This little essay was submitted to Autoharp Notes, the membership magazine of the UK Autoharps club. It appeared, slightly revised by the editor, in Vol. 4, issue3.
But why play
autoharp?
or
Letting music in and out
Siegfried Knšpfler, October 2004
On the evening of 5 June 2004 we did it again,
cf. http://www.interfolk.de/Huster04.htm.
Again, John
Dallas and I played our autoharps between sections of the usual gig that
"interFolk", John's Irish band[1],
has played for quite a few years at the annual "Wine, Asparagus and
Music" fest at Huster's Winery in Ingelheim on the Rhine. Last year, however,
was the first time an autoharp (in fact, two, John's and mine) appeared there.
(Whereas the band, with a PA, accompanied the drinking and eating by the
audience in the courtyard, autoharp was played without amplification to guests
in the wine-tasting room.) Actually, you might have learned about that
sensation since John reported it last year to the Cyberpluckers[2].
(He obviously didn't find the time to do so this year.)
On this
occasion, naturally, I was asked once more how come that I play an instrument
unknown to at least 99.99 percent of the population? Well, this time my answer
was better prepared than ever, after having considered (and taken issue with)
some of Cathy Britell's[3]
encouraging admonitions (on the Cyberpluckers) and having exchanged my concerns
and reservations regarding Cathy's Ð not really uncommon! Ð attitude with Karen
Daniels, this year's autoharp tutor at Sore Fingers[4]
(a splendid one, by the way!). So my answer followed the reasoning I'm going to
outline now:
Recently,
such a question actually came up on the Cyberpluckers. The vast majority of
those posting a reply had once had a physical encounter with an autoharp, which
sooner or later led to the desire to play one themselves; the circumstances of
the encounter usually included Mum, Grandpa or an artiste on a stage or in the
street, or somebody else like a school teacher, playing the instrument.
My case,
however, is different, rather unorthodox. I heard autoharp music on the radio,
liked the sound, researched about the instrument, was informed that it's
"easy to learn", and concluded that this would be my first instrument
to seriously learn to play.
The
autoharp is in fact an easy instrument on which to become an advanced beginner
rather quickly. However, as most of you know, it is not at all easy to move on
to advanced intermediate, let alone really advanced player, a goal I'm still
far away from, after all these years.
So the next
question arises: Why carry on?
People may
have widely differing answers to this question. A rather trivial one would
point out the "economical" aspect: having invested in learning the
basics, one may as well continue, hoping for eventual "return on
investment" with the autoharp, instead of putting another initial
investment into another instrument.[5]
Cathy's,
and probably John's, and most likely every full-blooded musician's, answer will
be:
For me,
this sounds like there's an osmotic overpressure within people waiting urgently
to be drained and relieved; it means, in less metaphorical words, that you've
grown up in a strongly musical environment and soaked up all the songs, the
rhythms, the harmonies ... and now you're feeling the need to express yourself
with singing and, particularly, playing an instrument, letting out all the
music that's "bottled up" within you.
However,
for me, this is an unsatisfactory answer for at least two reasons: Firstly, if
it applies at all to the autoharp, it would apply to (nearly) any other
instrument as well.
Secondly
and moreover, in my childhood, the musical environment was rather deprived,
there was definitely no harmony singing in the kitchen, singing was mainly a
teacher-controlled part of school drill. From such beginnings, definitely more
than an autoharp is needed to become a musician. While it is known that really
talented people have been able to rise from even the most detrimental
backgrounds, it is also a matter of fact that this talent is rather rare.
Not being
bred in the right "culture medium", in the music-soaked nutrient solution, and lacking the real
talent, there's not much to let out. But what about the other direction?
Strange as
this might sound to a native, dyed-in-the-wool musician, for me it is the reason
which mainly kept me going on with autoharp practice for more than 15 years in
"autoharp isolation", i.e. before meeting the Cyberpluckers and
learning that there actually exist autoharpers besides me (and the handful of
recording artists known to me then).
With
"letting music in" I do certainly not mean what Cathy[6]
earlier this year was advising the Cyberpluckers to do for letting music in: to
get out to listen to musicians (and if there happen to be no concerts at all,
fetch a famous performer and organise one yourself). This is a good advice, no
doubt, but it would only serve to catch up on or continue the
"soaking" process I was talking about above: to let music in by the
ears.
No, with
"letting music in" I mean a different thing, two things actually: One
is to learn songs (and instrumental pieces) in a way more precise and complete
than my not so good ear allows. The other channel, other than the ear, is of
course the eye. For me, a mathematician, trained in formalisms, musical
notation is not a real problem. However, the autoharp is actually a mixed
blessing for letting in (that this, learning) instances of music. If you've got
it right you can play not only the melody but an accompaniment as well. That's
the good side of the coin. The bad side is that the melody cannot be learned
alone; learning a song always means learning the melody and the chords at the
same time.
A
traditionally brought up autoharper might wonder what at all I'm talking about
here. As I indeed know now, the "normal" way to learn autoharp is to
begin with strumming chords and only later add melody playing. But my isolated,
solipsistic way began with learning to play melody notes on the autoharp, chord
buttons being needed at first only for "filtering" the strings. (Probably as a result of this approach
(or actually a reason for it?), for me, melody has always come first, i.e.
rendering the true melody has for me higher priority than having an easy or
especially "interesting" chord progression. Today I begin, only very
reluctantly, to accept the idea of "bending" a tune in order to save
a chord structure.)
Besides
learning instances of music, Óletting music inÓ also means learning music
itself, gaining insight into essence and structure of occidental music as
shaped in the past three centuries, with its scales, modes, keys, harmonies,
metrics Ð briefly: learning how music works. And for such an endeavour, there
seems to be no other instrument better fitted than the chromatic autoharp.
Right from the start, and especially if you try to play melody, the autoharp
demands a basic musical knowledge of the player. And when you are progressing,
the autoharp aides you in acquiring deeper and broader understanding of music.
And if a playerÕs research interests go beyond well tempered tuning (also known
as equal temperament), the diatonic autoharp is the ideal medium for exploring
sweet and perfect harmonies. (My own research agenda has not yet really reached
this stage.)
Now that I
have identified the inherent true reason for learning to play, of all
instruments, the autoharp, is there an additional reason? In fact, there is:
ItÕs a
surprising phenomenon, and I could only speculate about its connection to the
autoharp, but it is an easily observable matter of fact that autoharpers all
over the world are the most friendly people.
To have a
good reason for meeting the autoharp people over and over again is a really
effective motivation for improving your playing (or at least, for keeping on
trying to). Besides enjoying the warm friendliness of this community and being
part of it, there are two other important points: What drew me to the autoharp
in the first place, the instrument's special sound, still fascinates me, and
therefore I really like to listen to others playing. For someone like me,
relying more on the eye than on the ear, actually (and closely) watching the
player adds an additional level of insight.
The other
point is the pleasure and, at the same time, challenge to play together.
Playing together is a quite different realm with its very own rules contrasting
with or supplementing those for playing solo. This is a realm which I
discovered (and dared to enter) only after discovering the Cyberpluckers. It is
certainly better to learn and practise these rules in the supportive
environment of an autoharpers community before approaching other musicians and
getting over their, at best, wait-and-see distance keeping.
To sum up,
I think that the autoharp and the autoharp community constitute a mutually
sustaining and fostering relationship, which in itself is a compelling reason for
seriously and continuously concerning oneself with the autoharp.
There are points where autoharpers disagree, e.g. the moot question of
the relative merits of chromatic versus diatonic autoharps or the
"best" chord-buttons layout. ThereÕs one topic, however, they tend to
generally agree upon, namely that autoharping is fun. This summer Cyperplucker
Bruce Fornes uttered his conviction this way: "The reason so many of us
play the autoharp is to have fun. We're not musical geniuses, nor have we had
extensive (or any) training in music theory. We don't know a diatonic from a
chromatic. The only thing we share is the beauty of playing songs we enjoy on
an instrument it doesn't take a Mozart to play."
As I understand him, he refers essentially to the joy you experience
when initially taking up the autoharp. When you progress in your playing, the
fun comes, of course, from progress, i.e. from being able to play better and to
play more.
But I like my fun to have something more, some Ónutritional valueÓ, so
to speak. Fortunately there is, because I derive a lot of fun from the fact
that seriously dealing with the autoharp opens up new areas of understanding of
and insight into music itself. Using words from my day job, I would say that
entering and progressively (slow as that progress may be) understanding the
"structural meta-level" of music, the logic and physics of music, is
real fun for an analytical mind! And the autoharp is a wonderful door to this
"meta-level" realm.
I experience this kind of fun very much when IÕm about to learn a new
tune from a sheet of music: The most exciting part is determining the chords
for melody playing from a range of clues including the key, the mode, the note
itself (of course!), the intervals between adjacent notes, the rhythmic
structure of the tune etc. This task is analytical and creative at the same
time, and most satisfying, of course, when the tune contains so-called "accidentals",
notes outside the key's "own" scale: This is always a welcome test
for my theory that most accidentals are due to intermediate, temporary
modulation into a (more or less) ÓneighbouringÓ key.[7]
If the
primary reason for my involvement with the autoharp is the pursuit of music research,
then this must lead to consequences for my choice of repertoire. Above all, I
try to learn a bit of everything, i.e. of everything I understand at least a
little bit. (These days, most of my deficits in accessibility, I feel, are with
the more complicated rhythmic structures.) In other words, my approach is not
compatible with restriction to any special genre (like e.g. strictly diatonic
old-time tunes).
My approach
does not, however, prohibit my deciding from time to time to learn a tune just
for its beauty or for its sentimental value, or simply because it is kind of a
standard. Recently I became aware of a certain predicament: I realised that for
every hour of learning a new tune, I ought to schedule at least two hours for
playing my old repertoire in order not to lose it. Unfortunately, this requires
a certain discipline, because learning a new tune is for me, at least
initially, more fun than playing an old one (and getting aware of all the
places where polishing is badly needed): Seeing a tune gradually gaining shape
under your fingers is real fun, complementary to the fun I mentioned above of
figuring out its chords.
My agenda
of tunes to learn therefore contains (parts of) classical pieces and tunes in
various modes, but also tunes connecting me with other autoharpers or other
people. To quote Mary Umbarger, another Cyberplucker and renowned autoharper:
So many tunes, so little time!
And here I
come back to the initially mentioned event at HusterÕs winery.
John and I
were taking turns at our respective autoharps, John began with singing a very
well received song which he accompanied on his Ôharp, the song being the most
appropriate "Im tiefen Keller" (the English version is known as
"In Cellar Cool"). After such a performance, I resorted to the
emergency measure of explaining to the audience the difference between John and
me: He, being a real artiste, a real musician, uses his autoharp as one of many
ways to express himself musically, whereas I, so I revealed, use my instrument
for researching music and see my contribution as presenting research results!
Although I
actually told the truth, I got the feeling that a few in the audience thought I
was joking. Anyway, my attitude served well to spare me a futile attempt to
appear being an artiste just as John.
As the
evening went on, I was actually able to score real points by playing German
folk songs well known to the audience (and to me from my early school days) and
allowing, even encouraging, the listeners to join in with singing. Now IÕm not
at all sure how this relates to my noble research interests ... J
[1] John (singing, playing tin whistle, concertina and nearly everything with strings) is the only Irishman in the band, the other members are Germans from different parts of the country.
[2] The Cyberpluckers is a list on the Internet where autoharpers of the whole world (but mainly North American) exchange ideas and information. It is a most useful institution. If you have not yet subscribed (it's free!), go to http://www.autoharp.org!
[3] Cathy Britell (a.k.a. Cybermama) is (a medical doctor and) a very accomplished musician and autoharp teacher and was instrumental in founding the Cyberpluckers (and she's a real nice person!).
[4] Every year around Easter, classes on several Bluegrass and Old Time instruments are taught during Sore Fingers Week, taking place in Kingham Hill School, northwest of Oxford.
[5] If in a depressive mood you may express this thought with the famous words: [Why not] bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of?
[6] I'm mentioning Cathy so often because she's so influential on my (and probably most other Cyberpluckers') autoharp attitude and repertoire. Even this little essay is incited by her: Daring to disagree with her in single points and being forced to clear my thoughts has led to writing this exposition. If you're not a Cyberplucker you may be interested to learn about her renowned autoharp teaching material: go to http://www.larkpoint.com.
[7] Cyberpluckers among the readers might remember my rather extensive Cyberplucker posting on the topic a few years ago, with subject "Chords & modulation", sent on 19 August 2001.