Perhaps you were lucky enough to have Santa (or Grandma) give you some cash for Christmas this year. What could be better than to put that gift to good use by investing it in yourself and your love of music? Whether you are a music student, music professional or you just play for the love of it, I offer ten tips for spending that gift to make your musical life e...

From our neck of the woods to yours, have the happiest of holidays! Anne

There are two important things that will be in my harp bag when I go to my Christmas Eve performances this year. I am counting on them to keep me from worrying about those last minute crises that tend to arise at the worst possible moments. Both of these were gifts from thoughtful (and savvy) friends. I hope that these will help you be prepared as well.

The first item is my emergency stand ligh...

We had a wonderful week at Harp in the Mountains Summer Festival this year. We practiced, performed and as you can see on the video, we had a lot of fun.

I created this video with some of our favorite photos from the week, accompanied by my recording of “Greensleeves,” from my Christmas CD Break Forth.

This year’s Harp in the Mountains Festival will be held July 14-20, 2013. Plan to join us! The...

I wanted to share some good news. My friend and colleague Chuck Holdeman has just released our recording of his composition for bassoon and harp, Lyric Seasons.

The recording is available for download on CD Baby, where you can preview all four of the movements.

Lyric Seasons was written in 2000, and Chuck and I premiered it the same year. The four movements are not seasons in the sense of time o...

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 suffering...

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 holiday parties. My...

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 Forth a...

© Irina Ukrainets – Fotolia.com

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 intermediate music is playable on lever or pedal harp, exce...

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 job as...