Practicing Harp Happiness

If there’s one thing you could say with certainty that all we harpists want, it’s being able to play the piece we’re working on. That’s why we started the harp, so we could play beautiful music on a beautiful instrument beautifully. But we all know the struggle it takes to make that happen. And we all know the frustration of persisting through the struggle and feeling defeated because there are two measures smack in the middle of the piece that just won’t work.

Call them what you will: problem spots, tricky spots, twisty measures, awkward passages, or maybe names that involve four-letter words. These spots are like a teenager’s pimples. They appear at the worst times and no matter what you do, you can’t really cover them up. They seem to last forever. And the more you mess with them the worse, the worse they get.

Fortunately, pimples do eventually go away. But problem measures won’t necessarily. I know that doesn’t seem like the positive kind of outlook you’re used to hearing from me, but the plain truth is that if the practice you’re doing now isn’t fixing the problem, doing more of it won’t either, no matter how much of it you do. You need to do something different.

Today’s show is all about those pesky problem spots - not pimples, the musical kind - and how to actually fix them. We’ll look at the hidden cost of continuing to hammer away at those tricky measures and the surprising ways you can shift your focus and solve the problem. 

This is an issue we all face every single day. Every piece we learn has something just a little different from anything we’ve had to do before. So we are going to learn some tricks that are just a little different themselves so we can put those measures behind us and get on with the music.

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

• Experience the Momentum Miracle
• Related resource “Focus or Fixation: The Practice Rabbit Hole” 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-107

It’s Memorial Day today here in the U.S. and that marks the unofficial beginning of summer for us. The pace of life slows down a little, especially the pace of harp playing. The concert season is over, and although the wedding season has begun, you  may be feeling a little at loose ends where your harp playing is concerned. 

I realize it might not be summer where you are, but our topic today will be relevant for you too. I want to talk about what to practice when you don’t have anything to practice for. 

When we have playing engagements on the calendar, it’s easy to know what to practice. While we’re busily learning all the music we need for that playing date, our practice time never seems long enough. We promise ourselves that as soon as things slow down, we’re going to really spend focused time working on our technique or our sight reading or improvisation or…

Those good intentions are a lot harder to act on when things really do slow down. We discover that our momentum slows down too. We don’t have as much ambition. Our drive to achieve seems to have driven off without us.

The fact is we need some down time. We need to ease up on the gas pedal and let the slower season refresh us. It’s a necessary break. But you and I both know that a long break away from the harp can mean a lot of rehab work when you start practicing again. Whether you’re on vacation or taking a staycation or just have a blank concert calendar, too much time away from the harp makes returning to the harp more than a little discouraging. And let’s not even mention the broken strings.

So what can you do if you have nothing to practice for? How do you prepare before you go on vacation so you can come back to the harp without feeling frustrated? If your harp plate or your music stand is feeling a little empty right now, I have some great ideas to help you switch up your focus and enjoy some relaxing time with your harp.

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

• Experience the Momentum Miracle
• Related resource “Do You Need a Reason to Practice? 3 Ways to Find One” 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-106

I’ve been thinking about harp stories lately, not the fiction type of stories. I mean the kind of harp story we each have, the one about the moment we discovered the harp. Maybe it was the first time we saw it or heard it or heard about it. Maybe it was a long time ago or fairly recent. Maybe it was a dramatic moment or more of a gradual awakening.

I love hearing how harpists discovered their passion for the harp. Every harpist’s story is unique and yet each shares the common thread of the magnetic pull of the harp. 

Many of you have heard my harp story. I myself didn’t learn the beginning of it until I was in my first year of college, studying at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. I had come to a crisis point, one where I was in a “do-or-die” kind of situation. In brief, my teacher had told me that either I fixed what was wrong with my playing or I was going to have to leave Curtis, since I clearly wouldn’t succeed there. The trouble was I didn’t know how to fix what was wrong and neither did she, but I was determined to do it. 

Fast forward through that summer and when I came back to school in the fall, not only had I fixed the problem, but my teacher declared me ready for international competition. It was a huge change. On a side note, everything that I have done since in my teaching came directly from my work that summer.

But the point I want to make today is what enabled me to find the motivation and the right direction to turn things around. That was discovering my harp story beginning. In my frustration I remember saying to my mother, maybe ranting would be a more accurate word, that I didn’t even know why I was playing the harp in the first place. She told me what I had never known before: when I was two years old, I heard the harp on the radio, asked what it was and said that was what I wanted to do. 

Here’s the part that interests me now. Simply knowing that story, and learning that it was the sound of the harp that I responded to made all the difference in that moment. I knew that I had heard the voice of the harp and recognized it as my own voice. Knowing that story changed everything for me, turning what was a crisis into an inflection point that propelled me forward in a way nothing else would have done.

Today I want to show you how to use your own harp story to keep you motivated, and even more important, grounded and connected. With so many demands on our time and focus, it’s frighteningly easy to let your harp playing sit on the back burner waiting for that mythical “someday” when you’ll have more time. But your harp time can provide the peace and renewal you need, provided you can release yourself from the need to achieve and let yourself be nourished by your music instead.

I’ll share with you my thoughts on the power of inflection points and how we can see them as opportunities instead of obstacles and we’ll talk about three ways your harp story can help you refuel and enjoy your harp journey, even when the going gets tough. It’s all about you and making your music on your terms on the show today.

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

• Registration for the Summer Retreat will be closing soon. Register now!
• Related resource “Why I Need To Get Out Of My Practice Room More Often”  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-105

What always happens is…

That statement is one that I ask each harpist who enrolls in our Certified Coaching program to complete. Some harpists have no idea how to complete the statement, and I tell them that if they needed to answer it, they would know how. The harpists who need to complete that sentence, know it when they read it. These are the harpists who know that they have an issue with distraction.

It’s not a black mark against them, of course; distraction is an issue for all of us. But sometimes distraction becomes a roadblock instead of just a minor speed bump. It’s one thing to be distracted by a phone call from a friend when you were about to start practicing. It’s very different if you miss several days of practice each week because of phone calls. If those phone calls always happen, you have a distraction problem.

Naturally, phone calls aren’t the only kind of distraction problem. Today I want to get crystal clear about several common and sneaky forms of distraction. Why are they sneaky? Because they masquerade as important and valid requests for our time and focus, and occasionally, they are valid and important, possibly even urgent. But your harp playing is important too and you need to have tools to help you stay on track when you need to.

We’ll talk about the symptoms and alternative solutions for the three forms of distraction I encounter most frequently: the Shiny Object Syndrome, the Friend and Family Fixer and the Perfect Procrastinator. 

The solutions will give you the freedom and the power to choose your response to a potential distraction. When you have a way to easily weigh your options in any given moment - do I go out for ice cream or practice the Conditioning Exercises? - you give yourself permission to choose what is right for you at that moment. By the way, I’m voting for the ice cream, almost every time.

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

• Join me for our live Retreat Roundup call  
• Related resource 7 Ways to Eliminate Distraction and Get Focused 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-104

It used to be somewhat fashionable to be a control freak, or at least to declare that you were. 

It didn’t start out that way. According to Merriam-Webster, the term was first used in the 1970’s. It was the epithet of choice used to label those who belonged to the “Establishment” rather than to the free love “do your own thing” hippie generation. Then in the 1980’s, trends like power dressing and the rise of conservatism made controlling behavior look like something desirable, something to aspire to. 

Today we understand the danger of controlling behaviors. So why do we still work so hard to control ourselves and the music we make?

I didn’t recognize some of my own control issues with regard to my music for a long time. Maybe you don’t see yours either, so let’s start with a few possibly revealing questions. See if you identify with any of these.

• Is your biggest goal in your practice usually to eliminate mistakes?
• How frustrating is it for you when you don’t play your piece as well as you think you should, or as well as it went at home?
• Does your fear of making mistakes or not playing well enough stop you from playing for others?
• Do you practice a piece or passage over and over again to try to make it perfect?

If any of those sound even slightly familiar to you, you will want to learn the things I have discovered in my harp journey about what you can control and what you can’t. Learning to let go of the impossible and work only on the possible is a big step on the path to harp happiness. 

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

• Join us at our Summer Retreat in the beautiful mountains of Tennessee. Don’t wait - registration closes June 1st!
• Related resource Control: Why It’s Out of Your Hands 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-103

If you’re like me, and I’ll bet you are, you have a lot of music you want to play…someday. My music used to be in piles next to my music stand, until the piles got so untidy that I filed everything in boxes. And every time I dive into one of those boxes to retrieve a piece I need to work on, I find a hidden treasure, a piece I bought long ago that I forgot about. It’s like getting an early Christmas present - a new piece all ready for me to start. It takes all my willpower to also take out the piece I was looking for in the first place.

If you love investigating new music too, then today’s podcast episode is the one you’ve been waiting for. I have some pieces to share that might fill a gap in your gig repertoire or intrigue you or maybe even inspire you to try music you might not have thought was exactly your style. 

There is something here for everyone, whether you’re a lever or pedal harpist. The pieces are mostly at an intermediate level, but that’s a pretty wide-ranging level, and you will notice that some are definitely more challenging than others. That’s why I titled this show “Music to Grow By,” because a little bit of a stretch, either technically or musically or maybe both, is good for us.

Some of the pieces are long-time favorites of mine. A few are relatively new discoveries. I love all of them, and my hope is that one of these may become a favorite of yours too. 

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

• My Harp Mastery membership is open until midnight!  Join now!
• Related resource Build Your Repertoire without Having a Breakdown blog post
• Music List: 
  • Grandjany Pastorale
  • Hasselmans Trois Petites Bluettes (Carillon)
  • Gustavson Pacific Sketches (Rippling Water)
  • Garscia On The Harp’s Strings (A Memory)
  • Arr. Heulyn Three Welsh Jigs
• 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-102

What would you do if you were playing the harp in a concert and the lights went out?

I’m sure many of you have stories about playing the harp when there was a sudden power outage, and I have several myself. I remember one wedding when a neighborhood-wide blackout occurred just as the newly married couple kissed. The priest didn’t miss a beat, directing the acolytes to lead the bride and groom in a candlelight recessional to the back of the church. My fellow musicians and I were missing lots of beats however, as we struggled to keep playing the recessional music in the dark. 

Fortunately it was a familiar tune, but even so, the other musicians finally gave up, leaving me to carry on by myself. Because I knew the piece, the notes weren’t the problem; obviously the real difficulty was not being able to see the strings.

Today’s Quick Fix podcast episode isn’t about memorizing your music or carrying a spare music stand light with you. It’s about something more important, a skill you should use even when the lights are on. It’s about trusting your fingers to know where the strings are. 

In case you are thinking this doesn’t apply to you, here are some questions for you to ask yourself. Do you sometimes lose your place on the page when you look away from the music to see the strings? Do you have to memorize parts of your pieces so you can make sure your fingers get to the right strings? Do you find music learning slow because you have to look back and forth between your hands and the music? Are you a poor sight reader? 

All of these things might be the telltale signs that you haven’t taught your fingers to play without you looking at them. And that’s exactly what I will show you how to fix on today’s show.

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

• The 3 Things You Must Know About Practice That No Teacher Ever Told You Webinar registration
• My Harp Mastery membership doors are open!
• Related resource Mastering Harp Geography: Get Out of the Middle of the Road 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-101

Music learning isn’t a race, we all know that. That doesn’t stop us from wanting to get to the finish line, to that magical moment when our piece is “done.” 

Ironically, if you ask a group of harpists exactly what “done” means or how to tell when you get there, you’ll get a few very indeterminate answers and more than a few hems and haws. Is the finish line the point when you can play the piece with no - or with very few - mistakes? Is it when you have it memorized or when you’ve played it for an audience? Is it whenever you want it to be? Is it when you’re so sick and tired of practicing it that you just want to put it away? 

When I started blogging in 2012, I had a mission to spread harp happiness, to help harpists enjoy their playing and their practice, to enable them to find and keep the joy in their harp playing. In my teaching in the years just prior to that, I had begun to notice an increasing number of frustrated harpists, particularly adult students. And the biggest frustration, one that was common to nearly all of them, was that they had no pieces they felt they could actually play. The finish point, that sense of musical accomplishment, was continually and distressingly elusive. And what seemed like a reasonable solution - more practice - actually seemed to make the problem worse. The finish line receded into the dim distance.

In order to help harpists find a system that would end this demoralizing cycle, I created a course called “30 Days to Done.” In that course, I systematized the steps that experienced harpists use to learn and finish music faster. I wanted to make the system clear and repeatable for any type of piece at any level. And the system works.

But there is a big question that the course doesn't answer fully and that’s the topic of our discussion today. The question is the one I alluded to a moment ago: what does “done” mean and how do you know when you’ve gotten there? And this 100th episode milestone for the Practicing Harp Happiness podcast seemed the perfect moment to talk about it.

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

• Ready to go deeper? Try the 30 Days to Done course. (Note for My Harp Mastery members: You already have this course. Look in the Table of Contents on our website under the heading “Practice.”)
• Registration for our Spring coaching trimester session is now open!
• Related resource: Finding the Finish Line: When Is Your Music Done? 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-100

Building a repertoire sounds like something only a master harpist would need to do. Yet all of us need to have music that we can play anytime and anywhere we want. But building a repertoire sounds like a huge project. I’m going to show you today that all you need to do to build - and more importantly, to maintain a repertoire - is one pen, 3 sticky notes and 5 minutes. 

Impossible? Not impossible. In fact, we’re going to take the seemingly impossible task of building a repertoire and make it simple. It’s a little like turning a black diamond ski run into the bunny slope, or turning Mt. Everest into a molehill. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration but if you’ve ever struggled with having pieces ready to play at a moment’s notice or keeping those pieces you’ve finished in your fingers, you’re going to find today’s episode is a game changer.  

One of the first coaching students I worked with online, and this was years ago, came to me with the goal of developing a repertoire. She was relatively new to the harp and that actually made my job easier. She had very few preconceived ideas about what a repertoire should be like: what kind of pieces she should play, how long they should be, how much music she needed and whether or not she had to have it memorized. In just twelve weeks she had forty-five minutes of music that she could play confidently; she had her repertoire.

Twelve weeks to go from zero pieces to forty-five minutes was a really good time frame. There were two things that made that possible. First was her lack of “should’s.” Because she hadn’t put limitations or restrictions on what her repertoire should be like, she was open to possibilities that more seasoned harpists might have discarded. I’ll talk about that more in a minute.

Second, I introduced her to some shortcuts that made it easier to keep up with her pieces, to keep them in her fingers and relatively fresh in her mind too. Those are the shortcuts I’m going to be sharing with you today.

So if your repertoire needs a refresh, a restart or just a boost to get off the ground, this is the information you need. We will take the shortcuts, whizz past the places where you may be stuck and clear up some of the thinking that may be keeping your repertoire in the “someday” pile. And all you will need to get started is a pen, three sticky notes and 5 minutes. And to listen to this episode first, of course.

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

• Join the Live Podcast Taping on April 11
• Related resource Three Reasons You’re Not Reviewing Your Music 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-099

Do you have a daily warmup that you use to start your practice? If you do, I’m sure you rely on it to help you get your fingers and your focus ready for your practice session. That’s exactly what a good warmup should do, or at least that’s one of the primary functions of a warmup.

If you’ve worked with me as a student or in my online community or even if you’ve listened to this podcast for awhile, it will come as no surprise that I have fairly specific ideas about warmups: what they should and shouldn’t do, how long they should be, what their purpose is in relation to the rest of your practice. And naturally, I want to share those ideas with you today.

Today’s episode is a masterclass episode, meaning that it’s a “play along” episode. So you will not only learn my best warmup strategies, but you will get to try them out by playing along with me as you listen. If you’re not at your harp now, that’s ok; listen now to learn my guiding principles for warming up as well as how to do the playing drills and then you can come back and play with me when it’s more convenient for you.

I’ll also answer some of the questions I am asked most frequently about warmups, plus one or two questions that nobody has asked but someone should have. Maybe there’s a question you’ve thought about asking but haven’t yet; if so, I hope I answer it for you today. If I don’t, be sure to email me at [email protected], and I’ll try to answer it on a future episode.

A clarification before we get started: certain types of warmups have special physical uses for warming up muscles and tendons to prevent injury. Today we aren’t dealing with those types of physical warmups. We are talking purely about playing warmups that ease your fingers and focus into your practice. If you like to do more thorough stretching, that would happen before the warmups we are talking about today. 

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

• Join the Live Podcast Taping on April 11
• 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-098