When it comes to harp, often the way your sheet music looks like makes a big difference in how easy it is to play.
If you still feel new to reading harp music and working out the notes of a new piece takes time, it’s worth taking a look at your score and checking how friendly is it.
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Preparing your score
Can you easily see the notes? If not, it may be worth to make another copy and start anew. This gives you an opportunity to check which of the markings are essential, and what you can let go of.
If you’re printing a new copy, try also enlarging the music by zooming in or cropping the margins. Bigger print always looks more friendly!
Markings
Some scores may include markings both for lever and pedal harp. Create a copy that works for your instrument and remove the markings that are not relevant. If you plan to perform the piece on another instrument, make another copy.
Fingerings and brackets
Make sure the fingerings and brackets reflect the way you play. It’s perfectly fine to remove the printed markings if the fingerings don’t work for you.
When you play, it takes a lot of energy to choose between more than one option or ignore the printed markings. By keeping your fingerings up-to-date you make your life so much easier!
Still not very friendly?
There are some pieces where you get a lot of notes and markings (all essential!) and sometimes they don’t look friendly at all.
If you’re working with a piece like that, don’t give up! Make sure you watch my video until the end to find out how to befriend a score like that (one section at a time)!
Resources mentioned in this episode
✦ Rescue points: Do you know your emergency exits? [ep 42]
✦ Taking care of a VERY unfriendly score: How to avoid overwhelm when learning a new piece [ep 37]
✦ Free video-training on reading music
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