Warm Up Exercises for Harp Ensemble

Note from the composer

Each exercise has two versions, a more gentle version and then a more advanced version. They are based on block placing and encourage good articulation to warm up. Because the patterns are repetitive, it enforces that ‘cookie cutter’ approach, where you close the fingers and make a loose fist after playing each ‘block’ and then open your hand to the same shape on the next ‘block’ of notes.

I wrote these warm-ups so that they would be musically interesting and (hopefully) not get boring to play, no matter how many times you play them.

Choose any three exercises and after you finish it, go straight to the next one without a break. By the end of playing three of them all the way through your fingers should be nicely warmed up. You can mix and match any of them, in any order to keep it all fresh, so you are never playing exactly the same warm-up each time.

However, the magic happens when you play them as an ensemble. They all fit together harmonically, so every exercise can be played together at the same time. Every person within your ensemble chooses their own three exercises to play, and then everyone plays their chosen exercises at the same time.

You have a group warm up which does the job of warming up the fingers, and will sound different every time it’s played!