Harp Skills / Tips

“To Play Like an Angel, You Have to Work Like the Devil” ~ Carlos Salzedo (1885-1961)

Step one. Set a goal. Decide beforehand exactly what you want to accomplish over what time frame.  (play 3 or 4 measures perfectly 20 times within a 15-minute period).  Review. Each time it gets easier.

Step two. Set an appointment with your harp. Reward yourself when you meet your goal. (NEVER punish yourself when you don’t!) Play loud, play soft, vary the tempo. Keep yourself interested; 15 minutes can quickly expand into 30 and beyond.

Step three. Organize your music. Really concentrate on creating a system that works for you: notebooks, piles, alphabetical, favorites, most demanding, musical categories, etc.

Step four. Organize your harp room. Constance Whiteside says, “You are worth the time and expense to create a space that makes you feel good every time you walk into it.”

Step five. Set a half hour goal – and eventually longer. As you improve, you will be compelled to spend more time playing the harp rather than checking your email.
Most of all, DON’T GIVE UP!

The Pentatonic Scale is a 5-note scale. It is used in some Asian, American Indian, Medieval, Celtic, early folk music It is found in classical music of Ravel and Debussy.

The note pattern is 12356 in any key – such as CDEGA .  The easiest one to find on the harp is based on G and is played by ignoring the colored strings. GABDE.

You can get the same effect by playing only on the black notes on the piano.  Pentatonic scales are easy to start improvising because 99% of the note combinations sound good together. There are no "avoid" notes.

If you tune all your colored strings one half tone lower so they are the same as the note below (C becomes B, and F becomes E), you can improvise without looking at your harp. You can't hit a wrong note – even when you play both hands together. Arpeggios sound neat when you adjust your harp in this way.

Some pentatonic music that may be familiar to you:

• Old Man River, Deep River, Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen,
• The Parting Glass, Auld Lang Syne, Amazing Grace, Swing Lo, Sweet Chariot,
• Give Me Your Hand, Ye Banks and Braes,
• Wayfaring Stranger, Motherless Child,
• Morning - from Peer Gynt Suite by Grieg, 
• Annie Laurie, Loch Lomond, and Summertime (except for one note)