© vlorzor – Fotolia.com

No, not tips for weird music teachers. Just some offbeat ideas to help with those difficult music lessons.

Your student didn’t practice this week? Did they forget to bring their music to their lesson? Maybe they need some help, motivation or inspiration? Or maybe they just feel stuck?...

Here’s a thought for the day: Music is about listening. Ok, so it’s not earth-shattering news, but sometimes we get so caught up in making music that we forget to listen. We practice, play and practice some more. But if we are not listening, we are not using our best resource for correction and inspiration.                     ...

Do you memorize instead of reading the notes?

       © Elnur – Fotolia.com

If so, you’re not alone. Many people do this believing it is easier, at least for them, to learn the notes for a specific piece rather than learn to read them in general.

If you are one of these people, you are probably aware that you do it and that...

    Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns

  "(October 9,1835 – December 16, 1921)

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (October 9, 1835 – December 16, 1921)

Today I would like to honor the birthday of composer Camille Saint-Saëns, born October 9, 1835.

The Saint-Saëns work we harpists most often play is perhaps “The Swan,” whether we perform it as a harp...

How is your Alberti bass?

This familiar bass pattern is named after the Venetian composer and singer Domenico Alberti (c. 1710 – 14 October 1740). It bears his name due to its frequent appearance in his popular harpsichord sonatas. In the centuries since, it has become a stock accompaniment pattern. You can find it harp music from Dussek to Damase. And despite its ubiquitous presence, it...

It’s still nearly a month until Halloween, but it’s not too soon to begin planning for your holiday performances. In fact, now is the time, before the craziness of the holiday season closes in, to get everything in order so that you can actually enjoy the holidays this year.

1. Check your calendar. Make sure all your dates are written in correctly in your calendar now. Don’t...

 ©iStockphoto.com/Thinglass

“But how do you make an audience like you?”

I really thought I had heard wrong. I was at a meeting of experienced chamber musicians who had just been awarded very generous grants. My flutist partner Joan Sparks and I were among the grant...

With my apologies to Stephen Covey, I offer here seven habits that you need to develop to truly achieve the satisfaction you are seeking in your harp playing.

1. Tune every day. Why is this important? Your harp needs it to stay in shape, the same way you need to brush your teeth every day to stay healthy. And if you tune every day, you will be at your harp and hopefully inspired to practice....

Often a harpist’s fourth finger is a matter for concern. Or rather, it isn’t a matter for concern until all of a sudden we need to use it.

It’s easy to get by using only three fingers a lot of the time. Even intermediate repertoire doesn’t call for much fourth finger work, and in my experience, students tend to avoid using it.

It isn’t that we don’t train the...

This metronome video came my way on Facebook recently. If you haven’t seen it, it is amazing and beautiful, not usually words I apply to metronomes. And as I watched the video a second time, I was struck by some powerful principles it illustrated, truths for all musicians and all non-musicians too.

Here is the link to whole page; it’s worth reading!

1. Flexibility allows for...