Do you have to memorize your music? Of course not. How’s that for an easy answer. Okay, the podcast is over and we can call it a day. But of course, the answer isn’t that simple. 

No, you don’t have to memorize your music, but the fact that you’re asking the question tells me that you’re almost ...

When I was a beginning harp student, the technical method I was learning - the Salzedo method - was something I took very seriously. From my very first harp lessons, I learned the important points of technique, as Salzedo taught it. I wasn’t studying with Salzedo, of course, but my teacher, Maril...

I’m sure you’ve seen that famous optical illusion picture that can be perceived either as two faces in profile looking at each other, or as a vase. That image is named the “Rubin Vase,” after Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin, who authored a book in 1915 called “Visual Perception.”  This image, and...

Imagine you’re looking at a box of chocolates, knowing you’ve already had at least three too many. Your hostess is holding out the box to you, saying, “Have just one more. It couldn’t hurt.”

It’s hard to actually know what one more would do. That “one more” candy might be the one that pulls out ...

How often do we say, “If I only knew then, what I know now”? Sometimes it’s about life experience, like surviving teenage drama. Sometimes it’s about turning down an opportunity, like not buying stock in Facebook before the company went big. 

Obviously, we aren’t able to go back in time and real...

Mirror, mirror on the wall. If only my mirror could show me all.

We humans love our mirrors. At some deep-rooted level, we love to see ourselves. Maybe you remember the famous scene in the movie Lawrence of Arabia when Peter O’Toole playing Lawrence first puts on the white Arab robes and headdre...

There’s a moment — sometimes only after someone is gone — when we finally see the full measure of their influence. We may have known they mattered, but loss has a way of sharpening our perspective, of showing us just how much they shaped our world.

Some people use the word legendary too easily. ...

Not all mistakes are created equal. Sure, some need to be addressed and fixed. But others? They’re signs of progress. They tell you that your ears are sharper, your awareness is expanding, and your technique is evolving.

Let’s put it in context. We live in a world that’s constantly trying to cor...

You’ve heard me say this before: I had wonderful teachers throughout my musical life. From my very first piano teacher when I started piano at age four, through my harp studies from age eight and my college years at the Curtis Institute, my teachers were all I could have wanted. They nurtured me,...

I know I’m dating myself, but here goes…

Back in the 1960’s there was a television show called “Sea Hunt.”  The show centered around a free-lance scuba diver named Mike Nelson, played by Lloyd Bridges. Mike Nelson was a former Navy diver and a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. As a free-lance...

Here’s our question for today: what makes a piece of music a “harp piece”? 

Does it have to have been originally written for harp? Or composed by a harpist? Or could any piece of music, no matter what instrument or instruments it was written for, be a harp piece if you play it on the harp?

I ha...

Happy Bastille Day! This isn’t a French themed podcast episode, and we won’t be breaking the bars on any prisons today. However, while the French national motto of  liberté, égalité, fraternité is sounding across the globe, we should give some thought to the unequal treatment we give our hands. I...