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I knew this from when I was playing the harp before, but apparently forgot: I cannot just practice for half an hour a day and leave it alone. It doesn't happen. To learn something new, I have to have my hyperfocus thing going on. Once I do, I can't just pop back out of it. When I was taking lessons, she told me to practice half an hour a day, and I couldn't do it. It was at least an hour, or hardly at all. I figured as long as it added up to three and a half hours a week, and I at least touched it every day, I didn't care how long individual practice sessions were. So several times a week I'd sit down and really attack the thing, and every day I'd just run through a tune or two that I knew or was working on, just to keep my hands in the habit.
But, yeah: I was sitting with my harp for almost an hour, at least. I got up and did other things, like clean part of the bathroom and flip my laundry, and then I hurried back into my room and picked my harp up again. I made a hell of a lot of progress on She Moved Through The Fair, considering the semi-odd way that Sylvia Wood arranges music, which I'm not used to.
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attackdesire had Harp Exercises for Agility and Speed. I have my own copy somewhere, but that doesn't help me now. Ugh. Just because I can remember a lot of tunes doesn't mean my playing is any good. Matter of fact, I kinda suck. My hand position blows. So my fingers get tangled up, and catch on strings they aren't supposed to be playing, and play some strings louder than others. ARGH. So, there I was, exercise one. Thirds up and down the scale, then fourths, and sixths, and octaves. Right hand, left hand. Start over if I mess up.
Must resist urge to buy piles of sheet music. Especially considering I have a rather small harp.
I want to learn to play the Butterfly Jig. Even though the tune is damn-near imprinted into my brain, it's really hard to play. It's a slip jig, which means it's in 9/8 time. 9/8 is a bitch, man. Holy crap. Your hands get so confused..."wtf are we doing?!?" I found a sound sample by Kim Robertson (a well-known harp player) over here, it's in Real Player. There's another with a harp, violin, and drum over here, it loads in quicktime. It also cuts off suddenly, grr. My favorite version is by a harp player I know through Sisterspirit, Jennifer Pratt-Walter. Her version of the Butterfly Jig (as well as a whole bunch of other music), in both mp3 and Real Player, is over here. Warning: the sound quality kinda bites. You can get the general idea, though.
It would be no exaggeration to say that Jennifer's (with Valerie Blessley) version of the Butterfly Jig is what made me, for sure, want to play the harp.
Eric Satie's Gymnopedie is another one I'd eventually like to tackle. And Simple Gifts, aka The Lord of the Dance. Oh, hell, there's at least a dozen songs I want to learn, like, yesterday.
I need another harp icon.
But, yeah: I was sitting with my harp for almost an hour, at least. I got up and did other things, like clean part of the bathroom and flip my laundry, and then I hurried back into my room and picked my harp up again. I made a hell of a lot of progress on She Moved Through The Fair, considering the semi-odd way that Sylvia Wood arranges music, which I'm not used to.
I'm glad that
attackdesire had Harp Exercises for Agility and Speed. I have my own copy somewhere, but that doesn't help me now. Ugh. Just because I can remember a lot of tunes doesn't mean my playing is any good. Matter of fact, I kinda suck. My hand position blows. So my fingers get tangled up, and catch on strings they aren't supposed to be playing, and play some strings louder than others. ARGH. So, there I was, exercise one. Thirds up and down the scale, then fourths, and sixths, and octaves. Right hand, left hand. Start over if I mess up.Must resist urge to buy piles of sheet music. Especially considering I have a rather small harp.
I want to learn to play the Butterfly Jig. Even though the tune is damn-near imprinted into my brain, it's really hard to play. It's a slip jig, which means it's in 9/8 time. 9/8 is a bitch, man. Holy crap. Your hands get so confused..."wtf are we doing?!?" I found a sound sample by Kim Robertson (a well-known harp player) over here, it's in Real Player. There's another with a harp, violin, and drum over here, it loads in quicktime. It also cuts off suddenly, grr. My favorite version is by a harp player I know through Sisterspirit, Jennifer Pratt-Walter. Her version of the Butterfly Jig (as well as a whole bunch of other music), in both mp3 and Real Player, is over here. Warning: the sound quality kinda bites. You can get the general idea, though.
It would be no exaggeration to say that Jennifer's (with Valerie Blessley) version of the Butterfly Jig is what made me, for sure, want to play the harp.
Eric Satie's Gymnopedie is another one I'd eventually like to tackle. And Simple Gifts, aka The Lord of the Dance. Oh, hell, there's at least a dozen songs I want to learn, like, yesterday.
I need another harp icon.
