Harp Dreams

Indiana University's School of Music holds an international harp competition every three years.  It is a huge deal in the harp world. Just getting there to play is a thing and being a finalist - it is day one of your career.  The "teaser" from PBS is here. ... and here is an article.

I urge you to see this.  It is extremely well done - that goes without saying and is very "backstage" with the emotions, fears, securities and insecurities involved with this type of thing.  But it is something you might not ever see again and unless you can go, well you might never see a second of in your lifetime.

A better way of describing it, under the almost angelic music and dedicated performers is "hey you - yes you. your turn on stage. we will give you 20 minutes or so to prove that your last 15 years of 8 hours a day practice, hundreds of thousands of dollars in instruction, buying a harp and carting it around (its like moving a small piano in a sense) makes you better than the other 14 we invited here who did the same thing".

What if you "profession" boiled down to 20 minutes to prove it.  No pressure there!