Celebrating of Summer - 20+ Pieces Just For Fun - PHH 216
Practicing Harp Happiness
This week I started my yearly ritual of going through my drawers of music and pulling out new pieces to play. Actually they aren’t all new; some are old friends that I haven’t played in years. Others are pieces that have been sitting around waiting for me to get to them. Others are favorites that I seem to pull out every summer and play for a while. It’s a summer thing for me. Perhaps because my playing schedule is a little lighter, I don’t feel as pressured or as driven. Also, though, I just want to play music, music that fits my vacation mindset. So this week as I was...
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The Superpower of Shortcuts and Why You Need Them Now - PHH 215
Practicing Harp Happiness
There’s a third kind of shortcut, though, that I want us to think about today. It’s the kind of shortcut that comes with experience. I remember when I was learning to sew and following all the directions very carefully so that I wouldn’t mess up. I even learned which pattern companies had the clearest directions, and which seemed to presume that I knew more than I did, so there were steps missing. Those missing steps weren’t shortcuts, per se; they were just knowledge that a more experienced sewer would have. One day, I watched a professional seamstress start to cut out a dress....
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Recovering from Burnout - the 5R Framework to Recover and Reset - PHH 214
Practicing Harp Happiness
It’s summer time here and time for a little R and R, rest and relaxation, maybe even time away. You might be feeling like you need some time away from whatever stress you’ve been experiencing. I hope it isn’t your harp playing that’s been causing the stress, but even playing and practicing the harp can cause frustration and burnout. If you’re feeling like you need a break from your harp playing, I’m here to help and to make sure you take that break in a way that will bring you more confidence and more joy in your harp playing again. Actually, at the time you are listening to this,...
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Freedom to Choose - How to Make Any Piece Sound Right - PHH 213
Practicing Harp Happiness
Have you ever made something and it turned out ok, but somehow it just didn’t look right? Maybe you thought those two paint colors would go together, but now you’re not sure. Or maybe the furniture arrangement in the living room looked great on paper but it sort of doesn’t work now that you see everything in place. I think we’ve all had those moments. I had one not long ago with a photo I was doing. It wasn’t quite right, but since I had to get it done, all I could do was to shrug and sign off on it, whether it was right or not. But if a piece of music we’re working on doesn’t...
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3 Exercise Books You Should Know and How to Use Them - PHH 212
Practicing Harp Happiness
Since you’re here with me today, I know you are the kind of harpist who knows that technique matters. You take your warm-up seriously. You have exercises and etudes that you play regularly, maybe even religiously. You subscribe to the motto, “If your fingers can’t play it, you can’t play it.” But there may be times when you, even as dedicated to your technique work as you are, need a new direction, some more motivation, inspiration and know-how to move your technique to the next level. Here’s the thing we don’t want to think about. We have our favorite exercises and...
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Could Your Practice Today Actually Be More Fun? - PHH 211
Practicing Harp Happiness
Every time I talk about putting more fun into your practice, I hear feedback like, “I enjoy my practice,” or “I really like doing the challenging work,” or “My favorite part of practice is my exercises and etudes.” All of those harpists are enjoying their practice, and that’s terrific. But that’s not what I mean. Much of what we do in our practice can accidentally disconnect us from the music we want to make. We identify and correct mistakes. We drill our technique. We repeat passages over and over again. That’s all part of practice, and it is part of what enables us to play...
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Do You Hear What I Hear? Listening with Your Ears Open - PHH 210
Practicing Harp Happiness
Four friends went to an orchestra concert. Afterward, they went out for dessert and compared notes on the concert, talking about what they heard. Here is what they said: One person heard the person in the row behind crackling a cough drop wrapper.One person, a flutist, heard that the clarinet wasn’t in tune with the flute.One person, a harpist, heard that the orchestra drowned out the harp solo.One person heard that the piano soloist was humming to himself while he played. Oddly enough, when the review of the concert appeared in the newspaper the next day, it seemed the critic had gone to a...
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Is Your Practice Not Working? Maybe Hard Work Isn’t the Answer - PHH 209
Practicing Harp Happiness
Today I want to talk with you about hard work. I don’t mean how to buckle down and do the hard work. We all know that playing the harp is hard, and we spend a lot of time working out practice techniques, strategies and routines to help us play the music we want in spite of the difficulties. No, what I want to talk about today is how to get out of the “just buckle down and do it” mindset. The truth is that when it comes to playing the harp or even music in general, sometimes trying harder is counter-productive. For instance, the harder we try to get that harmonic to ring, the more it just...
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Is Music Theory Really Useful? Turning Theory Into Practice - PHH 208
Practicing Harp Happiness
Is studying music theory really useful? Yep. You heard right. I really said that, and I’m a total theory nerd. I’m not going to leave you in suspense. Of course, knowing music theory is useful and helpful and part of being a good musician. But only - and this is a big “only” - if you know how it’s useful. Did you ever take a class in school and the whole time you were sitting in class you were thinking, “I’m never going to use this stuff”? Of course, you did. I remember sitting in my calculus class in high school - which, incidentally, I really enjoyed - knowing...
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How to Choose Your Next Piece - PHH 207
Practicing Harp Happiness
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...
info_outlineHere’s a question we’ve probably all wondered about at some point: am I practicing enough?
As a teacher, I can tell you that my experience has demonstrated that if a harpist - and this includes me - has to ask the question, the answer is probably no, you’re not practicing enough. But of course, the real answer is likely a little more complicated. It depends on what you’re trying to do.
On the light end of the practice spectrum, if you’re just trying to keep the rust off either your fingers or your pieces, you probably only need a few minutes each day. On the other end, if your ambition is to learn a piece or stretch your technique or develop a skill, you are going to need more time. I know it would be helpful to know exactly how much time you’re going to need, but coming up with a number would just be guessing.
Even so, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some factors that can guide you that will keep you from overworking yourself or underutilizing your time. Simply put, your goal is to practice enough to make progress, but not so much that you actually sabotage your efforts. Today I’ll tell you what this means and how I think you can find the right amount of practice time for you.
I’ve talked about practice time with you before on the podcast. In the first show of this year, 2025, I shared an acronym to help you remember what to include in your practice. That acronym spelled the word “practice” and the letters stood for Play, Review, Aspire, Create, Technique, I, Connect and Enjoy, That’s episode 190, and I will link to it in today’s show notes.
In episode 148, I taught you about practice bursts, short 15 minute chunks of time that you could use to keep on track when your schedule won’t allow you a longer practice session. I will link to that episode in the show notes too.
But today, we’re taking a different approach. We’re going to look at why we practice, how our practice can help us maintain the status quo, or help us achieve a goal or help us stretch our skills and grow. We’ll talk about time and how we need to manage it and how to truly enjoy the time we spend at the harp. Because that’s what harp happiness is all about.
Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:
- Join the April Seminar course, Rhythm Makeover.
- PHH #190: Transforming Your Practice in 2025
- PHH #148: 10 Surprising Benefits of Practice Bursts
- 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-201