How to Have a Perfect Harp Lesson - PHH 002

Welcome to Practicing Harp Happiness, the Harp Mastery Podcast. My name is Ann Sullivan and I'm a harpist, teacher, and founder of Harp Mastery. I'm all about creating more harp happiness in the world by helping harp players like you play the music they want.

The way they want.

But as a harpist who nearly flunked out of one of the most prestigious music schools in the world, I, although later not only graduated, but I went on to teach there. I know from personal experience that learning the harp is way harder than it looks. Here, each week on the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast, I show you how to solve the challenges of practicing and playing the harp. Whether it's about making your fingers behave or learning music faster or getting your piece's performance ready, or just learning to enjoy your playing every day. Sounds great, doesn't it? Let's get started.

Welcome to today's show. I know a perfect lesson seems impossible, right? I mean, we all prepare for our lessons. We go into that lesson feeling ready and eager to show our teacher what we've done during the week. Things went not too badly at home, so we're really looking forward to a good lesson. And then we sit on that bench, our fingers shake, our mind seems to dissolve, and we can't do anything right. And what do we always end up saying? It went so much better at home. I know, I've been there. I've certainly heard it enough as a teacher, but I said it enough as a student. I know what it's like. But you know what I want to tell you today about how to have a perfect lesson.

Not maybe a note perfect one.

Cause I've never had one of those myself. But to have the kind of lesson that leaves you feeling energized, inspired, happy about what you've done, excited about the progress you're going to make, all of that from one lesson, doesn't it sound wonderful? And you can do that, but it's going to take a little bit of a mindset shift. And that's what we're going to be talking about today. Now, this is nothing too far out or too mind game. Ish. It's very practical, but it will help give you the teacher's perspective and help you prepare for your lesson with that perspective in mind so that you are set for progress and learning and enjoying the journey and not setting yourself up for failure. Now, I know one of the things that can cause us some grief in a lesson is when our fingers fail us. So that's why at the end of this episode, I'm going to Be telling you about a really special challenge that you can join to improve your technique and make it as strong and as reliable, as trustworthy as possible. If you're listening to this when it goes live on Monday, May 31, there is still time to join our challenge. It starts tomorrow, but it'll be open for a few more days so you can get in there and join us. It's called Build, Extend Advanced, and it's a system for refreshing, rebuilding, and moving your technique forward. So we're going to be working on all those things. It's very simple. I'll give you all the details of what it involves and how to join at the end. But let me just say, it's going to be so much fun. And now let's go on to talking about that elusive perfect lesson.

I remember well the one time that my teacher told me about a student of hers who had played a perfect lesson note perfect. Not a single mistake in the entire lesson. Now, there was only one time that I know that that happened, and the student was not me. In fact, I'm pretty sure my teacher was telling me this story to encourage me to practice a little bit more because I was never a very good practicer. I don't know whether or not that was truly inspiring, but it really does make you stop and think, doesn't it? If a note perfect lesson is that rare, are we really thinking about the right things when we're thinking about having a perfect lesson?

Sort of thought provoking, isn't it? At least I hope that it's making you think. And my object today is to help you recast your idea of what a perfect lesson is. And because I don't think that it's about the notes. I mean, I've been teaching for a long time and I've never had a student play a note perfect lesson for me. And if that were the way I rated a lesson, then I think my, you know, I don't know any student would have any hope of playing a perfect lesson.

So it's not about the notes. It's not about having completed the assignment that your teacher gave you, because that assignment is part of a path, right? And your lesson is a checkpoint on that path.

So the lesson itself isn't about a presentation of a finished product, at least, you know, unless you're a conservative conservatory student preparing for a competition, that might be a different case. But I think that I would feel good about my lesson as a student if I could leave it feeling inspired, feeling energized to work, and feeling Like, I had learned a lot.

So we're going to come back to those three objectives and look at them a little bit differently and hopefully recast your idea of what a perfect lesson is and how that could work for you. But let's talk a little bit first about how a teacher sees their role in a lesson. A teacher could be an educator. Yeah, certainly. But an educator sort of makes me think of one way. Communication. You know, it's like going to Google and, and looking it up online. You'll get the information, but then it's up to you to do something with it. And I don't see my role in a lesson that way. I know a lot of students think that a teacher is there partly as a judge, and I don't think that's right at all because it's not about saying whether something is right or wrong. My role is much more like a mentor or a guide. I'm showing you the path, helping you along the path, making sure you don't fall into potholes by the side of the road, but that we stay on a path that's going to lead you to progress, that's going to lead you to achieving your harp goals or dreams or whatever it is that we're working on. But it's that idea of being a mentor, not a judge, that is really important for me. A partner with you in your progress. And that's what's important to a teacher about working with a student. So if you come into your lesson feeling like that teacher is there to judge you, I would say that that's an attitude that we can change, and it would be good to change it because I don't think it's very helpful. When you get into a lesson, your vision of your teacher's role is critical to your lesson success. It's going to. If you can see your teacher as a mentor or a partner instead of a judge, it's going to reduce your level of nerves. It's going to reduce any guilt or fear or embarrassment that you might have about making a mistake. And it's going to reduce your feeling of not being good enough or not having done enough. I want you coming into that lesson as a learner and an explorer and. And feeling like a harpist. Oh, that feels good already. Right. Okay, let's continue. So what would your responsibilities be then, as a student? Well, I think that your responsibilities could be these. For instance, I would like you to help me create the plan for your progress. I don't want you to just say, you know, whatever you Want, you're the teacher. I want to guide your steps, but I want you to help me decide what those steps should be and help me decide the direction of those steps. You know, if you want to play a particular piece, I can show you how, but I want to know that this is a direction that you want to go. So helping me create the plan for you is really important. And then as a teacher, I would expect you to follow our plan. I mean, if we have said, well, we're going to do this and we're going to do this and we're going to do it this way, and then I would expect you to live up to your part of the bargain. I'll help you follow the plan from my end, but you have to do that part of the work on your end. So that's a responsibility that you have. Does it mean that you have to do everything 100% correctly? No, we're not talking about correct. We're talking about process, not performance.

You see the difference, right? Okay. So the third thing I think is that you need to be prepared to work with me in the lesson. We're going to work together to sort out issues. We're going to work to see what's. What's stopping you from getting where you want to go, or maybe to see if we can't jumpstart you a little bit and move you further ahead on the path and then together create that next plan that's going to take you the next leg of the journey.

So the lesson itself, it's got that checkpoint atmosphere. It's got that. That regrouping idea. It's a checkpoint. We're here. We're going to see where we are, see what we need to do, and then strategize a plan to take us forward.

It's not about you coming in and playing it for me, and me saying, oh, not good enough. Go home and do it again. That's not a lesson, is it? You could get that from taking a video of yourself. That's not what a lesson is for. Are you starting to see how a lesson could be a perfect lesson without being necessarily flawless playing? At least I hope you are. So let's look at it this way. What if we created a scorecard? A scorecard for your lesson with 10 being the perfect score. If I were creating that scorecard, I would have three things on it.

And those three things, the point score would add up to 10.

So the first thing on my scorecard would be that you practiced what we discussed, you followed our plan, and that's worth five points out of the 10 right there. Because if we decide what you need to do and then you do it.

You'Ve done exactly what we needed you to do. That's it. Right. It doesn't get any. You know, it could probably be the sole element on the scorecard, except that I don't think that would really satisfy you. So it's. It's worth half of our 10 points. It's worth five points.

Next on the scorecard, I would be this. I would say this, that you were willing to work with me in the lesson.

I'm known for working my students pretty hard in a lesson, and I think it's because that's how I was trained. You know, you don't come to the lesson, you play it for me, and then I say, well, do it again. That's not what the lesson is. You know, when I hear what I need to hear, then it's, okay, well, let's go this. And let's try it this way. And let's try it this way. We do a lot of work in my lessons, and I'll bet you your teacher works with you, too.

And I need you to be willing to do that work, because I'm invested, especially during the lesson. I'm invested in your progress and in your growth in that lesson, and I need you to be at least that invested with me. So that being willing to work with me in the lesson, that's three points on the scorecard. I'll do my part, you do yours. Perfect. There's that perfect word again, huh? All right, the last two points I allocate to this, that you help me create the plan for our. To take us toward our next lesson so that when you leave the lesson, we know what you're going to do, how you're going to do it, and what we've decided is going to be the. The right process for you to follow, to take you to that next checkpoint.

I can tell you what to do, but I would rather have your input on that. I would rather make sure that when you leave the lesson, I know that you are committed to that plan, that that's what you're going to do. Now, this doesn't mean that life doesn't get in the way and you don't have a. You know, you might come back to your next lesson and tell me you know something. I.

My. My dog was at the vet all week, or I had to help a sick relative, or.

This project came up at work and I didn't get the Practice time in that I wanted to get in. Okay, so you weren't able to follow the plan.

Then. You know what? We can have a working lesson, and I can help you make up for the time you might have lost in that last week or two before this lesson. And we can still make progress. We can keep you. Get you back on track and keep you moving forward. I call that a working lesson, and I never mind doing those.

I expect that my students will practice. But, you know, real life happens. So that to me, there's no shame or guilt in that either. You know, if you need to come to the. To the lesson and say, I need a working lesson today, that's okay, I can do that. So, you know, not having practiced happens. Don't feel badly about it. Let me help you. Just keep moving forward now. So let's talk about that scorecard again. Right? The three things on my scorecard again, you practiced, as we discussed. Assuming life didn't get in the way, you were willing to work in our lesson, and you helped me create the plan for going forward. How can you take those three things and think about changing your scorecard and think about what that would do for you? Now, for instance.

You practiced, as we discussed. That's the first thing on my scorecard. Well, that requires you to understand what the plan is when you leave my studio. So be sure that you've asked the questions you need to ask so that you know what I mean. And you know, I'm. I'll try to make my directions, as your teacher does, pretty clear. This is. This is what we're trying to accomplish. And here are my ideas that I'm sharing with you as to how those. How those things. Things might be accomplished or how to work on them or what you should be working in your lesson. Whether it's work with the metronome this week or work things in rhythm or take this in sections or play the whole thing through. But we'll have strategies down to, you know, down in the trenches kind of tactics where this is what you're going to do. Understanding what you need to do and how to do it is critical to lessen success for you. So be sure that that's part of what you do. Don't leave the lesson not understanding, or if you get home and you can't remember, ask me. Ask your teacher. That's what they're there for.

Now, we've all been to those places where we are, you know, dreading the lesson, right? Oh, I don't think I'm going to play well, I'm, you know, I'm worried about messing up. I'm worried about making mistakes. Well, let's change your thinking here so that it's not about how you mess up or how many mistakes you make, but instead it's going to be about what you can discover. This is what I call the inspiration mindset. And it's going into that lesson with the idea that, you know, instead of the idea that, oh, I'm. I'm worried about how I'm going to play. I hope I play well. I don't want to make too many mistakes. I mean, we know that, and there's going to be some of that always there.

But more powerful is the idea to go into your lesson knowing that you're going to learn something, you're going to discover something that you didn't know before, whether it's what the next step in the process is going to be or that, oh, my gosh, it's not my fourth finger, it's my elbow. Whatever the problem is, you might discover a unique solution, a different practice idea, a new piece of music. Music, anything but go in with to your lesson with the idea that you're going to learn something new, discover something new. The inspiration mindset. Critical again, to lesson success.

And then the third thing, we all know, you get into the lesson, things are going well, and then something happens. And that one little thing, that little mistake, that something rather snowballs. And all of a sudden, you're frazzled, you're unfocused, you can't seem to get back on track. You can't. After that, it can spiral down to the point where it feels like you can't do anything right.

It can be very hard to regain your focus and regain your equilibrium and start to make the progress that you want again and to learn in your lesson.

So how can we fix this? I want you to consider this as your lesson objective. That will help you refocus and stop you from getting too frazzled and distraught when things start to go wrong. It's not about how well you play. All of this is about how much you learn in your lesson.

As a teacher, I can work with any number of mistakes. I just want you to stop apologizing for them and start figuring out with me how to fix them. I'm not worried about the wrong notes. I'm just worried about how we fix them, that's all. So it's not about how well or poorly you play or how many mistakes you make. It's about how much you learn. And as soon as you can adopt that mindset and incorporate that kind of a question into your personal lesson scorecard, the easier it will be for you to shed those mistakes as they happen and not dwell on them, not let them cause you to make more mistakes, but rather, you will be able to refocus, recommit yourself to the next note.

To learning the next thing.

So those are the three things that I would like you to consider to put on your personal scorecard.

I. I'd like if I could offer you one more piece of advice before we get on to.

Sort of taking some key points from here and putting them together for you. I'd like you not to be disappointed in. In how you play at your lesson. I know there's some of that, especially when, you know, we know it goes better at home.

But I'd like you to always come away from your lesson feeling energized and ready to get to the next level.

The things that went poorly today are just. They're just indications of what we still need to learn and improve.

They're not wrong. They're not unfixable. They're not bad. They may be wrong, but they're not bad. But they're certainly fixable. So let's not waste too much time regretting what we didn't do, right? Let's spend that time figuring out how we can make things that much better. So my challenge to you is to try creating your own lesson scorecard based along the three things that we were talking about today. So I'd like you to create the scorecard that includes your practicing what you and your teacher had talked about. You're working hard in your lesson, and you're helping to create the plan for next time, which will help you start out with that inspiration mindset, keep you focused and not frazzled in your lesson, and help you know what you need to do every day when you sit down at the harp. Then when you come back to your lesson, those are the only things that you need to rate for your lesson. Scorecard makes it much easier and way more fun to have a perfect lesson. Okay, let's review. A perfect lesson isn't about the notes. A perfect lesson is part of a path to progress. It's another step on that path to progress, not a performance.

It's making a plan with your teacher and then working that plan every day in your practice.

It's about partnering with your teacher to help you get further faster than you would on your own. Most of all, it's about changing your perception about understanding that perfection in terms of a lesson isn't about notes or mistakes or speed or how you're doing exactly. It's about the steps that you're taking that will lead to the kind of musical results you're looking for. It's a process. Lots of P words in there, but that just comes with the territory here. So mostly it's all part of a system, isn't it? A system for growth.

A system for improvement, and ultimately a system for your heart playing. I love systems. And that reminds me that I needed to talk to you about one more system, and that's the technique system that we are helping you learn in our new Build Extend, Advance Technique course. It's that course that's coming out as a challenge. And I told you earlier in the episode I would, I would share with you how to join us. If you're listening to us the day this episode goes live, which is Monday, May 31, then you can join us right at the beginning of the challenge and you can hop on and be with us. If you're listening a day or two later, no worries, you can still get into the challenge. And here's the easy way to do it. I did put the link in the show notes so you can look at the show notes and just click through and sign up immediately. Or or you can go over to harpmastery.com and you will find the link to sign up for the challenge there. Remember, we're going to be reviewing all the very basics of your technique, making sure that that foundation is solid and then moving those fingers along to work in more and more complicated techniques.

Work at speedier things.

Don't let the word complicated scare you. Your fingers do things way harder than this every day. We what I want you to do is not work hard, but work correctly. And that's what we're going to be doing in this challenge. So join us, please. It'll be lots and lots of fun and you can read all about it on the website. So follow that link and I hope to see you on the challenge now. I also hope to see you back here next week on the podcast when we have an interesting episode. We're going to be exploring the facts, the fallacies and the how tos of that staple of every harpist repertoire, the Pachel Bell Canon. Now, I know you might think you know everything there is to know about the canon, but guess what? There's always something else. And I have a few very interesting facts and practice strategies to share with you. And I guarantee that you're going to find them interesting, so don't miss it. I will look forward to seeing you then. See you next time. Thanks for being here.

Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast. I release a new episode every Monday morning so you can hit your practice week running. Until then, remember to practice your Harp happiness every day.

See you next time.