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That’s perfect! The lighter tension will give your fingers a nice break. 🙂
Another tip that really helped me while I was building up calluses, ice your fingers if they get super sore or get blisters. I usually will get blisters on my thumbs or right index finger, so I take an ice cube (and a paper towel so I don’t drip everywhere!) and hold it between my fingers for a long time. Before I go to bed I’ll ice them for awhile. It’s also great if you play at a restaurant or something, it’s easy to ask a waiter for a cup of ice during a break and soothe the stinging fingers.
— Natalie
These are all beautiful harps everyone!
I absolutely love the look and sound of Dusty Strings FH36, the glossy finish that shows the natural wood is stunning.
And Mountain Glen Harps have beautiful paintings and carvings. It’s amazing how someone can not only make a beautiful sounding instrument but also make it into a work of art!
I prefer sound to looks, if the harp looks good but sounds terrible it’s not worth it!
— Natalie
That is very true. Although I don’t know how to avoid feeling irritated by him, he just has that sort of effect on me… Ever have someone who just drove you up a wall, although they’ve done nothing wrong?
Saul,
I agree completely that the most important aspect of preparing for any important performance is performing the repertoire beforehand. At some point I will write a post or two about substitutes for an actual performance, just like the list you came up with. Personally, I have found that some of those do absolutely nothing for me, while others work in some specific instances only. I also have several techniques beyond yours that work well for me – it’s all individual preference and exploration.I’m essentially writing about the steps as one might come to them, so for instance I’ll discuss the creation of the audition CD in depth when its almost time to actually time to start thinking seriously about how it will be made. Likewise, I’ll spend most of the spring discussing performance practice, as you went over, since that’s when most people will be concentrating on that aspect. This is all with the assumption that a reader would be competing/performing this coming summer, although the advice certainly isn’t restricted to any particular season or month!
With regards to why someone might choose to compete, it sounds like you might not have read the short article that I published on my blog. You can find a link for it under the right hand side of the banner image. Competing is certainly not for everyone, but many of the people that frequent competitions do so because it is an environment in which they thrive, and you can’t contest that competitions would be good in those instances, can you?
With regards to artistry, I agree with you. Artistry, though it is of the utmost importance, is not the only aspect of playing. Much of my music education has focused on developing my musicality, and I’ve very grateful for this, but I also think that I’m somewhat lacking in technical solidity and control, aspects that competition rewards. Competition should be by no means the focal point of one’s musical education, but if it’s going to help push the student, and he enjoys it, then he should consider doing them. If it will be destructive, then don’t. It’s a simple, personal choice, and my blog tries to give a picture of what competing is like in order to aid the decision making process for those that haven’t competed.
The advice I give should be useful to any performer, however, and as we are all musicians, the advice should prove universal. Any professional musician will be faced with auditions at some point in his career as well, and so the advice is equally applicable there.
~Sam
I went from a 22 string lap harp with the lightest tension of any harp I’ve played to a Lyon and Healy petite pedal, and they’re known for having for tight tension. So I totally understand your pain!
I’ve been playing for a year, and the best thing that has helped is practice, practice, rest, practice! The resting is important once in awhile, especially after I play for 2 hours… That’s about my limit. Tonight I played at a restaurant for 2 hours, so tomorrow I will only play for pleasure if I feel like it. Otherwise I try to practice at least an hour a day! Not that I manage to DO that every day… But it’s my goal! I have light calluses now, but if I stop playing for over 3 days they disappear and I have to start ALL OVER AGAIN. Of course a few weeks ago I had some kind of throat infection and couldn’t get out of bed for 5 days or so, and my fingers are still sore. =_=
My finger sensitivity has VASTLY improved. I used to play everything at the same volume, my dynamics were terrible. Now I can play “Across the Universe” by the Beatles and play the fade out part at the end, I play softer and softer until it’s like a whisper. A year ago I couldn’t do that! My finger endurance improved too, now I can last 2 hours. A year ago the longest I’d played was 1 hour because I was forced to.
As far as pedal harp string tension goes, I think most harps are similar. I’ve only played a Lyon and Healy and Salvi though, so I’d be curious to compare! I’ve heard L&H and Salvi called “sisters” before, the companies are very similar in quality. I prefer L&H but that’s because my harp is one and I can blame my teacher for making me biased. 😉
And like I said above, practicing diligently but resting when your fingers get sore is the quickest and best way to build up endurance. I try and play arpeggios and scales and such for a few minutes to warm up and then work on what my teacher has for me. Everyone has a practice routine so I would suggest finding what works for you, what you enjoy playing, what is HARDEST to play, what is easiest to play, etc, and combine it into a daily pattern. I try and sit down for an hour but often times I just randomly walk into my room and play for 15 minutes multiple times during the day!
I’m a chatter box, so I hope you enjoyed reading this whole thing! Thanks for the interesting conversation, God bless!
— Natalie
Mr. Anonymous has no cultural excuse, he’s as American as I am. We actually have very similar family backgrounds.
We’re exact opposites in personality: He LOVES cars and driving, I have a fear of driving and can’t tell a car apart from a truck, etc, etc
But we ARGUE the same exact way, we both won’t let a point go and won’t back down from a debate. So when you bring to opposite personalities into an argument and neither will shut up it ends up in absolute frustration.
I’ve given this tons of thought, and for now I’m just leaving him be. It may be cold but ignoring him is all I can do for now. If this persists I’ll talk to him, but until I must I’d rather not.
— Natalie
I’ve had to say virtually the same thing on more than one occasion. I just think the harp is so unique and rare that people haven’t a clue how it works. I try to be polite for the most part, but there are times you have to just shoot them down to get them to shut up and actually HEAR the words you’re saying!
He most certainly does know how to irritate me. He seems to have a crush on me and I feel the opposite for him. He must be into abusive relationships and anger issues. ;P
— Natalie
P.S. I’m a really sarcastic person, so take everything I say only half-seriously. 🙂
I’ve been tempted on the smacking thing. =_=
I’ve pretty much given him the cold shoulder now. I have no more patience for dealing with him!
— Natalie
Thank you! I love getting comments from people interested in the harp. I’m the only harpist aside from my teacher that I know of nearby, so I tend to be pretty chatty on these forums. 😉
It took a year or two of constant “harping” (forgive the cheesy pun) on my mother to convince her to even look into playing the harp. She sent out an email to our homeschool group just to appease me, and my wonderful teacher replied enthusiastically. Thanks to God I found a little lap harp and started playing, just for fun. It really proves there is a God, because there is no understandable reason as to why an 11 year old girl who had never shown that much interest in music suddenly refused to let the harp go. It took over 4 years for my whole family (including my church family) to save up for a pedal harp! I’ve been playing pedal harp for a little over a year now, and I’m actually diligently practicing for the first time in all these years. So there’s the short story on how I got a harp.
I remember wanting to play very badly but not even having a harp yet. Do you have one? If I didn’t have a teacher I’d get nothing done, so maybe the secret to learning would be to have lessons? When I started out I told my teacher I wanted to learn for fun and possibly get jobs in the future playing at weddings. I told her I didn’t have to be a pro and she respected that. Now I’m thinking about maybe getting more serious, and she adjusts the lessons accordingly. Finding a good teacher is like finding something more valuable than gold, you just can’t replace them!
Thanks so much for the response!
— Natalie
A little of both for me. Most of my music books are for the harp, but that’s because I’m a die hard Sylvia Woods fan and I LOVE her arrangements!
God Bless!
— Natalie Wagner
Eliza,
Are you sure? My serial number is lower than yours but was made later… maybe I’m wrong (I bought used) but the owner was very sure.
~SamJessica,
Basque country is a portion of northern Spain and southern France, not Greece. They speak their own language, which is not related to any other known language.~Sam
Salzedo’s mother died when he was very young (I’m pretty sure he was five, actually). In order to help out in general (and specifically with little Salzedo), Salzedo senior hired a Basque woman. Salzedo came to love this woman very much, and liked to think of himself as Basque because of it, despite the fact that he is not Basque at all. One of the traditional forms in Basque music, the Zortzico, a dance in five.
~Sam
