Practicing Harp Happiness Anne Sulllivan

A long time ago, I attended a concert by a famous pianist, and I overheard two audience members talking about how impressed they were, how the performer’s virtuosity and expressiveness showed true mastery of the instrument. And then I heard the comment that stuck with me: “He could make ‘Hot Cross Buns’ sound like a musical masterpiece.”
If you took piano lessons as a child, chances are that you played the nursery song “Hot Cross Buns” in your first few weeks of study. The melody only has five notes. It couldn’t be more simple.
But this idea made me consider what I believe is a common misconception among harpists who want to develop a repertoire of music. Whether their repertoire would be geared toward concerts or weddings or church music or local senior centers, harpists usually overcomplicate things. Naturally, we want to present music that our audiences will like and we want to play it well, but often we make it much harder for ourselves than we need to. 
Here’s an example. Let’s imagine a harpist whom we will name Zelda. Zelda wants to put together a program of music to play at the nursing home where her mother lives. She’s excited about playing and she knows her mother is proudly spreading the word to all her friends in the home. Zelda is a little anxious, though, because she’s never put together a solo program of music before. So she searches through all her music, assembles her favorite pieces and begins her practice. She is pleased with the music she has chosen, knowing that she’s included a couple of her mother’s favorite pieces and a couple of others that she knows will make the program extra special. So far so good.
However, as the date of the performance gets closer, she becomes a little anxious, thinking that she has been too ambitious. There is a lot of music and some of it is more challenging than she remembered. She’s not sure everything will be ready and polished by the performance. Now, she’s getting nervous. 
This is probably a common trap for us harpists; thinking we need to play our hardest, showiest or most ambitious music on a program. There are some obvious reasons to choose simpler music - we can play it with more confidence, it doesn’t take as much practice - but sometimes we feel like it’s cheating to play the easy stuff. We think that people won’t think we’re really good if we aren’t playing the hard pieces. 
In fact, most audiences, even musically educated ones, don’t know which pieces are difficult and which are easy. What they do know is if we are struggling to get through a piece. 
Our show today is going to be about how you can find the musical value in those easy pieces, how you can play them so they sound polished and expressive, not like a baby piece. We’ll talk about musical considerations, ones you probably haven’t given much thought to, that will change the way you play any piece - not just the easy ones. And you’ll play more confidently too, because you know the technical aspects of the piece are well within your grasp. Who knows? If you’ve been reluctant to get out and share your music in your community, this could even change your mind. 
Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

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Related resource Making It Look Easy: Creating Flow blog post
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LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-124

“If I were starting over, I would…”
That's our topic for today’s show. If I were starting my harp journey over again, from square one, what would I do differently, knowing what I know now? Obviously, I have done decades of practice, taken thousands of lessons, done thousands of performances, and I’ve taught countless students. I’ve watched students thrive and I’ve worked with those who struggle. And both kinds of students have taught me so much. They’ve given me a breadth of experience that goes well beyond my own personal harp journey. 
As I reflect on what my own harp story was like, the remarkable privileges that I had, the circumstances that shaped my harp life gave me only one view of harp study - my own. But over the years of working with so many other harpists, I have come to identify a few factors that can speed up a harpist’s progress, no matter that harpist’s age or skill level.  
I’ve also seen the harp happiness killers, those sneaky saboteurs that steal our enthusiasm for playing the harp. I’ve fallen victim to some of them from time to time and I’ve certainly seen and experienced the damage they can cause.  But I’m not going to talk about those today, at least not directly. No one needs a list of things they shouldn’t do.
Instead we’re going to focus on the things you should do, the actions that separate the harpists who keep learning, growing and loving every minute - well, perhaps almost every minute - of their harp journeys, from those who find frustration, disappointment or perhaps end up quitting. I can tell you from where I am right now, harp playing is a marvelous adventure packed with creativity, discovery and personal growth. It’s not for the fainthearted, but if you’ve already started this journey, then you are one of the brave ones, my friend. After all, simply buying a harp takes courage.
Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 
Join my next Live Monday Warm-Up in the Hub on October 9th.
Related resource: Are You Living Your Harp Dream or Just Thinking You Are? blog post
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Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at podcast@harpmastery.com
LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-123

How can you correct a problem – any problem from a water leak to paper jam in the printer – if you don’t know where the problem really is?
Harp playing is no different. Our practice is supposed to help us fix mistakes and even prevent them from recurring, at least to a degree. But if we don’t know where the underlying issue is, it’s nearly impossible to find a fix for it.
The obvious solution to this dilemma is to ask your teacher. Unfortunately, though, even if you have access to a teacher or other harp expert, the things we want to fix usually reveal themselves in a practice session when we are working by ourselves. So we rely on our own experience to find the fix for whatever challenge we are facing, whether or not we have the experience we need to do it.
Of course, teachers don’t always have an instant solution either. Often we arrive at the solution through a process of trial and error: the student tries our suggestion and we discover we were in error. So we go on to Plan B.
In the spirit of trying to help you become a more expert instructor in your own practice, I have chosen a few common scenarios that require a “fix” and the most frequently successful fixes for each. What jumped out at me as I started putting this information together for you, was that the fixes sorted themselves neatly into two categories for each of the problems. The fixes could either be technique related or reading related. In other words, the underlying problem could be with your fingers, your technical skills, or it could be with your music reading skills. The surprise with that second one is that even if you are an experienced and fluent music reader, the issue still could be a reading one. 
What I want you to be able to take away from today’s show is an arsenal of ideas that can help you keep moving forward and making progress on the pieces you are learning. You’ll find, however, that these potential solutions may help you address some challenges that are more broad-based in your playing. Or they might just be things you haven’t even considered before, in which case, you’re in for a big growth spurt. 
So grab the music you’ve been practicing lately, identify some issues you’ve been trying to find a fix for, and see if one of the solutions we discuss today might be exactly what you need.
Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 
Take advantage of early bird registration for our February Getaway Retreat! Click here to register today. Related resource 4 Easy Ideas to Take Your Music Reading from Fumbling to Fluent blog post Harpmastery.com Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at podcast@harpmastery.com 
LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-122

Benjamin Franklin, who had a note-worthy thought about almost everything, authored this famous truth: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Preparation is everything. We harpists understand that our practice is our preparation. We won’t be able to play well if we don’t practice. We get it.
But if you’ve been playing the harp for a while now, you have probably experienced the painful flip side. I’m talking about the realization that even with all the hours of practice you put into a particular piece, you aren’t guaranteed to be able to play it as well as you expect under pressure. 
After an experience like that, most of us decide to double down on our practice, thinking we weren’t prepared enough. We hope that we have hit on the magic number - of hours or repetitions or practice sessions - that will be the perfect preparation. Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn’t. 
So if practice is preparation, why doesn’t practice make us prepared, or even feel prepared? And why does it sometimes seem that our practice lets us down in a performance or a lesson? 
What does it really mean to be prepared as a musician? I believe it can’t be measured in practice time or number of repetitions or test recordings or preview performances or even in years of experience. 
You see, what I have learned is that practice is not the same as preparation. Certainly, it’s the biggest part of it, but without the addition of specific strategies to connect that practice to our playing, practice alone won’t ever let us feel truly prepared.
Being or feeling prepared relies on three key attitudes, ones that many harpists don’t consider and others choose to ignore. However, you can’t feel prepared without having thought about these three ideas and put them into daily action. Each is important. One will help you feel balanced so you can express your music more deeply. One will help you feel confident that you can do your best. And the third will allow you to conquer your fears about playing. Taken singly, they are powerful. Put all three together and you have a game-changer. 
That is what we will talk about in just a moment. I will not only share those three attitudes with you but I want to be sure that you know how to create them, how to turn your thoughts to them, but also how to implement them. What I want for you is to be able to do only as much practice as you need, rather than doing more and more practice in the hopes that more practice alone will fix this problem. Oh yes. Benjamin Franklin had a quote for that too: “Never confuse Motion with Action.” I know you get the point.  
Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 
Early bird registration for our February Getaway Retreat is now open. Click here to register with the early bird discount today!  Related resource Do You Worry About the "What-Ifs" ? blog post Harpmastery.com LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-121

Let’s talk warm-ups.
You likely have a favorite way to warm up at the beginning of a practice session. It might be short and sweet, like an arpeggio and a scale. It might be a fairly thorough routine that allows you to check everything from your posture to your focus. Or possibly it’s just a passage from a piece that you’re learning.
Whatever you do, however you like to warm up, that’s great. I don’t want to change that today. 
What I want to do is show you three different and important ways your warm-up can help you, that’s the “triple” referred to in this episode’s title. These aren’t earth-shattering or revolutionary new techniques. They are simple, clear approaches to your warm-up that will allow you to develop critical skills beyond what is usual in a warm-up. I have a warm-up that I will use to demonstrate as I teach you these approaches and it’s available for you as a free download. You’ll find the link in the show notes for this episode, which you can find either on your podcast app or by going to Harpmastery.com, clicking on “podcast” in the menu bar and then clicking on today’s episode, which is episode 120. 
But you don’t have to use that warm-up. You can use these approaches with your regular warm-up and derive just as much benefit, in fact, the triple threat benefit, three critical skills you can improve with whatever warm-up you like.
If you’re wondering what the critical skills we will focus on might be, here you go. They are finger dexterity and independence, independence of the hands, and musicianship, specifically dynamic control and rhythmic control. Don’t let the terminology scare you off. This is easy. And it might even be fun.
I’ve also included in the show notes a link to a blog post I wrote a while back called “Break Through: What to Do When Your Technique Is Holding You Back.” In that post I talk about warm-ups, but I also share some other ways to improve your technique and your confidence.
Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 
Get your free Noodle Doodle warm-up PDF. Click here to download.
Click here to join My Harp Mastery  before Friday, September 8th. 
Related resource Break Through: What to Do When Your Technique Is Holding You Back blog post
Harpmastery.com
Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at podcast@harpmastery.com
LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-120

It’s all in your mind. No, I don’t mean you’re going crazy.  I’m sure you’ve come across the well-worn statement that 90% of performance, whether in sports or music or any similar pursuit, is mental. The idea, of course, is that your mental preparation, your mindset and your focus all are major factors in the success of your performance.
Even if the actual percentage may be hard to pin down, the idea is undoubtedly true. Our minds are powerful contributors to our success or our failure. Just look at the number of books and blogs devoted to this concept, from the iconic book The Inner Game of Tennis to Noa Kageyama’s insightful blog The Bulletproof Musician. (By the way, I’ve linked to both of those resources in the show notes for you.)
Today, however, I don’t want to dive into performance psychology. I want to deal with something much more practical, something you probably have heard about and wondered how to implement: mental practice.
What is mental practice? Basically, it’s practice you do away from the harp. It’s very practical if you are on vacation or even just away for a weekend and you don’t want to lose ground while you’re away. It’s terrific for testing your memorization of a piece or for focusing your mind before a performance. It’s also great for helping you learn your music, without the distraction of actually playing.
Maybe that’s a new concept to you, thinking of your playing as a distraction from your music-making, but I invite you to consider it. How much more could you learn about what is on the page, about the meaning of the notes or the expression of a piece, if you didn’t have to worry about which finger goes where? 
Maybe you’ve heard about mental practice but have no idea how to get started. I hope to change that for you today. If you’ve been trying mental practice but you’re not sure you’re doing it right or getting the most from your practice away from the harp, you’re going to discover some very practical ways to do this kind of work. And I can promise you, you’re going to find out just how big an impact mental practice can have on your speed of learning and on your retention. That’s two huge wins right there.
Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 
Register here to work with a Harp Mastery® Certified Coach this session. The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey The Bulletproof Musician blog Related resource Three Times When Not Practicing is NOT an Option blog post Harpmastery.com Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at podcast@harpmastery.com
LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-119