone. After all, it requires you to commit to even more time for your practice.  And if it takes that long, you will probably drop it (and the resolution goes by the wayside, like most resolutions do).  It is also fairly intimidating – What do you write? How? Where? For how long? What if you miss the important points?  In addition, a journal is just a diary – and you’re not a kid, so why bother, right?

However, capturing your thoughts about your progress is important.  There really is a lot of information in your head while you’re practicing and right when you finish.  In addition, you really need to keep track of what you have done, what you are doing, and where you (think) you are going.

Successful weightlifters use a simple tracking method to assure that they remember what they have done so they can plan what they will do.  There are loads of little details – What exercises? How much weight? How many repetitions? And of course, the underlying plan that, if followed, will get them where they’re trying to get, whether that’s the Ms. Olympia or just to be able to lift the dog food onto the shelf.

It bears repeating – they do this so they can keep track….and remember! what they have done.  If they can do it - you can do that too!

You can keep track of how many times you do a scale each day.  You can also keep track of which scales you do, how each hand performs, where the challenges lie, and, perhaps more importantly, what you’re going to try tomorrow to fix those problems.  You need room to write what was good, what was bad, and what was ugly, as well as what you might try tomorrow to make it better.  You need to capture how many times you worked on Twinkle Twinkle and how it went as well as how much you worked on the Ceremony of Carols and what it might still need.

Because tomorrow, it will be fuzzy.  Did Twink go as well as you remember? Or were you still having a challenge with getting the rhythm right?  Do you remember how much time you spent on it?  Was it proportionate with what you wanted to do this week?

You can also keep a “balance sheet” for your practice – so you can see that, although you meant to work on the Ceremony of Carols this week, Twink took up all your time.  Or that because you were so fashed with Twink, you never did get around to doing any of your exercises or technical work.   Or that because you spent so much time on Twink you never remembered to stretch either!

You can also document what didn’t go well. Still can’t get that fourth finger to close without flipping your wrist? Worked on it every day? Will you remember that when you get to your teacher’s studio?  Maybe.  Maybe not. But if you write it down, you will have the note there that you need help with this!  That will help your lesson incorporate everything you need to work on*.

Where do you need to write it?  Well, whatever works for you works.  But, if you don’t want to share the deepest thoughts in your journal with anyone or you’d be embarrassed by the sheer number of little slips of paper, napkins, grocery receipts and stickies you used to capture your day – you might need a tool!  One that is easy to use, easy to keep track of, and easy to share.  So, let’s leverage what weightlifters use - you need a tracker.  Well, I just happen to have one available!

My blogspot readers - our days here on blogspot are numbered.  I will be moving off this platform and posting the blog only from my website, .  It's the same content, just a different place to look.  Please head over there and Subscribe (up on the left hand side of the page) so we can stay in touch.  Up until now, the blog content has been the same in both places, but there are limitations here that I can overcome over there.  So, please head over there now, subscribe and your FREE Practice Tracker will arrive in your email**.  You can print one out for each week so you have just one sheet to bring to your lesson.  You can collect them over time so you can review your development (this is especially helpful on those days that you’re left wondering if you should take up playing the kazoo instead!).

Give it a whirl for a few weeks.  Make notes at whatever level you like.  This is a tool for you to use – so use it your way!  Leave a comment below on your initial thoughts – I’m delighted to hear from you!

* and your teacher/coach/mentor will be delighted to know what the week has brought, rather than having to try to figure it out be watching and listening to you.
  
** don’t fuss, I’m not going to spam your email or send you a million emails asking you to buy stuff but I will send you the Free Practice Tracker and each month I’ll send you an update newsletter.

OBTW - If you are doing journaling, good for you!  Keep at it!  But you might still consider this tracker - as an addition.  You can take just the one sheet to your lesson and you can use the format of the tracker to assure you're capturing all the important things you want to remember from practice to practice, lesson to lesson, month to month, goal to goal.  

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 -