Independence for Your Fingers

We just celebrated another Independence Day here in the United States and I couldn’t help carrying the celebration over into the blog.

Technical facility is one of the skills every harpist must develop and maintain. A smooth, fluid technique not only allows us to play at faster tempos, but it gives all our music expression and polish. Technique is what makes even “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” sound profound in the hands of a virtuoso.

For harpists, developing independence in the fingers is a major part of technical study. Each finger must be able to play individually and with the other fingers. It must have an equal tone as the others and be able to match them in dynamic and expression. After all, we only use eight fingers; we can’t afford to have a slacker in the bunch.

Today, I thought I would share a video lesson that I taught to the My Harp Mastery members last year around this time. It was the first of four lessons on the theme of independence for your fingers. The video gives you some instruction on how to use the accompanying PDF to practice scales and intervals in a way that will get all your fingers moving.

You can download the accompanying PDF here: Independence Drills Wk 1. Enjoy this step on the road to Independence!

By the way, we do themes like this each month at My Harp Mastery. Why not join us? We are the happiest bunch of harpists you will find anywhere! Learn more here: http://harpmastery.com/join