Why Did Deborah Henson-Conant Create Hip Harp Academy The Way She Did?

Welcome to a one-on-one interview with Grammy-nominated harpist Deborah Henson-Conant, the mastermind behind “Hip Harp Academy” – an online academy where harp enthusiasts come together to learn, inspire, and grow in their musical journey.

In this exclusive interview, Deborah opens up about the reason for creating the Hip Harp Academy, the way it is designed, how her experience affected it, and her mission to support harpists of all levels.

Check out Deborah’s answer to the question: Why Did You Create Hip Harp Academy The Way You Did?

Watch the video above or read the transcript of the interview below.

Why Did You Create Hip Harp Academy The Way You Did?

I wanted to build it so that there could be a group of people. People were learning from each other. People were safe and they were able to share and people could learn from that sharing. And that’s why I built it the way that I did.

One of the reasons that I built the Academy the way that I did was because of all the ways that I have learned, all the different communities that I’ve learned in, and being able to bring all the different ways of learning from those communities.

Like when I worked with my teacher, Tony, it was one-on-one. I got to have real physical contact. When I was in the new opera and musical theater initiative, I learned what it was like to learn in a group and to be able to give safe feedback. And for the person who had shared something vulnerable to be able to control that feedback rather than people just throwing stuff at them. So all my experiences in learning, I brought them to Hip Harp Academy.

And then what started happening is that students started asking for specific things like these snippets that I teach every week. And these specific things that people started asking for have become a real foundation of the whole Academy, along with what I brought.

So it really has been this community experience of learning how to learn.

If you play the harp:

In this interview, Deborah Henson-Conant shares the structure of how she designed Hip Harp Academy – to nurture and support harpists. To see, other interview videos of Deborah about the Hip Harp Academy, go to this YouTube video playlist.

By offering a community-driven and inclusive platform for harpists at every stage, the Hip Harp Academy continues to pave the way for musical growth, self-expression, and meaningful connections.

So, if you're looking for more confidence, creativity support and gaining freedom from the notes on the page click the button below and join the Hip Harp Academy.

I invite YOU to join this powerful, supportive, creative community.