What Does Live Coaching with Deborah Henson-Conant Look Like?

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 shows the different ways of live coaching that members can expect inside Hip Harp Academy.

Check out Deborah’s answer to the question: What does live coaching with Deborah Henson-Conant look like?

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

What does live coaching with Deborah Henson-Conant look like?

So what does live coaching look like? And it can look two different ways in Hip Harp Academy. It can look as though you’ve made a video in advance, and then you’ve shared it, and I’m coaching in the moment. Or sometimes it can mean you come with something like I’m trying to figure out how to do this. And then I say, Well, how are you doing that? Oh, okay, well, you could do this instead, or that’s great. Just keep going with that. That’s perfect. Or oh, yeah, that’s great. Just do that. But now take it up a step and take us up a step. So it can look either way.

When we have the videos, we all watch the video and we’re watching specifically to find out what we can discover about freedom. We’re looking for what is working, we’re looking for how that person used the principles that I’m teaching. And then I am coaching to say, A, what do you what do you want to do with this, because I’m not here to critique you. And I’m not here to teach you how to be like me, I’m here to help guide you to be like you like to be the most like you you can possibly be. So once I know what you want to do and what you want to express, then I can come up with ideas to help you do that, or help you do it more simply or to show you how you are already doing it, that you can just keep doing more of.

So my coaching, you know, I mean, I I’ve had years and years of experience. As an adult, I came to the harp as an adult, and not able to read music. So I had all the experience of having to figure out how to improvise quickly because as soon as I started playing the harp, I literally had to make a living with it. So I had to figure out how to make it sound like I could play. I have all of that experience.

And then as I started playing with other people, I’ve just had so many opportunities, the harp has given me so many opportunities, from you know, getting to play with Bobby McFerrin onstage to improvise with him to get into play with the Boston Pops to getting to create my own shows. And the beauty of that is I’ve had all these problems to solve and all these moments of like, oh, I don’t want to do, wait, okay. And not just all the ideas that I came up with. But all the amazing coaches that I have had the opportunity to work with, I get to bring that to all of my coaching sessions.

So the coaching sessions when you’re in a coaching session with me, you are in a coaching session with all the amazing coaches that I have ever worked with. And the whole point of that is for you to be able to be more and more deeply and in more rich way and a more free way to be you.

If you play the harp:

In this interview, Deborah Henson-Conant let us imagine how it feels like to be on a live coaching session inside Hip Harp Academy. 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.