Who is your best “harp” friend? Is it your teacher, your harp circle buddy, a fellow student, a colleague? Maybe your best harp friend is your harp itself.

Your harp has a best friend too, and while you’re right at the top of the list, the next best friend your harp has is likely your harp technician.

Your harp technician is not just a “harp doctor.”  He or...

What music is on your "desert island" list?

You've played a version of this game before, I'm sure. You imagine that you were stranded on a desert island with no foreseeable hope of rescue. Think Robinson Crusoe. You begin to create a way of life for yourself on your island. One of the items that you discovered on the island was a CD player. (Fortunately, this CD player runs somehow on solar...

What is your musical legacy? 

Maybe you don’t think you have, or will have, a musical legacy. You’re not a famous performer, or a teacher of prodigies. Maybe you don’t think you even play especially well. What kind of musical legacy could you leave?

I attended a meeting of my local chapter of the American Harp Society this weekend. It was our first meeting since the death...

Good posture is the first thing we musicians learn. You may have started playing music so long ago that you have forgotten your very first music lessons, or possibly you remember your teacher’s first words to you: “Now sit up straight…”

The very first technical element in playing any instrument or in singing is good posture. And although there are specific technical...

The Andrews Sisters

"Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative..."

These motivational words are the opening lyrics of a 1945 song by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer The song won the Academy Award that year and was a huge hit for Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters.

Negative thinking is one of the hidden dangers in music practice. It can masquerade as perfectionism, striving to be...

Autopilot has a comfortable sound to it. The computer can take over, make the tough decisions, free us up to catch up on our reading or our sleep.

I love thinking about getting my first driverless car for similar reasons. Will I be able to take a nap or work on my computer while my car takes me safely where I want to go?

Most of us run parts of our lives on autopilot. There are routine tasks...

It’s time to test your knowledge of musicians and musical quotes. How many of these quotations do you recognize? And do you know who said them?

Do your best; it’s not an easy quiz! And when you’re ready, you can get the answers by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Good luck!

1. The Harp is to Music what Music is to Life.

2. …this is my only aim: to serve...

The holiday music season is in high gear!

Black Friday is not only the beginning of the holiday shopping season; it’s the start of the holiday music season. There are church programs, student recitals, parties, concerts, music gatherings of all kinds. The holidays are a special time and what makes that festive gathering extra special? Live music.

And what makes live music? It’s not...

Skype is truly a marvel for our 21^st century global community. It brings strangers closer together and keeps families connected. And it has become part of the way that today’s musicians study and learn.

But does that mean it is always the right tool for music study? When and how does it help and when does it just get in the way?

Like anyone else, I have my own ideas on the subject; your...

“What stop please?”

When I was growing up in Philadelphia, I used to love to ride the public transit. I was too young to drive, and I needed to go from the suburbs into the city each week for my harp lesson. Each way my trip required one bus, one elevated train and one underground trolley, plus a nice six block walk. I felt so grown-up and free being able to negotiate the transit...