What do fingers, flow and faith have to do with each other?  Absolutely everything. The three things are totally interdependent. You can think of them as three corners of a triangle, each corner being connected to each of the other corners. And, just like the legs of a three-legged stool, all three support your playing.

I’m guessing you haven’t thought of these three elements together before, or how together they form the core of your playing, so I’ll give you a quick sketch of what we’re going to talk about today. Also, I should be clear that we’re not talking about religious faith on the podcast; we’re talking about trusting yourself.

The idea is this: your technique, your fingers, produce flow and give you faith or confidence in your playing. You have to have faith in your fingers doing what you have trained them to do, because they really don’t need you to micromanage them. And you have to have faith that the flow of the piece is what you need to communicate the music. And focusing on flow frees your fingers and gives you faith in your expression of the piece. 

I know that short explanation probably raises more questions than it answers and that’s what the rest of this show is all about, answering those questions. My hope is that by the end of this episode, you’ll have a new perspective on how your technique could be serving you better, how focusing on flow can make your music come together faster and how faith in the process will free you to get to the music (and out of the slow practice) a little faster.

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

• Focus your 2025 harp goals with our January Seminar Series.
• Activate your 2025 harp goals with me at our Getaway Retreat.
• 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-191

Happy New Year! I’m excited about 2025. I’m excited about all the harp happiness that you and I can add to the world together. I’m excited about the harp goals that I am putting in place for myself this year. And I’m extra excited about the opportunity to talk with you about your goals today.

We aren’t actually going to be talking about goals as much as we will be talking about the most important step you will take toward achieving them. Of course, there are a lot of things that are important to the success of your harp goals: your motivation, your time, your choice of goals, whether or not you are working on your goals alone or with the support of a teacher or coach. But perhaps the single factor that is most important to accomplishing any type of harp goal is this: your practice. 

Without practice, your harp goal is just an idea. Practice is the engine that drives your goal. Whether you want to improve your technique, develop a repertoire, play a concert, learn to improvise, speed up your fingers, or anything else, you can’t do it unless you practice. Your practice makes whatever you want to do with your harp playing possible. Without practice, you may be on the right track, but you aren’t going anywhere. 

That’s why I chose to make the first podcast of 2025 about transforming your practice. Today I want to give you some different ideas about practice that I hope will help you find new direction, new energy, new purpose and more fun in your practice this year. And not only this year, but starting today. After all, isn’t fun a big part of what playing the harp should be? I think so!

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

• Focus your 2025 harp goals with our January Seminar Series.
• Activate your 2025 harp goals with me at our Getaway Retreat.
• 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-190

We are in the final days of 2024, and I, for one, am looking forward to the new year. Every year, as December draws to a close, I am intrigued by the mysterious possibilities that may lie ahead. What opportunities will I discover? What challenges will I need to overcome? Who will I get to meet or know better this year? I am always excited to start the new year, and I hope you are too.

I’m also setting goals for the new year, planning new projects and creating new ways to grow, not just for the harpists in our various Harp Mastery® programs but for myself as well. I have so many ideas that it’s hard to choose which are the key ones to focus on, but over the years I have found that limiting myself to a few goals is critical. If I have too many goals or plans, none of them get the focus they need. On the other hand, if I don’t plan at all, things tend to drift, and I don’t make any real progress. But once I choose my goals, I need to figure out how to accomplish them.

I have a sort of checklist that I like to use as I set my goals. It consists of five factors that I have found to be absolutely vital to achieving any of my goals. I call these my multipliers, because I know that whatever goal I set, my progress will be steadier and faster when these five are in place. Like those sneakers that were around when I was a kid, they help me run faster and jump higher. And they can do the same for you. 

By the way, we’ll be talking about these multipliers in harp terms, but I’ll show you how to apply them to any other goal too. What works for the harp, works for life!

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

• Join our January Seminar Series.
• Become a My Harp Mastery member.
• 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-189

A special holiday music mix just for podcast listeners!

• Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming, arranged by Anne Sullivan 
• I Wonder as I Wander,  arranged by Anne Sullivan
• Ave Maria, by Franz Schubert, arranged by Anne Sullivan
• Sinfonia, from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, arranged by Anne Sullivan
• Slumber Sweet, a medley of Christmas lullabies arranged by Scott Lavender
• In Dulci Jubilo, arranged by Anne Sullivan

All harp solo selections are from my Break Forth CD.Flute and harp selections are from the SPARX Christmas Echoes CD.All CDs are available for digital download in our online shop.

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 Sullivan 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-188

As you probably know, one of the reasons I started Harp Mastery® back in 2012 was because of the number of adult harp students I was meeting who were frustrated by their lack of progress. Although these harpists were at different stages and interested in varying kinds of music, what they had in common was an incredibly strong desire to play the harp, a desire that kept them practicing despite the challenges they were encountering. Although I hadn’t come up with the term “harp happiness” yet, I knew that I had to help these harpists find a path that would give them the joy and satisfaction they were looking for in their harp playing.

But years before that, I had already discovered something that shocked me about adult harp students. I had started a class for beginning harpists of any age - the classes usually had teenagers and adults - and I became intrigued by the reasons these students wanted to play the harp. Many of the adults had wanted to play the harp since they were young and were finally able to pursue their dream. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but it had not really occurred to me before that there were so many people who had always wanted to play the harp but, for one reason or another, hadn’t been able to. 

There was the woman who told her parents she wanted to play the harp, and they bought her a clarinet. Another who wanted to learn the harp in high school, but her high school only offered harp lessons to one student every other year, and she was in the wrong year. A third was told by her parents that a harp was simply out of the question and she could either play the piano they already had or not play music at all. Not all the stories were like this, but there were enough, in fact, too many. As an aside, I will say that there’s another very happy story connected to this class and I’ll share that with you at the end of the episode.

What’s important about these stories is that for these people, the dream of playing the harp never went away. Life took them away from the harp, but their desire to play was never extinguished. We all have dreams or bucket lists, things we want to do but feel unable to do now. As a harpist, maybe there is a special piece you want to learn, a place you want to play. Maybe you want to develop a repertoire or learn how to serve others with the harp. 

What I want to talk to you about today is how to start making those harp dreams happen. Your dreams shouldn’t be gathering dust on a shelf. And it’s no use telling yourself that those dreams don’t really matter, because I can tell you, from my experience with those harp students in my first class and hundreds more that I have worked with since then, your dreams do matter, and they don’t go away. We’re quickly coming up on a new year. Imagine how exciting this year could be for you if you were able to make your dreams into your reality. It’s not as hard as you think.

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

• Act on your dreams at the Getaway Retreat
• Join the January Seminar Series
• 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-187 

One of the things I love about watching virtuoso artists perform is how easy they make it look. For instance, just this past summer I attended a reunion of many of us who attended the Salzedo Summer Harp Colony in Camden, Maine. One of the highlights of that weekend was a concert of music written by Carlos Salzedo, and the star performer on that concert was Judy Loman. She is in her eighties, and she walked onto the stage with as much comfort and ease as if she were in her own harp studio at home. 

One of the pieces she played was Salzedo’s Variations on a Theme in the Old Style. This is a monster piece, very long and very difficult. She told the audience how she first heard and fell in love with the piece when she was taking lessons with Salzedo in Maine in the summer as a young child - I think she was ten. As she was walking to her lessons, she heard this piece wafting from the windows of houses where other older harpists were practicing it. She asked Mr. Salzedo if she could learn it, and  he told her she could learn it when she was fourteen years old. I believe he actually let her learn it when she was twelve. She said she still loves it and has been playing it ever since.

So here she was on stage, over seventy years later, playing the Variations for us. This wasn’t just brilliant playing for an eighty-something year old. Hers was just incredible playing. And here’s my point - she made it look so easy. Most of us harpists break a sweat when we play this piece. When we finish, we are mopping our brows and feel like we’ve run a marathon. But not Judy. It looked - and sounded- as easy for her as playing a simple little ditty. Every motion was just what it needed to be and nothing more. I’m not talking just about arm motions or raising. Her arms and hands were calm when she played. Hers is an efficient technique, one that allows her to play with security and strength and without extra energy. That kind of efficiency, that kind of stillness, is what we should all strive for in our technique, and it’s never more important to think about than now when the holiday frenzy is in full swing.

Today, we’ll talk about how you can add stillness to your harp playing right now in your technique, in your playing and in yourself. I have some simple tips that will help you feel more relaxed not just in the holidays but after the holidays too.

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

• Last chance to join our 12 Days of Harp Happiness
• Plan ahead for 2025 and register for our 2025 Getaway Retreat.
• 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-186

This is the time of year when, more than any other time, it pays to be an efficient harpist. Just what do I mean by efficient? There are lots of ways we can add more efficiency to our harping, for example, practicing more efficiently. But at the holiday time, efficiency takes on a different look. 

At the holidays, we have more music we want to play, more places we want to play it, and less time to practice, let alone learn anything new. This is where a little creativity and some experimentation can help ease the crush and the rush. Specifically, I want to show you how creating variations from one piece of music can stretch your music without stretching your practice time.

Here’s a scenario that might sound familiar to you. You’ve been asked to play background music for a holiday luncheon. They want an hour of holiday music but you only have 30 minutes that you feel prepared to play. What do you do?

Well, you have several choices. You could learn new music, but you don’t have the time for that. You could turn down the engagement. Nope, don’t like that option. You could play everything twice. That’s a good idea, but you’re already playing four repetitions of “Good King Wenceslas” and another four might be pushing the limit. What if you could make those extra verses sound more interesting and creative? Now, there’s an idea, and that’s what I want to teach you today, how to create variations for your holiday carol. I’m talking real variations, not just playing the melody an octave higher. 

The theme and variations form has been around for hundreds of years. It’s interesting to play and to hear. Plus, from a busy harpist’s perspective, it’s learning just one piece and getting loads of extra value from it, musical value and technique value too. We’re talking variations today, so grab a cup of coffee and we’ll get those creative juices flowing!

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

• Join 12 Days of Harp Happiness 2024
• See the “Mozart on the Housetop” PDF sheet music 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-185

There are three ways we learn how to play the harp. The first and most obvious one is by doing.  Playing and practicing is our “go to” method for learning. You can’t actually learn to play the harp without playing it. 

When my son was about 12 or 13, he fell madly in love with football. There weren’t any teams he could play on at his school or in our community, so he had to be content with playing football video games. Not the same thing, of course. Even so, when he got to high school and finally had the opportunity to play on a real team, he was actually surprised to find out how different the game was when he was on a real field instead of a virtual one.

The second way we learn is by instruction, by having someone show us how to advance our skills or teach us new ones. In today’s world there are countless ways to get instruction: lessons, coachings, videos, online courses. But instruction can teach us more than how to get our fingers to obey our commands. For example, a music theory class can help us learn the elements of music like keys, harmony, melody, structure and form. That’s an important part of our harp playing too.

Today, though, we’re going to talk about the third way to learn to play the harp, and that’s through music itself. This is the part of learning that goes beyond the doing, beyond the fingers, notes and rhythm, to discovering how music communicates and learning how we can communicate it through our harp playing. This may be an advanced concept, but the methods we are learning today (going back to learning method two, instruction) are ones every harpist at every skill level can and should use. We are going to talk about how music can show you how to be more musical. If that sounds a little circular, don’t worry. I’ll sort it all out for you. 

Our particular focus areas today will be two techniques that are extra challenging for harpists, more so than for other instrumentalists. We’re talking about legato and rubato, and we are going to be looking at them through the music of two pianist/composers, John Field and Frederic Chopin. Whether you’ve played their music or not, there is a lot for us all to learn from them, so get ready for some beautiful music and some ideas you can use to make your own playing more expressive and beautiful.

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

• Join our 12 Days of Harp Happiness 2025: Nocturne for a Midnight Clear 
• Related resource Maybe Your Music ISN’T Romantic 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-184

Are you feeling a little bit scattered or unsettled at the moment? It’s no wonder. Chaos is all around us in this crazy world, and there’s precious little we can do to fix it. But the chaos in our own personal harp world is something completely different. If you’re feeling any chaos or overwhelm about your harp playing, I have good news for you; this kind of chaos is something you can fix. Absolutely.

Even in a year when we aren’t bombarded on every side by messages of gloom and doom, these last few weeks of the year are hectic. In the midst of the holiday festive preparations and the holiday music preparation, we struggle to find focus. There have been times in the past when I have alternated between frantic practice sessions and times when I’ve tried to practice but ended up just sitting at the harp, unable to figure out what I should be practicing. There was so much I felt I should be doing, that finding the focus to actually do any of it was nearly impossible. Those were frustrating and demoralizing times, for sure.

Of course, that “too much to do and too little time to do it” feeling isn’t exclusive to the holidays, but today, as the holiday countdown is beginning, seemed like a good day to sort out the harp overwhelm so you can put these ideas for finding focus into action now.  We’ll talk about the three kinds of overload - the overload we create, the overload we accept and the overload we imagine - and I’ll share how I deal with them. I also want to help you explore the most common “focus fiends,” the habits we think are helpful but are actually robbing us of our time, energy and yes, harp happiness. We’ll banish the sneaky “focus fiends” and start hanging out with some new “focus friends.” 

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

• Join our 2024 12 Days of Harp Happiness celebration! 

• Related resource Giving Thanks Daily: A New 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-183

“What can I do to make my music more expressive?”

If I’ve been asked that question once, I’ve been asked it a thousand times. This isn’t a beginner question, either. It usually is a question of an intermediate level player. Once harpists achieve a fair level of technical competency, they have enough bandwidth to consider how to make their playing more musical. Until that point, it’s all about getting the right fingers on the right strings.

Naturally enough, most of us look to the dynamics to make our music more expressive. It’s a good plan. Following the dynamic markings that the composer has included allows us a glimpse of what the composer intended the music to be. Dynamics create differentiation in the music that helps a listener hear the intent of the music as well. And dynamics add variety so our music is more interesting. Dynamics are a great place to start if you’re ready to make your playing more expressive. 

Usually, however, the harpists who ask me about making their music more expressive are already working at the dynamics. That’s why they’re asking the question; they aren’t sure why their music still doesn’t sound the way they want. 

Today, I’m going to share my ideas on the techniques of musical expression that lie beyond the dynamics. I’m talking big picture concepts here, ideas that will, I hope, change the entire way you approach your music from practicing to performing it. These ideas are for every harpist at every level; beginners can use them and advanced harpists can always use a reminder about them. 

Every piece, whether it’s super simple or virtuoso concert repertoire, can and should be played expressively and beautifully. It’s not about the number of notes you can play or the speed or facility of your fingers. It’s about finding the musical heart of what you play and not being afraid to put your own heart into it. Don’t let that scare you, though. I have some ultra-practical strategies for you that will help you make your music as expressive as you want it to be.

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

• Join me at our February Getaway retreat. Register today!

• Don’t miss our November Seminar Series, “On a Roll.”

• 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-182