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Bok Tower Gardens: Harp for the Holidays 2012

Nov 28, 2012

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...

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Seven Tips to Survive the Holidays for Musicians

Nov 26, 2012

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...

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A Harpistโ€™s Thanksgiving

Nov 22, 2012

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...

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Harp for the Holidays 2012

Nov 20, 2012

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...

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Sightreading โ€“ the MASTER System

Nov 16, 2012

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...

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Competitiveness โ€“ Dealing with the Dark Side

Nov 14, 2012

Being competitive is a good thing. Competitiveness helps us try harder and bring our best effort to a performance. Competition is how we test ourselves and find our place in our particular arena.

But competitiveness has a dark side. Remember Tonya Harding? That’s an extreme example, certainly, but it shows how the desire to win can completely cloud a person’s perspective. Even...

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Sonata Scintillante by Chuck Holdeman

Nov 07, 2012

Chuck Holdeman

On Sunday, November 11, flutist Joan Sparks and I will be performing a new work, Sonata Scintillante by Chuck Holdeman. We commissioned this work and premiered it at the University of Delaware on February 21, 2012.  This post is about this exciting new piece, and includes notes about the work from the composer as well as some video links. If you would like to attend the...

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Perfection, Productivity and Performance

Nov 05, 2012

The world doesn’t reward perfection. It rewards productivity.” – Peter Bregman, author of  18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done

I imagine something like this has happened to you, as it has to me: You have heard a great concert, a performance that moved you and inspired you. You rush to greet the players afterward to...

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Five Minutes a Day Can Grow Your Musicianship

Nov 02, 2012

© allapen – Fotolia.com

Musicianship:knowledge, skill, and artistic sensitivity in performing music. (from Dicitionary.com)

It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.  –  J. S. Bach

Musicianship may have been that easy for Bach, but for most of...

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Prepare for College Audition Success

Nov 01, 2012

Each year at the University of Delaware, I hear auditions of prospective university harp students, young harpists with big hopes and dreams for their futures, varying cases of nervousness and in very different stages of preparation.  Allowing for the fact that everyone gets nervous and bad days happen to us all from time to time, there are a few things any student preparing for...

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