Practicing Harp Happiness

Happy New Year! It's the first morning of a new year and I am feeling, as I do every new year, that sense of excitement and possibility that inhabits those empty calendar pages. I can hardly wait to see what 2024 will bring.

Since this podcast is going live on New Year's Day, I thought it was particularly appropriate to talk today about goals. We talk about harp goals a lot at Harp Mastery® but today I actually want to elevate our viewpoint and look at harp playing goals with a broader perspective.

SMART goals - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based - have been the gold standard of productivity experts for a while. Those five criteria combine in a way that makes success look almost like a mathematical certainty. They feel powerful because they are so concrete.

But music isn't like that. Music is about creativity. It's not about following rules, it's about choosing which ones you want to follow. It's not about creating cookie cutter results; it's about developing the experience and confidence you need to create the same piece of music over and over again with each time feeling new and fresh. So when we try to create SMART goals for our harp playing, it can feel like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Sometimes clear and well-designed goals are helpful. We use them in our coaching programs to help keep the coach and the harpist she's working with stay on the same page. When the expectations and desired outcomes are clearly stated and referenced regularly, there is more traction and progress comes more quickly.

However, that kind of system is less helpful for most harpists working on their own. We have a tendency to over-design our goals or resolutions to the point where they are restrictive and create a cycle of failure rather than of success. Just think about a daily habit you've tried to instill. Everything goes along well for a while and then there's one day when you break your streak. That first time you might get back on track quickly, but when that next slip comes you may be off track for a couple of days. That's when the guilt sets in and pretty soon you've all but given up.

Giving up does not sound like harp happiness to me, which is why we are talking today about un-smart goals, goals that aren't aimed at making you toe the line but are created to give you freedom to pursue what you love, playing the harp. That sounds like a guaranteed success plan for 2024 to me!

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:

• Join our 2024 Harp Happiness Challenge in the Hub.
• Related resource Why Being a Better Harpist Isn't Good Enough blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-137

A special holiday music mix just for podcast listeners!

The program:

• Two from MessiahPastoral Symphony/He shall feed his flock Arranged by Anne Sullivan
• Greensleeves, from Anne's Break Forth CD,Arranged by Anne Sullivan
• Coventry CarolArranged by Anne Sullivan
• Pat-a-panArranged by Anne Sullivan
• In Dulci Jubilo, from Anne's Break Forth CD,Arranged by Anne Sullivan Largo from Winter, from Anne's Break Forth CD,Arranged by Anne Sullivan
• 12 Days of Harpiness Arranged by Anne Sullivan

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:

• Listen to our Harpy Christmas playlist on Spotify featuring music by Anne Sullivn and other harpist performers.
• Find some great holiday sheet music or a CD in our shop.
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-136

The year-end wrap has become a hot trend. The worthy practice of reflecting on the year that is nearly over and the new one about to start is no longer simply a quiet moment with a cup of tea and a journal. It's an opportunity for businesses to go public with their successes. We at Harp Mastery® have jumped on the bandwagon, too. It's fun to look back and see what we've accomplished. It's important, perhaps even more so, to see where we missed the mark. Somehow, though, those aren't the numbers that show up on social media. We like to count the wins.

But this episode isn't about what Harp Mastery® has done. After all, this isn't a business podcast. This podcast is about you, me and our harp playing. And that's what this episode is about too.

I want to share with you my own system for looking back, for remembering what my year was like. I start in the same way you may, by looking back at my calendar week by week and month by month. But my objective isn't to see how many goals I have achieved or missed. This isn't a moment for numbers or statistics for me. This is a moment to acknowledge the changes that happened in the year, both positive and not, the harp happiness I experienced and the people that were part of my year. I want this process to provide me with perspective and clarity, and of course, a place to start from for next year.

I'm sharing this with you today thinking that my ideas may help you find more clarity too. Clarity is where growth starts. It's what gives direction and purpose to our actions. It's what gives meaning to our music. The great cellist Yo-Yo Ma says this, "Music is powered by ideas. If you don't have clarity of ideas, you're just communicating sheer sound."

So let's eliminate the meaningless sound, shut out the noise and get clear on what happened this year.

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:

• Registration for the 2024 Winter Coaching Session ends this week. Register today!
• Visit our shop and use the discount code 12DAYS2023 to get 25% off any of this year's 12 Days of Medleys and Mashups.
• Related resource Moving Up or Going In Circles? blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-135

As I look back over 11 years of blogging and podcasting, there are some trends I notice, topics I talk about with regularity and even predictability according to the seasons. Of course, it's not a surprise that in December one of the topics that is on my mind - and I'm guessing on yours too - is about keeping your sanity during the holiday rush. Last week's podcast, The Christmas Snowball, episode 133, dealt with the holiday music onslaught, and a few episodes before that, episode 130, I talked about preventing overwhelm. Timely topics, yes, but today, I'd like to look at this from the other side. I want to talk about stillness.

Here's an example of the value of stillness. I was in an opera orchestra rehearsal with a conductor who was famous for his temper. There were days when he was complimentary to the players, but on the days when no one could do anything that pleased him, he was not shy about venting his displeasure. Sometimes the entire orchestra fell under his wrath; sometimes it was one particular player. Obviously, this could make rehearsals less than pleasant.

One day as he ranted at the entire orchestra, you could feel the collective blood pressure rise. In that moment, each of us had to decide how we were going to bear up under his words. Would we let it affect our playing or our mood? Or could we let it go and just continue to do our jobs? That was the day I got one of my favorite compliments. When we finally got to a break in the rehearsal, the double bass player next to me leaned over and told me how glad he was to be next to me because I was like an island of serenity in the middle of the chaos. I don't think I was ever complimented on my serenity before or since, but his comment showed me the value of creating the calm you want, of not reflecting a negative environment around you, of stillness.

Stillness is something that is in your power to create. You may have tried before without much success, but I think the strategies that we will cover today will give you a new approach. We aren't going to start with meditation or breathing or giving up caffeine or any of those things. We are going to start from the outside and work our way to the core of the matter. I'm going to show you how to create stillness first in your hands, then in your mind and finally in your heart. And who doesn't need that kind of stillness now or at any time of year?

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:

• Registration for our 2024 Winter Coaching session is open.
• Related resource The Musician's Success Secret blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-134

Be prepared, the famous Boy Scout motto. I'm thinking that Boy Scouts have nothing on harpists when it comes to being prepared. We harpists have preparation down, whether it is preparing our music, or stocking spare strings or packing our harp bag. However, there are times when even the best preparation doesn't help, and you might be about to experience one of those times. Let's call it the "Christmas Snowball."

The Christmas Snowball shows up when the church music director decides that since you are playing the harp for the service and you're there anyway, it would be a shame not to use the harp for every musical moment possible. So what started as a simple request - would you come and play the harp for one anthem with the choir on Christmas Eve? - snowballs into an additional anthem, various choral responses during the service, three carols with the congregation, a prelude selection or two, and of course, playing Silent Night during the candlelighting. If you've played for a Christmas Eve service before, this snowball scenario is causing flashbacks. If this year is your first time playing for a Christmas Eve service, I want you to be prepared.

The real danger in the snowball is that it's tempting to roll right along with it, until you realize that you're snowed under. It would be fun to play for the carols and you think the other parts don't look too hard, so it's easy to say yes. And you'd feel a little like the grinch if you said no. But once you agree to all the snowball extras, it feels more like an avalanche of music and the panic sets in.

In the words of the season, be not afraid. For behold I bring you pretty good ideas for how to learn this extra music fast, and I mean in a couple of days, not a couple of weeks. I'll tell you how to make smart decisions about what to play and what not to play and I will demonstrate some of these choices at the harp so you can hear exactly what I mean. One more thing: we'll talk about the very hardest skill of all, how to just say no. I know it's hard to tell someone no, but I'll help you learn to do it so you don't feel like Scrooge. No "bah, humbugs" here.

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:

• 12 Days of Harp Happiness has started! Check out what's been happening here.
• Related resource Hymns: A Harpist's Guide to Playing Along blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-133

Long, long ago in what seems like a galaxy far away, there was no Cyber Monday. There was barely even a Black Friday. We shopped in stores, not on the yet-to-be-imagined internet. 

And for the children who were dreaming of holiday presents, there was the Sears catalog, the “Wish Book” edition. If you are an American of a certain age, you are nodding your head right now, but if you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll explain.

Sears is a department store chain that was founded in 1892. It was in the beginning exclusively a mail order business, and the Sears catalog was an important resource for shoppers all over the country, but particularly in rural areas that had limited access to stores. But, the special “Wish Book” edition, first printed in 1933 and released every year at holiday time, was the ultimate catalog shopping experience. It ceased publication in 1993, but at its peak, the catalog had over 600 pages with more than 100 pages devoted to toys. My brother and I waited for that catalog every year and boy, did we wish our way through the pages!

There’s no more Wish Book, but there also seems no end to our burgeoning consumerism. I have no desire to add to the frenzy but I did want to offer some ideas for harp-related gifts that you may enjoy giving to a harpist friend or putting on your own wish list. The twist to this list is that everything on it I have chosen because it will make a harpist’s life easier. Some of the items are recommendations for things you can purchase, but there are some that aren’t things you could buy for any amount of money. It’s about increasing harp happiness, not decreasing your wallet.

So grab a cup of tea and take a break with me, a rest from the holiday shopping rush. We’ll talk about the little things, a few bigger things and the less tangible things that every harpist could use at the holidays or any time of year.

By the way, I’ve included a link in the show notes to a list of everything I’m mentioning on today’s podcast. This is purely informational; I’m not making a commission or earning any money from any of the things on this list. You don’t even have to enter your email to get the list. All you have to do is click the link.

But if you’d like to show the podcast a little love, I’d be so grateful. Just share this episode or any of the episodes you may have found helpful with a friend. You’ll be sharing valuable information to help your harp friend, and you’ll be helping me to help more harpists. That’s a win for everyone and it doesn’t cost a thing!

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Download my “What Every Harpist Needs” list PDF here.

• Check out our Harp Mastery® shop! 

• Related resource 10 Quick and Easy Stocking Stuffers for the Musician on Your List blog post

• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-132

Tell me if this sounds familiar. You suddenly realize that everything is quiet and you have 20 minutes all to yourself. Sure, you could sit down with a book and a cup of tea. Or you could spend that 20 minutes practicing. You decide your harp is calling you, so you sit on the bench and look at the music on your stand. But where do you start? 

You may have had days like that. I know I have. Those 20 minute segments are valuable little chunks of practice time, but obviously that’s not enough time to get everything done. If you’re used to having an hour or more to practice, that 20 minutes is frustratingly short. Of course, I’m just using these time frames as an illustration. Your regular practice time and your available time might be different, but the idea is the same. When you don’t have as much practice time as you are used to, you have to find a way to make do with what you’ve got.

When we start to prioritize what needs to get done, the first thing we often jettison from our practice is our technique work. We eliminate a warm-up and use parts of the pieces we need to learn as a warm-up. That’s a smart idea. But dedicated technique work, the kind that covers all the basics and keeps our fingers nimble and strong, is usually put aside. When you have a lot of music to learn and very little time to learn it, who has time for drills and exercises?

With the holiday season beginning in earnest later this week, practice time will be “catch as catch can” for most of us. But even with this time crunch, I want to urge you not to abandon your technique work. At this time, your technique work is more critical than ever. Why? Because it will help your fingers - and you - relax and re-center. Our technique is our greatest tool. All our playing depends on it, and when our technique is in shape, we can play more confidently, knowing we can trust our fingers.

But wait, I hear you saying. How am I supposed to fit in my technique practice when I have no time? That’s exactly what I will share with you on this episode, 5 of my favorite super-speedy ways to keep my fingers in shape when I’m in the middle of a time crunch. Plus, I’ll help you understand the particular benefits of each routine so you can choose what feels right for you.

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• My Harp Mastery doors are open! Click here for the special deal!
• Related resource Cool Down Properly: Your Best 5 Minutes of Practice blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-131

As of today, the day this podcast episode goes live, it is exactly six weeks until Christmas. As I said that, a little shiver ran down my spine. What was your reaction? Maybe you are channeling your inner child who can hardly wait for Christmas and you were jumping up and down. 

But I wouldn’t be surprised if you were a little annoyed or even felt a flutter of anxiety at being reminded of how fast the holiday season is approaching. Those Christmas songs that already form the shopping soundtrack in every store are more than a little irritating to me. They seem to bring out my inner Scrooge and it’s mostly because they just remind me of everything I still have to do to get ready. In a word, it feels overwhelming.

Of course, the feeling of overwhelm when it comes to your harp playing isn’t just a holiday phenomenon. Overwhelm poses a challenge for us every day. There is always a spot that needs more work, some technical drill we should be doing, new music we want to learn, old pieces we want to review, and the list goes on. There simply isn’t enough time to do everything, but that doesn’t stop us from trying.

So I thought this would be the perfect time to talk with you about overwhelm. I don’t want to talk just about the holiday pressures and the extra playing we do and how to fit it all in. Especially NOT about how to fit it all in, because I don’t think that’s the healthiest approach. I want to explore with you the two different types of overwhelm: actual overwhelm, which is about the outside forces acting on us, and perceived overwhelm, which is about the pressure we create ourselves. When it comes to actual overwhelm there are fairly simple strategies that we can use to relieve it. But the perceived overwhelm that is our own internal creation is more difficult to recognize and much harder to defeat. Of course it can be defeated and also of course, I have a quick and easy to remember word to help you with that. It’s the word “free,” because that’s how we all want to feel: free to enjoy our harp playing, our music, and our friends and family whether it’s in the holidays or any time of year. 

So if you’re ready to conquer the overwhelm and breathe easy again, stick with me today. You’re going to love this.

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Join us in the Hub for “3 (More) Ways to Use Music Theory Every Day” call on Thursday, November 16th. Not in the Hub? Click here to join us - it’s free!  

• Related resource Stay Relaxed to Play Your Best blog post

• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-130

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done? Climbing Mt. Everest? Swimming the English Channel? Raising a teenager? 

Ok. I haven’t done the first two, but I survived raising a teenager and I think it ranks right up there near the top of the list of hardest things. I actually found a website the other day that listed someone else’s ideas of the hardest things to do in life. None of the ones I mentioned were on their list, but there were some that hit home, particularly as I was thinking about this podcast topic. One of them was giving up comfort, getting out of your comfort zone.

Sharing your music - playing in front of other people - is out of the comfort zone for most of us. When we play for others we are making ourselves vulnerable. It isn’t just about playing well, although that always helps. It’s also about feeling, however wrongly, that we are being judged, and that we may be found unworthy. It’s about revealing our artistic side, something we often feel is private and personal. No matter how confident we are in other areas of our lives, sharing our music can be extremely hard.

I’ve been playing the harp in public for over 50 years and although I can tell you it gets easier over time, I still face some of the same doubts and fears I had when I started. I’ve had plenty of good performances, but I’ve plenty that were more the crash-and-burn type. 

Today’s episode is devoted to making playing for others easier for you. One of the benefits of my own performing experiences, particularly the crash-and-burn ones, is that I have had to look at the right way to prepare so that I can be reasonably confident that my performance will meet my expectations. And I have discovered that the best preparation has two parts - preparing your music properly (which isn’t the type of practice you’re doing now, I can almost guarantee) and preparing yourself. 

This is a big topic, much bigger than a single podcast episode. But because we are coming into a season with lots of extra musical performances, I thought it was important to share the broad outline with you so that if you decide to share your music this holiday season, you have the information you need to prepare well.

Now a quick note for everyone who is in the My Harp Mastery membership. We will be spending the entire month of November on this topic, and the coaches and I will all be teaching on different aspects of sharing your music. So this is an extra resource for you as you begin this month’s theme, “Prepare to Share.”

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Join us in the Hub for “3 (More) Ways to Use Music Theory Every Day” call on Thursday, November 16th. Not in the Hub? Click here to join us - it’s free!   
• Related resource Perfection or Performance? It's Your Choice blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected] 

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-129

If you attended my “Cut to the Chase" webinar a couple of weeks ago, you’ll remember that we were talking about some harp hacks, shortcut “outside the box” solutions for common harp problems. We’re going to talk about another one today.

Imagine that you’re learning a piece and it’s going along pretty well. In fact, you may even be excited to think how much you have improved because you’re learning so quickly. You may even let your mind wander to the sorts of pieces you can tackle next with your new and improved skills. 

And then it happens. You hit the wall. You’ve found the passage you can’t play. It may be a new technique that you’ve never tried or one that you aren’t very comfortable with. It may just be a combination of two skills that you haven’t combined before. But whatever it is, you can’t do it. Your technique isn’t up to this particular challenge.

So you do what we all have to do; you take out the passage and work it separately. You turn it into an exercise and drill it. You “etudify” it, as we like to say. And you probably wish that you had learned this skill earlier.

Young students are usually taught in a systematic way. The teacher introduces new skills gradually and helps the student work on the skill first. Then they move on to using the skill in the context of an etude. Finally, the student is ready for the piece that requires that skill. It’s a thoughtful, orderly progression.

Adult students often don’t have the same methodical approach. Either they are mostly or partly teaching themselves or their teachers don’t want to slow down their progress. What this means, of course, is that a lot of their technical development happens on a “need to play” basis: I need to play this…now. It’s a kind of emergency response system and although it can be effective, it can also be frustrating. 

On today’s episode we’ll talk about how to make sure you’re developing the techniques you need, practicing the right exercises and etudes, and knowing how to “etudify” a passage effectively. I’ll also show you the “technique stacker”: the combination of exercises and etudes that can help you with the pieces you’re learning now. Wherever you start from - the exercise or the piece - the technique stacker will help your fingers learn what they need for the music you are playing.

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Last chance to join the Theory Essentials Intensive!
• Related resource Etudes: The Case For and Against blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]

LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-128