Estimates

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There are so many connections between seemingly disparate things – activities, ideas, technicalities. This concept of making appropriate estimates of ourselves resonated with me.

I was reading Arnold Schwartzenegger’s email today, and he had some good points that will directly align with our harp playing. He points out that we (humans) typically overestimate ourselves at a micro level but underestimate the quality of outcome at a macro level. What could be more true with respect to our practice?!

What does overestimating the small look like? How about expecting ourselves to be able to flawlessly sight read a brand-new piece of music on the first try? Or thinking that we will thoroughly learn a new tune in a single practice session? Or expecting a short number of repetitions will result in flawless performance?

These are all clear overestimations. We would never suggest to someone else that any of the above will result in the perfection we crave. So why do we make such overestimations of our own practice?

But equally, we discount how much we can accomplish with steady, consistent practice. A little time every day will result in more learning and accomplishment because it starts small (and manageably) and builds overtime. If we apply a structure over time, we will learn more tunes and be able to play them more successfully.

In other words, 20 minutes of practice every day will result in more growth than 3 hours of practice the day before your lesson. Other things we have talked about before also make it work better to – keeping track of what you get each day, deciding (specifically) what to work on that will help you make meaningful progress in both the short and long term.

But you also get more by small and consistent – you will also be more confident of your learning and playing. Because you haven’t crammed your grasp of the music will not be tenuous!

So, if you find yourself thinking that you’re never going to learn the music, stop underestimating yourself. Acknowledge you will learn – a little bit every day. You won’t master the tune in a week. But you can gain a little mastery each day, stacking your gains – no matter how small,

Don’t lose sight of the fact that you will want to overestimate the small gains but also that you’ll underestimate what you can build with consistent practice over the month, the season, the year, and over the years.

Doubt me? Pull out your Christmas music and prove the point to yourself. This is music you have practiced (somewhat) consistently on a long-term basis with “cram practice” (November?) but also long-term practice (how long have you been playing those tunes?)

Stick with it. Put in the time – but in small bites.   

Because, as Arnold says, “when you stop underestimating yourself, you start becoming unstoppable.”

What can you achieve if you take it in small, consistent bites? Let me know in the comments!

Pick or nix

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As school starts all around us, it’s easy to think back to our favorite teachers over time. I don’t know about you, but with a few (glaring) exceptions, I had wonderful teachers. Some were a kind of wonderful that I didn’t appreciate them until much later. Some made lasting impressions that arise even now, ever so many years.

This is especially true of my harp teachers – some as my “regular” tutors that taught me to play the harp (and so much more) and the ones I think of as “pop-ups” – those workshop teachers that gifted me with some nugget that pushed me a little farther along my path, or over a hump, or around an obstacle. I’m a lucky, lucky harper!

But not all teachers are brilliant. And sometimes a great teacher has a bad day. There are also some times that a teacher is just not attuned to what a student needs. Without more data I hesitate to call anyone a bad teacher – although I am sure they exist. But one of you shared that your teacher had compared your performance nerves to being like when a dog knows it’s going to the vet! You added, “Very discouraging, to say the least.”

I beg to differ. While yes, it’s discouraging, it is much worse. It is needlessly pointless. Worst of all – it was not helpful. Not having a solution to offer does not equate to saying something hurtful. There were so many other things to say in that moment, but the comment chosen certainly didn’t move you forward.

We can talk another time about ways to deal with getting shaky in the face of performing but right now, that comment just sticks out and I can’t leave it be.

When you get comments like that, they shift your focus – and not in a good way. Those types of comments take away from playing and growing. Those are words that push you down and can, left untreated, pull you under. Especially when they come from your teacher, the person meant to nurture your growth and development. What should you do?

When you get unhelpful (and hurtful) feedback, you will need to manage yourself and serve as your own substitute teacher. You can pick or nix the comments you receive. You might need a tool to help you determine how to use the feedback. One useful tool would be to make yourself a decision matrix so you can determine what of the comments is useful and what should just be canned as quickly as possible! Here are the questions for your matrix –

Is your teacher having a bad day?(Can you ignore it?)
Are you having a bad day?(Can you ignore the sting?)
Is this the first time you have heard something like this? (Should you let it slide?)
Was there an element of “joking” in the air? (Did the joke just fall flat?)
How proportional is this comment?(How many positive vs negative comments have you received, how does this fit in)?
How could you take the sting out of the words?(Was it just poorly stated)?
What can you take what was said and learn from?(Is there something useful behind the sting-y words?)
What question could you follow up with to learn more that would be helpful?(Is there a way to salvage the intent and stay focused on your development rather than on negative questions?)

You can probably think of even better ways to use the comments you get, even when they’re hurtful or poorly constructed – hope you’ll share them (you know the drill – email me a comment!).

Holiday!

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One of the most important holidays of the year is coming up on Saturday. Are you ready? Got your decorations up? Now that you’re wondering how you could have missed being ready – you might be asking yourself what holiday happens at the end of August?!

Play Music on the Porch Day is August 30, 2025! Could there be a better time to celebrate? I think not!

If you’re not familiar with this amazing holiday, you might want to prepare – because it’s a wonderful day. All you need to do is….

Go outside and share your music with whoever happens by.

Ok, to celebrate fully there is a little more to it than that.

From the website (yes, there is an official website (https://playmusicontheporchday.com) :

What if for one day everything stopped? And we all just listened to the music.

To participate just go outside and play music! You can invite friends or play alone. Make the day as big or as small as you want! Then share a video on any social media with #playmusicontheporchday.

Follow the hashtag #playmusicontheporchday to see musicians from around the world participating!

As it says, you can celebrate in ways big or small. As a sole creator or as a member of a group. And post it on social media (probably because for organizers, if you don’t post it, it didn’t happen).

But if you want to hold to the spirit of the holiday without all the fuss, muss, and bother of the organized event, you can just go outside, sit on your step (or wherever) and play. No telling yourself you’re not ready. No comparing yourself to your harp crush. No thinking too hard. Just play. Let others bask in the beauty you create. Enjoy being the maker. Create a moment – and share it with others.

You don’t have to be fancy; you can just play what you’ve been working on. Or you can set a time, set a stage, invite your audience, and make a production of it. Not feeling so brave? Invite a friend to join you! It’s up to you. The focus is on making music and sharing it with others.

Need more inspiration? Think of it as a history exhibit – after all, it wasn’t that long ago that this was just the way of it. In a time before hashtags and constant media, we (people) were the media. And the fortunate had music as a regular part of that. So, you’re not performing, you’re reenacting!

It’s not about perfection, it’s about connection – with your music, with your community, with your history. And with such a low barrier to entry – you just need to move outside – we can all do it!

I know some of you are planning to go out and play! Please share with us – send me a photo or jot a couple of words so we can share with this community too! And Happy Play Music on the Porch Day!

Your song

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Sometimes I have no idea what I should write here. I could launch on how the blank page is terrifying but instead, I decided to poke around the web for a better idea, and in about three clicks, I had it!

I came across a page on journalling. It had a load of prompts to help goad you into writing in your journal. That’s pretty helpful. But farther down on the page, there was an interesting list that I decided could be molded into something that would be helpful here. It had a list of prompts for each day. That is, there were day specific prompts that could be used to move your journaling along.

What does that have to do with us? Well, we can use the same approach to tailor our practicing. If we view each day of the week as having a focus, we could tailor our practicing to achieve more (and maybe with less work?). As I thought about it, I was reminded of the childhood song in which each day of the week had a chore – washing clothes, ironing, sweeping. While we were singing around the Mulberry Bush we listed what we were supposed to do each day of the week. Better still, it’s changeable so we can fit in our own chores – our practice chores! If we listed our “chores”, we could be focused while still getting in all our practice, and meantime probably learn something while seeing progress over time.

What might we put in our song? Technical (scales and etudes)? Reading? Musicality (phrasing, dynamics, expression)? By the time we get to the mid-week, when we’re losing sight of what we’re doing, slogging through relentless repeats, our song could help us stay on track. We shouldn’t forget to include fun (tunes we know and love), accomplishment (tunes that are just coming along), or joy (tunes that remind us why we love to play). And by week’s end we would have gotten to everything and been left with pride or satisfaction (acknowledging our work)!

Once we know these, we can sing our song to ourselves (nothing wrong with using the melody from Mulberry Bush – or writing your own!). If you can’t recall, here’s a starting point:

Here we go round the mulberry bush, The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush. Here we go round the mulberry bush, Practicing on a music day.

This is the way we play our scales, play our scales, play our scales. This is the way we play our scales, Practicing on a Monday.

This is the way we phrase our tune, phrase our tune, phrase our tune, This is the way we phrase our tune, Practicing on a Tuesday.

Etc for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

This is the way we play for joy, play for joy, play for joy. This is the way we play for joy, Practicing on Sunday.

You can put your tasks in any order throughout the week. You can even use a different time frame if it’s right for you (2 weeks? 3 days? What’s right for you?). It’s up to you how many stanzas your song will have. The point is to keep focus – it might be just what your week needs.

What would your lyrics be? Can’t wait to hear! Send me some of your ideas!

Ice Cream for Breakfast

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It is August so I started thinking – would you eat ice cream for breakfast?

Of course, the “right” answer is no. But that would be a wrong answer.

Because the question isn’t about having ice cream for breakfast every day. Instead, it’s about being flexible to try something new. Something you will likely enjoy. Something that may not be the best choice, but could be a good treat on rare occasion.

Having a treat is a way to go about getting outside your box. Doing something to shake up your routine. Trying something unorthodox to make everything a little tastier (better!). What sorts of things can you do to “have ice cream for breakfast” for your playing? Here’s a few ideas:

Use a different approach – literally. Turn your harp around, move to a new room, play from the column. Just change it up and see what happens.

Ask someone else what they hear – or try to hear it differently. This can be through recording or just listening. Check all your judgement at the metaphorical door and really listen creatively!

Teach it – I am always amazed at how different a tune is when you’re teaching it than when you’re playing it!

Question how things have always been done – never stop asking Why? What? Why not?

Get uncomfortable – ok, really all of this is about getting uncomfortable! A little discomfort can be revealing, freeing, and uncomfortable! And it’s good for you. Just like having ice cream for breakfast could be!

Would you have ice cream for breakfast? What flavor? Let me know – I’m open to trying new tastes and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

When winning feels like losing

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We all do it. It’s especially clear on fast tunes, but every tune you learn goes through it.

“It” is the ugly phase. You know the ugly phase. It’s that time when, no matter what you do, it seems like you are stuck – or even going backwards – as you try to learn a tune and make it satisfying!

Your fingering falls apart. Your rhythm deserts you. Your memory fails. All the phrases sound the wrong and none are in the right order. The repeats are like torture. And when you add the harmony, nothing hangs together. It’s disheartening. It’s frustrating. And it feels like it will never end, leaving you with a tune in tatters. It’s so discouraging. It feels like the tune is winning and that you are losing.

But are you? No, you are not.

It is actually especially important for you to get through this phase, no matter how intimidating it feels. There is a lot of learning going on. Your brain is sorting through all the inputs (the notes, the fingering, the rhythm, the series of sounds, and more) and outputs (same list mostly) on its way to figuring out what goes where, when, and how. We consistently underestimate how much we’re trying to learn, how it is related and interleaved, and how challenging it can be to make music.

To weather this phase and get to the other side with a mature, satisfying tune that you can be happy with and proud to perform you, of necessity, need to keep track of what you have done and what you need to do next. How should you keep track of your progress and assure yourself that you’re getting somewhere and are “winning” the battle to learn? Document your progress! This ensures that you will see how you are winning even when you feel like you’re losing or going backwards! And it will help you see that even when you feel like you’re going backward (losing), you’re making progress (winning!).

It’s important that you do this in a manner that will help you follow your progress. This could be keeping a written journal to capture descriptions of your work and describing progress verbally. Or you could make audio (or video) recordings of your practice to hear (and see) what has changed across time. Or you can use any medium that records your thinking and your progress – draw your concept or do a puppet show! Whatever you need to see your progress over time! The form is not important. What is important is to acknowledge your progress over time and find what you should work on next to continue your development. While it is essential that this be a tool for your use, if you are actively taking lessons, you can work this with your teacher.

I know some of you have been consistent in capturing your work – let me know what form you use and any insights you might share with others. If you have kept track but haven’t been consistent – could you let me know what you think is preventing you from being consistent? And if you’ve never done anything like this before, what do you think would work for you? Looking forward to hearing about how you keep track of your wins!

Room for more

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Catch up on the discussion – we started with a challenge here and then I shared the tunes I had read here. That lead to discussion which we have below. Feel free to start the challenge now and I’ll look forward to hearing how you get along! And, of course, it would be great if you subscribe here.

Last week I shared the list of tunes I had read through to prepare for the coming holiday season and mentioned that I didn’t love all of them but did plan to include a couple moving forward. The list I shared came from some of the books I happened to have on my shelf. I won’t lie, I didn’t use all my Christmas books, just the ones I could reach from where I was sitting (never underestimate my ability to work hard to stay lazy!).

Eagle-eyed Kate noticed that I didn’t tell you which tunes I liked and want to keep, and which were meh and I’ll ignore – and she asked which were which! So, I thought I would share that this week.

So, the list of tunes I’ll probably work on this year includes:

  • Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came (to be fair, I have played this but never really committed it)
  • The Holly and the Ivy (I have always loved this one but never play it)
  • New Christmas (which I had also found earlier in a bagpiping book and have been intrigued by, and Jo writes lovely arrangements, so I think it’ll be a keeper)
  • O Come Little Children (which I heard while in Germany at a Christmas market so it’s like a breathing souvenir!)

I also heard from Sharon Thormahlen who has a number of holiday books available too! I hadn’t seen them, but she graciously sent me copies to read through*. She sent me a book of Carols (Tis the Season) and a book of songs (Season’s Greetings) as well as a single sheet White Christmas. The carols book includes those that get a lot of play (Deck the Hall, Silent Night, What Child is This, Away in a Manger, First Noel) as well as some less often played (Celtic Carol, The Holly and The Ivy). The songs book included tunes I never think of (Christmas in Killarney, Little Drummer Boy) as well as the ones you can’t leave on the table (Let it Snow! Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Silver Bells, and a medley of O Christmas Tree/We Wish You a Merry Christmas). I found her arrangements to be approachable and readable, and best of all she has placed the lever changes really thoughtfully so you can actually play without panic! I think I’ll be adding the Christmas Song and maybe Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas as well as White Christmas!

You might note that I had suggested adding a couple of tunes this year and I have already compiled quite a list! I think it’s safe to say that some will be ready to play this year and some will be better next year – and I’m ok with that! There’s always room for more!

*Sharon also sent me a book of Jewish music and if I had occasion to play a Hanukkah gig, I’d dip into it. If you would like to dip into the holiday books, she has them available on her website. In that internet-y way (and to make sure I don’t break any laws), I need to tell you that I did receive gratis downloads of the books I mentioned. I will not get any (additional) compensation if you do (or do not) buy them. I do hope you will buy books from musicians you’re interested in (e.g. Sharon) (or me for that matter) because it’s the right thing to do.

Challenge met?

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So, did you take me up on my dual challenge to do a little (consistent) sight reading and prepare a little early for Christmas? I hope so, if only so you’ll be comfortable when that first (unexpected) request to play for some charity event the day after Thanksgiving comes in! If you’re ready, what would have been a shock can be turned into a tingle instead of electrocution!

I’m kinda pleased with myself. I set the bar low at just one Christmas tune a day, but like practicing in general, once I got on the bench, who can really have just one? As promised, I made a list of the Christmas tunes I read through this week.

I didn’t include those tunes that I could have read but have been in my repertoire for years, so I really don’t need to read them (that seemed like cheating anyway). I did include tunes I have played a few times but can never remember without looking at the page (either because (to me) they’re arcane) or because although they’re popular, I don’t like them!).

I wasn’t fancy – I used books I have already. I focused on tunes I hadn’t ever read, mostly because I didn’t recognize them. I used what I consider “basic” books that you can easily find available. And I focused on the melody and harmony ideas not “straight” reading because 1. I’m lazy and 2. I know I won’t play those arrangements; I’ll find my own. Here’s my list of books (alphabetical by arranger):

  • Deb Friou and Julia Lane’s Yuletide Treasure
  • Jo Morrison’s Christmas Gifts
  • Sunita Staneslow’s Christmas Eve
  • Karl Weinand’s Christmas Music for the Lever Harp
  • Sylvia Woods’ 50 Christmas Carols for All Harps

So here goes, here’s what I read through this week (alphabetical by title):

  • A Child is Born in Bethlehem
  • A la Nanita Nana
  • The Abbot’s Bromley Horn Dance
  • Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came
  • Angelus ad Virginem
  • Birth in Bethlehem
  • Boar’s Head Carol
  • Cherry Tree Carol
  • Cold and Raw
  • Down in Yon Forest
  • From Heaven Above to Earth I Come
  • Green Grow’th the Holly
  • He Smiles Within His Cradle
  • The Holly and the Ivy
  • The Holly Bears a Berry
  • The Humors of Winter
  • Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine
  • Masters in this Hall
  • New Christmas
  • O Come Little Children
  • Over the Hill and Over the Dale
  • Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers
  • Shepherds Hurried to Bethlehem
  • Wexford Carol
  • While Shepherds Watched their Flocks
  • Willie, Take Your Drum

Did I like them all? Not even a lot of them. But there are a couple I’m excited to learn this year. Not sure I’ll play them anywhere, but can’t hurt to have a leg up.

What’s not in here? More modern Christmas songs – I’ll have to source some of those because I like them and want to play them! Or I could learn them by rote (which should be relatively easy since I can sing the ones I like) (don’t worry, I won’t make you listen to my singing). If you find the sheet music for I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, please do not send it to me.

How did you do? I’d love to hear about it, even if you don’t share your list! Let me know in the comments!

Challenge

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It’s the height of the summer and it’s hot. Do you know what that means?

It means it’s time to start thinking about what we’d like to play for the holidays! By then, it will be a stressful time, so we want to be ready. Of course, we have to balance out our need to prepare with ensuring we don’t let our enthusiasm for the repertoire get stale.

What can we do? How should we prepare so far ahead? How will we stay focused and motivated?

Let’s set ourselves a: READING CHALLENGE!

We know that we should be reading more because being proficient in reading takes practice. We also know that reading can be more challenging on the harp than on other instruments because the music isn’t propped up directly in front of us so we have to turn our heads to read the music and to see the instrument – on top of all the other effort of reading.


Many of us feel as though we don’t read well enough or fast enough or accurately enough. It’s easy to forget how hard we had to work to learn to read at all in the beginning. For most of us it was so long ago that we don’t remember how hard it was to get to fluid reading!

There is a way to make reading easier – PRACTICE!!

But practice is also easier if we have a goal. The holidays make a great goal – focused, limited, and they include a deadline – what’s not to like?

To make our holiday reading a more focused goal, let’s do (drum roll please) a 

Summer Christmas Reading Challenge!

The goal is to practice our reading so it becomes second nature (or at least is closer to second nature than it is now!) and to be ahead of the game when it’s time to hit the holiday opportunities to play.

But let’s not be too over the top. Let’s set this Challenge for just this week and keep focused on holiday music. The plan is to read through as much music as possible in that time. You can select music that you are interested in. You can read melody lines or both hands – whichever will get you further along in reading the music you want to read more easily. The point is simply to practice your reading so it will get easier while also preparing for the cold time.

My goal is to read at least one new tune every day! I’ll post my list at the end, you send me your lists and we’ll see how we do.

Hope you’ll join me! Start keeping a list in your practice journal and you can send them to me by next Monday (just a week) and I’ll post what we’ve got. This should be both motivating and motivational. Motivating because we’d like to have made a good start and motivational to see what everyone is planning on for the holidays.

Start reading – you have until 21 July! (PS – if you’re running late, send it anyway, we’ll get caught up!). Just use the button below to send me your comments and your list!

Highlight!

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OSAS is over for another year. Each year we say it is the best. That’s not hyperbolic – it’s just the way of it. Each year the students bring their enthusiasm and joy for learning and growing and making music. And the blend of enthusiasm from previous years’ attendees and the nervous anticipation from first time students is a heady mix that is hard to beat! It’s the experience of being able to come year after year learning something new each time that shows that each year has been better than the past – because we have all grown!

As usual, I didn’t take any (useful) photos to share – there’s so much to do in real time in real life that I don’t take the time to snap pics. I did, however, really like this one from Stephanie Claussen which I unceremoniously pinched from her facebook page.

The students aren’t the only ones who change the atmosphere – the teachers totally bring it! These are people who are already incredible performers and fantastic teachers. But later in that they are genuine people with breadth and depth and passion, and the mix moves from heady to intoxicating!

I think, though, that all this comes together to build and gel a community. Humans are best in community – a shared love with a support system. And when we’re together at OSAS we can layer context as we learn more about music, history, heritage, and our places in the world.

We learn tunes, technique, expression, and more of the idiom. We learn harp tunes, fiddle tunes, and pipe tunes. We sing songs. We play with other harpers which is a rare treat for so many. But we also get to play with fiddles and small pipes. We walk to meals, chatting and then talk through the meals and continue catching up on the way back.

As a teacher, I watch lights come on, see new ideas take hold, confidence grow, skills develop, and joy build. Don’t be fooled, I also see the occasional burst of frustration, and… fatigue, but they are quickly eclipsed by contentment and even delight!

I’m going to spend this week rolling in the afterglow while it’s fresh. Next week we’ll start planning for next year – collecting what works, examining what should change, collaborating with the other teachers and leadership to craft the best OSAS ever! Hope you’ll join us – and if you want more, just ask me. If you’re just back too, share your thoughts in the comments!