How To Harp Podcast

Is it okay to learn from lots of different people, or should you stick with a single tutor? Heather talks it through with Angela, who brought the topic after her own students started asking. In this episode: • What another perspective can add, from creative sparks to specialist strengths • Why switching around too soon can muddle a beginner, and how to keep your learning consistent • Ways to pick...

Heather sits down with Veronika, a harpist from Ukraine who performs and teaches all over the world, for a warm, wide-ranging chat about life with the harp. In this episode: • Falling in love with the harp at the age of three, and the family who supported her • Living and rehearsing in a forest near Prague for an outdoor environmental project • Playing for very different audiences, from children&#...

Heather breaks down the technique of setting fingers on the strings before you pluck, and what that small step changes about the way you play. There's a dog agility story in there too, you'll see why! She also covers how to find what to place, on the page or by touch if you don't read music. In this episode: • What counts as a shape, from triads to four-note runs • A smoother, more flo...

Vikky had never played an instrument and had been told not to sing, so when someone suggested she try one, her answer was no way. Heather asks how that turned into a growing family of harps and a place among other harpists. In this episode: • How a friend's lap harp, some DVDs and the advice to just pluck got Vikky started • Finding fellow harpists online and at retreats while living on a smal...

Christmas Collab 2026 Info HERE - https://www.howtoharp.com/courses/christmas-harp-collaboration-2026 ----- Special occasions have fixed dates, so a piece that isn't ready in time has to wait for them to come round again. Heather sits down with How To Harp tutor Angela to look at how to be prepared without starting from scratch. Heather talks about arranging Carol of the Bells after always avo...

A long break, a frustrating run of practice or a difficult stretch of life can leave a harp sitting untouched and the way back unclear. Heather gives this one listener question her full attention, because it keeps coming up in different forms. Thank you to everyone who writes in! In this episode: - Why every harpist's path, even a professional's, has ups and downs - A creative approach, ol...

Heather welcomes Scottish harpist Rachel into the studio for an in-person conversation. It's clear how much fun it was having her there in the flesh, and that warmth carries through the whole chat. They cover Rachel's teaching work on the Isle of Man and in the Netherlands, the performance anxiety she battled early on, and how she has learned to stop playing music just to please other peop...

The quick fix doesn't exist, and Heather thinks that's good news. If you've ever come out of a practice session feeling like you should be further on by now, this episode is for you. She explains why you can take in knowledge quickly but can't rush the part where it actually beds in. In this episode: - Why working through an eight week course in four days is too fast - The differen...

Her dad found a harp and a teacher in the early 1980s, and her mum said no. Rosie waited two decades, paid for her own lessons at 30, and sixteen years on she's still going, with a long gap in the middle when life got in the way and she had to stop completely for several years. Heather asks what actually kept her coming back, and the answers are practical rather than motivational. There's...

Working through grades can be exactly what your playing needs, or the very thing holding it back, and which one it is has nothing to do with the sort of harpist you are. Heather and Angela help you tell the difference. They go over what's on offer, from ABRSM and Trinity to university routes and How To Harp's own certification, and they're honest about both sides of it rather than land...

A library book about choosing an instrument for your child, left lying around the house, is where this whole story starts. Heather's guest is Rachel, who read it at 11, came downstairs the next morning asking for a harp, and has since been named BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2026. Heather asks her about the years in between, from a first rented harp in Aberdeenshire...

Heather's learning and teaching philosophy has never been spoken about properly before, and she lays the whole thing out here. It came out of a live session during our Celebrating Harmony Weekend, when she heard herself explaining it and realised that's genuinely how everything at How To Harp has been built. It centres on three ideas she's taken from the jazz musician Clark Terry, imit...

Niccie heard a harp at the ballet when she was little, then waited more than four decades before she started playing one. Heather sits down with her to find out how she finally got going, and why doing it her way has mattered so much. She's nearly three years in now, and she knows exactly how she learns, what she wants from an instrument, and what she'd rather take her time over. Heather g...

Plenty of people come to the harp later in life already sure they've missed their chance. The Heather and Angela episodes are usually a Harpy Tutor Chat, but in this one Heather is asking Angela a set of questions she hadn't seen beforehand. It's part celebration of Angela's two years with How To Harp, and part honest conversation about what teaching adults asks of you. In this epi...

Nadia's best-known tune sat in a drawer for eleven months before she published it, because she wasn't sure it was good enough. It's since been heard well over a million times, and the German harpist and singer joins Heather to talk about how she works, and what she listens for. Much of it goes back to her training in Lieder, where the piano part is written to illustrate the words. She&...

Heather turned 40 last weekend, and this week she's flying solo with something a bit more personal than usual. It's an honest look at how she handled the run up to a birthday she really didn't want, and what she'd do very differently next time. It's not really a birthday episode though. If you've ever put something off because you were dreading it, you'll recognise a lo...

Heather sits down with Karen, a much-loved part of the How To Harp membership, to hear how she found the harp and what it has come to mean to her. Please listen with care, as Karen speaks openly about living with serious illness, including cancer. What follows is warm, funny and full of heart, a reminder of how much music can carry us through, even in the hardest of times. In this episode: - How a...

Heather & Angela are back for another Harpy Tutor Chat, sharing an honest conversation about what it means to keep growing as a musician. They reflect on their own experiences, the challenges of developing new skills, and why staying curious is such an important part of any harp journey. From learning completely new instruments to taking regular harp lessons, they explore different ways of dev...

Heather chats with Gwyneth about EFT, tapping and how emotional blocks from the past can affect the way we feel, behave and make music. They explore how tapping works, why performance anxiety can feel so powerful, and how simple emotional freedom techniques may help musicians feel calmer, freer and more confident. In this episode: • What EFT and tapping are • How Gwyneth helps people get free from...

Heather answers another batch of listener questions in this special Q&A episode. Thank you to everyone who sent questions in - you all made this episode possible! She also shares thoughts on professional harp pathways in Scotland, conservatoire study, harp qualifications, regulation, practice methods, hand shapes, humidity, sun cream, and when to ask your harp maker for advice. In this episode...

Heather explores why technique is about far more than scales and exercises, and how strong technical foundations can give you greater freedom, confidence and expression at the harp. She shares four reasons technique gives you freedom in your playing, from removing panic and building confidence to expanding your musical choices and helping you focus on expression rather than mechanics. In this epis...

Heather chats with learner harpist Karin, who shares her remarkable harp journey, from discovering the harp during the pandemic to rebuilding her playing after suffering a life-changing stroke just 18 months into learning. They discuss recovery, neuroplasticity, the power of tiny daily steps, learning online, and how music, community and determination helped Karin reclaim an important part of her...

Heather & Angela chat about why nerves, vulnerability & learning never fully disappear, even when you become a teacher or have years of experience behind you. They also discuss why students can feel nervous playing in lessons, how teachers can support learners through that, and how reflecting clearly on progress can help adult learners build confidence and trust the learning process. In th...

Heather chats with Nicole about moving beyond external expectations and finding a musical path that feels honest, creative and true to who you are. They also discuss classical training, orchestral pressure, burnout, songwriting, improvisation, teaching, performing with others, and the courage it takes to follow musical dreams that might feel out of reach. In this episode: • How Nicole first starte...

Heather explores how perfectionism can show up for adult harp learners, and why trying to get everything “right” can sometimes hold back your progress, confidence and enjoyment. She shares five helpful ways to think about perfectionism, from allowing yourself to be a beginner to seeing mistakes as useful information, aiming for progress instead of perfection, and learning to speak to yourself with...