Harp Practice Log

New links to recordings and update

2010-01-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize that my other audio links didn't work anymore, so here are new links to the mp3's.

2007-05-17-lasmananitas.mp3 (1.3 mb)

2007-05-17-lespifferari.mp3 (1.5 mb)

2007-05-17-welshp.mp3 (2.5 mb)

After my son was born almost two years ago, I decided to take a break from the harp and use the next several years to save up for my own harp (by which time hopefully my kids are old enough so that I'll have time to practice again!). When that time comes, I'll be excited to share more about my harp-learning journey!

Harp pratice overview

2007-06-06T13:36:00.001-07:00

Have been practicing but without laptop beside me to log.

Working on Welsh Airs #2 and #3. #2 involves big rolled chords that stretch the left hand. #3 is a common melody that I recognized without knowing where from and is very pretty; I'm working on less buzzing in the left hand.

Also working on Scottish Air, which involves similar big chords without the rolling. Still mostly working on page 1.

Will be dragging the laptop over to the harp in a couple of days, as I need to start working on Les Pif w/ metronome.

Also was assigned Greensleeves (more big chords) which I still haven't attempted.

Harp practice

2007-06-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

I have been practicing, but not logging, the past few days.

Today:

Scottish Air - worked more on both hands.

Welsh Air 2 & 3 - tried to play.

Les Pif - worked on scale.

Harp practice

2007-05-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

Scottish Air - worked on page 1. Stretches hands.

Harp practice

2007-05-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

Start 4:50 pm

Welsh Air 2 - first section RH, LH, both. Hard!

Welsh Air 3 - first section

And @ 138

Scottish Air RH, then both hands

Les Pif

End 5:35 pm

Harp practice

2007-05-21T16:24:00.001-07:00

Start 4:00 pm

Exercises p 27

Scottish Air - right hand

Tambourin - hard parts

And - faster

Les Pif - faster. Currently at about 80. Will need to get to 112!

End 4:30

Harp practice

2007-05-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

Start 3:55 pm

Les Pif and W.

Three more harp recordings

2007-05-17T20:06:00.001-07:00

Three more rough harp recordings!

Les Pifferari is new piece I just picked up this Tuesday. I love it -- it's so pretty!! I played it several times in an attempt to record it and the one here is my best one yet -- just one fumble in the beginning and a missed chord later on. I'm playing it much slower than it should be, but not bad for only two days, eh?

Welsh Penillion Melodies is fun to play, as well, although I'm not up to tempo at all yet.

Finally, Las Mananitas is okay, although I'm still not that good at it yet, either.

Les Pifferari

2007-05-17T20:04:00.005-07:00

Welsh Penillion Melodies

2007-05-17T20:04:00.003-07:00

Las Mananitas

2007-05-17T20:04:00.001-07:00

Harp practice

2007-05-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Start: 4:30 pm

Les Pif - I am loving this song!!

And @ 138

Tam @ 104 -- second hard part still rough -- worked on it for a while.

Oops, forgot to work on exercises...

Ex p 73, 27.

Scottish Air - RH

Welsh P

Las Man

End 5:40 pm

Harp practice

2007-05-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

Start 3:25 pm.

Ex p 27 6 and 7, p 85

Les Pif - once through, then worked on RH, then first page w/ both hands.

W - once through

Welsh P 1 - worked on right hand to stop buzzing, then together. Worked on first part of 2 as well.

End 4:10 pm

Harp lesson

2007-05-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

For the record - I did practice on Monday but was too lazy to log it.

Harp lesson yesterday went well. Tambourin and Andiam, Mio Tesoro were okay, as was Weinachtsgllocken. I've been working on those for a while now.

My new pieces were good as well -- Welsh Penillion Melodies, Three Traditional Welsh Airs (just the first one), and Las Mananitas.

New things to work on: Three Traditional Welsh Airs 2 and 3, Scottish Air, Les Pifferari, and Greensleeves. Yikes! Welsh Airs 2 and 3 and Scottish Air involve lots of BIG rolled chords, and Greensleeves is practically ALL big rolled chords. Les Pifferari is a cute song that I'm really liking already. I probably won't get to all of these in the next two weeks before my next lesson, but I'll certainly get better at rolled chords while I'm at it.

I need to get back into working on exercises, as well. Will try to hit those first for the next week.

Harp practice

2007-05-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

Start: 4:27 pm

Welsh P - several times, trying to play II faster.

Need to work on:

buzzing at 10-13
placing fingers at 18 without buzzing

Worked on Las Man a few times at tempo.

W - haven't worked on this for a while!!

Andiam - arms tired... definitely harder to work on this. Do this first next time and pay attention to places where buzzing.

Harp practice

2007-05-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Briefly - Welsh P. three times.

Harp practice

2007-05-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

Start 5:05 pm

Tam @ 88 - good! Tried hard parts @ 96.

And @ 126.

Welsh Air 1 @ 88 - pretty good, then tried @ 96.

Welsh P - first page.

End 5:25 pm

Harp practice

2007-05-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Start 4:35 pm

Welsh Air 1 @ 76 -- hey, not bad! Tried @ 84. Practiced measures 5-8 several times to keep from buzzing.

And - worked @ 126; haven't practiced for a couple days so scales were rough again. Worked on scales, then both hands. Tried @ 138 -- ha ha!

Tam @ 80; hard parts @ 88.

End 5:05 pm

Harp practice

2007-05-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

Start 4:05 pm

Ex p 24 #6 - have really slacked on doing exercises!

#7

Welsh P - played all the way through. Will need to work on second page now.

Harp practice

2007-05-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

Start 4:10 pm

Tam @ 80, then @ 88. Not bad! Hard part was pretty good.

And @ 126 - 1st time okay. 2nd time was the best I've ever played!

Break to start dinner 4:25 - 4:35

Welsh Air 1 @ 76. Supposed to be @ 112! Seems impossible, but I'll get there...

Break - water boiling 4:45

Welsh P - parts 1 and 2

End 4:50 pm

Harp practice

2007-05-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

Start 5:20 pm

Welsh P - section 2 RH, then both hands.

W - practiced twice

Welsh Air 1 - faster

And - Ugh, I can tell I haven't practiced for two days. @ 126.

Tam @ 80 - arm tired. Must take a break.

5:50 pm

2007-05-04-tambourin

2007-05-05T09:44:00.001-07:00

Testing out Odeo.

2007-05-04-tambourin

2007-05-05T09:38:00.001-07:00

First recording

2007-05-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

My first recordings of harp-playing!

Andiam, Mio Tesoro (anonymous), an Italian song from the 16th century - Just a few mistakes. :)
2007-05-04-andiam.mp3 (1.26 mb)

Tambourin by Louis Claude Daquin (1694-1772) - Still working on those "hard fast" parts. Sometimes I hit them on the first try, but not during this recording! I'm also playing this about 24 beats too slowly.
2007-05-04-tambourin.mp3 (1.26 mb)

Harp practice

2007-05-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Start 8:45 pm

Started w/ Tam to play before my arm got tired @ 80 -- hard part was GOOD!

Tried recording w/ microphone.

And - hm, a bit rough.

Also tried recording w/ microphone.

End 9:10 pm

Harp practice

2007-05-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

Start 5:00 pm

Las Man - Whole song a few times. Not bad.

Welsh P I - worked on right hand. Still awkward.

II - Worked on right hand, then both hands together. Pretty good.

Ex p 67 (scales) @ 92 twice.

p 27 #6 - getting better w/out buzzing.

#7 - still have to work on separate hands. Lots of buzzing!

Welsh Air I - can play first part @ 60 (better than 52!).

W - once. Haven't played it for a while.

Harp practice

2007-05-02T16:32:00.000-07:00

Start: 4:30 pm

And @ 126 - good

Ex p 27 #6 - worked RH and LH, better w/ no buzzes.

#7 - LH rough.

Break to check dinner: 4:45 - 4:55 pm

Ex p 66 and 67

Tam @ 80 - so bad! Practiced hard parts until it was better.

Las Man - worked on measures 7 & 8 - improved a lot. Will need to work on left hand for 10-17 next.

Finish 5:20 pm

Harp practice

2007-04-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

Whoops, missed yesterday.

Start 6:55 pm

Tam - Hard parts @ 80.

Welsh Airs 1

Break 7:05 pm - 7:15 pm

Back to Welsh Airs 1. I'm playing at about 54, it's supposed to be 112. Ack! Worked on hard part several times, trying to play a little faster.

Welsh P - Worked on RH for I, then played whole song through. My middle finger will NOT stay tucked in. I think it's physically impossible. (Buzzing on the turns on measures 18 and 36.)

Las Man - Whole song, then focused on measures 1-9. Need to work on 8 more.

And @ 126 was pretty good!!

Finish 7:55 pm

Harp practice

2007-04-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

Start 5:45 pm

Tam - hard part @ 80 over and over again. Whole song at 80, okay. (Will need to work on other fast part.)

Ex p 67 1,2. p 27 #6 several times, slowly, trying not to buzz.

And @ 116. @ 126 was okay!

W - played 2x, then @ 88

Welsh P, 1 x, then right hand 3x.

End 6:40 pm

Harp practice

2007-04-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

Start: 4:30 pm

Welsh Air I - played through a few times. Rolled chords were better!

W - played through several times, worked on sliding chords.

New song: Las Mananitas arranged by Samuel Milligan from Medieval to Modern Vol 2. Played through twice. Have to work on rolled chord and probably play with metronome next time.

Tam @ 80 -- not bad! (first time through, anyway; arm got tired the second time)

And @ 108 - great! Pretty decent at 116, too.

Cutting it short today.

Harp practice

2007-04-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Start: 5:15 pm

And @ 104 3 times. OK. @ 108... a few glitches with scales. Noticing that the problems come when I stop watching the hand that is playing the scale (in order to place other hand).

Ex p66 - worked more on crossovers/unders. Better.

Tam - terrible - can't even do fast part evenly. I think my arm is tired. Will come back to it later!

W - pretty good. Not very consistent with slides still.

New song: Welsh Penillion Melodies I arranged by Samuel Milligan from Medieval to Modern Vol 2.

Played right hand on first part, then played through once.

Welsh Air I - played through, worked on rolled chords

I think I was leaning harp too much on my shoulder - a bit fatigued now.

Harp practice

2007-04-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

Start: 6:05 pm

Ex p27 #6 - played verrry slowly to try to minimize buzzing. Left hand better second time.

Ex p66 (crossovers and crossunders) - played slowly as well

And @ 96 -- so slow! Scales much more articulate. @ 104 - okay

6:36 - break to welcome niece and nephew

6:42 - Tam difficult part - can do it @ 72 consistently.
Played whole thing @ 80.

Welsh Air 1 - played through 3 times. Need to work on rolling chord/slide and the fast part.

Worked on rolling chord/slide and fast part.

Didn't touch new pieces at all yet.

Harp lesson

2007-04-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

Harp lesson today went well. I have hour-long lessons every other week.

Peggy helped me to slow down and pinpoint the problems that I have with scales and with the fast passage in Tambourin. I'll be working more on watching my fingers more closely this week.

I also got assigned two more new songs (plus the one that was assigned two weeks ago that I only played through twice). Whew!

Harp practice

2007-04-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Start: 4:05 pm

Why is it that when I play something multiple times, it seems to get worse and worse?

Andiam, Mio Tesoro (And) @ 126 several times. Scales are still rough.

4:30 - need a break from Andiam!!

Harp Exercises (Ex) p27 #6 and 7 @ 72. Rough. Arms/fingers tired.

Ex p85-87

4:40 Tambourin (Tam) - tried 92 but still too fast. Back to 84.
Practiced hard section. Clumsy fingers even at 84. Argh.

4:55 pm Wienachtsglocken (W) - A few times - okay.

5:10 pm Ex p58 (rolled chords)

5:20 pm Tried Andiam and Tam again to see if a break helped. Not really. Calling it a day!