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You have what you need to do this. Whatever aspect of playing the harp this is, you have what you need to do it. You have the tools, you have the energy, you have the time and you have the support. You just need to know how to find those things. If you don't think you have them, find them and use them. You can do this. And what we're going to talk about today, hopefully will help you figure that out.

Welcome to the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast. I'm Ann Sullivan, a harpist on a mission to empower every harpist to experience more harp happiness. Over my decades long harp journey, I've had lots of successes and more than a few failures. And I know firsthand what it's like to feel that playing the harp the way you want to may not be possible for you. Now, I play and teach all over the world and I know what most harpists are never taught the secrets to gaining the skills and confidence you need to play the harp with beauty, freedom and joy. That's what the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast is all about. Showing you simple steps to help you play the music you want the way you want. If you're an experienced harpist looking for that next level, or a harp newbie anxious to avoid the pitfalls, or a harpist who just wants more fulfillment and a little encouragement, you're in the right place, my friend. So let's get started.

First, I want to let you in on something special. I think the most important thing you can do for your harp playing is to develop the habits that lead to success. Whatever that looks like for you. All of us want to learn how to play the harp beautifully, how to play with confidence and enjoy making music. And if you really want to learn those things, videos are great. But live learning is essential. You need to be able to ask questions and get answers. You can't do that with just a video, which is what makes the Miharp Mastery community so special. My Harp Mastery membership is for those who really want an online experience that lets them learn at their own pace and learn what they want and be able to learn live from expert coaches every single week. Plus, you get to connect with other harpists in the community who have the same desires for their playing. This is not only a powerful learning platform, but it's also the most generous community of harpists every anywhere on the planet. They're harpists with a positive outlook, a growth mindset, and a spirit of support for their fellow harpists on the journey with them. We're ready for you. Join us. Just go to harpmastery.com join now that's harpmastery.com join now welcome to the show.

How do you measure something that is essentially unmeasurable? How do you quantify something that can't be contained or counted? How do you assess something that is completely subjective? Well, you might think you can't, but yet that's what we attempt to do every day in our practice. We try to gauge our progress. We try to determine exactly when a piece is fixed, finished, or when it will be finished. But exact measurements aren't possible in music. We can't time our progress. This piece will take exactly 37 days to learn to the degree of polish that I personally want. If only we could have that degree of certainty, the whole practice thing would be so much easier. I realize I am guilty of perpetuating this unreality. I I often use notional percentages to represent stages of finish. For a piece, for instance, I'll call a piece 80% done. If I can play most of the notes correctly, most of the time at a tempo that's at least 80% of my goal tempo. It's hardly scientific, but it gives me and my students a way to judge where we are on our journey with a piece. So what about you? Do you know where you are with that piece you're trying to finish? Are you at that 80% mark? If so, that's great, because you're almost there. By the way, I don't believe in 100%. Perfection is not a practical goal. So instead, 90 to 95% is what I would call finished. If you're playing at Carnegie hall, that's not good enough, but it should do for just about everywhere else. Or maybe this is what you've experienced. You get your piece to 80% without much trouble, but then it gets stuck there. It just won't get over that last hump to the 90% mark. That hump and how to get over it is what I'd like to talk about with you today. I want to talk about the factors that contribute to progress and to growth, as well as how to find the way to close that gap between where your piece is now and where you want it to be. We can't exactly create progress by the numbers, but we can find the steps that will pull you out of the place you are stuck and move you forward. Before we get too serious, though, I want to take a moment to wish you a happy St. Patrick's Day, the day this episode goes live, and I realize you might be listening to it later. It is St. Patrick's Day, 2025. And as a person with some Irish heritage, I mean, my name is Sullivan, after, like to just take a moment and wear the green and celebrate St. Patrick's Day. It's just kind of a fun thing. Which of course, is probably why I chose an Irish song for our March My Heart Mastery Course. And if you're not a My Heart Mastery member, of course, it's also our March seminar. It's those variations on the Irish ballad, Bendemer's Stream. So that's my little bit of Irish coming out here in March, and I invite you to join us. The My Heart Mastery members have been enjoying working through the first few variations that I've written for that piece. And if you haven't joined our seminar series yet and this interests you, I urge you to jump right in. It's not too late. You'll get the replays for the couple of calls you've missed, and you can jump right in. Get the. Get the PDF, get all the instruction, and learn this piece along with us. A quick note here. I first learned this piece, Bendemeer Stream, when I was 12. I was asked to be part of the Irish exhibit at the Philadelphia Folk Fair. And there were booze, of course, from all sorts of different ethnicities and nationalities. And I played my harp, my big harp, because I didn't have a little harp. I played my big harp as part of the Irish exhibit. A lovely man named Colin Healy was in charge of the exhibit and had asked me to do this. So I had to learn some Irish songs. I didn't know any, and I had to learn them and play through the book while I was sitting at the booth and then do some solo presentations in the big civic center in Philadelphia. So I did that. And Bendemeer's Stream was one of the pieces that I played. So I've known it and really enjoyed it for a long time. And so this was just sort of a chat to bring back that memory a little bit and write a piece and share it with all of you. So that's, as I said, that's been our My Heart Mastery course, our theme going on this month in March. And it is our March seminar. So feel free to jump in and join us there. Now, we are talking today about closing that gap, about getting over that last hump, making that last part of the. The piece you're working on come together and how to get from where you are to where you want to be. And we're going to be talking about that in terms of not just solving that one problem, but creating this entire habit of growth that's going to go along with that and help keep you from getting stuck there in the future. So, as we talk about this, it seems like a good time to remind you that I have the Finish it course, which we have just made available to you. This is the replay of the Finish it intensive that I did in January. There were quite a number of people, including our My Heart Mastery members, who took that intensive live. But if you didn't, this is your chance to get into the intensive and it's not live, you'll just be watching the replay. But I have added an introductory video. And by the way, if you took that intensive live, you still have access to it and you have access to that new introductory video as well. So you're not missing out on anything. But if you didn't do it in January, you can do it now. And we've made it available and very, very affordable. So you can get that seminar and workshop where I teach about how to finish a piece, what's blocking you, and how to get that, that last bit of polish on it. And we're talking about more than that today. We're talking about that same idea, but in a broader sense. But, but I'll give you, you'll learn a little bit about what's going to be part of what we talk about there as well. It's just a little bit different. This is actually teaching that I did at a recent retreat where I taught an entire workshop on how to break through and grow. And we're going to be looking just at a portion of that today. Of course, at the retreat, it was a lot of fun because I got to teach this material in person with the retreaters and that is so powerful. And of course, we can make it much more personal and individual there. But I wanted to share those concepts with you because I think it's going to help you get from wherever you think you are to where you know you want to be. So we're going to be talking about this, of course, in terms of the techniques you need to use to get across that, that hump, get over that hump, but also in terms of what it's going to take to grow so that these humps don't show up quite the same way in the future. So if you want to join the finish, of course, you can find those links right on the homepage of heartmastery.com or in the app, or of course, in the show notes. And that's enough about that because I want to get started, to teach you how to break through and grow, I want to start with three things I call the three uncomfortable truths. They are three things that are most definitely true, but they're not necessarily helpful. Well, the first two might not be helpful. The third one might not be a truth that you have owned yet. So we're going to have to work on that a little bit. But the thing is that when you accept these things, progress becomes much more relaxed. You know, you can be less stressed about your progress because you can accept these things. So here are the three uncomfortable truths. The first one, it will take longer than you think. I know you feel like you've already learned this one. You've learned it the hard way, right? Whatever it is that we think we're going to do, it just takes longer than we think. Oh, I'll learn this piece in a month. Well, maybe, maybe not. There are some things, of course, that go faster than we think, but those always seem to be the exceptions rather than the rule. Right? So when you accept that it's going to take longer than you think, you take the pressure off yourself. So it's not what we want to hear, perhaps, which is why I call it an uncomfortable truth. But it is reassuring to know that, okay, I thought it was going to take this long, and it's going to take longer. But you know what? That's something I can expect, and. And so it's something I can live with. Okay, Uncomfortable truth number two, it will never be perfect. Please remember that perfect is not what we're practicing for. In fact, we are practicing perfecting, not perfection. We know it's not going to be perfect because it's not something that we can replicate on demand every time. The same way music is a living art. It's an art of the moment. It happens once, and that moment is gone. Which is great news if that moment was a mistake. Right? It's gone. It's history. It's over. It's done with. But the thing is that we do want to get our music as close as we can to what we want it to be. So we're practicing perfecting certain things without expecting perfection. Perfection is not, I believe, a healthy goal. So accept that it will never be perfect and give yourself grace for what's not correct right now, what's not the way you want it to be. That's not moving you, perhaps, closer to where you want to be, but it's going to make this journey a little bit easier. So remember, it will never be Perfect. And that's okay. Even the great performers don't play perfectly. We might think it's perfect, but they're standards are at a different level and they hear different things and wish they had done them differently. So please don't think that other people can do this.

Everybody's experience is imperfect. Okay? That's the second uncomfortable truth. And here's the third one, the one you may not believe. It's this. You have what you need to do this. Whatever aspect of playing the harp this is. You have what you need to do it. You have the tools, you have the energy, you have the time, and you have the support. You just need to know how to find those things. If you don't think you have them, find them and use them.

You can do this. And what we're going to talk about today, hopefully will help you figure that out, that you do have what you need to do this. And remember, part of what you might need is somebody with you on the journey, right? That's what a teacher or a coach is for. You don't have to do this on your own. Remember that that support system is part of that. You know, maybe it's your secret weapon, right? It's like, yes, okay, I've got somebody in my corner who's on this journey with me. That's what a teacher or a coach is for. So that's part of your success system. Now it's time to think about how we're going to close the gap, that gap between where you are and where you want to be. There are two questions that you need to answer in order to start closing that gap, and they're really designed to give you clarity, to require you to be specific. I think one of the biggest problems we encounter is that we know that our piece isn't right. It's not done yet, but we often don't dive a little deeper, don't explore further to figure out exactly what about it isn't done and what the quality that it needs to have to be done is. What does done look like? So here are the two questions that I think can help give you some clarity on that. The first one is, what do I want now with this piece? What do I want now? Well, if you're going to say to finish the piece, okay, but what does that mean? Does it mean that you want to play it from beginning to end without stopping? Does it mean that the tempo needs to be faster? Does it mean that it needs to have more expression, more flow? Does it, you know, what does it need what do you want to give to it Now? I reframed that question, and you'll see why in a minute. What do you want the piece to have? I think that's so important because the funny thing is, when I have asked harpists, you know, that specific question, lots of times they're not sure. They're like, well, well, it needs to go faster. Okay, that's an easy one, right? And if it does need to go faster, that's very specific. So let's start there. Suppose that's part of that last 10%, that gap that you can't close, that hump you can't get over. It's like, I can't get it fast enough. It still sounds too slow. It. That's what you want. Okay, well, let's figure out what the music needs now. That's the second question. What do you want now? And what does the music need now? All right. I realize that's not the kind of question you're used to asking, and you might not even be sure what exactly I mean. But the thing is that sometimes what we want want to have happen and what the music really needs are not precisely the same. So, for instance, in that piece that we think is too slow, what the music might need is more flow. It may not need to be faster. It just may be that we're playing so slowly that we can't feel the flow. There is a distinction here because often for us, tempo is a number. It's that number on the metronome. This is what the tempo should be. And here I'll just throw in one of those things I like to say. Often that number, that's at the top of the page. If there's a metronome number and it says quarter note equals 100, that most often is a suggestion, not an absolute must do. There are a couple times. Couple different sorts of situations where you might need to absolutely meet that number. And I'm thinking in terms mostly of an ensemble performance of some sort where the rest of the group is going to be preparing the piece at that number, so you better meet it. But when it comes to a solo, those numbers are almost always open to interpretation. And that's the key word right now, interpretation. When you see that number and you're working at meeting the number, that's all that number is. But what does that number stand for? It stands for a particular pacing of the piece. Yes, a speed at which it needs to happen. But really, it's the feel that the piece needs to have. It's the kind of flow so that that quarter note equals 100, might not need to be 100 if the piece still flows appropriately. And this is where you have other considerations, other factors that you can think about. For instance, how slow is too slow for me to hear the progression of the melody, or how fast is so fast that I can't hear the melody. Another end to look from right, another viewpoint. Or.

What does the title of the piece? Assuming that there is a title that has a meaning, what does the title of the piece mean? And does my tempo reflect that even if it doesn't match the number? So this is where the difference between those two questions can be really clarifying and helpful. Because if what you want is to get the piece up to tempo, but the music doesn't really need you to be at that number, it just needs more flow, then that's where you want to direct your efforts. And that's a different practice process. Isn't.

Becomes less about speeding something up and maybe working on the tempo pyramid and more about finding the feel of the music. Obviously there might be some tempo pyramiding involved there too, but the goal is different. The goal isn't the number. The goal is the music itself and the way it speaks. And that's not only easier to achieve, but it's more enjoyable to achieve because you're working on music and you're not just working on matching this semi arbitrary number. So do you see the difference between those two questions? What do you want? You want to get it this way? And what does the music need? Is that exactly what it needs? Or does it need something else? Let's look at a couple more examples. Say you're playing a piece with a lot of arpeggios. Maybe what you want right now to get that piece finished is you need your arpeggios to be even.

And so you're working at making those arpeggios even. And that's what's keeping you from finishing that last 10% from closing that gap. So you're doing your drills, you're doing wood shedding all this kind of stuff. You're doing related exercises trying to make those arpeggios even. And after a while it gets frustrating because the piece doesn't seem to be improving with this. Well, that's where your second question comes into play. What does the music need now? It may not need your arpeggios to be even. Now it may depends on the piece, depends on the arpeggios, all kinds of things, but maybe what the music needs is actually its flow. Maybe in the context of the piece, at the right tempo, when you add some dynamics and you add some shaping, that unevenness may be less of an issue than you think. Considering it from the musical angle may lessen the issue with the technical part of it. Your arpeggios are still going to need to be even. I mean, that's something you're going to want to work at. But maybe you don't have to work at that, at those so hard in order to finish the piece. Maybe you can finish the piece without that. Maybe just some strategic rubato in a couple of places that serve the music well will help those arpeggios sound more even, help you to play them more evenly. It depends on the particular piece of music, of course, but realize that what the music needs is the music, and it may not have anything to do with the evenness or unevenness of your arpeggios.

Another example. What do you want now? Well, you want your music to sound expressive.

I've had lots of harpists say to me, I don't know, it just sounds so wooden and so stiff, and it's just not musical or expressive. And I'm doing the dynamics, but I don't know why it still sounds this way. Well, that's a case where the second question answers everything. What does the music need now? It might not need more dynamics if you're already doing that. It just might need to be at the right tempo. It might need to have that flow. I'm not talking about a tempo number. Again, don't go back there. But the right flow for that piece. The thing is, if you're playing a piece too slowly, it doesn't matter how much legato you use and how beautiful your dynamics are, it's still going to sound pretty plodding because the flow of the music isn't supporting your dynamics. You need to find that flow, find the right pace for that piece, at least for you now. And often that's enough to solve that problem of just feeling unexpressive. No matter how much you do the dynamics. That's the difference between what you think you need to work on and what the music really needs. And that's often where the gap is. If you can find out what the music needs, it makes it so much easier to figure out what to do to get there.

But there's a third question. If those first two questions were about closing the gap, this third question is about growth. It's the what will I need later question. Right? Those closing the gap questions, what do I want now? And what does the music need now? The growth question is, what will I need later so that this doesn't happen again, so that I don't get stuck at this same place. For instance, to go back to that example I mentioned earlier, with those arpeggios not being even, well, those arpeggios might be something that you need to do more drill on over time. We don't want to have those arpeggios make you stuck in that piece right now. But to think about how you can fix those over time is a good thing. That's a good later question. What do I need? Generally, the what will you need later answers come in terms of a few different categories. Maybe you need a new practice process. For instance, I know a lot of people like to start learning a piece hands separately, and then once they're good with the hands separately all the way through, they start working at hands together. That can be a very slow process. And if you find that you're getting bored with a piece before you get it finished and you find it's taking too long to finish, well, maybe a different practice process that brings some of that hands together work in at the beginning of the process might help speed things along. Now, that's just one example, and there are lots of them. But perhaps considering how you work on a piece might be something to think about. Because we can grow our practice skills just like we grow any other skill. And of course, then there are all those technical skills like the arpeggios we were talking about, or the scales, or playing fast. Oh, yeah, you can practice playing fast. Remember, don't just do your scales and arpeggios at the same tempo every day. Be sure you are pyramiding those as well. So some days you're playing them slowly and checking your mechanics. Other days you're playing them at a nice kind of medium speed. And some days you're really pushing that speed barrier for yourself. So you're practicing playing fast. Or there are other kinds of skills to improve as well. Things like note reading or memorization, if that's part of what you think would help you. Or maybe even learning a little bit about chord theory, a little bit about harmony. Maybe that's something that you know is a skill that you could develop that would help you not get stuck where you were this time. Sometimes the thing you really need to help you grow is just a little bit more practice time. I know can be hard to find in a busy day, but maybe that's what you need. Or don't overlook the obvious. Go to your teacher, Get a teacher, get a coach, get someone else with the expertise to save you from the pitfalls, from getting stuck in the quicksand, showing you the quicker paths to get things done. So don't ignore that. That's an important resource for you to use because remember, you have what you need to do this. You just need to be sure you're using the tools you have, developing the skills you need, and using the resources that are available to you. I'd love to hear what you thought of this episode today. How we can look at the difference between what we think we want in order to get our piece finished and perh, perhaps what the music itself wants, what it needs. And then looking at the further question, right, what do I need to grow to prevent this from happening again? I'd love to hear what you think of this and if there's some way that you can particularly apply it to what you are doing, feel free to just drop me a line. You can email me@podcastartmastery.com I would love to hear from you. And by the way, I'm having just a little mini party moment right here because this is the 200th episode of this podcast. You know, it's always funny when you start something like that. You intend to be consistent. You don't know exactly what's going to happen. But here it is, 200 episodes later. I can hardly believe it. So if you want to celebrate with me, feel free to give me a little like on whatever podcast app you're using. Particularly if you are in Apple Podcasts, go ahead and give this a. Like, give us a rating. And also something for those of you who have requested podcast transcripts, we're getting all this done for you. But if you subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Apple provides a transcript for you so that you have a transcript right there on your podcast app. So Apple Podcasts does that for you automatically. How cool is that? Once again, I invite you to join us for our March seminar. We're celebrating St. Patrick's Day today, of course, and we'd love to have you on the call with us as we're learning more of those variations on Bendemer's Stream. The Finish it course is there for you. It'll give you some different ideas for finishing your piece, a lot more detail in that particular course. Next week here on the podcast, we're gonna be answering this tough. Are you practicing enough? We're gonna talk about what enough means and how to get more done with less time. That'll be part of our discussion as well. So that's next week here on the podcast. In the meantime, remember, every day is a day you can add more harp happiness to the universe, to your world, and to your spirit. And all you have to do is play. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you next time.

Thanks for tuning in to 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.