Practicing Harp Happiness

While there are many notable quotes from Johann Sebastian Bach, one of my favorites is this one: “There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.”  Okay, the man was a musical genius, but obviously he also had a remarkable talent for understatement. 

On the other hand, that really is the major part of learning and playing a piece of music, at least it’s where we start. Certainly the expression of the music is our ultimate aim, but communicating the music starts with the right notes at the right time. That’s the focus of the podcast today: not so much how to find the right notes, but how to play them at the right time. 

We all know it’s not as simple as Bach made it sound. In fact, the difficulties of finding that “right time” are evident everyday in our practice, even if we are expert players. See if any of these common rhythmic challenges sound familiar to you from your personal experience:

• Starting a piece before you’ve looked at the time signature, and getting it wrong.
• Uneven subdivisions of the beat, not making your sixteenth notes exactly half the length of your eighth notes, for example.
• Not remembering to count rests or ties.
• Rushing through some passages and slowing down in others.
• Forgetting to count and losing your place.

I’m guessing you’ve had at least one of those challenges; I know I have. Maybe you know how to fix the problem, but maybe you’re not really sure of the best way to go about it. Maybe you’ve tried fixing it, but you seem to have to fix it again with every new piece you learn. Perhaps rhythm or counting or working with the metronome is a constant frustration for you.

If any of those things sound familiar, you’re in luck, my friend, because I’m going to give you some actual steps to take to become more rhythmically secure, not just fix the problems as they arise, although these strategies will work for that too. I want to show you how to practice your rhythm skills, whether you feel pretty confident already and you just want to get to the next level, or you have trouble with plain old counting or working with the metronome. I taught these methods for nineteen years when I was teaching theory and ear training at the Curtis Institute of Music, and if they are good enough for the world-class students there, they will almost certainly help you too.

And by the way, just to make this ultra-relevant for us harpists, I will be using the Pachelbel Canon as our teaching text. So get out whatever version you have of the Pachelbel - any arrangement will work for this - and follow along as we get rhythmic today.

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

• Registration for our fall session of Harp Mastery® Certified Coaching opens soon. Join the First to Know list now!
• Related resource Finding Your Groove: How to Train Your Inner Metronome 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-117

I once had someone suggest to me that Harp Mastery® was a little ambitious as a name. Was I intending that my blog and my website would only help people at the highest level or help them to become masters of the instrument? Or was I proclaiming myself a “master” of the harp? Eek, definitely not. In response, I told her I believed that mastery didn’t have to be defined as the ultimate level of achievement, although that is how we often think of it. I had a different idea of mastery in mind.

Certainly the term can be applied to the virtuoso whose skill and artistry are, or are destined to become, legendary. 

But I believe that all of us harpists, at whatever level of accomplishment, can attain the feeling of mastery, a feeling that encompasses confidence in our ability at our skill level,  pride in our achievements and pleasure in our playing. Is that true mastery as we would apply the word to harp legends like Renié, Hasselmans or O’Carolan? Possibly not, although I feel certain those harpists would have felt confidence, pride and pleasure in their harp playing. 

I think it’s essential, however, that all harpists, particularly those of us who struggle to feel like we are making progress toward our goals, understand that every level of harp playing is not just a growth stage but an accomplishment in itself. We may not feel like harp masters, and we may be very far from feeling like virtuosi, but we can recognize the results of our hard work and celebrate how far we have come. Every piece we learn, every technical or musical skill we develop is another step on the mastery journey.

So today, I want to talk more about mastery, not the virtuoso kind, but everyday mastery, the kind we can all enjoy. We’ll review the key components of mastery and of course, I won’t leave you just with the big concepts. We’ll get super practical and tactical and I’ll show you what you can do in your everyday practice to bring you closer to that place where competence, confidence and joy converge.

For those who attended Finish Camp, this will amplify what we spoke about there. But this is about much more than just finishing a piece. This is about starting your mastery journey from wherever you are and creating your mastery path to suit you and your own personal harp goals or dreams. I am sure you will find some mindset gold in this episode and you are going to want to bookmark it to return to it again when you need a pep talk.

Also, if this episode resonates with you, please share this with a couple of harp friends. Sometimes we can feel discouraged by our inability to make a positive impact on the world around us, let alone feel like we are making progress in our harp playing. So you can do your friends - and me too - a big favor by spreading a little podcast sunshine their way. 

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

• Get access to our Summer Sizzler Camps until August 13.  
• Related resource The Mastery Trait 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-116 

Today’s show is a special one. It’s a peek inside our My Harp Mastery membership. You’ll be hearing part of a recording of one of our Monday calls. On this call, our topic was three skills that are vital for your harp playing success, in particular memorizing, practicing for flow and continuity, and sharing music with friends. These skills may not sound very exciting, but I really want to share this call with you because I talk about ways to look at your harp playing that may be very different from the way you usually think about your practice and playing. It was an eyeopener for some of our My Harp Mastery members, and I hope it will inspire you as well.

Because this is a recording of a call, you’ll hear me reference some materials that our members have access to but which I can’t share with you here on the podcast. Also, I am talking about these three skills in relation to one of our My Harp Mastery resources, the Scale of Success. This is a curriculum that we offer inside the My Harp Mastery membership to help harpists of all kinds of levels round out their skill set so they can be more confident harpists. 

I hope you enjoy the call!

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

• Join me at Finish Camp on August 2nd! Register here for Finish Camp!
• Related resource “What Do You Need to Know?”  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-115 

Christmas in July has become “a thing.”

The official story is that Christmas in July was first celebrated at a summer camp in Brevard, North Carolina in 1933. Being a classic film fan, I knew that Christmas in July was already popular by 1940, due to the film with that title. But now July is nearly as popular for Christmas as December and I’m beginning to think that we will soon see stores moving their Christmas sales from August into July. 

Of course, for us harpists, summer is a great time to pull out that Christmas repertoire. In the slower days of summer, we can dedicate some practice time to refreshing and renewing our holiday hits list.

But you don’t have to immerse yourself in “Winter Wonderland” and “Jingle Bells" or even “Silent Night” to put a little Christmas into your summer. If you’re the type who loves holiday music, then by all means dive in with extra mistletoe and holly. But if you’re not ready to surrender your summer harp playing to ”Away in a Manger” for even a week or two, there are still some things you can do now to ease your holiday workload when Christmas in December rolls around. Depending on your personal preference, you can geek out on the musical gingerbread or play the Christmas in July grinch in style.

So get ready to discover some fun ways to put some holiday sparkle in your summer without having to only practice all your holiday music. After all, “Summertime” is a nice piece to play too!

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

• Don’t miss Finish Camp on August 2nd. Register now!

• Related resource How Holiday Music Can Make You a Better Harpist 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-114

There are markers along the road in every harpist’s development, signposts that indicate you’re making progress. These are like those highway signs that tell you how many miles you are from the next town or city, like “New York City - 90 miles.” No matter how long it’s taken you to get to that point and regardless of the traffic jam ahead of you on the New Jersey Turnpike, New York City is now only 90 miles away. 

Graduating from three-note chords to four-note chords is one of those markers I talk about often. Another one is fluent hands together playing.

Fluent may not be the best word to describe my meaning. It’s more a comfort level, the point at which hands together playing is not any more difficult for you than playing hands separately. Many harpists develop fluency playing hands separately and then are frustrated when that fluency doesn’t translate to their hands together playing. What they don’t realize is that the processing of information that is required for hands separately playing is very different from what is required for hands together playing. It’s a harp version of the saying “What got you here won’t get you there.”

My students have all heard me talk about this before - and often. It’s painful to me to see harpists struggle with music learning and slow progress simply because they never were shown a better way. In this episode I will detail how to put hands together in a way which is faster, easier and will yield massive results, not just in the long-term but almost immediately. And while there are a lot of angles we could touch on today, I want to focus on three things you could do today to improve - or develop, if you feel like you’re starting from scratch - your hands together skills. I also will tell you about two things you are likely doing now which you must stop immediately, today.

So get out your notebook or your practice journal and your favorite pen and be ready to take notes. Or just listen now and come back to this episode later to be sure you capture all the info you need. You’re going to want it all, trust me.

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

• Join me for the Summer Sizzler Technique Camp 
• Related resource 3 Skills Essential to Sight Reading 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-113

If you’re finally ready to think about making videos of yourself playing the harp, all I can say is, “Welcome to the party!”

You may have been one of the reluctant ones, thinking the technology was going to be too daunting. Or maybe your barrier to entry has been the fact that you just weren’t ready - until now, that is - to share your music on the wild wide-open worldwide web. 

Possibly you were one of those who found the idea of making videos intriguing, but when it came down to actually doing it, you found the process surprisingly difficult. 

What I”d like to do in this podcast episode is to help you through the challenges of making videos of yourself. While I’ll touch on a couple of tech-related topics, our focus today is really going to be you, what you need to do to prepare you and your music for making a video or even just an audio recording.

I’ve made numerous CDs and obviously I do a lot of video too, and I learned mostly the hard way what works: how prepared you need to be, how to keep your expectations reasonable, and how to ensure you finish the process with a video that you actually feel proud of. If you haven’t made videos yet but would like to, or you’ve tried and thought it was too hard for you, this information will change the game for you. Trust me; you can do this.

On the other hand, if you’re already an old hand at video, I have some tips that may make your process simpler or less time-consuming. 

Plus, I will point you to some excellent examples of everyday harpists - not the superstars you may be thinking of - who are doing great things with video. I want you to leave today’s episode feeling inspired and excited about making videos. Why? Because it really can be fun. Really.

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

• Become one of my monthly listeners on my new Spotify channel!
• Related resource Beyond Fear: Daily Acts of Harp Courage 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-112

Okay, here’s my question for you today. What would be the scariest words you could hear in your lesson? I can think of lots of possibilities but I’m guessing that one of those phrases that comes to your mind might be, “I think we need to get out the metronome.”

If that’s a phrase that makes you start to squirm on your harp bench, you’re not alone. Learning to use the metronome is one of those things that we teachers often fail to teach our students. Sure, we pull out the metronome in lessons and tell our students to practice with it at home, but we don’t often really show them how to work with it or when to use it and why. We almost turn it into a punishment. I sometimes worry I sound like the Wicked Witch of the West; “Well, my pretty, you counted that badly. It’s time for the metronome for you and the little dog too!”

But the metronome is for more than just identifying and solving counting errors or uneven beats. And it’s not just for pushing the tempo faster and faster. Used creatively, the metronome can actually slow time for you, helping to create enough time for you to do what you need to do. It’s not just about practicing slowly so you can play fast. It’s about smoothing out the bumps and coordinating the many processes that go into playing a piece of music. It can help you be more expressive and yes, you can even use the metronome to calm frantic fingers or frazzled nerves and to help you focus. 

Now if you’re one of those harpists like me who absolutely loves working with the metronome, then congratulations. You’ve learned to harness one of the most powerful tools in any musician’s bag of tricks. But don’t leave me yet - I have some cool metronome tricks you may not know to share with you today.

But if you’re like the majority of harpists out there, you’re not quite comfortable using the metronome. In fact, you may not be quite convinced of its value as a practice tool. My hope is that the ideas I’m going to share with you today will spark your interest and encourage you to make the metronome your best practice buddy.

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

• Summer Camp Sizzlers are happening now. Join us for these fun workshops!
• Podcast episode 89: Masterclass: The Tempo Pyramid
• Related resource Your Metronome Speaks 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-111

What are your plans for your harp playing this summer?

Do you have pieces you want to learn, maybe Christmas music you want to get a head start on? Do you have a few exercise or etude books that you plan to get through so your fingers will finally do what you want? Are you thinking summer is a great time to learn your key signatures or chords or improve your note reading or learn to improvise? Or maybe all of the above?

If your summer harp list looks anything like this, let me hear you say, “Amen.” 

Most of us start out the summer with big plans, and not just for our harp playing. We have this imaginary idea that summer is endless and less busy and we’ll have time to get to all those things we can’t manage in the other three seasons. That’s a classic example of wishful thinking. Life doesn’t really slow down just because the days are longer and warmer. What usually does slow down is our drive to achieve, and that’s actually a healthy thing.

Continually pushing ourselves to achieve and accomplish drains our emotional gas tank. If we don’t take the time we need to refuel we will eventually be running on fumes. Balancing this with our desire to keep making progress and our fear that if we don’t keep practicing we will lose everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve is the real crux of the problem and what we will be talking about today. I don’t want you to lose the ground you’ve gained this year by taking time off. But I absolutely believe that switching up the way you practice - or maybe not even actually practicing at all - is essential to keeping your connection to your harp healthy and vibrant. 

You know me; I love setting goals and working toward them. You can achieve great things with dedication and passion. However, it's important to be aware of the hidden traps that might sabotage your efforts, the very real costs of staying focused all the time. I also want to share with you what you can do instead. We are not going to give up on progress, just because we’re not goal-focused. Instead, I’ll show you how you can actually move your playing ahead without really practicing. I promise, it’s not a trick. It’s real progress and it’s almost laughably easy.

My apologies to those of my listeners in the southern hemisphere, where it isn’t summer right now, but by listening to this podcast now, you’re going to be able to plan your next summer the right way ahead of time. Not a bad idea, right?

So let’s get on with our discussion about how you can indulge your desire to slow the pace this summer and still feel like you’re moving the needle with your harp playing.

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

• Join me every Monday Live in the Harp Mastery® Hub. JOIN THE HUB
• Related resource The 30,000 Foot View: Letting Go of the Details 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-110

Yes, this episode is about Bach, the Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach. I know some of you are thinking this is a waste of a podcast episode, that you are never going to play any music by Bach and since he didn’t write any music for harp anyway, this couldn’t possibly be relevant to your harp playing.

Let me tell you, you couldn’t be more wrong.

Bach may not have written anything for harp, but his influence is felt by every composer and musician since his time. You probably know that French composer Charles Gounod wrote his beautiful Ave Maria melody as a vocal addition to Bach’s Prelude in C. But perhaps you didn’t know that the trumpet solo on the Beatles song “Penny Lane” came about after Paul McCartney heard trumpeter Dave Mason performing the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, the same concerto which is featured in the movie The Island of Doctor Moreau. Other movies featuring the music of Bach range from Disney’s Fantasia to the Godfather to Master and Commander and Boogie Nights.

But Bach’s music is more than just amazing music. It is also a music theory education, a technical proving ground and a time-honored model for crafting a melody. You may associate Bach’s music more with vast quantities of notes rather than melody, but discovering the basic yet profound musical principles embodied in Bach’s compositions can change the way you understand all of the music you play. I know it did for me.

Obviously, I won’t be able to uncover all the layers in Bach’s music on this podcast. What I want to do is to talk about what is meaningful to us as harpists and musicians. We’ll clarify some of the musical terms that are associated with Bach and I’ll show you how you can use his music to better understand chords, phrasing, flow, to develop your fingering technique, and to grow as a musician. Plus, we’ll talk about which Bach pieces might be ideal for you to add to your repertoire or at least your practice list.

I also have some facts and stories about Bach that you can include in program notes or repeat to impress your friends with your amazing musical knowledge. 

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

• Free Clair de lune workshop in the Hub on June 23rd. Click here to join the Hub.
• Related resource Bach, and My Friend Edward Aldwell 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-109

Legendary harpist and composer Carlos Salzedo had this to say about buzzing: “It is important that there be no buzzing when replacing. Buzzing comes from lack of precision in replacing, and will be eliminated if the player replaces very accurately.” 

That quote comes from the Method for the Harp book that he wrote with Lucile Lawrence, his former student and at the time that method book was written, his wife.

What is interesting about that quote is that even though Salzedo had so much to say about so many aspects of harp playing, that is all he says about buzzing, nothing more.

On the one hand, it’s enough. Every harpist should be replacing accurately in order to avoid buzzing. But we knew that much. What Salzedo leaves us wondering is exactly how we should practice accurate replacing so we don’t buzz. Unfortunately, Salzedo either thought it was too obvious to elaborate on or he wanted to keep his secrets for his students.

I imagine he thought it was obvious, but since it isn’t obvious to most of us lesser harpists, we need a little more instruction. Hence, today’s podcast episode. This is a “Quick Fix” episode, meaning we are going to get super-practical and talk about the practice techniques to use to help you be more aware of your buzzing as well as learn to prevent it.  You’re going to want to take notes, so if you’re driving or on the exercise bike, go ahead and listen now, but be sure to come back to this episode later when you can write down some of the key strategies.

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

• Two Retreat Spots left!
• Related resource Teach Your Fingers to Do Your Bidding 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-108