#123: If I Were Starting Over: What You Should Know

“If I were starting over, I would…”

That's our topic for today’s show. If I were starting my harp journey over again, from square one, what would I do differently, knowing what I know now? Obviously, I have done decades of practice, taken thousands of lessons, done thousands of performances, and I’ve taught countless students. I’ve watched students thrive and I’ve worked with those who struggle. And both kinds of students have taught me so much. They’ve given me a breadth of experience that goes well beyond my own personal harp journey. 

As I reflect on what my own harp story was like, the remarkable privileges that I had, the circumstances that shaped my harp life gave me only one view of harp study - my own. But over the years of working with so many other harpists, I have come to identify a few factors that can speed up a harpist’s progress, no matter that harpist’s age or skill level.  

I’ve also seen the harp happiness killers, those sneaky saboteurs that steal our enthusiasm for playing the harp. I’ve fallen victim to some of them from time to time and I’ve certainly seen and experienced the damage they can cause.  But I’m not going to talk about those today, at least not directly. No one needs a list of things they shouldn’t do.

Instead we’re going to focus on the things you should do, the actions that separate the harpists who keep learning, growing and loving every minute - well, perhaps almost every minute - of their harp journeys, from those who find frustration, disappointment or perhaps end up quitting. I can tell you from where I am right now, harp playing is a marvelous adventure packed with creativity, discovery and personal growth. It’s not for the fainthearted, but if you’ve already started this journey, then you are one of the brave ones, my friend. After all, simply buying a harp takes courage.

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Join my next Live Monday Warm-Up in the Hub on October 9th.
• Related resource: Are You Living Your Harp Dream or Just Thinking You Are? blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions and suggestions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]