How Your Three-Finger Technique May Be Hurting You…Literally - PHH 151

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Welcome to the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast. I'm Ann Sullivan, a harpist on a mission to empower every harpist to experience more harp happiness. Over my decades long harp journey, I've had lots of successes and more than a few failures. And I know firsthand what it's like to feel that playing the harp the way you want me may not be possible for you. Now, I play and teach all over the world, and I know what most harpists are never taught the secrets to gaining the skills and confidence you need to play the harp with beauty, freedom and joy. That's what the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast is all about. Showing you simple steps to help you play the music you want the way you want. If you're an experienced harpist looking for that next level, or a harp newbie anxious to avoid the pitfalls, or a harpist who just wants more fulfillment and a little encouragement, you're in the right place, my friend. So let's get started.

Welcome to the show.

It's high time I got up on my soapbox. It's not often I do a rant here on the podcast, but there's an issue that has me so fired up that I have to talk about it with you. I believe this issue is the result of how we are learning now. There are so many opportunities to learn online, everything from individual live lessons to YouTube videos to video courses to coaching to online master classes. And before you mention it, yes, I am obviously a contributor to those online learning opportunities, which makes me part of the problem. I'd rather be part of the solution. Hence the reason for today's rant. You may have heard me talk on other occasions about the leveling up involved in playing four finger chords. If you've been playing mostly three finger chords, I'm not changing my opinion on that. But recently I've seen that the main stumbling block for many students isn't just the addition of one more note to the chord. It's actually more about the way their technique has developed. Their entire technical approach, particularly in the right hand, is based on playing three finger chords. This means that when they begin to play four finger chords, their entire technique must change. And with so much learning happening online, particularly without the personal attention of an experienced teacher, harp students don't know they're doing anything wrong.

I've also very recently come across some hand injuries that could be attributed to the development of a three finger technique. This is the part that has finally pushed me to think about this topic in a more comprehensive way. In short, a technique based on Three finger playing can impede your technical progress, especially if you are an intermediate level player. It can cause stress from incorrect technique, which could lead to injury, and it could prevent you from learning more advanced music. That sounds to me like a good enough reason for a rant.

Now, I do want you to stick around until the end of this episode because I have a very special invitation for you to a free warm up that I'm scheduling to talk about this topic and to work through it in a way where you can actually see what I'm doing and you can ask questions about it too. So be sure to hang around for the end of this podcast episode where you can learn more about that. But right now I'm just going to cut to the chase and and get on with my rant.

So what has made this three finger phenomenon so prevalent right now? Well, I think it is attributable to what is really a very fine thing, and that is the wealth of intermediate level music that is being composed and arranged right now. When I was coming up as a student harpist, we didn't have nearly that amount of intermediate material. There just wasn't that sort of student material. You went from sort of playing folk songs to playing more involved classical pieces or arrangements of pieces. So the technical demands were very different. And what's happened now is that there's this whole burgeoning industry of intermediate level harp music, which is great because it means that you can, as an intermediate level player have access to wonderful original harp music that's well suited to the instrument, that's beautiful and enjoyable to play, all different kinds of moods and styles, everything. And you've got all this that can give you music to play without having to wait until you become this big, you know, serious advanced player to play all the good hard stuff. A lot of people learning now are adult learners who don't feel compelled to play big classical concert pieces. They want to be able to play beautiful music that appeals to them and perhaps play it for others in different settings. So the concert music isn't their goal, and that's wonderful. And until fairly recently they wouldn't have had much to choose from. But there's terrific material being written. But because, and here's the flip side, because it caters to that particular intermediate level skill, it caters to this technical level of those players. And in particular, more than any other specific characteristic, it relies very heavily on three finger chords, particularly for the right hand. Now, I've talked a lot about three finger chords because for me this is a level distinguisher between people who are playing at an early intermediate level and people who are playing at an advanced intermediate level. You have to be able to play four finger chords to play at a more advanced intermediate level. Four finger chords are a marker because with three finger chords, you know, there are only so many configurations and you only have to get three fingers on the strings at once. Four finger chords are geometrically different, right? I mean, you've got four fingers, you have to get there. There are very many more possibilities for configuring those notes. And so it's just way more complicated. And that's just right hand. Add in a left hand four finger chord at the same time and you can see this is a big, big difference. So a lot of intermediate music is written with the idea that most of those right hand chords are going to have three notes in them. And the left hand chords might have three notes as well. Now they're going to have bigger stretches and they're going to have more octaves, but the chords are just slightly pared down. They sound beautiful and they're playable. So what's the downside? Well, from a player's perspective, there really isn't a downside because they get to play the music. And please understand that I do this too in the arrangements that I write. If I'm writing for an intermediate level player, that's how I'm going to write it. With three finger chords in the right hand mostly, you know, and because that's what is accessible and that's what they can play. But the truth is that that's not how I play. Me, I'm all about four finger chords. Three finger chords are great, but I'm not stuck there. Traditional harp technique and exercise books are interesting when you look back through. They have very little, if anything, on three finger chords. They go right to four finger chords. We'll work on intervals and then we'll work on four finger chords. And it seems like a big jump up in level. And it is. But of course, if that's what you learn right from the first, you're not learning how much harder four finger chords are than three finger chords. You just know they're harder than intervals. And so you're only making one jump up. Not so bad if you think about it that way. But those harp technique books were all about four finger chords. Because we want to play as many notes at a time as we can to get the sound out of the instrument, that wonderful sound. After all, we already don't use our pinkies. Why wouldn't we Use our fourth fingers, right? Why wouldn't we use the eight fingers that we do use rather than just limiting ourselves to maybe six, right? But four finger chords are only one aspect of the way our technique is affected. If we're not using our fourth finger more often, for instance, fourth finger weakness will show up in your downward arpeggios, particularly arpeggios that go from hand to hand, like starting with your right hand thumb and going all the way down. The kinds of arpeggios you see in something like the Little Fountain, those kind of arpeggios require a lot of fourth finger control, particularly right hand fourth finger control and third and fourth working together. Because that's where the junction of the hands comes in, right? If your right hand is playing and your left hand finishes the arpeggio, you need that connection between the hands to be smooth and even. And if your fourth finger and your right hand isn't up to snuff, that arpeggio is going to sound bumpy. No way around can also affect your octaves. Now, the left hand, where we still want to be able to play four finger chords, the left hand is more used to playing octaves. The left hand fourth finger gets a lot more workout than the right hand fourth finger generally, because even from the practically the very first pieces we play, our left hand is playing octaves. So in your left hand it may be your third finger that feels like it's the underused finger, but. But in your right hand, if you're not playing a lot of four finger chords or working with your right hand octaves in particular, those octaves are likely to be very inaccurate because you won't have the practice experience playing those octaves. And in fact, if your right hand octaves aren't secure, then your four finger chords are going to be that much more difficult. So this is another place where right hand fourth finger really needs to train. And if you've gotten into the habit of playing some of those octaves with your third finger, just because it feels more comfortable, guess why it feels more comfortable? Because that's what you're used to doing. So get that fourth finger involved, get it comfortable with octaves too. And then of course there's that fumble factor with your fourth finger that comes in when you're crossing under, either in your scales or in one hand arpeggios. If your fourth finger isn't competent and confident when it crosses under, then you're going to have bumps and stutters there as well. Fourth finger weakness is really something that we need to Think about and address. So let's do a quick at the harp check and see what your fourth finger is really up to and how well you're prepared to work in a four finger context right now. So what I'd like you to do, and you can come back to this, if you're not at your harp right now, you can save it and come back to it. But here's the gist. You're going to take your right hand. You can do this with left hand too. But start with right hand and place all four fingers on the strings in a usual chord shape. Maybe you know, C, E, G, C, bottom to top or something like that. Just any usual kind of chord shape with all four fingers. Get them all on there. Then without playing your other fingers, without removing them from the strings, just close your fourth finger. Are you able to do that? Is it comfortable for you? Your hand should stay in place while you do that and your fourth finger should be easily able to close from the string. You can play the string if you want or just close your fourth finger. Playing the string is extra helpful. So just play that string and your hand should stay in place. It shouldn't move. You shouldn't have to grip the other strings either. So do that a few times. And then if you've just been closing your fourth finger, put that fourth finger back on and play it this time while you're holding your other fingers on. Observe what your third finger does, because what your fourth finger does is going to affect your third finger. That's sort of the way it is for all of us. And we train ourselves, we train our fingers to be more independent from each other. But think about that fourth finger. Close it easily. Keep your hand and your arm very stable. Close comfortably. Keep your fingers relaxed on those strings if you can. Just kind of holding it. And close that fourth finger. This should point out to you if you have any weakness in that third and fourth finger at all. This is a great drill to do. Gently, slowly, staying relaxed. And just make sure that you get your fourth finger in good playing shape. This is great in your left hand too. You might find that this is a good drill for your left hand to take your fourth finger off and have your third finger play. As I mentioned a moment ago, your left hand third finger is likely to be the weaker one for your left hand. It's different for everybody, but that's the more usual way. So going back to your right hand for a second, take your right hand off the strings. Shake it out, shake it out. Get good and Relaxed. Then you're going to replace on the strings, but just with a three finger chord, whatever three finger chord is comfortable for you. Maybe, you know, G, B, D or GCE or something. Thinking bottom to top doesn't make any difference. Just put those fingers on the string. Then keeping them where they are, put your fourth finger on one of the lower strings, right? Either A, you know, like a third lower. So that if you've got G, B, D on 3, 2, 1, then put your fourth finger on that E below that. Now when you place your fourth finger on the string, your hand shouldn't have to move at all. Your fingers should be on those three strings like the G, B, D. And then you should be able to put your fourth finger on that E without moving your hand at all. Take a look at that again. Shake your hand, remove it from the strings, shake it out and try the same thing. When you've got three fingers on the string, can you put your fourth finger on the string? And if you can, did you have to move your hand or your arm at all to do it?

The chances are pretty good that you did. This is one of those things that shows up and this is where we talk about centering your hand. And this is the essential complication that happens when you try. When you've played a lot of three finger chords and you're trying to learn four finger chords, the balance of your hand needs to change in order to accommodate that fourth finger. What usually happens, this may not happen for you and if it doesn't, that's great. So. But what often happens is that with a three finger chord, a harpist will pull their hand back so their nice long third finger is a little bit more extended and the hand is pulled back more toward the string that the thumb is playing. Probably the easiest way to see if your hand is centered is to take a look at that knuckle that's at the back of your second finger where your second finger joins your hand. And you can do this away from the harp. Just hold your hand up and look at that knuckle and compare that knuckle to the tip of your second finger. The tip of your second finger and that knuckle where it joins your hand should be in a line. Now granted they're going to be in any kind of line when you're not at the harp. But when you put that three finger chord on the strings, take a look at where your second knuckle is. It should be just about over the same string or behind the same string, I guess. That your second finger is playing. If it's considerably off of that, particularly back, closer to the string your thumb is playing, then your hand isn't centered. And what you want to do is move your entire arm forward a little bit to bring that knuckle into alignment with your second finger. Now, when you do this, if this is not the position you're used to playing in, granted, it's going to feel a little awkward. But what you're doing is creating a very strong second finger, a terrifically powerful arch where your second finger is curved and its force, its big knuckle, is right behind it. This will also create space between your second finger and your thumb, which gives your thumb room to close. It will also mean that your third finger is a little bit more curved and less elongated. Remember, when a finger is elongated or stretched out, it's generally not relaxed or loose. And you don't have control over it because when it closes, you kind of have to just drag it back. And this is why it might be hitting other strings on the way back into your hand. And you may have. If this is, if you're used to having your hand off center, you may be doing some funny kind of maneuver with that third finger in order that it doesn't hit the other strings. But, but when your hand is properly centered with that second knuckle behind the second finger, then you're going to be able to have that third finger curved, which is where its strength will come from. You'll be able to close it without hitting the other strings. And you'll have your hand in perfect position for adding your fourth finger. And you can try this. Get that three finger cord on and get that knuckle at the back of your second finger and lined up almost behind the second fingertip. And then reach out your fourth finger for that string on the bottom. It should be pretty easy to place that finger. You shouldn't have to move your arm or your hand. And then when your hand is properly centered that way it's balanced, all the fingers are sharing the load equally. They can play with more control, they can play with more speed because they're all sort of equidistant from your pal. They can be more relaxed. And you'll maintain that centered position with the position of your arm, so you'll have less stress on your thumb. You should find a lot more relaxation in that space between your second finger and your thumb when you're centered properly as well. So centering your hand is going to give your hand the balance it needs to Be able to reach your fourth finger, to be able to put that fourth finger on the string. And that's the first thing that needs to happen for four finger chords. But that balance, that centering needs to be in your hand whether you're playing your fourth finger or not. And that's what gives you the flexibility to play more quickly, to be able to make those adjustments that our music requires all the time. Okay, I'm doing these three fingers here, I'm doing these four fingers here. And being able to make those adjustments will happen because all the strings are within reach. One of the reasons that it was important for me to do this podcast episode right now was that on a recent warm up, one of the live Monday warm ups that we do in the Hub, there were a couple of harpists who were complaining about trigger finger in their third fingers, particularly in the right hand third finger. I've run into this with a couple other people as well, and this started me thinking about the way that three finger playing changes the balance of your hand. Now, I'm not saying that anybody's trigger finger was caused by this, but when you think how differently our fingers function if our hand is off balance, playing a three finger chord with the hand centered back toward the thumb, or properly centered, whether you're playing three or four fingers, you. I think that there's something to be concerned about here. When your hand is pulled back toward your thumb and your third finger is extended playing so that it's, it's straighter, it's not as curved, you're going to put a lot of pressure on that tendon on that finger, and I don't think that's good for it. It's hard to play relaxed that way. It's hard to play accurately. You may end up trying a little bit harder and putting up undue pressure on that finger. When your hand is properly centered, the finger is curved, there's no tension, there's no effort required to play. So as I said, I'm not saying that trigger finger is caused by that, but trigger finger does happen when the tendons, you know, around the finger, right, when they swell up or they thicken, and that swelling makes it hard for your fingers or thumb or whatever it is to move smoothly. So certainly the kind of playing I was describing with your hand off balance, with that hand back toward your thumb and your third finger very elongated, that's not going to do your third finger any good. That's going to put a lot of stress on it. Whether it actually causes an injury, it you Know, it may or it may not, and different people are different. But as I said, that trigger finger issue really made me stop to think. Because you don't want to aggravate a condition, you don't want to cause a condition that you don't have. And if your hand is properly balanced, that stress and strain isn't there, you can be relaxed. It takes less effort to play your finger and you'll play it with more control. You can play it with more expression, more different shades of tone and dynamic. All that control is there. Plus, when your hand is perfectly and properly centered and balanced, your fourth finger can reach those strings without trying. It won't do your fourth finger any good either if it has to stretch out for a chord. And of course, having to readjust your hand or your arm position to get to your fourth finger is just inefficient. So we don't want those kinds of problems, we don't want inefficiencies in our playing, and we don't want potential scenario for possible injury either. So center your hand, think about where that back knuckle is, and then we have to think about working your fourth finger. So I have a few ideas. What a surprise. First and foremost, keep playing the music you love. Even if it's all three, three finger chords, that music is valuable. It's music you love, it's music people like to hear, you like to play it. You don't have to stop playing music you love just because you see a lot of three finger chords. I want you to learn to play those three finger chord well. So think about the centering and the balancing of your hand. Playing those three finger chords with a properly centered hand will help prepare you for your fourth finger when you're ready to do that. At the same time, I would suggest that you look for exercises that work all four fingers so that you're not just concentrating on those three fingers, but that you're spending time on on your fourth finger. You could start with the little drills that we did today, but look for four finger exercises in exercise books, particularly if you think you're ready to move up. Look for those exercise books that have cord exercises in four fingers, not in three, so that you're practicing all four. Remember, this is a growth area and it's going to be uncomfortable to work with, particularly if you're changing the position of your hand and your fingers. But it's going to be so good for you in the long, long run and so important, it's going to enable you to play more Music. Then next, look for opportunities in the music you're already playing to use your fourth finger. Even if it seems easier to use your third finger right now because you're more used to it. Read the fingering. Does it, does it call for four fingers if there's fingering printed in the music? And if it does, try using your fourth finger there. Yeah, it's going to be uncomfortable if you're not, you know, if you're not doing that on a regular basis. But, but you want those fingering options. Training your fourth finger is going to give you fingering options that you don't have right now. And that's going to make learning and playing much easier. So that's an important thing. You can also try if there's a three finger chord passage, what would it be like if you used your fourth finger instead of your third? Be sure when you're doing that, if you're playing a chord that just is using 4 and 2 and 1, be sure your third finger is tucked in toward your hand. It doesn't need to touch your palm. In fact, it probably shouldn't, but just in towards your hand and not sticking out behind your fingers. Right. We don't want that. So you can try some of those three finger chords using fourth finger and that will also help. And you'll be able to center your hand a little bit differently for that as well. And then lastly, just because you can use your third finger, that doesn't mean that it's the wisest choice. Yeah, you might be able to play those octaves, 1 and 3, but play them 1 and 4. You know, just because you can do your third finger doesn't mean that you always should. So particularly if a fourth finger is printed, practice it that way. Get used to using your fourth finger. It will be better for your hand, better for your technique, and ultimately better for your music. Now, I promised you an invitation and here it is. I know that there are many of you who listen to this podcast who are members of the Harp Mastery Hub, and I'm so thrilled that you are. But if you're not, this is going to be the moment to join. And here is why I would like to invite you to one of our live Monday warmups. It's the live Monday warmup on April 22nd. That's two weeks from the day this podcast goes live. Monday, April 22nd at 11:00am Eastern. Eastern. I'll be doing a live warm up and it's going to be based on four finger techniques. We'll be talking about centering your hand. I'll be able to demonstrate it to you and we'll be able to really look and go in depth on that so that if you have any questions about the stuff we're talking about today, we'll be able to answer them live on that call. So that's 11am Eastern on Monday, April 22. All you need to do is to join the call and you can join one of two ways. You can join through the Heart Mastery Hub. It's free to become a member and there's, you know, always discussion and stuff happening there. And the link to join the call will be right there in the hub. Or you can watch it live on YouTube. Or if you're in my private Facebook group, the Harp Happiness hq, we always broadcast it there as well. So there are those few different ways you can watch right in the hub live on YouTube or live in our Facebook group. So I urge you to join. I know that the people who join live from the Hub have a slightly better experience. They're able to see all the comments and it's a little bit more interactive through the Hub, but you can join from one of those other platforms as well. But take a look and join us. Put it on your calendar now. Live Monday warmup April 22nd at 11am Eastern. We'll be dealing with four finger techniques and talking about center entering your hand, so we'll be able to extend today's discussion that way. Next week on the podcast we'll be talking about having no more bad lessons. What is a bad lesson and how can you avoid it? Nobody should have a bad lesson and we'll talk about that on next week's show. Until then, 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 to my rant and I'll see you next time.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast. I release a new episode every Monday morning so you can hit your practice week running. Until then, remember to practice your Harp Happiness every day. See you next time.