Good posture is the first thing we musicians learn. You may have started playing music so long ago that you have forgotten your very first music lessons, or possibly you remember your teacher’s first words to you: “Now sit up straight…”

The very first technical element in playing any instrument or in singing is good posture. And although there are specific technical...

The Andrews Sisters

"Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative..."

These motivational words are the opening lyrics of a 1945 song by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer The song won the Academy Award that year and was a huge hit for Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters.

Negative thinking is one of the hidden dangers in music practice. It can masquerade as perfectionism, striving to be...

Wrong notes! You made another mistake!

What do you do when you make mistakes as you practice? Do you find the same errors happening over and over again, even after you thought you corrected them?

What most of us do when we have made a mistake is to go back to the spot and play it many times, trying to make it not only correct, but also reliable and secure.

That’s a good start, but it is...

Is your tension preventing you from playing the way you want?  Relax!

Playing music isn’t supposed to be so hard. Of course, practicing is hard work, but there should come a time when you can just relax and play, right?

Precisely because practice is such hard work, especially if you do it right, it is essential that you learn to play with relaxation instead of tension. Tension makes...

Autopilot has a comfortable sound to it. The computer can take over, make the tough decisions, free us up to catch up on our reading or our sleep.

I love thinking about getting my first driverless car for similar reasons. Will I be able to take a nap or work on my computer while my car takes me safely where I want to go?

Most of us run parts of our lives on autopilot. There are routine tasks...

Finger troubles?

Our fabulous fingers! We harpists depend on them for every note. We trust them to be dependable and obedient.

But those phenomenal phalanges can sometimes turn into digit divas.

Here are some common (and very sneaky!) finger foibles you should watch out for.  Which ones are your fingers’ favorites?

1. Hiding Behind the Wall.

Your right hand has likely discovered a...

When you think of YouTube do you instinctively brace yourself for another cute kitten video or an unfortunate epic fail?

YouTube is not just for viral videos. It's a powerful tool. In fact, YouTube is the world's largest search engine. Tat's right - it's bigger than Bing or Yahoo or even Google which owns it. There are 5 billion video views each day on YouTube and every day people all over the...

It’s time to test your knowledge of musicians and musical quotes. How many of these quotations do you recognize? And do you know who said them?

Do your best; it’s not an easy quiz! And when you’re ready, you can get the answers by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Good luck!

1. The Harp is to Music what Music is to Life.

2. …this is my only aim: to serve...

What would musical success look like for you this year?

I’m guessing that like the rest of us you have made some New Year’s resolutions, and that being a musician, some of those resolutions are about your musical growth. Whether it’s about doing more practice or learning a special piece or taking more frequent lessons, there is always a way we want to improve and grow...

What is it about harps and the Christmas holidays?

It’s certainly a busy time for harpists. (Okay – that’s a huge understatement. This can be an insane time of year for a harpist.) Harpists of all ages and abilities are in high demand. Christmas and harps just seem to go together.

Carolers sing of “angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold.” And...