Answers to Your Questions: Relaxed Playing and Tuning By Ear - PHH 248

What if playing the harp felt easier the way you thought it would be, not because you practiced more, but because you finally understood what was getting in your way? I'm Anne Sullivan and welcome to Practicing Harp Happiness. Here we tackled the real challenges harpists struggle with, the sticky passages, the tricky fingerings, prepping for performance and and all the ingredients that go into making music sound the way you want it to. I've studied with world class harpists, taught at a top conservatory for 20 years and I love playing the harp. But what I love just as much is breaking down the real challenges harpists face and turning them into clear, step by step solutions. The same ones I teach my students and use myself. So if you're ready to play the music you love with more confidence, clarity and joy, you're in the right place. So let's get started. Welcome to the show. It's time for another Answers to your Questions episode. I love these episodes because I get to speak to topics that are on your mind rather than just talking about topics I think you want to know more about. And we have two really great questions to talk about today. Before I tell you what those questions are, I want to say that my personal criteria for choosing these questions is when I have been asked the same question by three or more people in a relatively short time frame. Usually the questions come in response to something I've talked about in the podcast, like our first question today or something we discussed on one of the live Monday warm ups. Today's second question came up on a recent warm up. My feeling is that when three people have asked it, there are a bunch more harpists who would have liked to ask it but didn't. And so I know that there are lots of harpists who really would like to have the answer, even if they let someone else ask the question. So if you're one of those who asked the question, I thank you and so do your fellow harpists who let you ask for them. If you're not one of those who asked the question but you want to know the answer, remember that next time you can be the brave one and do the asking. If you're on a live call with me, I can tell you that I always pay attention to the questions that arise. But if you haven't been on a live call with me, you can always email me here at the podcast and I'll register your question or comment that way. The email is podcastarpmastery.com so what are our questions today? Well, the first has to do with tuning by ear and Why I feel it is so, so essential not just because your harp needs to be in tune, but because it's an easy way to intentionally focus on your aural skills, which are key to your learning music faster and playing with more security. The second question brings up a really vital point about playing without tension. And it's this. Being relaxed before you begin playing is one thing, but staying relaxed while you play is another, more difficult one. So how do you keep relaxed and keep tension away while you're playing? It's a topic that's so important to all of us. So aren't you glad these three people asked? Now? I did just mention being on a live call with me and of course I have a live call coming up tomorrow night that I would encourage you to join. It's a webinar called you'd Breakthrough Year. And we're going to be talking about what makes a breakthrough, how to get from where you are now to really where you want to go and how to plan it. Breakthroughs obviously don't happen overnight and you need to grow in order to have a breakthrough and you need to plan that. What is it that you really need to learn in order to do what you want? What is it that's going to allow you to develop the strength, the skills, the repertoire, whatever it is, so that you can end 2026 in a different place, a better place than where you started. We are all want that kind of growth and there's a secret to it. It's stuff we don't often talk about and we probably should. It's the kind of thing that your teachers plan in their heads for you. But if you're trying to do it on your own, it's a lot harder. So we're going to talk about what exactly happens and how to make that happen for yourself. And of course, if you're ready to take that to the next level the next week. So it's after the webinar, we're going to be having our week long intensive called the Harpist Breakthrough Blueprint. And that's where you and I are going to work together as a group, of course, but we're going to work together to workshop your breakthrough blueprint. The one that's going to take you week by week, month by month, all the way to the end of the year, so that you know what you need to do. The difference, of course, between the webinar and the blueprint, the webinar we'll be talking about, about all the big high level concepts so that you can Take those and you can think about them and you can work on them for yourself. But if you really want to get into the nitty gritty and get my feedback as we go on what that blueprint is going to look like for you, plus get all the tools that are going to help you organize what you need to do. That's what the intensive is for. So if you're curious, if you're ready for a breakthrough, or just think maybe this could be interesting for you, then join the webinar tomorrow night. We'll put the link in the show notes for this episode so that you can see it, join the webinar, see what's going on, and then hop over and you can register for the blueprint if you're ready to have me help you with that. So that's what's going on. I think it's going to be really interesting. I'm looking forward to the call tomorrow night. So I wanted to mention those because this is the kind of thing that can make a big difference for you, right? It's really hard to plan this kind of thing for yourself because you're working with things you don't really know enough about. None of us can really plan for that next level. If we don't, if we aren't clear, let's say that if we aren't clear on what that next level is and on what the exact skills are gonna be that we need to develop to get there. So that's what it's all about. I'd love to have you join me. And as I said, it's a place to ask some questions. So that's happening tomorrow night, so don't miss out on that. And now let's get to today's questions. Our first question came in response to something that I said just a few podcast episodes ago in podcast episode 245, where I talked about next level musicianship. And I made the mistake on that podcast of saying, well, but the. That's a topic for another day. And of course, a couple people, well, three in fact, took me up on that and said, well, but what did you mean by that? So I thought, well, it's time to answer this question. So what was the topic that I said I would save for another day? And here, of course, is that day I said that I think that we should be using our ears more when we tune that our tuning gives us the opportunity to listen. Now, I didn't even go that far on the podcast. I just said, oh yeah, I think we should be using our ears more when we tune. And that was what spurred the question, well, okay, so what did you mean by that and how would that work? So that's what I'm going to talk about for a few minutes now because I think it is so important and it's really a hot button issue for a lot of musicians, not just harpists. As a matter of fact, I was talking with a friend the other day and she said that she just wanted to blow up tuners. Now, she's not a harpist, but she was talking about a student of hers who had been advised by somebody else who was working with a tuner all the time. Now, this is not an anti tuner rant. As a young harpist, I was the only way I could tune the harp was to tune it by ear. I had a tuning fork, we had a piano in the house, so I could use the piano as a reference for the harp. But I had to learn to tune by ear. And I didn't think anything about it because that was what you had to do. And granted, it was a learning process. My teacher showed me how to use the tuning fork and then showed me the pattern for tuning note by note and working, you know, all the way from the middle of the harp down to the bottom and the middle of the harp up to the top and making the harp in tune with my ear. There wasn't another way to do it. And I remember very well being in a lesson with my teacher at her house, and she was showing me this big brown box that was going to revolutionize tuning. And it was called a strobe tuner. And this was one of the very first that was available for people. It was a con strobe tuner. And she was so excited because it had this little microphone, a big microphone, actually, and it, it would pick up your sounds and you could tune and you could see if it was in tune. Now this was important to her, not because she couldn't tune by ear, because of course she could and very accurately, but because she was an orchestral harpist. And sometimes the environment in an orchestra hall is just too noisy to be able to really hear if your harp is in tune or not. So being able to see whether your instrument was in tune was extremely help for those times when you couldn't hear. So that's the beginning of tuners, at least in my own experience. And then of course, thank goodness, they got smaller and smaller. And now they're just those little teeny bitty tuners that we can take with us. And of Course, we don't even need those. We've got our phones, right? So, you know, tuners are wonderful. They are. They are the kind of tool I would never be without. Because if I need to check something, if I am in a noisy environment, those tuners are lifesavers. But I don't use them to tune my harps at home unless I need to get a reference pitch to start, because I don't need them. I don't want to blow up tuners. I don't want to banish them. They're too useful. But I do think that when we teach our students to only tune by a tuner and not to use their ear in addition to using a tuner, we really hamper their development as musicians because music is something we hear, and we need to teach ourselves to use our ears. I don't think that we should be tuning just by our eyes. That doesn't make sense to me. When we're only learning to tune with a tuner, we aren't teaching ourselves to listen. The valuable skills that I learned from having to listen when I tuned with a tuning fork are things that developed my sense of pitch, my sense of what an interval sounded like. It helped me learn to listen for tone, to listen to what my harp sounded like, to be in touch with every string, really listening to it every day when tuned. I think this is something we are in danger of losing because we as teachers don't always teach it. Now, I have talked about tuning before in blogs and in podcasts in my heart mastery courses, because I think learning to tune by ear is so helpful. Imagine if you could look at that music on your stand and have a pretty good idea of what it was going to sound like in terms of the distance from one note to the next. Make a little prediction about that. When you can do that. That's a key to sight reading. It's a key to faster learning. Even though we aren't reading notes when we tune, we're still developing our ear. And that's why I think we should be using our ears more when we tune. Now, what would that look like? Well, here's my suggestion, in fact, three suggestions. Three different tuning methods. The first one is the one you're probably used to, and that's tuning every string using the tuner. Not my favorite method. And it's actually the slowest way to tune the harp. Well, it might be the fastest way for you right now, but if you start doing these other methods, you'll find that this indeed is the slowest method. If you're going to tune every string with the tuner, this is how I suggest you do it. I would start from the bottom of the harp and tune to the top or from the middle outward. I mean, it's very help to have those resonant bass notes in tune when you're tuning the rest of the harp. Although if you're comparing every string with the tuner, it probably doesn't matter a whole lot. But starting at the bass could be helpful. I also recommend starting in the middle of the harp and then working down toward the bottom and then up toward the top. It's a good habit to develop, so either one of those will work. Now, of course, the advantage of this method is that the tuner really does all the work for you. Is especially helpful if the area that you're tuning in is noisy or if you're nervous before a performance. It's nice to have that tuner because our ears can go really wonky when we're very nervous. And of course, sometimes we run into problems because the tuner doesn't hear all the lowest strings or all the highest strings. So there you go. That could be a time when you need to use your ear. And of course, this method is the trickiest one to try to use your ear because the tuner is doing all the work. But my suggestion would be this. As you tune each note, particularly as you're getting toward the middle of the harp, the bottom and the top are a little harder to hear. Tune middle C and check it with the tuner. Then play the C above that without looking at the tuner and play those two Cs together. Does that octave sound in tune? If it does, then check the top C and check it with the tuner and see if you were right or if the tuner thinks you were wrong. So you can do that, and you can check some octaves very simply. A couple of rules here. Always know which note is actually in tune. I mean, it's probably easiest to have the bottom note in tune on the octave. So if the bottom note is in tune, don't adjust that one. Make sure you're adjusting the one that you're actually trying to T. That may seem like a silly reminder and warning, but it's really easy to go wrong on this. Remember also that if you have any strings that are false where their pitch isn't true, the tuner may not hear that as accurately as your own ear will believe it or not. So if you incorporate a little bit of octave listening, even to one or Two octaves. Each time you tune, you'll start the process of getting used to listening. It may be that the first time you try this, it takes you a long time to decide if the note is in tune or not. And you may not feel very confident. But that's why I suggest you start with just one or two, because you will become more confident and you will learn. Yes, it's in tune. No, it's not. And this is how you can just start to train your ear just a little bit. Even though you're using the tuner to tune every string. And you can always use the tuner to check your work right? Now, if you're ready to go a little deeper, then we're going to tune the middle octave with the tuner. So go to that middle C register. Oh, here's something I forgot to mention that's really important. If you're tuning a lever harp, tune with all your levers down, right? We don't want to tune any strings that have tension on them. So tune with it when it's not good for the strings. So. And strings are expensive, right? So tune with all your levers down. Which means that you might not want to tune from a C. You might want to tune from an E flat as your starting note. Because if your harp is tuned in E flat, that's going to make this simpler. If you have a pedal harp, tune with all your pedals up, which means you're tuning in C flat major. Okay? So a couple important things to remind you about that I should have mentioned before. So. So getting back to tuning method number two, tune the middle octave so from middle C to the C above that, or from middle E flat to the E flat above that. If your harp is tuned in E flat and tune every one of those notes with the tuner, then tune all the other notes on your harp by octave. So if you're going down the harp, remember that the top note you've tuned is already in tune. So you could start with, for instance, the B, or it'll be B flat, probably above middle C, you've already tuned that. And then tune the B flat below middle C. Listen to the octave and is the octave in tune or not? Take a guess and then you fix it. And then check your fix with the tuner. And you can tune by octaves all the way down the harp and then tune by octaves all the way up the harp. Remember that as you go down the harp, the top note will be the one you've already tuned and know is correct. On the way up the harp, it will be the bottom note that's already correct. This will take you longer. Stop when you're tired of it already. If it takes you a really long time to check those octaves, do just a few and then go back to using the tuner. But see if you can stretch the number of octaves that you tune each day, because it's going to train your ear. You're learning to listen. So helpful. And of course, then you're going to go toward the ultimate tuning method, and that is to tune just one note with the tuner and to tune all the others in the middle register to that note and by a combination of fifths and octaves. In most method books, Salzato and Lawrence method for the harp, the Grossi method, Renier Boxe, all these kinds of method books, you will find the octave and fifth system for tuning in E flat and in C or C flat, I should say. And it's just a system of, okay, we're going to tune the octave, then we'll tune the fifth in the middle, then we'll tune the octave to that. And by the time you've done this quick little system, you've tuned about an octave and a half of the harp by ear, and then you can tune the octaves down and octaves up from there. So that's definitely the more advanced method of tuning, but it really is getting you to listen to your harp, it's so important. Developing our ear is one of those things we need to do as harpists. Imagine just playing your harp and knowing which note was out of tune, or knowing which pedal or lever you forgot. That's what we want to be able to do. And believe it or not, that all starts with tuning. All right, let's go on to the second question. Our second question is, how do I stay relaxed while I play? Or how do I get relaxed while I'm playing? And my hands are all tensing up. So it's easy, right, to be relaxed at the harp, to stay that way as you're just. Just contemplating the harp. But once you start playing, it's possible to have the tension build up. And this is what the people who are asking this question we're talking about, they're playing, and they tense up while they're playing, and then they have to stop and relax and then start over sometimes. And how do you keep that tension from building up? And if it's there, how do you release it? So let's talk quickly about tension. Tension, obviously, is something we don't want because it blocks the flow of energy. Relaxation and the release of tension is what we need to train. We want to minimize the tension that we keep in our playing to just that moment of impact. Think about what happens when you play the string. Your hands on the string can be very relaxed and after you've played, your hands can be very relaxed. But there is tension that has to happen at that moment when you actually play the string. I talked about it as impact. It's not really impact, is it? You're pulling through the string. So that moment that you pull, that's going to have tension in it. What we need to do is remember to be relaxed before we start and to know how to release that tension immediately after we play. The main way we teach this, which is so important, is to close your finger after you've played, close your finger into your hand. It's not that we want your finger to have to move more, but that motion is the follow through to your pulling through the string. And it is what we train ourselves to consider and to experience as the moment of release of tension. When you close your finger, you relax it. Closing is key. There's a story that I think relates to this. Many years ago I was taking karate lessons and I really enjoyed it. And I was a brand new karate student. When the studio that I was studying in decided to have a board breaking evening, I said, oh, I don't know that I should be breaking boards. I mean, I play the harp, but my sensei was a guitar player and he said, oh, you're not going to have any problem. He said, it's not going to hurt. You're going to be just fine. And I said, okay, you know I'm going to trust you. So I came and I had a lot of fun breaking boards. Oh yeah, it was fun. I was breaking with my hands and I broke two at a time. And as a brand new student was extremely empowering. But the point of this story is really in the way I was trained to look at and through the wood that I was breaking. I was taught that as I was breaking the board, I shouldn't look at the board and consider the board my target. Instead, I was pushing my hand through the board to the other side. So I was not stopping at that moment of impact, but going through. And as a matter of fact, there was one student in the class that evening who was a much more advanced karate student than I was. She was working on her black belt at the time, but she had difficulty with this. And this was eye Opening to me, as she tried to break the board, her hand stopped on the board. She couldn't go through. Now, this isn't a matter of strength. I mean, there were five year old kids that were breaking the same boards we were. So it's not strength, it's her visualization. She stopped at the board instead of seeing through. That just brought home to me how important the actual complete motion is. It's not the stopping at the board, it's the going all the way through. And with us, it's not stopping at playing the string, it's closing all the way into your hand. That's what is really critical here. So as you go through your exercises, your daily technique, work in slow practice. You need to pay some attention to that as you play that finger, close it all the way and release your tension there. On one of the warmups that we just did, we did an exercise where we'd place our hands, squeeze the strings, release the squeeze so that our finger was relaxed again. Then play close all the way through and release the tension again. Because practicing that release is key to being able to release your tension when you play. Now, if you are practicing, for instance, you're playing through a piece and you're working and you're working hard. If your hand starts to get tense, don't stop playing immediately. Bring the volume back to nothing, but just keep playing. Play more slowly if you need to, but just don't stop. You want to practice releasing the tension while you're playing. Think about closing your fingers and allow yourself to come back to a state of relaxation as you continue to play. This is practicing the skill that you're going to need in performance. You need to learn how to relax as you go. A word of warning. I am not suggesting that you continue to play with tension. We all know how damaging that is. So you do need to stop. You need to relax your hands and your fingers and your arms and wiggle everything out. But I also want you to learn to try to relax it while you play. This is a skill that you need to train like any, any other skill. Work at it slowly. Be very kind to yourself. Be very aware of how much tension you're carrying so that you can release it and you can let go. And learn not to play with tension, but also just stop when you need to. This is really, really important. Obviously our goal is to not have tension accumulate. Remember that closing is how you release tens. Also your gesture if you raise or if you release with your arm after you play. That's another place that you can release tension. I was taught the Salzido method. We raise our hands. We raise our arms when we play. So as I close, I release the tension in my hand. As I raise, that gives me another opportunity to release it in my hand and to release it in my arm as well. All that gesture is part of staying healthy at the harp and playing without tension. Now, the place that this question originally came up was from a live Monday warm up that I did on February 2nd of 2026. And you can still find the replay of that warm up on our YouTube channel, our Heart Mastery YouTube channel. I will put that link in the show notes for you. It was a really great exercise. Started out an exercise on tone, but you need to release your tension to have that warm, rich, full sound that you want. So those two things kind of go together. So that is a great place to see that entire process. And you can get a lot from that if you don't regularly join us. Those live Monday warm ups happen at 11am Almost every Monday. The easiest way to access them is from the Heart Mastery Hub. You can join the hub once again, that's in our Heart Mastery app. Super easy to use, easy to find, and you can get the app join us right from the hub. Or you can join from YouTube. As I said, they're just about every Monday. There's always the next one scheduled. So you'll know when the next one is. And I'd love to have you join and warm up live with us. But I'll put the replay link to that, that particular warm up in the show notes for you next week on the podcast. I have something different to talk to you about. We're going to talk about page turns. Now, I know that technology has made page turns something very different from what they used to be, but we're going to talk about the right way to turn pages, whether you're turning them on paper or digitally. And we'll talk about some of the technology, but we'll talk about the old school page turning too, and the practices that apply to both when the right times and the wrong times are to turn pages and how to practice them in so your page turns are smooth and they don't interrupt your playing. Once again, it's a little thing we sometimes forget to tell people about, but I think it's an important thing. I've seen performances ruined by poor page turning. So we want to get that, that little piece of our playing in place once again. I invite you to join me tomorrow for my webinar, your Breakthrough year. And of course, if you want to go deeper with that information, there's the Harpist Blueprint Intensive, the Breakthrough Breakthrough Blueprint Intensive. That is hard to say. That is coming up next week. So that's going to be really fun. I hope you join me for both of those events and of course that you come back here next week and come listen to another podcast episode. Don't forget to send in questions if you have them. I like those too. So until I talk to you next, remember that every day is a day you can add more Harp Happiness to the universe, to your world and to your spirit. And all you have to do is play. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you next time. Enjoyed today's episode? Then share it with a harpist friend. Subscribe for your weekly Harp Happiness Boost and check out harpmastery.com or the harp Mastery app in your app store for more resources and ways to connect. I'll see you next time.