#232: Starting a Piece? Don’t Take It From the Top

So you decided to learn a new piece for the holidays - good for you! When I think of all the years I’ve been playing the harp, it’s a little amazing that I still feel a little thrill when I pick up a new piece of music to learn, and I’m sure you feel the same. Starting a new piece is a voyage of discovery with the promise of adventure, new notes to conquer, a few challenges to meet along the way, and finally, a beautiful piece of music we can play.

Of course, the voyage is often a little rougher than we anticipate. It can take longer than we thought and can be more discouraging. We can’t always eliminate the difficulties or estimate exactly how long it will take us to learn a piece. However, we can give ourselves the biggest advantage we can by getting the strongest and fastest start we can to the piece.

One of my frustrations with the way harp learning is often taught is that it teaches the student to be slow. Certainly playing slowly and learning carefully are necessary to developing good habits, to creating and maintaining a strong technique and to playing with relaxation and fluidity. But slow playing doesn’t have to be the first step in learning a new piece; in fact, it really shouldn’t be.  It may be the way you learned to start new pieces when you were a harp newbie, but you have become a more experienced harpist since then. If you’re still learning with the same processes, it’s time for an update.

So today, I’m going to give you a faster system for starting a piece. It works for any harpist at any level, and even if you’ve already started your piece, you can put this system in play now and you’ll cut out days or maybe weeks of your learning curve. But don’t think this is all about playing faster. It’s about starting with the music, so you can end up playing the music, instead of just practicing it.

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Watch for our Getaway Retreat registration flash sale!
• Need help with your six week practice plan? Work with Anne!
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

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