Declare your CREATIVE Independence! (Newsletter)

Declare your Creative Freedom! Join the Blues Jam Harp Challenge

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DHC Ezine dated Sat. Jul. 4, 2026
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You know I’m a runner, right? Slow – but committed! I run nearly every day and on weekends, at least one ‘long’ run.

I live about 5 miles from Lexington, Massachusetts on the ‘Minuteman” bike trail. So, maybe 8 years ago, on July 4th, I’m on a long run, and pretty tired as I hit Lexington — when a battalion of men with muskets in Revolutionary garb stampede the bike path.

Am I hallucinating??? It took me a minute to remember the passionate Revolutionary War reenactors who take over Lexington every July 4th. But when I did, I remembered they always remind me:

Freedom is worth fighting for.

Harpists don’t usually think of playing the harp as a fight for freedom.

We think it’s about learning pieces, playing the right notes, and practicing more.

But we DO have to fight for freedom. Not out there – in here. In our heads. With the voice that says:

“You’re not good enough.”

“A REAL musician wouldn’t make that mistake.”

“You’ll humiliate yourself.”

And we surrender to that voice immediately, right? We don’t just surrender – we DEFECT and take that voice on as our own!

I think almost every musician knows that voice and we talk about it all the time in Hip Harp Academy. It’s the voice that stops the music – that, little by little, replaces freedom with protection: trying to avoid mistakes.

BUT THIS YEAR – it’s time to DECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE from that voice and embrace your CREATIVE FREEDOM!

Freedom can begin with something unbelievably small – like a 5-note pattern.

And that’s how it works in the 5-Day Blues Jam Harp Challenge that starts on Monday!

In Day 1, I show you a simple five-note “no wrong note” pattern. A pattern that gives you permission to stop worrying about all OTHER notes you could or should be playing. And instead, play AROUND with only those five notes – and your own Blues band mp3.

Instead of worrying about doing it right, you start thinking: “Oooo – What happens if I try this?”

And that question is where FREEDOM and DISCOVERY begin.

When I discovered improv through the Blues, I wasn’t looking for another musical style.

I wanted breathing room. A place I didn’t feel like every note had to prove I belonged. The Blues gave me that. It let me PLAY around. It let me have FUN, EXPLORE, come ALIVE.

And now I want to share that experience with YOU through the 5-Day Blues Jam Harp Challenge

• LEARN MORE HERE

15 minutes a day – learn at whatever time works for you. It’s for all Levels and all Harps – whether you’ve played for 6 months or 60 years. And there be PRIZES!

We start with the five-note pattern – a “riff”. I show you how to experiment, swing the rhythm, play around and before you know it, you’ll be making music instead of worrying about making mistakes.

“…it gives me the greatest amount of freedom…I can use as little or as much musical content as I want.”~Réiltín N.

“I can feel free to express myself at whatever level I feel comfortable.” ~Jenn B.

“You have so much freedom—you can throw whatever you want in there, and it can be different each time.”~Lisa M.

“Even snippets can transport you to another world… thank you for the freedom.”~Mike F.

Freedom doesn’t show up because someone gives it to you.

Freedom appears when you stop asking, “What am I allowed to do?” and start asking, “What can I discover?”

That’s the revolution I’m interested in. And you don’t need a Revolutionary Enactment Musket for it. This is the freedom revolution that happens every time a harpist discovers they can create music they didn’t know they had inside them.

This July 4th, while fireworks bloom all over the night sky across the U.S.A., celebrate something even more personal:

Declare your own creative independence.

Join me for the free 5-Day Blues Jam Harp Challenge.

Open up to the freedom, the joy, and the personal fireworks of improvisation and self-expression in your own playing.

Because freedom isn’t waiting somewhere in the future…

Freedom is here.

And sometimes…it begins with just five notes.

It’s all about Connection ….not Perfection.

Harpists Who Dare

Ready to liberate yourself from the notes on the page?