Could Your Practice Today Actually Be More Fun? - PHH 211
Release Date: 06/02/2025
Susann McDonald: A Legacy of Connection - PHH 222
Practicing Harp Happiness
There’s a moment — sometimes only after someone is gone — when we finally see the full measure of their influence. We may have known they mattered, but loss has a way of sharpening our perspective, of showing us just how much they shaped our world. Some people use the word legendary too easily. For harpist Susann McDonald, it’s no exaggeration. Susann McDonald, who passed away this past May at the age of 90, left an indelible mark on the harp world. She was an acclaimed performer, a respected author, an extraordinary teacher, and a passionate advocate for our instrument. She co-founded...
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Mistakes as Milestones: A New Mindset for Growth - PHH 221
Practicing Harp Happiness
Not all mistakes are created equal. Sure, some need to be addressed and fixed. But others? They’re signs of progress. They tell you that your ears are sharper, your awareness is expanding, and your technique is evolving. Let’s put it in context. We live in a world that’s constantly trying to correct us. Type an email, and autocorrect will instantly jump in. Google will underline a word in red, and we assume it's wrong—just because it looks unfamiliar. But autocorrect doesn’t always get it right. And neither does your inner critic. Just because something feels like a mistake doesn’t...
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5 Things Your Teacher Can’t Do For You - and 5 Things She or He Can - PHH 220
Practicing Harp Happiness
You’ve heard me say this before: I had wonderful teachers throughout my musical life. From my very first piano teacher when I started piano at age four, through my harp studies from age eight and my college years at the Curtis Institute, my teachers were all I could have wanted. They nurtured me, encouraged me, pushed me, and took me to task when that was required, and believe me, it was required from time to time. Most importantly - and this is one of my core teaching principles to this day - they were as invested in my musical journey as I was. They took my learning and my musical growth...
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Back to the Harp—Without Killing the Vacation Vibe - PHH 219
Practicing Harp Happiness
I know I’m dating myself, but here goes… Back in the 1960’s there was a television show called “Sea Hunt.” The show centered around a free-lance scuba diver named Mike Nelson, played by Lloyd Bridges. Mike Nelson was a former Navy diver and a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. As a free-lance diver, he was hired for all kinds of dangerous underwater work, everything from salvaging precious cargo from wrecked ships to rescuing people trapped in caves. Each episode had dangerous situations and villains who were ready to slash the hoses on Mike’s air tanks. In nearly...
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What Makes Any Piece a “Harp Piece”? - PHH 218
Practicing Harp Happiness
Here’s our question for today: what makes a piece of music a “harp piece”? Does it have to have been originally written for harp? Or composed by a harpist? Or could any piece of music, no matter what instrument or instruments it was written for, be a harp piece if you play it on the harp? I happen to think that the third answer is the correct one. Mostly. Let me explain. If you play a piece on the harp, it has absolutely become a harp piece whether it started out that way or not. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it should have become a harp piece. Some pieces just...
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The Secret to Dexterity: Crosstrain Your Hands - PHH 217
Practicing Harp Happiness
Happy Bastille Day! This isn’t a French themed podcast episode, and we won’t be breaking the bars on any prisons today. However, while the French national motto of liberté, égalité, fraternité is sounding across the globe, we should give some thought to the unequal treatment we give our hands. I mean the difference in the demands we place on our right and left hands. Probably you’ve thought about the very different roles that our hands play musically. Most often, the right hand plays a melody and the left hand plays an accompaniment. But think about it in a practical,...
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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...
info_outlineEvery 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 well. But there’s so much more that we could be doing in our practice, so much more that is truly aligned with why we are playing the harp.
Here’s an example that may help you understand what I mean. A young person wants to be a doctor because she likes helping people. She goes to medical school where part of her training involves working when she’s physically exhausted. Part of her training also helps her learn the ability to detach from her patients, so she can view their cases objectively and clinically, and so that she doesn’t burn out emotionally. Is it any wonder that some doctors lack an empathetic bedside manner? Those doctors may be gifted physicians, but they also may be in danger of losing the connection to their patients.
That’s a broadbrush kind of example, and I certainly have had doctors who were both gifted and compassionate. But I hope you see my point as it applies to our harp playing. If all we do in our practice is critique, correct and repeat, we put ourselves at risk of losing the connection to what brought us to the harp in the first place. We risk losing our joy.
Today, I would like to help you put more fun playing into your practice. I’ll share a few of my favorite ways to help recapture the rapture and put more creativity and yes, fun, into every day you play the harp. Remember it’s not about right or wrong - it’s about the music.
Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode:
- Download the Free Harp Mastery® app and connect with us!
- Are you a harp teacher? Tell us what you’d like to do on your fall break!
- 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-211