This time of year we all do too much playing. We play every holiday party and concert we can, to put away some money for the leaner months. This makes for a nice fat bank account and some seriously over-worked fingers, not to mention backs, shoulders and brains.

But what if you still need to practice for some of those concerts? Or if your technique is...

Holiday parties are fun if you’re a guest. But when you’re the band, they can be tiring, monotonous, and if you’re not careful, a minefield of career-sabotaging traps. But by remembering a few simple things, you can ensure that you will survive all your gigs and still have work next year. Even better, you might enjoy playing them!

I remember well the hardest year I had playing...

Just a quick note to let you know about my specially priced CD bundles. You can mix and match Break Forth, my Christmas CD, and Romantische, romantic music for harp, and get quantity discounts perfect for holiday giving! This makes it easy to have some thoughtful gifts on hand for hostess gifts (Romantische and a bottle of wine, perhaps?) or a gift for that lady with the hectic life (Break...

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Tired of exercises and etudes? In a holiday mood? Try these pieces to lift your spirits and your technique at the same time!All the music is available on the usual harp music sites, with the exception of my arrangement of “Still, Still, Still,” which you will find here. All the easy and...

Hands separately! Those words are in every one of my lesson assignment books starting when I was four years old. It was the way my teachers showed me how to practice carefully and attentively. As I got older, my teachers assumed that I had a complete repertoire of practice techniques, including hands separate practice. I regret to say I didn’t always use the techniques I knew.

Part of my...

Here is this week’s holiday video. The photos were taken on our visit to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida. This amazing carillon tower and 50-acre garden was given to the American people by Edward Bok. Edward Bok (1863-1930)was an author and editor, most notably of The Ladies Home Journal which was published by Philadelphia publisher Cyrus Curtis.

And therein lies the music...

For musicians. the holidays can be extra stressful. Not only is there the pressure of the social aspects of the holidays, but this is when we work. Our holiday gig income tides us over what can be a very lean January. I learned the hard way what can happen if you aren’t careful.

The only time I ever had a back spasm was on a Christmas Eve. I was still in college, but I had been practicing...

Today, I am especially thankful…

For my students who inspire and motivate me.
For my teachers who believed in me, nurtured me and taught by example as much as they did in lessons.

_{My first harp gig. I was 12.}
For harp strings that are more durable than they used to be.
For the Ravel “Introduction and Allegro”.
For talented colleagues who are also caring people.
For audiences to...

Each year at this time I am surprised by the sudden arrival of the holidays. No matter that the calendar progresses smoothly from day to week to month. I still experience the arrival of Thanksgiving as unexpected and a little unsettling. Nevertheless, this remains my favorite time of year, and I have some musical traditions that I use to help mark the season.

One is my annual Christmas carol...

Sightreading, a word that can cause the palms of even experienced musicians to sweat. Perhaps that’s because it is the one performance situation that we really can’t practice. It feels more like a free fall; take a deep breath, step off the edge and count the broken bones at the bottom.

But if we could practice sightreading, we could take away the fear factor. We could find more...