Placing Chords from Bottom to Top

[harp-lady]

I recently heard the question, “what are the benefits of placing a chord from bottom to top” (meaning 4th finger first, all the way to 1st finger). What are some quick bullet points to list when one is faced with that question? I’m sure in a perfect world one would want to place all notes at once, but when a student is first learning that is very difficult to do! Thank you for your thoughts/suggestions!

[kimberly-rowe]

Oh wow—this is one I can’t resist chiming in on! Honestly I can’t think of a lot of benefits to placing from bottom to top, unless the writing specifically requires it to avoid buzzing. Here are my bullet points for why NOT to place this way!

• Regardless of which technique you use, placing the bottom note first generally causes your hand to roll out of a stable position (especially if you’re just beginning and not completely sure what a stable position IS). This can lead to too much hand/wrist movement and general instability.

• If your hand is unstable when you begin to play the chord, you have a greater chance for an uneven sounding chord.

• placing the bottom note first can cause overall tension in your hand if you struggle to reach up to the rest of the notes.

• Placing bottom to top adds and extra step (taking more time) and will be really difficult to get rid of later if you’ve trained yourself to do it this way.

• Placing bottom to top doesn’t help you think of the chord as a “shape”, which is helpful for reading quickly, and also for getting rid of tension as you approach the strings.

If you absolutely cannot put all four fingers on together, a better way of maintaining a stable hand is to place from the middle of the chord out (2, 3 first, then 1, 4). This will keep you thinking of the shape of the chord, and hopefully prevent your hand from rolling out of position.

I’ve probably said way too much but as you can see I feel very strongly about this! I’d love to hear what other teachers have to say as well!

Kim

[Tacye]

An alternative is to place 1 and 4 first, then the middle fingers – works nearly as well as Kim’s suggestion of 2,3 followed by 1,4 to keep the hand in a balanced position, with the advantage that either the bottom or top note is likely to be the ‘anchor’ for the chord. By anchor I do not mean the key note, but rather the read one note to position the chord and use the intervals/ spacing pattern to get the rest of the notes, rather than reading all 4 notes.

2,3 first is more natural if reading the notes is instant for you, but 1,4 first is often an octave and I think has its place. It also simplifies 3 note chords with an outer octave and the choice of 2 or 3 for the inner note.

[carl-swanson]

Dear Harp Lady- You said “when a student is just learning…” so I’m assuming you are talking about a beginner or advanced beginner student. The important technical point here is to be able to make the shape of the chord with the hand in the air, off the strings, and then to place all of the fingers in the chord at the same time. If you are having difficulty learning this, then start with 3 note chords, and play a C major triad up and down the harp playing root position, first inversion, second inversion, etc. up and down maybe 3 octaves until it comes easily. For each chord, form the shape of the chord in the air and then place the three fingers together on the appropriate notes. The finger tips should land exactly where they are going to play and there should be no adjustment after the fingers have touched the strings. Practice this hands separately, hands together, hands playing different positions together, hands going in opposite directions together, etc. When this is going well and there are no mistakes, do the same thing with 4 note chords. Do it on a major chord, but also on a 5-7 chord so that you learn all of the positions for that chord.

In the actual playing of chords-for example the opening of the Faure Impromptu, or the cadenza to Britten’s Young Persons Guide…- you in fact will place sequentially from the bottom to the top, placing only one or two notes ahead of the one that is being played. You do this so that you don’t muffle strings that were just played, and also to minimize buzzing. BUT, you cannot place one note at a time, bottom to top, because it is easier, or because you haven’t learned the technique of placing all the fingers at once. If you do that, you will always struggle with playing chords and it will sound labored and lumpy. It’s rather like the difference between typing using good typing technique or using the hunt-and-peck technique with two fingers.

I agree with all of Kim’s bullet points if she is talking about a beginner who has not learned to place chords the correct way first.

[Sid Humphreys]

Kimberly, my last teacher (Rebekah Passmore) taught me the importance of placing 2 and 3 first. She called this “Peace Out!”

[Sam Karlinski]

I, too, was taught to aim with 2 and 3. Aiming with 1 and 4 doesn’t make sense, simply because putting 2 and 3 on afterward is awkward, and for a little kid, who will probably actually place 1 and 4 and then 2 and 3 three after, that’s not good.

[Loonatik]

I place 2 and 3 in general. In cases where top notes were meant to ring, or if the chords are just too big and need to be rolled, I place 3 and 4.

The technique of learning chords with shape of the hand/finger positions in the air suggested by Carl is really interesting. I find that very helpful with the huge arpeggio phrases, as they are like chord rolls of 16-32 notes. There you’re literally keeping the same shape going up and/or down.

Thanks for this tip Carl!

[Angela Biggs]

The only benefit I can think of to placing bottom to top is that it helps students conceptualize the spelling of a chord. I teach adult novices, and so far they’ve all had a hard time grasping the fundamentals of chords when they’re first starting.

These other points are very good though, and useful. Exactly why I keep up with this forum. Even though this isn’t my thread, thanks folks! 🙂

[harp-lady]

I think these are all great ideas! I was referring to younger children who are learning to play chords (around ages 8-11). Do you find that little fingers tend to go for 1 or 4 first and not 2 and 3?

[Alison]

Surely beginner pieces would have only 2 or 3 note chord at mosts. I think my pupils have placed bottom note first when first finding their way through a piece with 3 fingered chords, and near enough together for 2 note chords, but what’s relevant is how they read the chord. For example I mentally see the top note of chords on the page and get the rest below as harmony, but one pupil (guitar player) said she saw the chord from the bottom note upwards – you’d have to ask individuals. Lazy pupils will try to use 1 and 2 when they should be using 1 and 3 for anything more than a fourth.

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