Practicing Harp Happiness

• How to Choose Your Next Piece - PHH 207

  Shel Silverstein wrote a beautiful and supremely short poem that perfectly fits today’s topic. The poem is called “Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda,” and in just seven short lines, Silverstein sums up the ultimate way to prevent regret. He tells us that all those woulda-coulda-shouldas vanish with one little “did.” Doing beats wishing every day. So if we were sitting in the same room together, sharing a cup of tea, and you asked me what I thought your next piece should be, I’d have to ask you a question right back, “What do you think you want to do?”  Life is filled with “shoulds” and “have tos;” our music doesn’t need to be. Our music is personal to us. The music we play, our repertoire, is something that reflects what we like and who we are. It is a personal expression at every playing level. Your personal musical expression starts from the very first day you are capable of playing a melody on the harp. Your music is in you and your music is you. So if you need to choose your next piece to learn, it should be something you want to learn. Back to our conversation at the tea table. When I ask you what piece you’d like to do, you are probably going to tell me you don’t know. So we’ll dig a little deeper.  If you are thinking that there is a skill you need to develop and you’re looking for a piece that will help you do that, that’s great. I can suggest half a dozen pieces that will help you with that specific skill. But have you considered trying a sort of piece you’ve never done before? Or what about that bucket list piece that you aren’t sure if you’re ready for? This is the problem; there are too many choices. There is simply too much music in the world, and it’s impossible to play everything we want to. So we need to choose. And what if you chose to make your next piece one that created a “did,” filled a want, or prevented a future regret. That’s what I want to help you with today. I want to give you a little system to help you choose. I also decided to take a sort of light-hearted, fun approach to this topic, so since today is the fifth of May, I’ve created five possible categories to choose from in honor of Cinco de Mayo. After all, we can’t take ourselves too seriously! Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:  Today is the last day to register for the “Sharpen Your Focus” clinic.  Shel Silverstein poem, “Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda” Harpmastery.com Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected] Looking for a transcript for this episode? Did you know that if you subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts you will have access to their transcripts of each episode? LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-207  

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• Looking Beyond: Choose Your Focus - PHH 206

  Fact number one: Your focus is in your control.Fact number two: Your focus is a critical factor in your success and harp happiness.Conclusion: What you focus on matters… a lot. In the last episode of the podcast, we were talking about focus in terms of placing your chords. I cited one of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes, “You hit what you aim at.” I’m going to put a different spin on that today. We aren’t going to talk about focusing on a goal exactly. We’re going to discuss how to shift your focus to get you beyond a sticking point or a challenge. Here’s my idea in a nutshell: when we focus on the hard thing, we lose perspective on why we are doing the hard thing to begin with. That can cost us a lot in terms of time, energy and enjoyment. Consider some of the things we focus on that can leave us with a feeling of letdown or even loss. We spend weeks preparing for Christmas, only to realize on December 26th that we didn’t really remember to enjoy the day. Or we put days of effort into making a special meal - Thanksgiving dinner comes to my mind -  and everyone is finished their meal and watching the football game almost before we’ve sat down to our own plate. Or we prepare so much for a special performance that we don’t know what to practice the day after it’s over.  What about the things we focus on when we’re practicing or performing? Are we focusing on the things that will help us grow and move us forward? Or are we only concentrating on the difficulties that are in front of us, whether those are wrong notes or stumbles or performance nerves? I believe that often we are looking through a microscope at too many of those moments, when we really should be using binoculars to see what lies ahead, beyond the hard part. Instead of going into the rabbit hole where our perceptions are distorted (that wrong note really doesn’t matter that much!), we need a healthier perspective on what we’re actually trying to do, so that we can get past the sticking point and get back to loving the music. Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:  Register now for the “Sharpen Your Focus, Elevate Your Performance” Clinic Take lessons with a Harp Mastery® Certified Coach. Harpmastery.com Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]  Looking for a transcript for this episode? Did you know that if you subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts you will have access to their transcripts of each episode? LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-206  

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• Placing Chords: How to Find the Right Strings the First Time - PHH 205

  The great Zig Ziglar, much-beloved author and motivational speaker, never played the harp as far as I know, but one of his most often quoted remarks is perfect for today’s topic. Zig said, “You hit what you aim at, and if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.” If you have ever had difficulty placing the notes in your chords, today I am going to teach you how to fix your aim. Of course there is more to placing and playing chords than just aiming at the strings, but you do have to get to the right ones. This is what makes three-note chords more difficult than two-note intervals, and what makes four-note chords even more challenging. And then there are those four-note chords in both hands at the same time! The more fingers you have to put on the strings, the more possibility there is for error, which is why we’re going to take our time today and really explore what you need to know as well as what you need to do to increase your chances for success. Naturally, none of us gets every note right every time, but when we can read the notes faster and place our fingers more automatically, even the biggest chords are less daunting.  By the way, the techniques we will be talking about work for placing arpeggios too, so it’s a double win today! Register now for the “Sharpen Your Focus, Elevate Your Performance” Clinic Experience the power of individual coaching. Get started with Harp Mastery® Certified Coaching today. Harpmastery.com Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected] Looking for a transcript for this episode? Did you know that if you subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts you will have access to their transcripts of each episode? LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-205 

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• Review Done Right: It’s More Than Repertoire - PHH 204

  Do you review your pieces? If you don’t review your pieces regularly, then keep listening because today we are going to explore the different reasons you might want to start and a few different methods for review you might want to try. But here’s the thing; if I asked a dozen harpists who say they review their pieces how they do their review, I will get a dozen different answers. Some people schedule it; others set a rotation. Some people do both. Some harpists are trying to develop a repertoire list of music they can play at a moment’s notice. Others are trying to keep the last piece they learned in their fingers. (By the way, we’ll talk today about what that phrase, “in your fingers,” means. )  I last talked about review on this podcast in episode 99. That episode is called “The Shortcut Way To Build And Maintain A Repertoire.” In that episode I outline some step-by-step frameworks to grow your repertoire with simple review tactics. I have linked directly to that episode in the show notes, or you can find it by searching for episode 99 in your podcast app. However, I think review is more than keeping your music fresh and ready to play. I believe there is an important learning component as well, because review develops a unique skill set, if you set about it the right way.  Review isn’t the same as practice, but it isn’t exactly the same as playing either. It fills in the middle ground, that place where the imperfections get polished out and where we develop a deep familiarity with the piece, one that can surmount the challenges of performance.  So today, we are going to explore what review is and is not. I’ll give you some simple ways to work on that unique skill set, and I’ll show you how the simple act of reviewing your music can help you grow as a harpist. It’s so much more than just keeping music in your fingers. I’m excited about this topic, and I hope you are too! Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:  Our April Seminar Rhythm Makeover is still available Register now for our special Clinic in May: Sharpen Your Focus, Elevate Your Performance Coaching registration is open.  For more on review, check out podcast episode 99: The Shortcut Way To Build And Maintain A Repertoire Harpmastery.com Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected] Looking for a transcript for this episode? Did you know that if you subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts you will have access to their transcripts of each episode? LINKS NOT WORKING FOR YOU? FInd all the show resources here: https://www.harpmastery.com/blog/Episode-204  

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• Why Slow Practice Works - and When It Doesn't - PHH 203

  My harp background is in the Salzedo method. This is the technique method devised and taught by legendary harpist Carlos Salzedo. It was at the time, the early part of the twentieth century, a startlingly different concept of harp playing and harp technique and the aim was to bring the harp into the modern world. The aesthetic of the method varied in almost every way possible from the French tradition in which Salzedo was trained.  But we aren’t discussing physical technique today. We are discussing practice technique, one practice technique in particular: slow practice. Please understand that slow practice has always been a part of harp studies and for very good reasons, which we will discuss shortly. Salzedo, however, was known for teaching his students to practice slowly and loudly. I need to quickly add a couple of disclaimers. First, the loud and slow practice attributed to the Salzedo method is a broad statement, and as such, is not completely accurate. Second, and more importantly, it wasn’t the only kind of practice he advocated. Third, please remember that slow practice isn’t only for Salzedo method harpists; it’s important for us all. That’s the point of today’s podcast: why slow practice is vital for being able to play your pieces accurately and expressively at the goal tempo. I want to explore with you what slow practice is all about and how you can start your own habit of slow practice. We’ll talk about the practice strategies themselves, but I also want to focus on how to use slow practice to eliminate mistakes, strengthen your technique, eliminate hesitations and pauses in your music and to be able to play with more expression and musicality.  While I think slow practice can work miracles, there are also times when slow practice is not helpful, and I’ll go over those with you, too.  Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:  Join our April Seminar series, “Rhythm Makeover.” Study with a Harp Mastery® Certified Coach. 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-203 Looking for a transcript for this episode? Did you know that if you subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts you will have access to their transcripts of each episode?

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