Stretches All Harpists Should Do Before Playing

It's extremely important to warm up our bodies properly before playing so we can play our best and avoid injury!

Warming up properly can also reduce that phenomenon of showing up to your harp lesson and thinking "I could play these arpeggios at home, but I can't when I have to sit down and play the fast straight away.."

Sometimes people think that in order to warm up, we should hold static stretches, like holding your arm across your chest.

But this is NOT the case!!

(Even a lot of professional musicians don't know this!)

What you should actually do before playing the harp to warm up properly is something called Dynamic Stretching.

Dynamic stretching means gentle movement to wake up the muscles in your body and signal that you'll be needing more blood flow there to do the work you're about to engage in. (In this case, playing the harp.)

In this short video, you can follow along with the dynamic stretching routine I always follow every time I play:

Start by nodding your head, shaking it from side to side, and rolling your head from side to front to side (but not rolling backwards!)

Then warm up your arms - shrug the shoulders, gently swing your arms beside and in front of you.

Do some arm circles, starting small and getting larger as you repeat the movement. Start with one direction, then switch.

Lean from side to side to wake up your core, then do some hip circles to get those hips ready. They do a lot of work supporting your upper body as you sit at your bench playing!

Now remember - all of this is supposed to be gentle movement. Don't do anything that hurts, and only move as far as feels comfortable.

Happy harping!

If you enjoyed this blog post & video, sign up for my email newsletter for more free harp tips straight to your inbox! I'll also send you a free song download of one of my original compositions.