If you are one of those busy harpists who played everywhere during the holiday season, you may seriously need a break. Slow down if you need to, but don’t stop. This is the time to create momentum to keep your business thriving and those phone calls and emails coming.

Momentum is a funny thing. It is motion and direction. It seems elusive, but it is easy to create. All you have to do is get up an...

The New Year is the time for setting goals and making plans. But without making your goals part of a balanced life plan, you are likely to miss your mark. One of the keys to setting goals you can actually accomplish is to make them part of a larger picture of your life. After all, your life has many facets and music is just one of them.

The motivational speaker and writer Zig Ziglar talked about ...

What did you do this year? Now is a great time to take stock of what you accomplished in the past year, so you can make new goals for the new year.

As the New Year approaches, we turn our thoughts to resolutions and goals. I start thinking about my goals around Thanksgiving, because before I can make any goals for next year, I need to take stock of the year I’m finishing. What did I do, or didn’t...

Need to finish up your shopping in a hurry? Try these 10 easy stocking stuffers for the musician on your list.

I’m not one of those people who shops for Christmas in August. Occasionally, I will find the perfect Christmas gift in the summer. But I really prefer to leave my shopping until November and December, when it helps with my holiday mood.

The difficulty with this is that I really don’t li...

Are you looking for something to give your favorite musician this holiday season? Or possibly a new book or two for your own collection? Here are some suggestions for great books for any musician on your list, including you.

1. Just for harpists: Harps and Harpists, Revised Edition

This is a classic, and one that every harpist should have. I usually give this as a gift to my studen...

          Air Turn BT 105

Last spring, I finally purchased my Air Turn bluetooth pedal for hands-free page turning. Very simply, it works with my tablet computer to turn pages of music that I read from the tablet in PDF format. It’s easy, convenient, and I should have gotten it sooner.

I first learned about the digital music revolution from my former colleague at Curtis, Hugh Sung....

Do you practice Thanksgiving, practice giving thanks?

I write a lot about practicing on this blog. In fact, there are 113 posts in the Practicing category. The frequency of the topic is not really surprising, since practice is the single biggest part of a musician’s musical life.

The word “practice” has many shades of meaning. It can refer to a habit or custom as in “practice random acts of k...

                                                   The pursuit of mastery bears gifts.
                                                            – Gary Keller, The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

I love this quote. Of course, a person with the website “Harp Mastery” would naturally be drawn to it. The genius in this statement is the phrase “pursuit of ma...

              © 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?

Sometimes teachers feel stuck too. But I have learned a few tr...

    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 solo or accompanying a solo instrument. But of his three...