If I’m the solution – what’s the problem? (Newsletter)

DHC Ezine dated Fri., May 8, 2026
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• LIVE CONCERT in Los Angeles – Thu. Jun. 4th: Tickets here
• NEW VIDEO: 5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started: Watch here
• NEW CLASS! “Six tunes in Six Weeks”: Register here

I had a breakthrough this week. And I wonder if this speaks to you in your own life as well:

A friend asked: “What if you’re the SOLUTION to someone else’s problem? What are YOU the solution TO?”

I surprised myself by blurting out: creative engagement.

I didn’t say as I usually do. “I’m a performer”, or “I’m a composer” or “I teach improvisation.”

I thought: Who I am — and what I do — is the solution to people’s desire to feel creatively engaged in their own lives.

It suddenly felt true. It was as though I heard it all fall into place. Followed by silence, and a long exhalation. I’m a solution.

After a lifetime of people telling me “you have to decide what you do.” Do you play harp, or do you write musical theater or do you run an academy for harpists in improv and self-expression, or do you compose music for harp? You have to decide what you really do!

And yet I knew that somehow ‘deciding’ was wrong – because all those things emerge from whatever it is AM. And I am a solution.

As a performer, a solution to audiences who want entertainment that creates a new sense of creative possibility in their own lives (below, see my June 4th show)

As a composer, creating vehicles for performers to be fully self-expressed.

As an educator, giving people the skills and tools to turn who they already are and what they can already do into a creative experience that expands their own and others’ lives (below, see “6 Tunes in 6 Weeks”)

So now let me ask you:

What are you the solution to?

And while you’re working on that question – here’s where I’ll be solutionizing in the next few weeks. I hope we can solutionize together!

As a Performer

DHC Live at Harp Center Los Angeles – Thu. June 4, 8PM PDT

I’ll be performing live on stage where I feel most like myself at the new L.A. Harp Center for an intimate evening of electric harp, voice, storytelling, improvisation and humor.

Bring a friend. Sometimes the best part of a live show is who you experience it with.

• Get your tickets here
  • $45 General Admission
  • $35 Early-bird Price (until May 26)
  • Use code CIRCLE (all caps) at checkout for extra $5 discount — because you ARE my inner circle!

• Click here for more details about the show

New on YouTube

5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started as a Musician

When I did a recent interview with Authority Magazine, they asked me what are the five things I wish I knew when I started as a musician. So I sang my answer, recorded it, and then posted it on Youtube. And I’m loving seeing he comments so I hope you’ll leave one too and enjoy the video.

• Watch it here

And to Jacqueline who posted the comment above just a few minutes after I posted the video — your comment made me soooo happy!

As an Educator

HARPISTS: Six Tunes in Six Weeks (using the Improv Rondo Method)

• Click here to learn more & register

How do you learn six tunes – six arrangements – in six weeks?

It doesn’t require genius or virtuosity — or even an ability to read music well – but it does require creativity!

What you learn in “Six tunes in Six Weeks” is a method for taking just the most recognizable part of a tune — the part audiences recognize and love —and combining it with fun, easy improvisation using a framework that guides you every step. I call it “Improv Rondo”. It’s simpler than you can imagine.

In six weeks, you’ll have six new tunes in your repertoire through the magic of “Improv Rondo” including Scarborough Fair, Clair de Lune, Baroque Flamenco (simplified), Ode to Joy, plus two more that will be decided in the class by popular demand. And a method you can use on any tune you want after that.

Cherie, a Hip Harp Academy member shared:

“This has helped me build up my repertoire so quickly and easily. I only need to learn the easy part of a tune, for example Claire de Lune, and stretch the rest of the tune out with the rondo improv.

My audiences heard the tune that they loved and I could do lots of improv that was fun, without learning all the notes. Even with tunes I didn’t even like, for example Ode to Joy — by using the rondo form I now really like it, because I can mix up the improv and make it interesting every time.”

• Click here to learn more & register