Day 29 - Act 2 commences

As the second half of the challenge begins I am aware that the first half went incredibly quickly. Looking back I can say I am very happy with my progress. I have three pieces up to a decent standard and have a spare piece available, I know what I am doing with my scales and I have learnt some other pieces which should stand me in good stead for the sight-reading. I've not done any aural practise yet but discovered the 'spot the difference' test has been made slightly easier from this year. The metronome has been a useful tool in steadily increasing my tempo and I can continue with this for the next few weeks. I have the Wreck-cital to look forward to and will arrange some mini-performances in the rehearsal breaks with two of my adult groups. There are several young families in the surrounding houses so I will invite those around at some point and do a children's concert. If I can cope with an audience like that I'll be onto a winner. I also have an adult clarinet pupil who will be giving a performance in March and we have provisionally arranged a short performance for each other and our other halves. The other halves don't know about this yet but the promise of food and drink will no doubt prevent them from arranging anything else. That, and the threat of taking up the bagpipes next time.

In the meantime the practise and fund-raising must continue and this evening's session is dedicated to Phil and Ali, Chris's brother and sister-in-law. Phil plays the guitar from time to time although I've not yet heard him so I might suggest a joint recital next time we meet up. Ali also has artistic skills and runs a cupcake business (The Messy Cake Co.  if you live in Northamptonshire and surrounding counties). They look and taste fabulous and the decorations and icing designs that Ali creates are quite spectacular. I may have to request that she has a go at some harp related designs… Back to their session and it all went very well. With no concerts to think about and a mid-week lie-in tomorrow it was very relaxed and I did a structured session with warm-up, scales, exam pieces and proper work on Rondo and The Ball, with fun pieces to finish. I think I did half an hour but forgot to check. Phil did suggest that my next challenge should be getting Chris to play the harp but I have a feeling it might be easier for me to swim the Channel. However if it was a midi-harp and had electronic and computer stuff he might be more interested. Which reminds me, Sioned Williams's midi-harp performance of Graham Fitkin's Concerto 'No Doubt' is being broadcast on Radio 3 tomorrow afternoon from around 3.20pm. I will be in my car but will be listening attentively. Will let you know what I think tomorrow!

And then there were two...

I have been joined in the blogosphere by Anne, flautist, harpist and now percussionist, who, like me, is having such a great time that a diary is needed to keep track of all the highs, lows and mezzo-fortes of the grade-1-a-thon. Entitled 'Grade-1-a-bong' it will detail her practise of the second half of her challenge to learn the xylophone and snare drum. Anne is organising the Wreck-cital later this month so it will hopefully contain details of that event and the traumas surrounding it. Anne's blog can be found at www.annebury.blogspot.com and I will be checking her progress daily!

Day 28 - End of Act 1

Today was another concert in London with a fairly early start so practise consisted of two minutes before breakfast and 15 afterwards. It was dedicated to my sister Viki and partner Gary. She'd probably deny it but I consider Viki to be my first pupil. We both played the recorder and played duets together (this was when she was still young enough to do what I told her to) and with my coaching were Northampton Music Festival champions (14 years and under) sometime in the early 90s. She took up the flute and we did the flute and clarinet duets for the Christmas tapes for the grandparents. Eventually she had other interests to pursue and despite mum's best efforts she gave up. Viki doesn't regret it and has said that one musician in the family is enough. However I have plans for her son Josh and will encourage him to take up something. I have a recorder for him and a spare saxophone for when the time is right. (Don't worry Gaz, I'll supply ear plugs as well!) Viki's practice session featured scales and arpeggios up to 82 so progress clearly has been made here. I had another look at The Ball. I really enjoy this one and after I had put the dynamics in I could see/hear/imagine the ball being thrown in the distance, getting closer and closer until finally it is dropped (that's the gliss!). Each bar is repeated making this easy to remember so this goes into my repertoire, ready for performance.

From The Ball to Mahler 10. That's quite a jump in one day! I was on bass clarinet for this evening's performance with the Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra. Mahler died 100 years ago, leaving his Symphony no. 10 unfinished. He had completed some movements and had sketched out the rest but it was only completed in the 1960s. Mahler can be heavy-going but the work grew on my during the rehearsal period. It is 75 minutes long with 19 pages in the bass clarinet part and my very important, highly exposed bit was on page 19 about 2 minutes from the end! This meant quite intense concentration throughout but I suppose this is good practise for the Grade-1-a-thon orchestra! There was a harpist, Tamara, who is studying for a Master's at my old college Trinity. I had a quick chat with her and discovered she'd not played Mahler 10 before so was sight-reading. She said the part wasn't too difficult, just exposed so everything had to be just right. Her harp was quite ornate, and a lovely dark colour. She said it was German and about 20 years old. She was interested in my challenge and wished me luck! King's Cross station is not the most glamorous place to contemplate the midway point of an important challenge but I reflected on an enjoyable first four weeks and looked forward to the next four. It will soon be time for some performances!

Day 27 - New pieces and a concert

I have just got in from a concert and am leaving a late blog today and this morning's harp practise seems a long while ago now. I had my first 'Nonline' donation, using traditional payment methods rather than through the justgiving site. It came from Maggs, a clarinettist who has been with the band for a year or so now. Maggs is one of the few adults happy to work through the performance grades. Keen to go further than grade 5 she is also working through the theory grades and has admitted in private that she enjoys the theory! Don’t worry Maggs, your secret is safe with me! The session for Maggs was straight after breakfast. I couldn’t leave the practice until later as I had a concert with afternoon rehearsal at a venue I’d not yet been to. My mind was partly on that, but I did a little more on Rondo and scales. Flicking through Harpe d’Or I discovered some additional pieces. One of them, The Ball, is another grade 1 piece. It is rhythmic and finishes with a glissando from top to bottom I suppose as the ball falls down and rolls away. I had some fun with this and will do some more work on it over the next few days. This would be an alternative to Sounds the Trumpets which is by far the easiest piece but The Ball is more fun. The final piece is called La forêt mysterieuse (The Mysterious Forest) and has loads of special spooky effects like rubbing the ball of the hand up and down the metal strings, knocking the sound board and plucking strings near the sound board. I really liked the sound of this so will keep this one going to add to my repertoire.


The concert was a great success. The venue was The Apex, a medium sized concert hall in the middle of a shopping centre in Bury St Edmunds. New refurbished it looks very smart and has great acoustics. The East Anglian Chamber Orchestra are a fairly new group but make a great sound and the programme was varied and interesting. I was only in one piece, Milhaud's La Creation du Monde but I listened to the rest of the programme. Several grade-1-a-bees were performing (on their usual instruments) and special mention must go to one of the GOAT organising team, Maurice Hodges, who gave a beautiful performance of Faure's Ballade for Piano and Orchestra, and played in two of the other orchestral pieces. Afterwards I asked Maurice how he managed to prepare for this concert and keep his horn practise going. I was told he had skipped the piano practise this week. That's how important the Grade-1-a-thon is!

Day 26 continued - Swallows

Friday is a light working day so two sessions were managed this evening. The first, half an hour, was for Becky, assistant conductor and chamber music guru with Palace Band. She is currently dividing her time between Glasgow and London as a performer and teacher and does not recommend the overnight 'sleeper' bus between the two cities. Becky is a wonderful clarinettist and a fine musician and I am honoured to have done a practise session in her name. I'm just glad she didn't hear it! After a warm-up I looked through Harpe d’Or and concentrated on the 'Placing the Fingers' section. All four fingers were used and I played exercises and pieces trying to keep my fingers on the right string. Occasionally a rogue finger rests on a string as I attempt to pluck it with another so I end up with a dull thud. I then moved onto 'Arpeggios with three fingers' and played some little pieces called Swallows I, Swallows II and Swallows III. More the image of a chicken flying than swallows swooping when I play but my birds will take flight one day.

Another 20 minutes was for Ursula, one of many Ursualas who have graced the flute section of the band. Ursula reminded me that after 1 comes 2, then 3 and so on. I thought at first she meant after grade 1 comes grade 2 and so on but perhaps she was reminding me of the beats in a bar. She has seen my conducting after all… I played a couple of tunes from earlier and played scales and exam pieces with the metronome. Scales and Rondo are up to 80 and Azaleas is up to 67 beats per minute. I was making silly mistakes by the end though as I was starting to get tired. Off to the bar!

Day 26 - Harpo Marx

Day 26 – Harpo Marx

One of the resources that I use for myself and for students is YouTube. If you want to see a contrabass saxophone or watch silent monks perform the Hallelujah Chorus it's

the first place to go. I regularly recommend pupils search for the current piece they are working on to see performances. The standards vary from top quality to front room farce but we all need to learn what to do and what to avoid! The only time my carefully planned homework suggestion failed was when I recommended a young clarinet pupil search for some Latin jazz music to get an idea of the style as she was working on a Latin piece. I never quite worked out what the pupil's mother must have typed into the search but the first thing they viewed contained the foulest language and most offensive lyrics. The mother had to cover her daughter's ears and even had to watch it again, it was that filthy! By getting ready for school earlier than usual I did a quick search for one of the best known harpists, Adolph (later Arthur) Marx, better known as Harpo Marx. I remember watching some Marx Brothers films when I was younger and this mysterious non-speaking character with his distinctive facial expressions is the strongest memory from those films. There are plenty of clips of Harpo playing and I watched a brilliant Hungarian Rhapsody performance complete with a jazzy section that I don't recall hearing in Liszt's original. Further research led me to discover that he taught himself at first and had an unusual technique. After becoming famous he set about having lessons to learn it properly but all of his teachers were just curious to learn more about his different style of playing. I've no idea what today's harpists think to his playing but I feel a bond with anyone who has unruly curls!

Harpo Marx

Day 25 - Taking it easy

It has been interesting hearing the reports from other grade-1-a-bees. There is now another harpist taking on the grade 1 challenge. Robyn is a violist and had her harp lesson a few days after us as she couldn't make the original lesson day. I have not yet met her but I do know her Azaleas is going well while her Rondo has caused a few problems. I know that the levers have caused a problem for one or two and one of our team had a small mis-hap when tuning her harp. She tuned it to E flat but then realised the levers were all up instead of down (or down instead of up? Y'see that’s the problem!) and ended up tuning it to E. She says she retuned but that the harp has not quite recovered! Among other participants, Anne, who is learning percussion, has been attempting stuff beyond the grade 1 level and has had a go at drum rolls. She is also planning the Wrecks-cital on 15 February and is currently putting together a programme of performers. I have put myself forward as I would like some performance practise before the exam day. You tend not to know the pieces until after you have played them three or four times. Any potential mistakes are likely to come out when you are under pressure so some informal performances in front of people are extremely useful in identifying problem areas.

I managed half an hour today and this was dedicated to Dave, a clarinettist and long standing member of the back row of the Palace Band. Dave's session was enjoyable as I played through lots of pieces and just noted what I would like to work on in the second half of the challenge. I made a list: the buzzing of strings as my finger nails hit them, evenness of tone in longer phrases, balance of left and right hands (sometimes bass is louder than the tune), rhythmic accuracy, more flexibility and independence of finger 4, balance of chords. I think that's it. Anyway after dealing with similar issues all day at school I didn't want to think too hard about it so just played for fun. The hard work can start again next week.

Day 24 - A question of time

Each week some 50 pupils pass through the various rooms I work in and each of them is expected to spend a little time playing their instruments between lessons to make some sort of progress. Fed up with hearing various excuses for not practising (homework, brother's birthday party, swimming, ballet, cat was sick) I developed a  method of questioning. What I wanted to hear was what practices they had  done, not what they hadn't. What practise have you done this week? Any pupils about to give an account of all the events that prevented them from practising were given a glare and had the point re-emphasised. "What HAVE you done this week? In a positive way, for example I have done 5 minutes, or I have done 0 minutes!" Eventually they got the message and the time saved at the beginning of the lesson not having to listen to their life stories was huge. This questioning wasn't always necessary as most teachers will be able to tell how much practice their pupil has done, almost to the minute, based on the first 30 seconds of playing. Those who regularly do 0 to 5 minutes clearly need to reassess their week. I try to help by working out how they could adapt their evenings to fit their practice in. How much telly do they watch, how much time on the computer? Eventually we compromise and the pupil is expected to watch a little less telly and play their instrument instead. To demonstrate that it is always possible to find some time I ask if they always find time to eat their evening meal. Yes? Well only when you are so busy that you can't fit your evening meal in, then and only then are you too busy to play your clarinet!

One thing I have had to consider very carefully is the amount of time I have to spend practising the harp and writing about it. Any spare minutes during the day are used economically fitting in little jobs that may have been left until later. An absent pupil slot is used to do some admin.  So far I have managed to find some space every day for playing the harp and writing about it. The things that I am not doing as much are surfing the Internet, reading, experimenting in the kitchen (some call it cooking) and playing the piano. Rather than write up my notes from the days teaching at home, I do it at school before I leave. It is always possible to fit more in and the busiest children in schools tend to be the ones that do the most practise. We all have the same amount of time, it's how we choose to spend it that counts. Three practise sessions managed today, two on the harp and one on the sax for Saturday's concert! The first harp session was for Barbara M, a clarinettist who has recently joined Palace Band. After a warm up I played some exercises and pieces that have two-note chords. It still sounds uneven so my next approach is to just let it be a bit rubbish and see whether it evens out over the next week or so (based on a little rule of life – leave it 'til later and it will sort itself out!) The game of finding a piece to fit the sponsor’s name (see yesterday) was appealing and not having a Beach Boys for Easy Harp album to play from settled for a piece called Barbara Allen in First Harp Book and then worked on it for Barbara M and all the other Barbaras! My second session was for Melvyn so my game suddenly became much harder, especially so given my limited repertoire! Melvyn is a clarinettist with the band and has recently taken up the bass clarinet. As the band is so flexible players can move between sections and several players have successfully moved from clarinet to bass with Melvyn being the latest. The 20 minutes for him was a little lighter and mostly featured pieces from the two books. I finished with a run through of the three exam pieces from memory to see how they were. Tiny slips in fingers rather than memory but these will need some performance experience before going in front of an examiner. All my jobs done for the day I still have an hour to go before bedtime. Now when you have finished reading this get off your computer and go and do something interesting!

Day 23 - Back on track

Any loss of momentum suffered yesterday has been put to rights today. Lots of incentives played a part to revive motivation today including five new sponsors, a new book and more time than usual on a Tuesday. Chris had gone out for a drink so I had the house to myself. The first sponsor to have a dedicated session was Harvey, a flautist who has been with the Palace Band for longer than I have. His session was 20 minutes and included scales and arpeggios creeping up to 76 beats per minute. The plan with these is to gradually increase the speed, eventually playing them much faster than needed for the exam. Then when they are slowed down they should feel easier. It works on the clarinet for me so hopefully this will transfer to the harp. My new book is Harpe d’Or by Dominig Bouchaud and it is delightfully French. It is a beginner book most likely aimed at the younger market but has some different exercises to the other book I have and has another grade 1 piece. I actually went for it because it had a colourful front cover, a bit of a risk but the content suits me fine. There are pictures which cheer the page up and when you give a simple exercise a title such as Echos dans la forêt it makes the piece much more fun to play. I had a quick flick through and tried a few tunes.

After my last pupil of the day I managed another half hour, this time for Jane, a clarinettist in the Palace Band. Harpe d’Or has some exercises that are suitable as a warm up and that I can use to work on my own weaknesses. I placed four fingers on four strings and just plucked one, keeping the others in place. I still find this awkward as I keep hitting neighbouring strings or plucking with two fingers instead of one. I worked through my exam pieces again, listening for any imperfections in quality (there were a few) and working on dynamics. As Jane has a weather-related surname I finished with a little piece called Parapluie (Umbrella) made up of C major arpeggios.

I listened to Radio 4's Woman's Hour from last Thursday which featured Sioned Williams playing the MIDI harp. I have a tiny amount of experience with synthesisers and this was a fascinating insight into the use of MIDI with a harp. Sioned also spoke about her early experiences with the harp and how in her career she has spent considerable time searching for new and interesting music for the harp to expand the repertoire. Part of the concerto that is being premiered this week was performed on the show. It certainly was different and while I will save comments until after the broadcast next week it will be intriguing to hear the whole performance.

Day 22 - Kurt Weill, Klezmer and Czardas

No, this is not what I've been playing on the harp today but the clarinet music I have been reviewing for Clarinet and Saxophone Society over the past week or so. I managed a meagre 15 minutes on the harp, spread over two sessions this afternoon and evening as today was deadline day for the magazine. I enjoy everything about reviewing apart from the four days in the year where I slave away at my computer long into the night getting it written up in just the right way and emailed to the editor. It's now done but I'm not happy with them (although I never am). It just leaves me to let you know the harp practise was not the best of sessions, concentration levels were low, as was enthusiasm so I'll just have to try again tomorrow. On the brighter side (and there's always one if you know where to look) I have been informed there is a programme featuring Sioned Williams and her new MIDI harp available on iPlayer, on Radio 4 last week so I can look forward to listening to that tomorrow. Now, time to turn the computer off and head downstairs to see if the bar is open.

Day 21 - 'On-hold' music

Another Sunday and another trip to London and this time I took the car. This meant no reading on the journey but I played the CD that came with the Harps and Harpists book. This was the first time I had listened to harp recital music. There was a wide variety from an arrangement of a Bach Violin Partita to a piece for electric harp and everything in between. It was inspiring yet somewhat disappointing as I can't ever imagine my fingers going that fast or that evenly. First port of call was Palace Band, my woodwind ensemble, and here was a chance to personally thank the members who have already sponsored and a chance to inform those who had not read their latest bulletin of what I was up to. They were all very interested and liked the idea of me taking the harp to a rehearsal. I told them there would have to be a big enough donation though for that to happen! It was a fun rehearsal and I put them through their paces in some recent pieces and we also started some brand new arrangements. Next up was a rehearsal with Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra who are giving a performance of Mahler 10 next week. I'm on bass clarinet and remembered I had thought about advertising my forthcoming concerts here as there are a few in the next month or so. On the way home I put the harp CD on again as the drive out of London can be a tad stressful. Arriving home I unloaded my car got a few minutes practise in before dinner (all prepared by Chris today. He's very well trained y'know!). I had a donation from Barbara G (one of the four or more Barbaras at Palace Band), a clarinet and saxophone player and the 10 minutes before dinner was for her, as was the 10 minutes afterwards as they were both quite short sessions. As this was the last session of the week, and that I knew I had beaten my weekly practise record I took it easy and after playing a scale and arpeggio with the metronome set at 72 played pieces. I had a phone call from my sister just as I was finishing. I asked if she wanted to hear a tune so she switched to speaker phone and the three of them listened to Swedish Folk Dance. The applause at the end was deafening although I wasn't sure if this was because they enjoyed it or just appreciation that I had finished and they could go and watch Top Gear. She said it sounded like the music you might hear when you are on hold on the phone. I think that was meant as a compliment. All in all another enjoyable day. Roll on week 4!

Day 20 - A Fenland Fantasy

Saturdays are often the day for visiting the more senior members of the family so this afternoon was spent travelling around various parts of Northampton drinking lots of cups of tea and eating biscuits. Due to a late breakfast and a bit of last minute preparation for a rehearsal tomorrow I only managed half an hour on the harp this evening. After playing through a few pieces I had a good look at the other orchestra piece, A Fenland Fantasy which I think has been written especially for the Grade-1-a-thon orchestra. For any performance I agree to take part in I generally try to find out a bit more about the piece, or at least listen to just in case I need to be aware of potential solos or trouble spots. Websites such as YouTube, Spotify and Naxos contain anything you may ever need to listen to and while Fenland Fantasy must be a new work it is based on a hymn by Kenneth Naylor called Coe Fen. There are two bars that are particularly difficult. It would be easy on the piano (R.H. first inversion G major arpeggio repeated to root position C major arpeggio also repeated over L.H. tonic notes - I'll demonstrate it when I can play it) but on the harp I find it tricky. It is then followed by simple dotted crotchet notes but because the two hands move in opposite direction it needs practise. Tempo markings are not that clear so I realised I needed to hear it.  A version of the original hymn was on YouTube so it gave me some idea of how the main tune might go. Unfortunately the main tune is not the bit that concerns me most. Not to worry as I'll be in the same boat as everyone else. A few people have commented that they can play their exam pieces but the orchestra pieces are less manageable.  If all else fails us harps will just have to dazzle everyone with the two glissandi on the second page. I can play those!

...and informal

I learnt the clarinet, piano and a little bit of flute at school and continued with them all at college. Towards the end of my college life I realised I would have to learn the saxophone if I wanted to do show work and teach woodwind. I borrowed an old alto sax and bought a well known tutor book. Shortly after this I got a gig. I say gig but it was a little theatre school pantomime for an MDing friend who got me to play because there was a lot of clarinet and only a little saxophone required. And because there was no money in it and I was keen and cheap. Knowing that I was just starting out the arrangements featured simple sax parts in just a few of the numbers. I practised these in advance and all was well. Inevitably at the first (and last) rehearsal another late number was produced which had a top D, a note I had not yet learnt. During a quiet moment I discretely looked at the fingering chart at the back of Learn As You Play and tried to work out which keys I needed to press to get D. The trumpet player saw me puzzling over the book and realised what I was doing. In no time the whole band was aware of what was going on and looked over in amusement as I tried to find the note. Caught in the act I pulled the book out, shoved it on the stand and set about playing the note. A honky squawk came out so I looked at the MD, said “Ready when you are” and we carried on. The panto went fine and I still know how to play top D. The MD was Stuart who has since gone on to greater things in the West End (no doubt a result of having to deal with risky players like myself) and today’s session is dedicated to Stu and his girlfriend Lizzie who herself is learning the saxophone. (I wonder if she knows what top D is yet…). As promised, it was a session messing around with easy pieces and not too much effort. I busked along to a CD and had a fun time playing in several more keys and getting used to the position of D major. A great day's playing and experimenting and although this hasn't made my list of other work related things for next week any shorter I find I am not too bothered. The weekend starts here.

Day 19 - Formal...

Research shows that there tends to be two types of practice, formal and informal, and pupils who make the greatest progress do a mixture of both. Formal practise is the sort to assist technical development through exercises, scales and work set by a teacher on repertoire. Informal practise is playing for fun such as duets with a friend, improvising, revisiting older pieces and is generally pupil led. With this in mind I specifically attempted two practice sessions, the first a tough regime of scales, exercises and repetition designed to sort out the weaker areas. I managed 45 minutes which was excellent and will delight Hayley, a clarinettist with Walden Winds, who has this practice dedicated to her. She has said she will double her donation if I get a distinction! After a gruelling warm up I moved onto pieces and tried playing Rondo. There are bits I struggle with and can feel myself tensing up so I used an exercise I got from The Inner Game of Music (by Barry Green and Tim Gallwey, a recommended read for musicians and anyone keen to do battle with "nervousness, self-doubt and fear of failure". That'll be most of the grade-1-a-bees then). By deliberately over tensing we can understand what tension really feels like, and then by relaxing we go back not just where we were originally but a more relaxed state. Repetition of this means we learn to control our levels of tension. I played Rondo with everything as tense as possible, then played it again relaxed. The difference in sound was noticeable and I could feel where muscles wanted to relax. However as soon as I stopped being aware of tension levels I think I tensed up again. To really hear the difference I recorded myself then played it back. Listening to yourself in this way can be very revealing (it's like hearing your own voice!) and I discovered there is still a somewhat ploddy nature to my sound. It was a useful exercise and I'll record them again at the half way point, then in the exam week so I will hopefully have evidence of some progress!

Day 18 - Extrinsic motivators

I can feel my motivation slowly shifting from internal to external but this is no bad thing. The main drive to practise today is the queue of sponsors keen to become a part of the blog. Time has been set aside for the harp today and tomorrow so as not to keep them waiting. Next to join the ranks were Pat and Martin, fellow grade-1-a-bees. I have known Pat (a flautist now learning the trumpet) and husband Martin (a horn player learning the flute) for a few years and we often meet up and have a lot of fun at various weekend courses. Most of you may have spotted that their respective choices bear a resemblance to their other half's first study and no doubt they have traded lots of tips and advice. I do know that they have been playing duets together, a lovely idea, so to say thanks I arranged a little duet for them to try based on my grade 1 piece, Rondo. It is fairly simple but has some quavers and dynamics and I'm sure they will be amused by the initial direction 'with energy'. My practise session in honour of Pat and Martin began with an E flat scale, up and down several times at 70 bpm, followed by the arpeggio at the same speed but a little scrappier. I should probably slow this down but that means leaning across to change the metronome so I left it at 70. En roulant is a little quicker than yesterday and my fourth finger is working well. Today's practise was more quantity than quality as I found some easier pieces in my book that have the melody in the right hand and simple bass line in the left. I also played a piece in A minor so had to move the G lever to get G sharp. That may not sound like a big deal but it was quite exciting for me!

I am now aiming to get two sessions in tomorrow, one formal with technical exercises and proper work on pieces, followed by an informal messing around session. I'm looking forward to it already. A quick upload of the blog then off to orchestra!

Day 17 - £200 reached

I gave another mini-performance yesterday evening to one of my pupils who had asked if I could play any tunes yet. After her clarinet lesson while we were waiting for her mum I played Azaleas in Houston. As her appreciation was clearly not forced I asked if she would like a go. One test of whether you can do something is how well you can teach it to someone else so I went through the first steps of how to sit, where the harp should be and what the hand position should be. Then said "pluck it!" As my pupil plucked a string I realised I hadn't told her about hand position, only imagined it, so showed how to manoeuvre her hands to what I think was the right position. Watching someone else was revealing as the difference from bad to good hand position is really noticeable.

At the start of today I was wondering whether I would be able to keep the daily practice and the blog going for another 5 weeks but having reached the £200 fund raising level and had two more sponsors my spirit brightened. The first practice session was for myself as the donation only came in after I finished. I need some new pieces to work on as the exam pieces are ticking along nicely and I've had enough of Lavenders Blue. I did a little more on Night Song, the Slavonic folk song, although don't feel I have mastered the wide stretches so my put this to one side. I did manage some arpeggios, something I forgot about yesterday.

After teaching a lively sax pupil who wanted to jazz up a classical piece I went back to the harp to calm down. By this time I had received a donation from Susan, a member of Palace Band. Susan is a clarinettist and was also one of my participants when I did a study on adult learners a few years ago. Her answers to my invasive questions helped me to discover a few of the secrets of the adult amateur musician, some of which may be revealed in later blogs. The session for Susan was another 20 minutes. I managed to find a piece that I liked the sound of and didn't involve playing two notes at once with the same hand. A French-Canadian piece called En Roulant kept me amused for half the session. The left hand was mostly individual notes using finger 2 and the right hand was a folk like melody that used a little bit of linking. I got to grips with this fairly quickly although had to remember when to get my fourth finger ready. It needed some careful practise but on the whole was not too challenging. I finished with a run through of the three exam pieces.

At the time of posting there were two more donations so that will keep me motivated for the next two sessions.

Day 16 - Intervals

One thing that the harp has over the clarinet, in my opinion, is that you can start your practice while finishing off a biscuit and that's what I did this afternoon. I had my cup of teas while checking my emails and settled down to play. I had another donation, this time from my Nan who has always shown a keen interest in my playing and has helped Mum out with various instrument purchases in the past. When the family got together over Christmas I showed her the harp and asked if she wanted to pluck the strings to try it out. She lost my Grandad last year and is also losing her sight so I wondered if the sound and feel of the harp could have some sort of therapeutic benefit. She said, no, she wasn't bothered but I moved it next to her and said "go on, go on" in my best Mrs Doyle voice and she ran her fingers up and down. Then we couldn't get her off of it and I had to drag it away! This afternoon's session was dedicated to Nanny and went on for 30 minutes. I hadn't planned on doing that much but with low expectations after yesterday it felt really nice to play again. Typical! I had a look at another section in First Harp Book and found a lovely little Slavonic Folk song called Night Song. It featured intervals of thirds and sixths in the right hand with a simple bass line in the left. It was quite melancholy but I enjoyed it. Azaleas in Houston was lovely although I went wrong at a place I've not gone wrong before. This threw me as I wasn't looking at the music. It was better on the second time though. Scales are up to 68 but I keep forgetting to do the arpeggios. They are harder as the stretches are bigger but as I am doing some interval practise maybe they will improve without too much effort.

Day 15 - Week 3 begins

Over the past two weeks I have come into contact with quite a few other grade-1-a-bees, at rehearsals and through teaching. Enthusiasm levels are still high. Most have been practising every day and I know of one who is practising three times a day. At various rehearsals I see musicians huddled in pairs discussing the finer points of a bow hold, or reed care, getting tips wherever possible. While musicians recognise the weaknesses that they have all have said they are enjoying the practise with one noticing it was nice to be getting better at the instrument rather than just desperately keeping up to standard on their first study instrument. Some have shown concern at their horrendous tone, while others know they have a horrendous tone but have not shown concern. The differences in approach are as great as the characters involved.

My third week started with a 30 minute session shortly after I got home from work although I can just feel the novelty wearing off slightly as I tackle Rondo again. (I have to confess the novelty of the blog is suffering the same fate!) A quarter of the way through and I wonder if I will still make the same mistakes at the end of February. Being back at work teaching small groups and one-to-one is demanding and I do feel quite tired by the end of the day. I thought I had done well to keep on top of my planning by doing lots of preparation at the end of the Christmas holidays but the school lessons have caught up with me and I now have to do preparation for this week. I need to practise my clarinet and sax for other concerts but keep putting it off. My music room is a tip as I am working on several other projects and need bits of music to hand so nothing gets put away properly. The harp stands proudly in the centre overlooking the various repertoire, CDs, instruments and accessories spread across the floor and available surfaces! Actually I did enjoy the harp practise once I got going and played a few easy tunes in F major. Having played most pieces in C major in the first week I got used to seeing C, the red string, as the home note (tonic, key note, 'doh', etc). When I first played in F I found I was getting confused with the note names and kept trying to use the red string of C, rather than the black string of F as my home note. This was confusing for a while but I did manage to shift my way of thinking. Lavenders Blue has reached a moderate standard but refuses to flow as I think it should do. I think that is what concerns me with Rondo and Azaleas in Houston. They sound heavy and ploddy and I am not sure what to do in order to get them to sound light and effortless. Maybe an early night will help. On the brighter side I will be coaching one of my wind ensembles tomorrow so will have a chance to get some more sponsors.

Day 14 - More with the metronome

With all the teaching, rehearsals and performances I am involved with I tend not to go to as many concerts as I would like. However last night I made a rare appearance in an audience as Chris and I went to see a showing of the 1920s silent movie Nosferatu. I have seen the film before but this version had a pianist, Geoff Page, playing a live improvised accompaniment. It was a great performance and the free ice cream in the interval was a lovely touch!

Today was Sunday and involved another train trip to London for a rehearsal. I had another rehearsal in Cambridge that evening so the early start and late finish only gave me around 15 minutes to fit in some practise but unlike yesterday I had another sponsor. Today's session was dedicated to Martin and Judith, Chris's parents. They are really supportive of my musical endeavours and have seen me in concert. I just hope they didn't read the blog entry about their eldest son causing a fire in the garage... Conscious of the having to catch a train, and that I may have caused a family rift I used the metronome to put scales at 64, Rondo at 64 and Azaleas at 60. At least it looks like progress even if it didn't feel like much today.

On the train I read some more of my book on harps and harpists and learnt about the development of the simple harp to the chromatic harps with several rows of strings as well as the invention of hooks and levers to enable harps to play in various keys. It's been a long day and a long week but as week 2 ends and week 3 begins everything is still going really well.

Day 13 - New material

Saturday tends to be my day off and after a long lie in and relaxed breakfast I feel ready to tackle anything. The first harp session of 25 minutes was towards the end of the morning and after moving scales, Rondo and Azaleas up to 62bpm I felt like I wanted something new. I do have some other books so had a look through the book that Rondo comes from, First Harp Book by Betty Paret. There are plenty of exercises and pieces related to the various finger techniques so I went through some three finger and four finger tunes before settling on Lavenders Blue to work on. A few people have commented on how quickly I have picked up the exam pieces but I think having played the piano has helped, at least being able to read treble and bass clef and see at a glance which notes are in a chord. The technique may be different but the processing of the notes to brain is quite quick, it's just brain to fingers that needs the work. While my piano sight-reading was appalling in the early days it did improve, especially when I started to accompany pupils. At college there were a couple of particularly good sight-readers who could read anything and were in demand around exam time. One did explain why he was such so proficient. Growing up he had played for several adult groups which involved a lot of repertoire being rehearsed quickly in any rehearsal. The only way he could cope was to aim for roughly the right area on the keyboard and put up with any wrong notes. Over time his fingers were finding the right notes and this guesswork gradually became more accurate. When we play a wrong note our first reaction is to stop, usually with a gasp (or “Sorry!”) but what we should do is carry on, making a mental note of what we did and what we ought to do next time. Quite often it is because just one finger is in the wrong place and awareness needs to be on that finger next time around. A brilliant book that explains this further is The Perfect Wrong Note – How to trust your musical self by William Westney. I tried this on the harp and was quite surprised at how accurate I was most of the time. There were some jumps that were too far to guess but it was an amusing experiment. The other reason I thought of this is that there are some well known blind harpists both past and present. To play the piano without being able to see is one thing as you can touch the keys without making a sound to find where you are, but the harp is another and this I find quite astonishing.

I managed another 15 minutes this evening on Lavenders Blue, exercises and the three exam pieces, again trying to keep my eyes on the music and see where my fingers ended up. Thinking about mistakes I also remembered a piece of advice I give to players in ensembles, usually as a joke, but that may come in handy in the grade 1 orchestra. If you go wrong in a rehearsal, don't own up. Instead carry on playing but look to your neighbour and frown as if it was them. A shake of the head and sharp tut helps seal the blame on your unsuspecting colleague!

Day 12 - Backing tracks

Just as I was about to getting myself ready for this evening's practise an email popped in saying I had another donation. At around the same time a head poked itself around the door with a look of pride. I quite naturally linked the two and indeed it was Chris, my other half and love of my life (along with the harp), who sponsored this evening's practise and he is the first person to have heard his own session! Chris and I have known each other for a very long time as we went to the same schools and lived on the same street in Northampton. While I was playing my clarinet he spent his spare time disassembling and reassembling computers, messing around with electronics and using his Junior Chemistry Lab to set fire to the garage. Chris ended up studying chemistry and computers and now works 'with computers'. I'm still not exactly sure what that means but he can fix them when they go wrong. I have a sneaky suspicion that all he does is turn them off and on again but as this seems to work I've not complained yet. Chris also came up with the title of my blog. I thought this very generous of him as at the time I'd just told him to hoover the lounge, empty the dishwasher and put the bins out. He muttered something and I caught the phrase 'harping on'. I was about to ask him to repeat what he said but then realised he was must have been talking about the blog! What a great suggestion!

I enjoyed my practise so much this evening that I forgot to work out how long I went on for. It was more than half an hour but I'll count it as 30 minutes for the record. I did some scales and arpeggios and these are now up to 60bpm. I worked on Rondo and kept the metronome at 60 as this was manageable. I ran through Gymnopedie with the CD then as I was wondering what to do next I had a flash of inspiration. I have a huge range of resources for teaching and today had taken along a CD for my junior recorder club to play along to. These are great fun, with simple tunes but exciting backings in a range of styles. I did a Samba with the lunchtime group playing a tune based on notes C and A. This was perhaps slightly too easy so I got out Razzamajazz for flute by Sarah Watts which has some lovely tunes in. I put the CD on and played along. I used right hand for some tunes, left for others and even went back and did some with hands together. Skills possibly being developed here include looking ahead to plan which fingers to use, plucking each finger at just the right time (fingers 3 and 4 are often late) and looking at the music rather than the harp. This last one is something I was incredibly bad at when learning the piano. It meant that I was able to memorise my piano pieces but sight-reading was rubbish! My teacher tried all sorts of tricks to make me look at the music rather than my hands, covering my hands with the music, making me play duets with the very advanced pupil whose lesson was after mine and even once just pleaded that I look at the music. That is definitely a last resort method but it still didn't work with me. Like most of my own pupils I was happier playing very slowly with the right notes, rather than in time with a few wrong notes. I have experimented with this on the harp and am certainly more aware of where I am looking than I was on the piano. However I have already decided that I will play my pieces from memory anyway as they are almost there in my head even if the technique is not. I enter the weekend feeling good!

Day 11 - Spiritual leader

As well as the technical practise, preparation for any sort of performance should include a practise run through in front of an audience of some kind. Local flautist Anne has organised a concert for fellow learners to 'perform' one of their set pieces and listen to others. The 'wrecks-ital' as it is to be known will be in February and I've said I'll take part so will have an initial target to work towards. I see Anne on Thursday evenings as I sit behind her in orchestra. She has chosen percussion and has a xylophone and side drum to practise on. She is enjoying it although her husband is getting a bit suspicious each time Anne invites any visitors "up stairs for a bang!" Anne is no stranger to these grade-one-a-thons as she took part in the first one, learning the harp. She is an inspiration as while many parted from their instruments after the grade 1 exam, she continued playing and took her grade 6 last year. She has recently progressed to the pedal harp. As well as being our harp guru she is also my latest sponser so this afternoon's practise is in honour of her!

It was not the most inspiring of practises for the onlooker (or onlistener) as most of the time was on exercises. Having had a busy day in the classroom I was not feeling too inspired to play the pieces so did a variety of patterns and made up my own exercises based on the suggestions from Elaine and Rohan at the lesson. I did a tiny bit more on Rondo and actually managed to fill 30 minutes. In the end it was quite relaxing and needed to be as I had a mountain of other things to do but playing the harp helped me forget all that. As long as I don't check my emails I'll be all right until the morning.

Day 10 - Some inspirations

I acquired two more sponsors yesterday, both from musicians who are particularly inspirational for different reasons. Karen, to whom this afternoon's 20 minutes are dedicated, is a friend and clarinettist who worked locally as a peri teacher until last year. She moved back up to her native Midlands and is currently grappling with essays featuring long words and plenty of 'isms' as she retrains to be an educational psychologist. Clearly not one to shy away from a challenge she learnt the viola to a standard good enough to be back desk in our local orchestra (only the regular members will know how much effort that took…) and set herself the target to do grade 3 on the oboe when she realised she would have to teach it. Karen not only passed her exam with distinction but she got the highest mark of anyone I have known, 143 out of 150! Along with her donation came an invitation to beat that score so the bar has been set extremely high. With this in mind I went through the exam criteria this afternoon, starting with scales. The scale patterns are the same no matter what the key but to get the right pitch you have to change the levers. Here is the harp in neutral state, E flat major. (The red strings are C and the black ones are F):

To get B flat major you need to raise the A flat to natural by moving the lever. The sixth lever along from the left has been moved:

Still with me? Then C major needs A as naturals as before and the B flat and E flat levers are is moved to get B and E natural. Most of my pieces are in C major so this is how the harp looks most of the time:

The three pieces were played with a greater awareness on posture and trying to work out where my elbows drop, if there was a particular place where I'm losing it. Indeed there is and it's as soon as I concentrate on something else. I finished with orchestral pieces and would have practised again but Wednesday night is jazz band. My second inspirational figure will have to wait until tomorrow.

Day 9 - Technical developments

I began my practise after tea and as the first E flat major scale died away the phone rang. I thought it might be the neighbours asking for some peace and quiet but it was a colleague with details of a gig I have agreed to do. As we chatted I craftily realised that as part of the deal I could secure a donation from him. I made a mental note to remember who else owes me favours at the moment. I went back to my technical practise and did scales and roundabout patterns with all four fingers of both hands. It was quite mundane but after a full day's teaching I was quite happy watching my fingers and listening to the sounds. Scale tones are still inconsistent and I did make a discovery that one of the reasons the tone is not quite right is because I'm plucking the string too low down. It's amazing the difference in tone when you pluck in the centre compared to plucking near the sound board or the levers. I am now noticing when the string has more of a twang than a ping and this may be one of the causes. The angle of the finger when it plucks also makes a difference although I still find it tricky to remember to concentrate on the angle of my hands after the first few notes. I had another bash at Rondo with the left hand chords. I attempted this quite slowly today and treated it more as a technical exercise than a piece of music but it filled up some time. I also looked at the first page of A Fenland Fantasy, one of the other orchestral pieces and worked out what fingering I am going to do. The second page looks much harder so I'm leaving that for now, probably until week. I think I managed about 25 minutes in total and finished with a performance of Sound the Trumpets to Chris who happened to be passing my room just at the right time (or wrong time, depending on your perspective). Chris will get a proper mention at some point but not until he's parted with some cash!

Day 8 - The start of Week 2

I spent two years in the academic world, following an MA is music psychology through Sheffield University. It was one of the most fulfilling things I have done so far and opened my mind to lots of new possibilities and interests. Having taught before this for a few years I had no idea of the masses of research carried out each year by teams who devise and carry out the experiments and surveys investigating musical development, motivation, memorisation, performance practise and many, many other interesting features of music. My favourite bit of research that I like to quote is that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. That means if I were to practise three to four hours every day for the next ten years I might actually reach this status! I also delved a little into neurology and learnt that it is possible for the previously unmusical adult brain to learn to read music. After a month or so of learning there are changes in the brain that can be observed using high-tech scanners. (We weren't allowed to play with the scanners at Sheffield so I had to get this information from a book.) It seems that the adult brain is capable of learning new tricks but attitude and obstacles such as family or work get in the way. Much of the material I read for my own research focussed on adult learners and there have been many examples of adults coming to music either to learn an instrument or as a serious hobby. I'll compile a book list over the next few weeks. The first to be included will be Valuing Musical Participation by Dr Stephanie Pitts, one of the fabulous professors at Sheffield. It explores musical experiences in a wide range of settings, from performer to audience, individual to group and education to everyday experience. Given that there are continual threats of cuts to the arts in general this is another example of how music is beneficial to so many and at so many levels.

Stephanie had recently been in touch about her forthcoming book Chances and Choices: Exploring the Impact of Music Education, which will be out later this year. I am delighted to be able to give the book a mention and have dedicated this evening's practise to Stephanie, thanks to her donation earlier today. I am sure she will be delighted to know that my 30 minutes were spent working through my new piece exploring issues of practise motivation, achieving optimal experience in performance and remembering to include my references. Ok, so I just managed the first two today! Today's task was to practise two notes at a time and make a start on Rondo. The two notes, played with thumb and first finger (1 and 2) was managed with both hands and was together most of the time. I only need this technique in the left hand and spent a bit of time on the right hand skill of going round and round with 1, 2, 3, 2 and replacing the fingers as there are several bars of the same pattern. Hands individually were fine but putting them together was a disaster! It's so simple yet won't work as easily as it should. I spent a good twenty minutes slowing down, thinking before placing and working out what's going wrong. I looked at four bars in Fenland Fantasy which have chords and that's not too bad. The rest looks hard so I'll save that for another day. I finished with a run through of Gymnopedie, Sound the Trumpets and Azaleas. They weren't as good as yesterday but I'd had a full day's teaching and was feeling the difference being back full time. Maybe an early night would be good.

Day 7 - End of Week 1

I wasn't expecting to do much practise today as I spent most of the time in London doing various things with my bass clarinet. I had planned for days like this and used the time on the train to read my new book – Harps and Harpists by Roslyn Rensch. I was hoping for a nice concise history of the harp's invention and development but of course the harp or at least instruments resembling what we know as the harp have been around for several thousand years. Evidence is around if you know where to look and archaeologists have unearthed paintings, drawings, carvings and in rare cases, remains of actual instruments in places like Mesopotamia (Syria – I had to look that up), Egypt and Israel. In Europe stone carvings, some of them quite weather-worn, can be found in the churchyards of Ireland and Wales, and many religious manuscripts exist across Europe featuring elaborate drawings to accompany text. What is clear is that the harps from the ancient world developed differently to those of Western Europe. The Western ones were a complete triangular frame (sound board, string arm and column) while those of the Ancient world did not have the column. However what they sounded like, what they were tuned to and how exactly they were played is open to speculation and will always do so. Rather than answering my questions I now have more questions. The authenticity of the representations may be questionable but the detail in some examples was quite impressive. As the trains were running to time I only got a little way in.

I played for about ten minutes this evening as I had used up today's concentration reserves rehearsing Mahler's Symphony No. 10. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable ten minutes playing through my two pieces, a C major scale at 54 bpm and Gymnopedie No. 1. Next week I will make a start on the third piece, Rondo, and the next orchestral piece. I have the challenge of playing two notes at the same time with one hand, and replacing the fingers at speed. I also need to find some new sponsors. I was informed that my justgiving link was not visible so I have added this to the side panel. I managed 205 minutes this week but go back to work full time so the real practise challenge starts tomorrow. Will I still have the same enthusiasm this time next week? Tune in again soon to find out!

Day 6 - My first gig invite..?

I played for a good half hour this afternoon. I could have finished at my usual 20 minutes but knew that as soon as I finished I'd have to do a small spot of grouting so this made me go on for a bit longer. Warm up exercises were based on all four fingers, up and down, round and round so much the same as yesterday really. I made a start on the Gymnopedie which is one of the orchestra pieces we will be performing at the concert on the 27 Feb. This did appear to be more straight-forward. There are two harp parts, one in C and one in D. The harp can only play in one diatonic key at a time. It is possible to change but the lever harpist must move all the relevant levers to change key. Each string has its own lever so if you are in C and want to move into D you have to move all the F and C levers to change those notes to F sharp and C sharp. That would be 10 strings. The pedal harp requires one pedal shift per note so you would only have to shift the F and C pedals to change key. Quite often a composer will write for two harps so that one harp plays in one key and the other will take over if it modulates.  I am doing the harp in C part and I worked out I could play the Gymnopedie with just a little bit of preparation. Most of the part contains long notes but the harps do get a little of the melody at one point. After some preparation I pulled out a 'Favourite Classics' CD to see if Satie's little gem was on there. Indeed it was and in the same key so I set the CD going and played along. This was great fun and I felt part of a bigger team, even if it was just me and Aldo Ciccolini. Aldo was gracious to pretend not to notice that we weren't together at times so that boosted my confidence even more. I spotted the slow movement of the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto on the same CD so had a listen to that before doing my chores. Other than a few works by Ravel and Debussy this concerto is the only important repertoire that I know exists for the harp.

Imagine my delight when my next donation came in with a message featuring Mozart and his concerto! It was from Caroline and Charles, some very good friends. Caroline is herself an inspiration as she is no stranger to the challenge of taking up a new instrument. She is a flautist but had always had a dream to play the saxophone. While at college (I won't say when!) the saxophone was frowned upon and although she was interested in learning she was told not to bother as it wasn't a proper instrument. A few years ago she bought herself an alto and set about working towards grade 6. As extra motivation she asked for sponsorship to help raise money for the Palace Band, the woodwind ensemble we both work with. As a flautist many techniques were similar but she soon discovered there were also many differences, in particular the embouchure and stamina required to last for more than five minutes. However she worked hard and passed with distinction! Caroline particularly enjoys early music and has recently taken up the viol, even going on a weekend course very similar to the ones we run together. She now understands what the participants feel like and described the dread, anxiety and desperate desire to please the tutor, something that neither of us had realised our own participants might go through! Caroline spent the early days of her career playing as a flute and harp duo with Sioned Williams, now of course with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The pair of them gave many a rousing performance of the Mozart. Caroline's suggestion was that we do an arrangement at some stage accompanied by the Palace Band. Even if it was simplified beyond recognition (and that's not just my part…) I would have the honour of following in Sioned's footsteps. Fancy that! Buoyed by these amazing dreams I managed another 20 minutes for Caroline and Charles and recapped everything covered so far. The two exam pieces are coming along slowly and one of the orchestra pieces is manageable. The fourth finger is still dodgy and the inconsistent tone quality is one I need to address but otherwise all on schedule. Well it would be if I had a schedule. Maybe I'll do one tomorrow...

Day 5 - Introducing finger 4

After my initial flurry of sponsorship things had gone quiet on the fundraising front so this afternoon's practise was just for myself. I didn't do anything new, just played through some of the exercises and little studies. I played through Sound the Trumpets and had a think about what to do with the dynamics. There are none printed, as is the case with many grade 1 pieces, but I encourage my woodwind pupils to put their own in as it makes it much more interesting to listen to and to play. With this piece the clue is in the title so most of it can be strong and fanfare-like. Apart from the third line of course (the tricky quaver bit) which can sound like an explosion in a harp factory when I don't quite get it right. I can bring it down a little here then build up for the last line which can be the loudest. Azaleas got some more attention and I am gradually learning this from memory, which was my trick when learning the piano as I couldn't read the notes and look at my fingers at the same time. This was despite my piano teacher's best efforts to get me to look at the music.

A little concerned that the donation total was at a standstill I sent off a few more emails letting people know of my ambitious activities. This at least has been a great motivator to make me get in touch with people I’ve not seen or spoken to for a while. In the meantime the total had increased again and I was able to dedicate this evening's 25 minutes to Charlotte, a fellow clarinettist and woodwind teacher. Charlotte reminded me to do my scales and arpeggios so reluctantly I started these using finger 4 (ring finger) as both scale and arpeggio patterns need this weakest of digits. I did C major and went up and down several times just getting used to it and trying to remember the things Elaine would most likely have reminded me if she'd been watching. it wasn't too bad but I'll do some more exercises on that next time. I've started using the metronome as this gives a good measure of progress. By moving up a notch a day you hardly notice the difference as you build up speed. My scale is currently crotchet = 50 which means I can do just under one note per second. I have 50 days left so by moving up one beat per minute pm a day I could reach 100 by the exam date! Hopefully it will be a bit quicker than that but at least that gives some sort of aim.

Day 4 - Earn more for a distinction

During my school days it was taken for granted that you would work through your graded exams on whichever instruments you played. I never remember any pressure to do exams and I was always keen to start thinking about the next one as soon as I'd finished the previous one. I even did grade 8 theory just for fun and have the anorak certificate to prove it! There was some competition with friends and while it felt good to get a higher mark than your rivals there was usually lots of support for each other no matter what the outcome. I also had the added enticement of a cash reward as Mum offered a set amount for passing, which was increased if the mark reached a merit or distinction. As well as being an incentive to practise (although I don't think I ever told her I'd have practised just as hard without the cash bonus) it was an effective way to teach your child about the merits of working for a living. Mum has offered to do the same thing this time so I have had an initial donation from her and will get another if I get a good mark. Today's practise session was dedicated to her and she'll be pleased to know it featured no bad language!

After a full day of teaching in school I warmed up with arpeggio patterns, then tackled Azaleas. After the first run through I did knuckle down and looked at a couple of bars that were a bit naff. The third finger is slipping especially where the stretches are larger so I have had to make sure my hand position is really secure beforehand then letting the third finger spring back into my palm. Any sloppiness at this point and the other two notes sound too strong. Playing each bar on its own is one thing but getting the fingers in place immediately after playing the previous bar is a different issue so I did a bit of two bar practise, repeating the move to the strings as well as from them. There are some dynamics in this piece so I did the two bars that have a crescendo (gradually get louder) aiming to produce each note just a little louder than the previous note. This, again, is easier said than done as the strength of each finger is inconsistent. You could call my attempt a crescendo but the sudden leap from quiet to loud somewhere in the middle of the phrase is not particularly gradual. 20 minutes achieved and that's probably it for today as I've had some other work to do and have an orchestra rehearsal on clarinet this evening. How does this sound… sight-read a new piece, possibly including some transposing, in front of a demanding conductor, tune and blend with 7 other woodwinds and a couple of horns, and play some difficult solo passages in front of 40-odd other musicians? As Debussy might have once said, "C’est du gâteau!"

Day 3 - Are you practising or just playing it through?

An admirable 30 minutes achieved in two stints this evening putting today's total at 40 minutes! The money is rolling in and this evening's practises were in honour of Elin and Heather, both members of the Palace Band, a great adult woodwind ensemble that I conduct. I am now using finger 3 regularly but it often slips off the string so I need to work out how to get that more consistent. Rohan provided us with some short, simple exercises so I have worked through a few of those. As well as exercises using consecutive strings I've moved on to arpeggios (broken chords) which sound lovely and are one of the effects commonly heard coming from the harps in ensembles. The list B piece is called Azaleas in  Houston and is made up entirely of arpeggio figures, mostly in root position, with a few in first inversion and other formations. We did a little on this in the lesson and I played through this fairly slowly with a few mistakes then went back to the start. About half way through the second go, and after a couple more wrong notes, a little voice in my head asked if I was going to sort out the causes of the mistakes or was I just going to keep playing it through. Playing it through, I replied. I'll work on the finer detail tomorrow! Then I realised this is probably how many of my pupils actually think, although without the promise to hone in on problem areas tomorrow. Often in lessons I ask how a pupil has practised and they reply that they play it through then go back to the beginning and play it again. Of course I already know this because the piece they have just 'performed' sounds as barely-tolerable as it did the previous week. I explain that playing it through is not really practise and they should target any weak spots with practise techniques that we cover in lessons. So there's one strategy to reassess in my lessons and one aim for tomorrow for me… practise it properly!

Day 3 - Planning to plan

This morning's practise was dedicated to Nina who made a donation and reminded me of the times we used to sit in the pub near college moaning that we couldn't get a practise room. What we failed to realise was that those who did get a practise room had been waiting in the practise annex for an hour to book their room rather than sitting in the Angel-in-the-Fields for two hours drinking. These days there is no pub nearby (just Chris's homebrew) so I managed to start my practise quite early. I did some warm ups with fingers 1 and 2 and went for a run through of Sound the Trumpets. This is slow but increasingly accurate so I did another run focussing on "elbows up – shoulders down" and felt quite happy. Until I had a look through the rest of what I will need to do. And remembered I ought to do a plan. Here's a summary of targets:

A. Exam

Three Pieces, with three different techniques

Scales – but just one pattern of fingers

Arpeggios – as with scales, just one pattern to learn

Sight-reading – need to be able to play the pieces I know first!

Aural – should be OK on this. (Might get a pupil to test me which will save me planning a lesson)

B. Concert (Big evening concert taking place after all the exams have finished)

Gymnopedie No. 1 – This is slow and looks easy, but looks can be deceptive

A Fenland Fantasy – This looks harder. There are some chord, arpeggio figures and time changes. There is also a glissando!

Another ensemble piece which should arrive next week

I put everything back into the folder and did some exercises using the third finger. 10 minutes practise in the bag and as Wednesday is supposed to be my admin day I made a start on my very long list of things to do.

Day 2 - First bout of serious practise and a spot of Japanese drumming

Today was the first day back after the holidays and my presence was required at a music service training day, fortunately organised at a venue not too far from home so I managed to do five minutes playing just after breakfast. I did a few exercises using 1, 2 and 3 to practise the technique of re-placing the fingers and checked my fingers, hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders and after correcting the position played my exercises again. I can do it slowly but as I speed up I lose it.

The highlight of the day was a 3 hour session on Taiko drumming and while this energetic, warrior-like drumming may seem far removed from the gentle sounds of the harp there were many similarities involved in the learning of the technique. Our first piece of advice was based on an old proverb:

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s there are few. – Shunryu Suzuki-roshi.

Wise words indeed, although quite a challenge to accept that it was ok to know nothing. On more than one occasion we were told to let go and follow the various moves and rhythms with as little effort as possible. The less effort we used, the more sound we produced and the better the ensemble. As had been the case yesterday I had posture issues that needed correcting regularly but was able to adjust these myself by the end. Joe who was leading was a brilliant example of what a teacher should do, give clear instructions, be encouraging or reassuring when needed, and lead us to answer our own questions. It was fascinating stuff.

Back home and after throwing my bag on the floor (like an excited school child!) I ran upstairs to the harp. I messed around for a few minutes making some lovely tinkly sounds then did a few exercises using first and second fingers going up and down using a two quaver-crotchet rhythm (or cha-cha chaaa for my musician friends) This is one of the techniques needed for the list C piece ‘Sound the Trumpets’. Most of this looks very straight forward as no more than two notes at a time are played and you can do three of the four lines with just finger 2 but when the quaver rhythm comes in at line three it is a bit fiddly as you need fingers 1 and 2. After tea I did a bit more just with fingers 1 and 2. My technique worked well with one hand so I experimented in doing hands together then doing hands together but at different times. This did seem to require a lot of thought but as I moved my attention to my thumb (to keep it up) it got better. Relaxing and accepting what you are doing helps you focus your awareness on where it is needed. I can get through the whole piece at a moderate pace but there are a few wobbles.

I probably need to do a rough plan for the eight weeks. Earlier today I did wonder whether I should do this piece for a week but by the end of the evening realised the enjoyment may wear thin if I just stick to this one. Trouble is I know I will struggle with finger 4 and am putting off doing that one for now. So half an hour managed today and I have tomorrow at home so may be able to do even more.

The justgiving page is up and running www.justgiving.com/stephanie-reeve/ and I received my first donation! Thanks go to Sue Fitz who also told me I'd be grounded if I didn't do 30 minutes practise. I was ready to stop at 25 but her forceful encouragement made me go on for those extra 5 minutes!

Day 1 - Other Sessions

Everyone gathered in the hall at lunchtime to hear a few speeches from Dame Evelyn Glennie, Guy and Elizabeth from SIA who is on the fundraising team. Evelyn Glennie spoke about the musical benefits of an event like this and recalled her own participation last time on the double bass. It was refreshing to hear that even with her own performing career having appeared in many of the world’s finest concert halls she still felt nervous as she approached the shed where she was to go take her grade 1 double bass exam. Despite describing the experience as a ‘trauma’ Evelyn said she was disappointed when she had to give the double bass back. Guy was introduced and began by giving us a tip: never attempt any DIY and to leave it to the experts! Much of his speech was light-hearted and he spoke about his own experience and the way the staff and teams at Stoke Mandeville helped him during his 3 or 4 months there, from his first encounter with a peer advisor to details of the technique needed just to get from the wheelchair to the bed for example. I was surprised to learn this can take several weeks and requires considerable upper body strength, not easy when you’ve been in a hospital bed for some time. Guy explained why he had chosen SIA above many other potentially worthy charities. He could see exactly where the money was being spent and notice the immediate benefits but could also see areas for development and where help would be needed in the future. Guy thanked Thanea, Maurice and the committee who have been organising the whole event and handed over to Elizabeth, from SIA, who gave us a few details about her side, explaining the projects that our particular funds would be going to and wished us luck on our exciting journey. After the applause died down the hall filled with lively chatter from those excited at having had their lesson and those who were slightly apprehensive yet to try their new instrument.

After lunch I went along to see the clarinets to see if any help was needed. It was interesting going from being a learner to watching others learning something I can already do. The group of about 10 were being taught by Joy Farrell, a well known performer and professor at Guildhall, and while Joy is more used to the higher level players she gave good clear instructions on producing a sound and how to place the fingers. The group worked well and there were some good strong tones within the first few minutes. A little bit of squeaking, especially as some players tried too hard but as they learned to relax the squeaking disappeared. Joy’s suggestion “think bugs bunny, then suck a lemon” for correct embouchure was surprisingly effective and her advice of “just keep blowing no matter what's going on” is sound (excuse the pun!) advice for any wind player! It is always useful to hear how others approach certain techniques and when Joy tackled the thorny issue of tonguing she was able to demonstrate and explain it in a simple way. Her starter exercise was different to my usual one so it was great to get another way to introduce tonguing to pupils. The hour went by very quickly and we all left with high hopes.

The harps recover after the lesson.

The more demanding pedal harps. 

Day 1 - The Lesson

Well, where to begin... Much of the early morning is a haze now as I try to process all the information given to me during the day. I remember meeting Natasha, a pianist, on the way in with her guitar and straight away we talked about why we had chosen our instruments and what we hoped to get out of it. As we went into the busy reception I managed to knock her, and a few others (including one of my own managers!) out of the way as I manoeuvred around to say hello to colleagues and friends and to sign in. I can carry the harp case on my shoulder but I need a lot of space, more space than I am used to, if I want to swing round and talk to anyone else. I have been told it will survive the odd knock but don't think other people will so I must remember it is a bit bigger than my clarinet case.

I was directed to the harp rooms and found my group’s teacher, Elaine. The harps had been divided into two groups, lever harps (small, more portable and sensible) and pedal harps (big concert harps often seen towards the back of orchestras, or being loaded / unloaded from a Volvo estate). The other teacher Rohan, who I know through other musical activities, was with the pedal harps. There were three of us in our group and as Elaine tuned my harp I chatted with Maureen and Amelia about what we did and why we had chosen the harp. None of us appeared to have specific reasons, it was just something we fancied and here was our opportunity complete with motivation. We started with single finger exercises, using the second (or index finger as the thumb is the first finger) learning the technique of plucking. Elaine explained how the fingers pluck the string and fold into the palm, keeping the hand as still as possible "your hand should be like the Rock of Gibraltar". She showed us where the arms, elbow and wrists should be and effortlessly played a few notes. So far so good! However, after just a few seconds into our practise she was calling one of our names, followed by an anatomical part. For me it was usually “Steph – elbow” then as I looked at my left elbow she’d say “right elbow needs to be higher. Imagine you are a princess!” As a right hand technique was mastered and we felt good we then did it with the left hand. Once that had been achieved with a sense of self-satisfaction we had to do hands together. Although each exercise was a development from what we had just done it felt like starting over, going right back to basics which at times was irksome. As adults we do want to run before we can walk and I struggled having to rethink it all again. I found using the fourth finger particularly tricky so will need to work on that. Co-ordination appeared to be a bit iffy for all of us as our fingers tried to decipher the messages from the brain, not always successfully. While we were battling with our own techniques Elaine was constantly drawing our attention to slouchy backs, drooped elbows, saggy wrists, and tense fingers. At one point I did wonder how long her patience might last but she remained calm and encouraging and towards the end we were able to focus on the notes, fingers and arm positions to check for posture, and hopefully look like princesses. We covered techniques and exercises based on the pieces we were to perform and even managed to work through all three pieces. That sounds impressive until you realise we spent at least 10 minutes on the 12 bars of Azaleas in Houston and that was without the repeats! Still it was great fun and the great thing about the harp is that even if you go wrong it still sounds lovely. Elaine wished us luck and we came away with a buzz and desire to do well for ourselves and for her. The three of us have decided to meet up about half way through to see how things are going and we have swapped email address for moral support and to offer suggestions and advice.

There were other sessions during the day and I'll write about those tomorrow. I managed a good ten minutes practise this evening just to revise the basic techniques but my thumb started hurting (see the excuses have started) and I'll have another go tomorrow. Or maybe as soon as I've logged off...

High expectations

The first (and only) lesson is tomorrow and I have made sure I am as prepared as I can be. The harp is in its case waiting patiently by the front door and I have checked where I need to be and when. Otherwise there is not much else to do as we have been asked not to practise until after tomorrow. I have used today to remind myself what I want to get out of this experience and why I am doing it.

The musical community in Cambridge is quite close and in my six years here I have come across many other musicians, through teaching, performing and professional and social events. There are some great characters and it came as a shock last year to hear that a local horn player, Guy, had suffered a fall at home, injuring his spine. This left him paralysed and he underwent rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. With the help of one or two musical friends Guy decided to help raise funds for the Spinal Injuries Association (one of the leading charities supporting patients through rehabilitation) by repeating the successful Grade-one-a-thon that was held in Cambridge in 2004.  Despite having had his life changed through his accident Guy's positive and upbeat open letter to local musicians inviting us to take part showed remarkable spirit and I admire the way in which he has dealt with such a difficult challenge. In order to support Guy and the many others who need similar support through rehabilitation I will be looking for sponsorship for my grade 1 challenge. I will carry donation forms wherever I go and will shortly set up a page on justgiving.com.

My own personal interest comes from working with adult learners, indeed learners of all ages, as a teacher and ensemble coach and the efforts that many students go to in order to develop their skill is quite amazing. However, if I had a pound for every time that I requested the key signature be observed, or shouted "dynamics" more than once in a five minute spell… well ... enough to buy my own harp probably!

Too many teachers forget what it is to learn and we should all be reminded that learning requires a great deal of patience and an ability to think creatively to solve problems and achieve goals. Hopefully we will become better teachers as a result of learning our new skill. And that involves no cheating! I'd be lying if I said I'd not been tempted to have the odd twang now and again over the last few weeks but the real learning should begin tomorrow.

Over the weeks I hope not just to improve as a player but also to learn a little more about the harp and its history. It is an instrument about which I know very little. I will keep track of my practise and sponsorship raised and hopefully have a lot of fun. Honestly, just how hard can it be!