Re: [Harp-L] practicing

[Ken Deifik <ken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 04:28 AM 9/1/2008, Jim wrote:
> Had an interesting chat with a Berkley grad--he was talking about practice
> being the place to push yourself, to play stuff you don't already know. I
> think of practice as the place to cement what I already know--the goal being
> to have the music be transcendent, have it just pour out without thinking
> about it.
>
> Neither side of the argument is wrong.

I'm not clear on why you've turned this into an either/or.  (Frankly, my 
guess is that I'm just reading you incorrectly.)  Both types of practice 
are vital.

At the beginning of my practice session I warm up by practicing playing 
what I already know.  Pefecting everything from licks to my overall 
approach to constructing solos, to dynamics.  I play blues, fiddle tunes 
and rhythm licks.  Metronome blasting away, fast then slow then fast.

This leads me quite naturally into new stuff, stuff I don't already know.

I hit a place, somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes in where all I hear 
coming out of the harp is stuff I don't already know, much of which I will 
never hear again, though sometimes I turn on the Zoom H2.  Most of the time 
I do not care if I ever hear a melody again, because the minute new 
melodies start flowing out I am reassured that there are infinite melodies 
and I can tap into the place where they flow out on demand, as long as I 
keep practicing every day.

I find the 'practicing what I already know' part the most challenging, 
because I try to keep a lid on 'new' ideas as long as I can.  That way they 
finally burst out.

It's also challenging to practice a rhythm lick at high speed for five 
minutes, but that seems to improve my accuracy, endurance and concentration 
every day, so it's worth it.

A word on concentration.  I sense that the moment most of us put a harp in 
our mouth it becomes the main focus.  I don't have to try to concentrate on 
harp, do you?  In fact, I like getting input from an audience or the people 
in a control booth while I'm also focused on the harp.  But there are 
moments when I must exclude everything but the harp.  For instance when I'm 
asked to repeat a passage I just improvised.  That's when I need to put my 
concentration into fifth gear, and am glad that one can develop the 
facility to do so.

One last bit: I sense that I am not the only one to experience something I 
call "Harp Face."  That is a moment in my practice session when the muscles 
I use to play harp 'set' into a position that is apparently optimal for 
harp playing, because everything really flows after that moment.

Does anyone know what I mean about Harp Face?