Instructions for non-harpists

The following pages are from the book The Complete Chromatic Harp by Donald Hall. The choice of these chapters assumes that the reader does not play the harp at all, so commences with a brief guide to playing on the diatonic row of strings. For the reader who is already a harpist, proceed directly to the next chapters, which introduce you to the notions of trichords and tetrachords; the three finger and four finger patterns which constitute the entire basis of the technique. It is the combination of these two fingering patterns which produces all the scales, major and minor, as well as many of the modes, thus allowing you to find your way around the instrument and begin to play melodies.

The notation for all of the examples and exercises mentioned in the text, are to be found at the end of the chapters. This is to make it easier to print them off and put them in front of you on the music stand without all the clutter of the text.

Subsequent chapters take you through each of the major keys, with their relative minors, one by one, then go on to deal with the playing of three and four part chords and arpeggios, octaves, as well as the fingering for pentatonic, chromatic, blues, jazz, Arabian and Persian modes. For further information on these subjects, please feel free to contact the academy.

First chapter.          Preliminaries. Playing the ordinary harp.
Second chapter     Trichords      Three finger patterns.
Third chapter         Tetrachords   Four finger patterns.
Fourth chapter       Notation of exercises and examples.

You will find that some teachers of the chromatic harp recommend that the student learn to play the instrument initially in the key of C major, that is, on a single row only, as if it were an ordinary diatonic harp. This method does not take that approach. Rather, it takes the point of view that the particular demands of playing the chromatic harp rely so much on movement skills within a spacial area, that you are best off getting used to the double-vision that the brain must develop right from the very beginning. The earlier you are moving freely between the two rows, the more natural it will be and the sooner you will be able to judge exactly where your arm and hand height really needs to be.

CHAPTER FOUR - PRELIMINARIES

Some musicians will come to this instrument already able to play the harp. As long as you have an operational “classical” technique, that is:-

1.         Playing with the thumbs up.

2.         Playing with the palms parallel to the strings.

3.        Playing with the fingers slanting down slightly to the strings and closing right into the palm after plucking a string.

4.        Playing with the wrist and fore-arm forming a straight line and the elbow lifted - then there is no need for you to bother with this brief chapter.

Here I should point out that not all classical technique uses the raised elbow. Many harpists allow the elbow to drop, but not drag downwards, to the point where the wrist of the right hand is actually resting on the edge of the soundboard. While this style of playing may be useful on the straight harp, it is better to maintain a higher elbow position on the chromatic harp so that you have a more even access to both upper and lower courses of strings, and so that the hand is effectively suspended above the cusp. If your technique already addresses all of these points, then you should go straight to chapter four, as what we are about to cover is for people new to the technique of the harp.

We have already covered basic issues such as position at the harp and arm-shoulder position. But, at the risk of becoming dead boring, I will again mention that the back must be straight, the head lifted, the shoulders relaxed and the elbow, forearm, wrist and top-of-hand should be forming a straight line. We shall now proceed, finger by finger, to get the entire hand playing.

THE RIGHT THUMB

1.         Seat yourself at the instrument with your right fore-arm lifted to the height of your shoulder, the palm of your hand open and facing the floor.

2.         Take a good look at it. Ensure that the shoulder, upper arm, elbow, fore-arm, wrist and the top of the hand, are all perfectly level with one another, so that, like a juggler, you could roll a ball along the entire length of the arm and hand.

3.         Rotate the wrist so that the palm is facing inwards.

4.         Take a good look at it in this position. The hand should be open as though you are about to shake hands.

5.         Let your elbow drop slightly lower than shoulder height, without changing the line with the forearm and hand.

6.         Bring the tips of your fingers into the palm of your hand. Avoid unnecessary grip and tension, just let them rest in there with the thumb cocked upwards.

7.         Bring the hand into the instrument and, using the thumb in a firm forward movement, pluck any diatonic row string you like in the middle register of the harp. The top third of the thumb and not just the very tip, is where you should be making contact with the string. For the moment, play on the string at a point just below the middle of the length of the string (from the top to the point of crossover).

8.         Continue the forward-downward movement of the thumb after the string is plucked so that it comes to rest on the base joint of the index finger.

9.         Repeat this action, carefully watching that you do not drop the elbow lower than the wrist, and that the thumb follows through, just like a tennis racquet does when you’re serving.

10.        Play gradually up the register, ensuring that as the hand goes higher up the harp, it remains in alignment with the elbow, which should be effectively drawing the forearm up and back. Play only on the diatonic row.

11.        Very slowly and carefully, play down the entire treble register, watching the levels of your elbow. Then play slowly right up to the very top string, feeling how high the elbow has to draw up and then drop back. Play each note evenly and strongly. Make sure you like the tone you are hearing before you pass on to the next string.

12.        Do your neural patterning as described in Chapter Two. This is crucial, even with these non-complex movements.

THE LEFT THUMB

The big difference with the left hand is that the height at which the entire arm is held is much lower as the fingers are playing on the bottom half of the strings. The elbow and shoulder are in a more relaxed position. However, the alignment of the wrist and elbow remains the same in the middle of the bass register, but as the hand drops and stretches towards the strings at the bass end, the hand tends to angle down from the elbow level, and as the left hand plays right up into the treble register, as it frequently must, the wrist level must lift above the height of the elbow.

The other really important difference is that the left thumb is your mainstay on the pentatonic row, as it conveniently reaches upwards to play the “black notes”. Initially this will not concern us and we will be playing only on the diatonic row. However, it does effect the closeness of the placement of the tip of the thumbs to the cusp. Where on the right hand the thumb is placed at the greatest distance from the cusp of all the fingers, with the left hand it must be placed as closely as possible to the cusp, and indeed, you must get used to the thumb being able to play in the spaces between the E flat and F sharp strings and the B flat and C sharp strings.

Keeping this in mind, and beginning with any string in the middle of the bass register, repeat what you have already done with the right thumb including the neural patterning.

RIGHT HAND AND LEFT HAND TOGETHER

Once you feel that you have control of each individual hand, waste no time in getting both hands into action. The bi-lateral demands of the chromatic harp are quite significant, and need to be cultivated from the very beginning. The most important thing to remember when you first begin to play with both hands is not to tense the shoulders up, and to continue breathing.

Begin with close order intervals, that is, with the thumbs at a third - place the left thumb on any note then place the right thumb on not the next string up, but the one above that. If the left thumb is on a C then the right thumb will be on an E. Now, very slowly and deliberately and evenly, both in terms of tempo and tone, play as far up and down the registers of the harp as you comfortably can. Use a metronome at this stage if you have one. If you don’t have one then get one. You should get into the habit of doing all of your exercises and particularly your scales, to a strict beat. You will be astonished how important an aide the metronome can be in helping the body to assimilate the music you are learning.

When you feel that you have accomplished that task with some degree of success, extend the interval by another string, that is to a fourth, then to a fifth and then to an interval of a sixth followed finally by scale passages at the distance of an octave. Remember, this is merely an exercise for the thumbs, not the way to play a scale, although there are certainly times when the playing of a piece requires entire passages to be played with the thumb, such as passages of stopped notes and passages using harmonics.

THE INDEX FINGER (RIGHT HAND)

1.         Place the pad of the thumb on any string in the mid-register. The rest of the fingers should be loose and hanging downwards.

2.         Let the index finger fall onto the next string down, letting it reach down slightly to contact the string. Bring the tips of the third and fourth gently up to the palm of the hand, to rest there without tension.

3.         Feel the relationship of the thumb to the index finger - the pinch and pressure that they share with one another when you press down on both strings simultaneously without actually playing them, feel how each stabilizes the other.

4.         Keeping the thumb in position to provide an anchor, pluck with the index finger by striking with the front-tip of the finger and then bringing the point of the finger through in a swinging, downward reaching arc, finishing with the tip of the finger coming into home base in the palm of the hand. This follow through of the finger is vital for the tone you produce, as well as for the strengthening of the fingers. Do not pull upwards and backwards with the middle joint of the finger when you are plucking, rather that joint should be moving downwards as you pluck lifting only when you go to replay that string, that is, after you play the string, but never when you are playing the string.

5.         Keeping the index finger placed on its string, pluck with the thumb, bringing it through to its closed position on the base of the index finger. Again, feel the foundation that the index finger provides for the thumb as it strikes.

6.         Play thumb-index-thumb-index, being carefully to allow for a good extension upwards and downwards of the two fingers.

7.         Do the same routine further up the instrument.

8.         Do the same thing further down the instrument. In each instance, remember to watch the alignment of the forearm.

9.         Play thumb thumb index index. Keep your timing even end try to keep the tone even. Play as strongly as you can, but be careful, with any repeated movements of the muscles of the body, not to over-do things, either with too much force or with too many repeats of the movement.

10.        Do this routine further up the instrument, then in the high register and then further down the treble then right down the bottom of your treble reach.

11.        Apply neural patterning.

With the next step the thumb remains static on a single string while the index finger “takes a walk” down the four strings below it. For the first time we are going to a specific note and therefore, for the first time, musical notation becomes part of the equation. The note which we require is a C natural - middle C. This is the red string more or less in the middle of your instrument’s register. Likewise, you will find that middle C is written right in the middle of the bass clef and the treble clef, sitting on the ledger line that divides the two.

Firstly, the thumb plucks the C, closing all the way into the palm of the hand and then returning to its position on the string, providing foundation for the index finger to play the B below it. Ensure that the index finger plays strongly and follows through to its point on the palm of the hand, retuning, not to the same B which it has just played, but to the A string just below it. There it provides the foundation for the thumb to pluck the C again. Having done that, and returned to the string placement, the index finger is then free to play the A string on which it has been pre-positioned, using the thumb as its support again. As the index finger returns to its string placement, it does so down to the next string, the G, where it is placed ready to support the thumb replaying its C. Play the C and follow it with the G, replacing the index finger on the F before playing the C with the thumb again. See Exercise 1. From the very beginning it is wise to get used to looking at the music when you are playing the note.           

Once you have some degree of competence with this downward passage, get your index finger walking back up the same passage, giving you an exercise not unlike a riff from Bach. Repeat the same exercise up the octave. But only when you are secure in the lower octave.    

When you are satisfied that you have some control over that process, move onto Exercise 2. where you are training your fingers to play non-consecutive notes, jumping over a string to play series of notes at a third.

Begin by placing the index and the thumb on the C and E strings.

Play each string in repeated succession keeping one finger preplaced as the other plays its string.

Play both simultaneously, feeling that pinch action between the thumb and the index, and taking advantage of it to generate strength and tone.

Normally such an exercise would have all the notes linked, but at the moment we are only interested in taking that two finger position and transposing it up a string, so that you are now playing the D and the F strings.

Again, play these back and forward and as the third.

Move to the next string, and so on up the treble range of your harp. Remember to keep a constant eye on the height of your elbow and the alignment of the forearm and wrist, and ensure that these remain constant as you move up and down the instrument.

Do the same in descent. See Ex. 3 This exercise is notated to two octaves but you should attempt this exercise by degrees, moving up and back in the range of an octave before attempting to encompass the entire notated two octaves. Eventually you want to be able to do this exercise up and down the entire reachable range of your instrument.

Remember at every stage to apply neural patterning. Be careful at all times that the forearm position is maintained, that you are following all the way through with all of the finger movements, and that you are remembering to breathe evenly, with that evenness extending to your tempo and your tone.

THE INDEX FINGER (LEFT HAND)

This is very much the same process as the right hand index finger. Go through the same set of procedures, remembering that there will be a difference in the alignment of the forearm. Once you have covered the basics to a single octave, you should practice using your left hand right up into the treble register as it is often required to play all the way up there.

The notation for these exercises is in the bass part of Ex. 1, 2 and 3. Again, remember that evenness is the key to practice. Do not hurry through any of these steps, and be certain to apply your neural patterning.

LEFT AND RIGHT HAND TOGETHER

1.         Play index-thumb with the left hand followed straight on with index - thumb on the same notes in the treble with the right hand, (ascending order).

2.         Play notes in descending order (thumb-index of right hand followed directly by thumb index of the left hand).

3.         Very slowly, play the Bach riff exercise first with the right hand then straight on with the left hand and then with both hands simultaneously, but at an octave from each other, naturally. Watch the notation to get used to the recognition of notes in the bass clef.

4.         Do the same thing with the jumping a string exercise, again with the hands playing at an octave.

5.         Apply your neural patterning.

THE THIRD FINGER AND THE TRICHORD (RIGHT HAND)

A trichord is any sequence of three consecutive notes having either a tone or a semitone between them. It is not a real musical term but is adapted from the actual term tetrachord, which refers to any sequence of four consecutive notes with either tones or semitones separating them. Because so much of the fingering of scales relies on three and four note sequences, it seems convenient to have terms to cover both.

1.         Placing the thumb on the middle C, let the index and the third finger fall down at a slanting angle onto the B and A strings respectively. The fingers should be slanted rather than bent at the middle joint, and should form an arrow headed angle with the line of the cusp, with the third finger being placed closest to the point of crossover, the thumb extended upwards. Keep the hand in a more open position by keeping the extension between the thumb and the fingers at as great an angle as is practicable, without stretching or creating false tension.

2.         Pluck the A with the third finger, ensuring that you follow through with the finger, followed by the index finger and then the thumb. The index finger and the thumb stay in place to support the playing of the A, while the index finger remains preplaced on the B to support the playing of the C. Before you play the thumb note, it is necessary to return the index finger and the third finger to their pre-placed positions on their strings, to offer foundation for the playing of the thumb. See Exercise 4.

3.         Play this three finger pattern all the way up the treble, with the third finger stepping up a note higher with each repeat, see Exercise 5. On each occasion, before the thumb plays the final note in the sequence, preplace the third finger to the string above that which it has just played, so that each three note unit is linked to the previous one. This process of linking is vital to your technique.

4.         Play the same passage in descent. See Exercise 6. However, this time the preplacement is reversed, with the thumb and index finger retuning to their strings before the third finger sounds.

5.         Play the descending pattern of three note units all the way down the instrument, using the preplacement of the  thumb to link one unit to the next. See Exercise 7.

6.         Play the three notes ascending and descending in continuous order. The most important thing to observe here is preplacement. Ensure that when the thumb is playing, that the index finger and third finger are solidly preplaced on their strings, that when the index finger is playing it is supported by the preplaced third finger when you are playing downwards, and by the thumb when you are playing upwards, and that when the third finger is playing, it is supported by the preplaced index finger and thumb. You should feel the fingers which are moving as a two finger unit work as one, coming down firmly to their preplaced position on the strings above or below the third finger in ascent and the thumb in descent.

7.         Next we will do an exercise based on the Bach riff we have already met in a previous exercise. This time we will use the second and third fingers to play the descending notes against the thumb’s repeated note, see Exercise 8. Place all of the fingers down before you play a note, and try to lift only that finger which is plucking a string, returning the other two to their preplaced position on the strings. Do this very slowly to begin with. If you are having trouble with the index finger scooping or hooking and thus sounding boney, try extending the positions of your thumb and third fingers slightly, so producing a little more room for the index finger. If you find that the strings are buzzing when you are playing, it is because your replacement is not crisp and certain enough. You need to be able to stop the vibrations of the string with a quick and firm touch before you actually have to sound that string again. If buzzing is a feature of the sound you are making, try the above exercise with repeated notes, getting used to the idea of stopping the vibration then plucking the string.

8.         Play these exercises as loudly as you can.

9.         Play these exercises as softly as you can.

10.        Apply neural patterning.

THE THIRD FINGER AND TRICHORD (LEFT HAND)

This is the same set of exercises as the right hand. The same elements of preplacement and linking are essential to observe with the left hand as well. You will find the notation for the left hand exercises in the bass part of the right hand examples. Remember to apply your neural patterning. The more fingers you are using, the more important it is to help the brain out. Also, remember to use different dynamics, that is, loud and soft, as this helps to establish tone, variety and expression in your playing.

TRICHORDS FOR THE LEFT AND RIGHT HANDS TOGETHER

1.         Begin with your simple A.B.C. trichord ascending and then descending, see Exercises 4 and 6.

2.         Continue on with ever extending walks up and down the whole range of the harp, see exercises 5 and 7. Watch out for buzzing, using a crisp attack to avoid it.

3.         Keep the volume and the tone of both hands balanced.

4.         Watch particularly that you keep the thumb of the left hand and the third finger of the right hand, placed closely to the cusp of the strings. Get into the habit of  keeping your hands playing up and down the cusp, and not roving either too high with the right hand, or too low with the left hand.

5.         Be mindful at all times that you are following through with the fingers to the palm of the hand and that as you move up and down the harp your forearm, elbow and shoulder are all involved correctly, and not inhibiting overall movement, and that you are preplacing and linking at all times.

5.         Play the above exercises as loudly as you can.

6.         Play the above exercises as softly as you can.

7.         Apply neural patterning.

TETRACHORDS FOR THE RIGHT HAND

By now both you and your brain should be getting used to this routine, and this next section follows very predictably the direction already established for the first three fingers.

1.         When all four fingers are placed on their strings, you will see that they form an arrow-head angle fanning down from the angle of the crossover.

2.         Ensure that the palm is parallel to the strings, that the thumb is cocked and the three fingers dropping at a slight slant onto their strings.

3.         Keep the palm of the hand open by extending upwards with the thumb and downwards with the fourth finger, so avoiding constriction of the hand muscles and the finger shapes.

4.         Keep the wrist strong and in alignment.

5.         Make sure the fingers do the work, moving with a brisk attack, both with placement and plucking, and traveling right through to the palm of the hand after having plucked.

6.         Make solid contact with the instrument, press into the strings, lean into the notes and feel that you are lifting them out of the instrument.

7.         Make sure the hand position and its movements look elegant.

8.         Watch out for strain on the top of the forearm.

9.         Keep the hands in a close relationship to the cusp, particularly now that the fourth finger becomes the finger closest to the cusp in the right hand, while the thumb maintains its position in the left hand. These two fingers are important because they constitute the foundation point for the rest of the fingers, somewhat in the same way that a muscle insertion secures the muscle at one end. If they are poorly placed, they compromise the workings of all the other fingers.

10.        As you travel up and down the instrument, pay special attention to the position of the elbows. They should be in a position to draw the hands up the length of the fingerboard and push the hands back down the fingerboard.

Exercise 9 is the tetrachord in ascent and descent. Begin with all fingers preplaced, then, one by one play up the C D and E, returning those fingers to their preplaced position before sounding the F with the thumb, then play down, doing the same thing with the turn-around of the thumb, then play up the scale again.

Do the same exercise with repeated notes, providing the opportunity to work with controlling the vibration of the string before playing it, preventing buzzing.

Exercise 10. is the tetrachords moving by degrees up and down the register of the harp. Remember, the importance of this exercise is to link each group of notes, by ensuring that the fourth finger has moved up to, and been preplaced on, the string next up from the one it has just played, prior to the thumb sounding the last note in the sequence. Thus it is there to provide an anchor for the thumb note, and to be ready as the first note in the next sequence. As soon as the thumb sounds its string, the remaining fingers should pounce onto their preplaced positions, along with the return of the thumb to its position.

Exercise 11. is the Bach riff with an added two notes, to give the fourth finger a special workout, as it plays two consecutive strings. Once a finger has sounded its string, it returns to roost on it while the other fingers do their work. This exercise is also beneficial for preventing a lazy thumb, so be careful to close the thumb position down like a lavatory lid everytime it plays. If you find that the fingers are bunching in on one another, try slightly extending the thumb upwards and the fourth finger downwards and straightening the fingers, particularly if you are playing on a narrow necked instrument with a wider-angled cross-over.

TETRACHORDS FOR THE LEFT HAND

Following straight on from the logic of the right hand the left hand covers the same exercises with their part being notated in the bass line of exercises 9, 10 and 11. In the case of the left hand, you must link with the fourth finger or the thumb as you move from one terachord to the next; the fourth when in descent and the thumb when in ascent.

Watch the position of your elbow and make certain it doesn’t drag the arm down. Keep the thumb placed as close as you can to the cusp so that the pentatonic row is always a near neighbour. You will see that there are times when the thumb can be slipped in quite high on its string; on the B-C and E-F string spaces.

TETRACHORDS FOR BOTH HANDS

Now that you have come to this stage it is vital to remember posture, when you are doing the following exercises, be careful that the head is held up and that the shoulders are not slumping forward. Lift the head to straighten the spine and keep in mind all those points about arm position, following through with the finger tips, keeping the palm open and staying close to the cusp.

Very slowly and with great attention to overall evenness of tone and tempo, go through Exercises 9, 10 and 11 using both hands. Remember to keep breathing, even though you may be concentrating. Do not inject unnecessary tension into the movements. You need to consciously avoid the propensity to tighten up, all the way from the shoulders to the finger tips.

Exercise 12 is a two handed alternating scale exercise that moves right up and down the range of your harp. It is ideal for getting the arms used to moving the entire range of the instrument, as well as training the hands to follow the line of the cusp and getting you used to the notion of the left and right hands playing the same phrase in alternating turns, up and down the full range of the harp.

 If you have a smaller harp, play as many of the notes as are covered in your range. Remember to maintain a close placement to the cusp and to support the movement with the entire arm unit, leading up with the elbow and downwards with the knuckles. You are aiming for a seamless passage with perfectly balanced attack, tone, volume and tempo.

One of the most important things to develop is an absolute inaudibility of difference in the change from one hand to the other in either the tone or the tempo. To achieve this, remember to press into the tetrachord when the fingers first descend on the strings and use the strength of the whole elbow–forearm unit.

Try the same thing in fours, which is pretty normal, and then in threes, which requires a concentrated effort to establish the correct pulse of triplets as opposed to sets of four. You will find that it helps to accent the first beat of each group of three. This exercise is a great warm-up when you first sit down at the harp.

THE TURNUNDER AND TURNOVER

Having developed the ability to play four note phrases, we now need to link them together to form longer phrases and scales. The turn under and turnover is a vital part of your technique, and needs to be as unconscious and as effortless as possible. It is the stitch that holds the music together at the seams. We will do these turnarounds with both trichords and tetrachords, dealing with the left and right hands simultaneously, as it is the same move for both hands. This does not mean that you should not begin by practicing each separately.

Begin with the third, index and thumb placed on the C D and E. As you strike the C string, let the third finger begin a journey with its point headed down and under the other fingers, and towards the F, where it should be firmly prepositioned by the time the thumb comes to sound the E. As soon as the E is plucked, the hand moves upwards, pivoting on the foundation of the third finger, so that the index finger and thumb fall onto the G and the A, providing the foundation for the third finger to go ahead and play the F. If you are having problems with constriction, open your position by extending the thumb particularly, so that there is plenty of room for the third finger to move under.

In descent, it is the thumb which leads down and over. Once you have played the thumb on the A it begins its journey down and over the other fingers so that it is in position back down on the E just before the third finger plays the F, then having played, the index and third finger pounce back onto the D and C strings, ready to play. See Exercise 13. Do not place the thumb of the right hand too close to the cusp or you will bunch up. Remember, that thumb is normally the finger furtherest from the cusp. If you keep your hand position open you will avoid traffic jams at the point of turn unders and turn overs.

Be careful not to swivel or manipulate the wrist during turnovers and turnunders the entire forearm should be involved with and governing the movement up or down, not the wrist, which should remain strong and static.

With your turnarounds at the end of passages of four notes the only difference is the greater distance that the fourth finger or thumb must travel under or over to land on its new string. All that this requires is practice. See Exercise 14. Once the finger responsible for the turn under or turnover has sounded its string, the other three must pounce onto their respective strings ready to play. Do not bother linking more that two sets of tetrachords at the moment, because the fingering for extended scale passages changes in the second octave. Try to play so that the point of turnover or turn under is as inaudible as possible, by making the sets of notes you are linking balanced in terms of their tone and dynamic. It should be one seamless stream of notes.

Particularly with this, as with all the foregoing exercises, remember to apply your neural patterning.

THE SCALE OF C MAJOR

We are now actually already capable of playing this scale, as it is merely the two linked sets of tetrachords extending up or down from the C string. At the moment we are able to play it to one octave only. To play to two octaves we must include a trichord, that is a three note pattern, followed by another tetrachord, so that our thumb ends up neatly on the top C to complete the scale. This means that in ascent, you play one set of four notes, turning under with the fourth finger to the G, followed by another set of four notes, at the end of which you turn under with the third finger to the D so that you play a three note set on the D E and F followed by a turn under with the fourth finger moving to the G so that you are in a position to play out the four top notes of the scale.

In descent, the thumb turns over to come down on the G after the first four notes have been played, then you play down a three note set with the thumb, index and third, turning over with the thumb moving down to the C, followed by four notes and another turnover with the thumb moving down to the F, followed by the final four notes of the scale, terminating with the fourth finger on the low C. See Exercise 15.

Make sure that the index, third and fourth fingers are operating as a unit in their moves from one position to the next. For the one and only time, the left hand is the same as the right hand in terms of fingering. See Exercise 15. the bass part.

For every major scale, there is a relative minor scale, that is, a scale which utilizes exactly the same row of notes, but, since it commences on the string a minor third below the original starting note (tonic), it sounds as a minor scale. The relative minor for C major is A minor, see Ex. 16. There are three types of minor scales which we shall experience as we progress, the pure minor, the harmonic minor and the melodic minor. This type we have just met with is the most simple and unaltered of the forms, and so is sometimes called the simple minor and also the natural minor.

The fingering of the relative minor key is identical with the major key with which it is related; the hand simply drops into the fingering pattern at a different starting point. It is important to become thoroughly familiar with your relative minor scales and their fingerings, as they constitute the basis of the fingering patterns for the more complex and rich melodic and harmonic scales.

As with all of the scale passages you are about to experience, the examples are given to two octaves. This does not mean that you should be tempted to play that far initially. It is crucial that you do not race through any of this material. Play securely in the range of the octave before you consider moving to longer passages.

If you wish, you may practice double handed scales, but this may be a little premature for some at the moment.

We have already reiterated those points of technique which must be given attention at every stage of your development so far. Now that you are playing actual scales to two octaves, those points become crucial, because it is at this stage that you can consolidate either bad or good technique. The points which you should be looking to with this and all subsequent scale practice are:-

1.         The palm more or less parallel to the strings.

2.         The thumb cocked and reaching upwards, to open the hand position.

3.         The fingers slanting and reaching down to the strings so that, with the thumb, they form an arrowhead angle fanning down from the cusp and open the hand out, along with the thumb.

4.         The wrist, forearm and elbow should be comfortably lifted.

5.         The fingers should strike with the fleshy pad and follow through with every note, to the palm of the hand. Avoid hooking, particularly with the inner fingers.

6.         The top joint of the fingers should not cave in; they must be strong and convex.

7.         Preplacement should always be used to stabilize and support the note being played.

8.         The entire arm unit, right up to the shoulder, should be raised and included in the movement of the hand up and down the instrument.

9.         You should have a clear and crisp articulation of the note with a minimum of buzzing. This means a firm attack and effective stopping of vibrating strings.

10.        An evenness of tone and dynamic, practiced by playing your exercises as loudly as you can and as softly as you can, as well as at normal volume.

Scales constitute the entire foundation to being able to play an instrument. They are actually the templates for motor response, or if you like, the road maps for the brain, when it is confronted with a piece of music to play. The more consolidated your scale patterns are in the neural patterns in your brain, the more automatic and natural and instantaneous your brain’s response to the playing of the music. This is a particularly valuable ability when we get into the more complex bi-lateral scale. With music, and particularly with technique, you don’t want to have to think about it when you are doing it.

It is important not to over-practice, by which I mean repeating the one exercise or movement too frequently in a certain period of time. You need to pace yourself and try to avoid sitting at the harp for longer than fifty minutes at a time. Alternate work for the right hand alone with work for the left hand alone and vary the types of exercises you are doing, so that slightly different muscles are being used.

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Click the following list to go to other lessons

Exercises 2 - 5
Exercises 6 - 9
Exercises 10 - 13
Exercises 14 - 17
Exercises 18 - 21
Exercises 22 - 25
Exercises 25 (cont) - 27
Exercise 27 (cont)