Monthly Archives: March 2026

Stuck

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Do you ever find yourself wondering if you’re actually getting any better? I often find myself thinking about that Pablo Casals quote about why he still practiced when he was an extremely experienced human. He said, “because I think I am making progress,”.

ut for us mere mortals, it can be really challenging to find evidence that we’re improving. We can get hung up on asking if we are growing as musicians. But what if we asked ourselves the question in a new way?

Rather than asking, “am I making progress?” we instead asked, “what don’t I notice anymore?”

Because if you have mastered a skill, it no longer consumes your thinking and your practice time. It has moved from an activity that requires constant attention to being an activity you do automatically – no focused thinking required.

This is true no matter the skill – playing harmonics, using a fork, signing your name – whatever you have done so many times that you no longer notice doing it.

That’s why it’s so difficult to see your own progress – it’s always there but it’s lurking inside all the things you no longer pay any attention to. In fact, all you see is where you haven’t gotten to – the gap between what you have learned, mastered, made automatic and what you have left to learn. Whether you mean to or not, you’re looking forward. And when you try to look back, you don’t see anything! And since you don’t see anything, you underestimate how much you have accomplished. Ugh, what a rat race!

This is one of the reasons that keeping track is so helpful – it highlights your movement in a way that helps you see that you’re actually moving! You don’t want to only capture the big wins – they’re easy to see. It’s the small incremental progress that is so important for you to see in yourself.

So, this week try to catch yourself growing! Be vigilant for things that are now easier than they were in your last practice. What did you play without having to ride herd on every little movement -that’s what you want to notice, capture…and celebrate!

You can also capture non-movement wins. Did you practice every day that you intended to? Did you maybe get an extra 5 minutes in? On a week that was unending, did you play through a tune – and enjoy it because it wasn’t a struggle? WIN! WIN! WIN!

So, this week, try this – name and write down three things that come to you automatically now that used to require effort even a month ago. Whether its consistent practice, near-perfect scales, or a successful performance, track that! Not goals, and definitely not wishes! Just a skill you are moving forward with.

What are we noticing, really? We’re noticing the small things that at one time were insurmountable (or just hard – let’s be real) but now are just a thing we do. What do you no longer notice? Let me know in the comments – I’m curious!

Cookies

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Some people love Chinese take away. I’m pretty sure that it has absolutely nothing to do with anything that actually reflects food in China – now or in any historical context. However, sometimes I can’t avoid it and it remains true that the best part is always the fortune cookie.

I’m also not a fan of the cookie, but I would never skip getting one – I can’t wait to break into it to get my fortune (or those lottery numbers and a new vocabulary word that I’ll never be able to pronounce correctly). Then, I give the cookie away.

The fortune is key. The fortune is full of possibilities because we all know that fortune cookies only hold truths. We can laugh about it, we can make jokes about it, but can anyone ever read their fortune and remain completely unaffected?

A recent fortune told me, “to have a friend, be a friend”. I translate that to mean that to assure that you have friends, you have to be a good friend to others. Or more cryptically, to receive you must first give. Holding on to your gifts diminishes those gifts but giving them away causes them to grow. And when you grip your gift like Golum clutches the Ring, you’re not allowing yourself to be as open to the gifts that others share.

All that got me thinking about how sometimes we hoard our music. We can be so self-critical. And sometimes we let that self-criticism censor our performances. We won’t play for others and instead focus on the lack of perfection.

There is no perfection. There is only a depth of accomplishment!

Don’t get me wrong, it does take an effort to put yourself out there and share music with others. It does require that you prepare – yourself, your music and check – your tuning, your ego. All that means that you do have to swallow down the flipflops in your stomach and give, give, give!

But it is so worth it – you get that high from getting out there, they get the beauty of the music, you both enjoy participating in being together – what’s not to like.

So when you are sitting at your harp telling yourself that you’re not good enough, ask yourself this – good enough for what? Of course you’re good enough! You are more than good enough to share your gifts with your friends. And in return, they’ll share their gifts – of joy, laughter, good times – with you!

So, break open a fortune cookie – what does yours say? How will you share with others in the short term? What’s holding you back? Let me know – can’t wait to hear!

Do I have to?

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

When you were growing up, how did you feel about learning to write in cursive? Did you think it was a waste of your time? I know I thought it was stupid. Often now, with pen in hand, I think back on those hated lessons – and see how wrong I was.

Now when I look at my penmanship, I see more than ink. I see insights into my development as a person. I see what I feel is important to me. I see how I have changed as I’ve grown up. I see that I’m in a hurry!

Many of us only write with a pen to sign greeting cards, make lists of things to do, or pay bills any more(because we’re old!). But still, the writing we learned as children really has stayed with us. For all the angst we underwent, we have the product – something we use daily. But even in the face of that utility, we don’t focus on the positives that can come from learning something we didn’t want to do.

Just like when we’re working on our music. We have to focus, even on the things that aren’t fun. Or that don’t come easily. Or those things that don’t seem to relate directly to anything else that we think are important. But there’s really something to be gained by pursuing “learning the cursive” of our music. And it ‘s not just finally “getting” it – but also that wonderful feeling of conquering something that has stymied us until then!

So, this week, try pulling out something you don’t want to do or a piece you don’t want to play because it’s not fun. You know – the cod liver oil of practicing, the “Brussels sprouts” of our learning (this is a bad analogy – I love Brussels sprouts, but you get the idea!). Whether it is making your own exercise of a trouble spot, doing the lessons in a primer, or sitting and working with Madam Grossi, channel all that hatred of cursive. But this time, apply the wisdom you have gained from experiencing success from practice.

What is your “cod liver oil” of practicing? What has given you the kind of trouble that makes you avoid working on it? What are you going to work on? Let me know in the comments!

All that’s Left

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The melody is the thing.

I say it all the time – because it’s true. The tune is the melody and that’s what you want to push forward when you’re playing.

BUT…

We have the good fortune to play an instrument that is a platform for both melody and harmony. So, while you definitely need to get the melody out – after that, all that’s left…is left (harmony).

I almost hate to say Left Hand (LH) as if it is equal to harmony – because there is no rule that says the harmony must be relegated to the left hand. But it is fairly common practice, so we can shelve that line of thinking for another day.

That means that once you have deeply learned the melody, we need to add in that LH harmony. And to make that easy, fluid, practical, and supportive, we need to have strong LH patterns ingrained in us! There are loads of patterns available. Many are pseudodefined by the idiom of the music you’re playing, but that really only limits what you might think about playing. Without exploring the outer limits of harmony (we could do that another time if you ask), there are a number of LH patterns you could deeply learn so you can apply them at any time. These include:

5ths (often standard for Irish, Scottish, and Celtoid tunes)

1-5-8 chords (e.g., C-G-C or G-D-G using fingers 4-2-1)

1-5-8-9-10 (e.g., C-G-C-D-E or G-D-G-A-B using fingers 4-2-1-2-1)

1-5-8-etc (e.g., C-G-C-D-E-F-G (using fingers 4-2-1-4-3-2-1) or G-D-G-A-B-C (using fingers 4-2-1-3-2-1) or or G-D-B-A-G (using fingers 4-2-1-2-3)) and on until you’re done – I often go as far as needed to support the phrase and how I’m feeling it!

Boom chucks (this can be a triad, a 5th, a 1-5-8, or whatever, but played in two segments – boom (bottom note maybe) chuck (top two notes) or vice versa

Blocked chords (yup, just go to town on the whole thing at once!)

Alberti Bass (if you’re not familiar with this pattern, it’s a quintessential Classical pattern that is usually cheerful and upbeat sounding, played from a broken chord (e.g., 1-5-3-5, 1-5-3-5 repeated throughout the chord progression)

Walking Bass in single notes, octaves, 10ths, etc. (just like it sounds – “walk” up or down from one note to another (used a lot in pop tunes)

Once you have learned these patterns, oh, the places you’ll go! Because when your fingers can confidently place and play these patterns, you can change them up, reorder them, play simple or fancy chord progressions, and be comfortable moving around to support your tune.

So, my challenge to you this week is to spend a little time practicing each of these and getting a feel for any you don’t typically use. While you’re at it, try to name the feeling that each pattern evokes for you. Does the scale you’re in change your thinking (does a minor boom chuck make you feel blues-y or meh? Do you always love a broken 1-5-8 chord, or does it sometimes need something more?). Are there other patterns you use that we should add here to share? Let me know in the comments!

Have a comment? Here you go:

What’s missing?

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Sometimes the universe speaks distinctly, persistently, but quietly. This week in wildly divergent ways, the message was loud and clear – find what’s missing and fix it. That got me thinking…

We often spend all the time we have for making music reading or repeating or being anxious about practicing enough. We make a lot of noise in our heads (and hopefully from our instruments as well). We tell ourselves to focus (and I’m always going on about that here).

But do we ever stop to look around to see if we can find what’s missing?

What’s missing can be from any category but some are less obvious than others. What might be missing?

Well, an easily identified option would be a technique that you haven’t learned yet. You’ll know what these are because you come to a place where you just don’t know what to do or how to do it correctly. Easily fixed – ask someone, take a lesson, practice, fill that hole. Done.

Some of the others are a little more challenging to uncover. These might include –  

Creativity – when you spend all your harp time practicing the stuff in front of you, you don’t have time to poke around, find new stuff, try new things. There’s an easy fix for this – reserve part of your practice time to do just that – poke around and see what happens. Maybe not every day, but a couple of times a week wouldn’t hurt. The challenge is to honor this time and not give it away for “something more important”. This is an essential part of practice. If you think you’re not creative or you’re not composing or arranging, that’s irrelevant – it is important to teach your brain to take what your ears bring in and keep moving forward with the idea rather than just coming to a juddering halt. The path to fixing erroneous notes when performing is right here!

Self-fulfillment – Many harp players are overachievers. Sometimes it is clear that the fixation is on “finishing” a piece rather than enjoying the ride. First the bad news – no piece is ever finished! Now the good news – you will (and should) be changing things over time – your interpretation should develop as you do and as your comfort with the music grows and matures. This development is going to lead to changes – so you’re never finished. And that’s ok.

Giving – you might not believe me, but I sat in my quiet room telling myself I wasn’t good enough to play for other people for a long time. I significantly overestimated what people might be listening for and thereby deprived them of a shared musical experience for much longer than needed. You have so many good things in your head, your heart, and your harp – let them out and give your music away. Play for others – because you will find more things that are missing.

Receiving – the flipside of giving is in receiving. You might be missing the opportunity of receiving feedback from others if you’re not out playing for them. Their responses may fill a gap you didn’t know you had!

Take a moment to look for the areas you are missing. Are you willing to share a peek with us? Let me know in the comments below!

Comments from you:

Martha said, Patience is always missing, and follow through on the good ideas without second guessing the quality. 

Couldn’t agree more Martha!