Are you not practicing today?

Those are the most powerful words that anyone can ever say to me. They are the ultimate reminder – or possible kick in the pants - that as a musician my job is to practice. Daily.

When is it okay not to practice? Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, founder of the Suzuki method, had a very clear philosophy. When he was asked by his young students when they should practice, his reply was invariably, “Only on the days you eat.”  Of course, that's a rule more suited to creating proper habits in young students than to adult students with busy schedules and myriad responsibilities.

Whether you're an amateur musician or a professional musician, you understand that practice is important. If you don't practice, you don't make progress. So how do you balance all the responsibilities and schedule upheavals that happen in a typical week? When is it safe to skip your practice, and when do you really need to practice anyway?

My answer might surprise you. I...

Do you love your thumbs?

We harpists have a love/hate relationship with our thumbs. They can carry the melody well with their power. But they can also be a weak link in scales and arpeggios. They have a knack for being too loud when we need them to blend and too weak when we want them to be beautiful.

Thumbs play several crucial roles in our playing. Physically, they balance and stabilize our hand. Have you ever tried playing a scale without using your thumb? Try it and you will see instantly how much you rely on your thumb just to keep your hand steady.

Our right thumb is our “melody finger,” so it must have a variety of tone colors and a full range of dynamics. Developing an expressive melody line starts with developing an expressive thumb.

Thumbs link chunks of scales or arpeggios when we cross under or over. In these moments, accuracy, stability and even tone are all required from our thumbs.

Our thumbs also anchor octaves and chords, and play harmonics and trills....

Are you moving up, making progress? Or do you feel like you’re going in circles?

I always visualize progress as ascending a spiral staircase. You move upward, but in a sort of circular way. You keep working on the same skills but at increasingly higher levels.

Beginners practice scales. Virtuoso performers practice scales, too, but theirs are usually faster, more fluid, more athletic. It’s easy to see the results of years of practice.

Although it’s easy to tell the scales of a beginner from those of a professional, it’s not always easy to tell if you’re making progress, moving forward, moving up. Sometimes it feels like your practice is just taking you over the same ground over and over again.

So how can you tell? Usually we look to our repertoire to see if we are making progress. It’s an easy way, if not a totally accurate one, to measure our accomplishment.

If you’re making progress your repertoire will show it in three distinct ways:

1. ...

Ambition is not just the property of the young and upwardly mobile. It isn’t exclusive to those destined to be superstars. Ambition is a natural part of the human condition.

It is sometimes viewed as prideful, immoderate, immodest, overbearing or selfish. But it is more properly cast in a neutral role: ambition is what you do with it.

When was the last time you thought about your ambitions, gave your thoughts over to your dreams without regard for probability, just enjoying the idea of the possible?

At least once a week, I receive an email from a harp student who is concerned about whether “it’s too late” for her to become the harpist she wants to be. She is nearly ready to give up on her dreams because she fears she doesn’t have enough talent, her fingers are too slow or she’s too old.

Most often, she has been caught up in one or more of three limiting beliefs, false beliefs which can kill even the strongest ambition.

Ambition Killer 1: Accept...

Focus is the difference between whiffing and missing the ball or hitting it out of the park.

I am finally starting to believe that spring is on its way. We still have snow in our yard, but the sun feels stronger and the scent in the air has changed. And baseball opening day is this week.

When baseball season starts, summer can’t be too far behind. Soon major league stadiums, community parks and backyards across the country will be fields of dreams for players and fans young and old. Parents everywhere will be encouraging their young players, saying, “Keep your eye on the ball!”

A batter must stay focused on that ball to hit it.  There is only a split second when the ball crosses the plate. If the batter has been watching the ball, the bat will be coming across the plate at the right moment and in the right place to connect with the ball. If the batter hasn’t been focused on the ball, the swing will fan the air and he’ll be out at the plate.

You...

Do you understand “deliberate practice?” If you don’t you’re not alone.

Much has been written about deliberate practice since K. Anders Ericsson, a Swedish psychologist and professor at Florida State University, first wrote about it in the 1990’s. Ericsson’s research led him to the conclusion that it was not so much innate ability that led the highest achievers to their success but was more a product of the work they did to get there. And specifically, the way in which they worked. That was what he termed “deliberate practice.”

Since then, bookstore shelves have displayed more books on this topic every year, each book promising to lead us to the success we crave by showing us the path.

At the risk of adding to the clutter, I would like to offer a brief practical look at some of the most basic elements of deliberate practice and how you can use them to each and every day in the work you do – whether it’s music practice or...

“Tempo is not a number,” I said to my student.

My student was trying hard to work his piece up to speed, one metronome notch at a time, and was still some distance from the metronome mark printed on the page. I thought his current tempo was actually fine and told him so.

“But it’s not the right speed,” he said.

“It’s a good speed,” I countered. “You play it smoothly and musically.”

“But it’s too slow!”

“Why do think so?”

“Because it’s the wrong number!” He was a little exasperated now, and I knew he needed a new perspective.

“Tempo is not a number,” was all I said.

It was not what he wanted to hear, and what’s more, he didn’t believe me. After all, the number was printed right there on the page. And so I began to explain…

Fundamentally, tempo is an expressive element that supports the musical construct of the piece. It combines with dynamics,...

Do you suffer from the "what-ifs"?

My student was preparing for an important performance. We still had two or three lessons before the date, and I was confident she was prepared.

But at her next lesson she surprised me. Her playing was excellent, but she didn’t have the confidence in her playing that I did. She had a case of the “what-ifs.”

• What if they don’t like me? They know you already and they like you.

• What if I forget my music? You put your music on the stand and keep going.

• What if I push a wrong pedal? You fix it and keep going.

• What if I totally screw up? Really???

This student was an experienced performer and was well prepared. All she needed was a little pep talk.

For less experienced performers or musicians who have never performed at all, the thought of playing “in front of people” can give them a more serious case of “what-ifs.”

The good news is that there is a cure, even for first-timers. It’s a...

Much has been said – and I have said my share – about how to practice. Practicing with intention, deliberation and focus is the practice method that separates the successful musicians from the rest. (By successful musicians, I don’t just mean those with big music careers. Every musician is successful who is learning, playing, sharing and enjoying her music in ways that are personally meaningful.)

A quick internet search will disclose numerous research studies and scientific papers that reveal proven strategies to efficient and effective practice.  You will also find creative approaches to practice that resonate with different learning types.

All of those practice methods, suggestions, techniques, tricks and tips share a common purpose: to enable you to play the music you want the way you want to play it.  Moreover, they all address the one principle that is at the heart of music study. That principle is repetition.

But wait, you say. I thought repetitive...

Perfection has its good points, I guess. I wouldn’t  know because I’ve never been there.

Perfection appears to us as an ideal, our Mount Olympus, the place we strive for. It is that ever-elusive musical rabbit we chase in each practice session and every performance.

But is perfection really a suitable goal for a musician?

Perfection isn’t just a nearly impossible task. I believe that a “perfect” musical performance doesn’t exist …and shouldn’t.

That’s not to say that I haven’t heard performances that I considered flawless and ideal. But as a performer myself, I can say that even when I get all the notes right, there is always some musical detail I know I could have handled better. Following that thought further, if I hear perfection, but you didn’t feel you played perfectly, can perfection really exist?

But let’s be a little less philosophical and a little more practical.

Perfection in the usual sense is...