What can I do to improve my musicianship?

These are my notes for what I want to focus on working on now in each situation.

...in sessions....
playing fewer tunes
tackling specific challenges each tune
try to get the whole tune in mind before playing any of it
accompaniment improvisation.
following tunes players rhythm as closely as possible.

... in rehearsals...
lots of prep beforehand
close close ensemble work.
being brave with performance.
ask for feedback.
keeping an eye on time keeping

... in practise....
small chunks to good standards
perfect posture, hand shape.

... in background gigs....
stamina.
posture.
improvisation.
allowing the music to breathe in awkard spaces.

... in proper gigs....
audience focus.
allowing the music to breathe and really aiming for a great visceral connect with the audience.
story teling.

... in teaching....
have a very clear idea of what you are teaching & directing each time

Teaching music? Or being a guide?

I have a real trouble with the concept of "teaching" music. Much like art, it's so much about your own self and reference to yourself it's impossible for someone else to set out exactly for you. From everything from how your hands work to your taste and direction in music, it is something best found for yourself and there are many many ways to approach it. I can only hope to communicate a few good examples and the enthusiasm to continue learning.

What can I pass on?

• A received technique that has been tried and tested by many musicians
• Ways of developing your body awareness to manage and develop your own technique
• Ways of getting into listening, reading and processing music
• Ways of practising and improving coordination
• Give you signposts to what music already exists, point to what music can be but I have no intention of telling you what music should be.
• A positive attitude and an enjoyment for challenging yourself - how to make a game out of difficult things

Good learning states

Current ideas:

Figure the task out by yourself for yourself! It's your information, order it in a way that makes sense to you.

Take time, have patience and be calm. Learn in a way you enjoy.

Play games, explore, go on a whim.

Let the movement connect itself up naturally for you.

Little practice and often eases frustration.

Set up a good environment - easy access (instrument out) - not too much at once - timer (maximum detailed concentration is about 20 mins)

The hardcore part of music is often building the physical side, it's like a tree. Plant a seed then water in lots of little stages, return to see how it's growing frequently!

Life cycle of learning a tune...

1, Figure out notes and rhythm
2, Explore physical side - hand shapes , bowing patterns...
3, Make physical bits easy (play games with it - see below)
4, Re imagine music - add something new (left hand?)

Section 3 is the bit we really think of as "practice". All the normal rules apply - learn what you repeatedly do so you want to sort out small bits and get them right first time. However if you're really exploring the movement then little games are helpful to prevent the boredom:

Treacle practice - like you're moving through treacle - how slow can you play?
Taking a specific movement or pattern and playing with it - rhythm, accent, different expressions...
Re: harps you have block practice, practice finding where your fingers need to go in clumps

The main thing is play with it, improvise, explore through games. When you can mess about with and return to a data set you can understand it in a much more intuitive way, whether a movement or a pattern of notes. It's a great state to learn in and fun too.

Anatomy of harp technique...

The best technique is the set of movements that allow you to play what you want to play remaining comfortable, relaxed and free of injury.

I'm still adding to and researching this... basically harp technique is a very natural movement, it's all about getting the right posture. Playing the harp can feel great, a goo dhand shape feels really relaxed.


My ergonomic thoughts thus far...

• Your general body posture - upright, relaxed, balanced, the harp leans to you.
  
• Openess across shoulders supported by back muscles pulling shoulder girdles back into place
• Arms are held up by upper arm muscles and pectroal muscles - must be balanced by back muscles!
  
• Hands held somewhere around or just below heart level - it's better to play around with your harp height to find the sweet spot
  
• Positioning hands - you can change the angle of your arms and two planes and then the amount of rotation on your forearm
• Your fingers should work in parallel with forearms (no bend from side to side)
• Wrist should be held so there is as much space available for everything going through the carpal tunnel. This also affects the balance of strength in your hands (difference in ulna and radial muscle strength). Sweet spot is when closed thumb is in line with forearm
• Fingers work much more efficiently and relaxed when pulling under the hand into a flat (baby) fist, not clawing back. A hand shape where fingers are straighter but more bent at the knuckle enourages this more. Also bringing fingers that aren't being used in to the hand in flat fist position encourages the other fingers to follow.
• The wrist angle allows a backwards bounce in hand after each movement to release tension in wrist.
• Thumb needs to start open with space at all joints and close fully to curl over your index finger - gives it a hug!

Photos to follow!

In many ways it doesn't matter what movements or shapes you use, but the quality of movement is very important. You are looking for shapes that allow you to get a great contact on the string, fully articulate to follow through your movement, and then release any tension. It's all about all about the contact with the string and sharp ping away from the string - relying on finger weight, no effort needed.

Efficient practice

I'm collating any ideas about how to practice - guidelines for how long, what kind of stuff, techniques to tackle difficult corners, mental practise. Any more ideas please pass back...

How long....
little and often
regular - tied into routine
leave your instrument out - just dip in for 10 mins - timer
20min "learning spots" may be most efficient

General ability....
focus on individual hand patterns
interacting patterns (.e.g. scales in left, moving chords in right)
improvisation, playing games with shapes - pushing general coordination

Techniques for difficult corners....
block playing odd shapes (harp specific)
rhythm and accent practise

General rules....
slowly sorts it out!
play it right first time - then play it right 3 times
hands separately to start
small sections - target, achieve, move on
need method / diary to see what you are achieving

Mental practise....
imagining how you want the music to sound, in small detailed sections, in overall sweeps
imaging the movement in fine detail - see hand from 3 different angles

What is traditional harp music?

I'm going to do a couple of gigs towards the end of June. I'm thinking about all the different places the harp goes and I go with the harps - I feel like it's a complete meeting place / melting pot for music and musical traditions. Also I feel myself as a musician is also a huge melting pot... classical, early harp, Irish, Scots, English, Breton... composed, improvised, ensemble, solo...

The remit of trad harp within Britain and Ireland:

The harp has its own historical repertoire dating from 1000 - 1600 roughly, location specific:

• Ireland
  
• Scotland
  
• Wales
  
• Britanny (claims an early traditional though I know of no historical sources as yet)

New compositions for solo harp (ones here listed are all Scottish) e.g.

• Savourna Stevenson
• Corrina Hewat
• Phamie Gow

The harp as song accompaniment for traditional or "Nu folk" songs:

• accompanying trad song and folk song in general
• specifically associated with the Scots gaelic waulking songs (partially responsible for the revival of the clarsach in Scotland)

The harp as part of the dance tradition (a fairly recent invention)

• accompanying (rather like a continuo player but sometimes more involved / composed)
  
• as a leading melody instrument - first person to do this in Ireland was Maire Ni Chathasaigh in late 1970s / early 80s

The harp also accompanies spoken word - poetry and storytelling. The earliest documentation of the music for this is the Ap Huw Manuscript.


Historically the harp has always been more aligned with songs, storytelling, ceol mor - literally "big music" meaning music to be still and listen too. Despite it being a listening instrument, the aural nature of transmission means it's still traditional instrument, related very closely to the rhythms of the body and a pesronal touch.

Performance practises associated:

• Fixed compositions and arrangements whether solo or ensemble (like classical music learnt aurally with whatever sense of rhythm)
• Improvised accompaniments
• Ornamental improvisation on melodies (specifically Irish trad)
• Bigger improvisations on melodies (more of an English thing)
• Theme and variation (early harpers used this particularly)
  

It's valid to have a classical sense of rhythm (fits with "pop-y Nu folk") or a trad sense of rhythm. To me I only want to use a trad sense of rhythm - all ties back to this sense of traditional music "feeling right". That's what trad means to me - very human dance music. Even my songs have to feel like they are dancing.