Make Your Difficult Sheet Music Easier!

How to Make Difficult Sheet Music Easier to Play on the Harp

Let me know if this sounds familiar:

You hear a beautiful song and think, Wow, I’d love to play this on the harp! You buy the sheet music, sit down to play it, and… oh no. It’s way too hard. Totally impossible. So, you shelve it, and it just sits there collecting dust.

Sound familiar?

I’m here to tell you that all hope is not lost for that dusty arrangement. You can absolutely use it—you just need to know how to simplify it so it’s actually playable for you.

Now, some people might call this “cheating,” but I’m a huge fan of making music approachable. Sure, there’s a time and place for studying everything exactly as written, but let’s be real: this is real life, and he point of playing an instrument is to make music. In my opinion, that’s far more important than sticking rigidly to the page.

I do this all the time, especially with wedding and gig repertoire. Sometimes I don’t have time to learn a long or intricate arrangement in full, and keep it ready to go at the drop of a hat. So, I edit the sheet music to make it easier for myself, because beautiful doesn’t have to mean difficult.

If you have some sheet music that feels too hard, here’s how to make it easier. These steps are simple but effective, and they can help turn that intimidating piece into something you’ll actually enjoy playing.

Step 1: Make It Shorter

One of the biggest challenges for beginner and intermediate harpists is length. Anything over 2–3 pages (or even just 1 page for beginners) can feel overwhelming. You can absolutely shorten a piece!

Here’s how:

• Look at the structure of the piece. What’s essential? What can be left out?

• Listen to a recording to identify repeating patterns and the most important parts.

• Decide how you want to end it: copy the written ending to an earlier point, create your own ending, or start closer to the end to use the original ending as-is.

Step 2: Take Notes Out

Once you’ve shortened the piece, the next step is to edit the notes. This mostly involves removing notes. The trick is knowing which ones to take out.

Simplify the Right Hand

For the right hand, focus on the melody. If there are chords or ornaments that feel tricky, simplify or remove them.

Simplify the Left Hand

The left hand often has more notes than you need. Look for notes that belong to triads (three notes that form a chord, like C-E-G). These can guide you in deciding which notes to keep.

Here are a few options for simplifying:

1. Remove any Non-Triad Notes

2. Keep the Triad – Rearrange the notes into a simple triad (stacked or spread out).

3. Broken Chords or Rolled Chords – Use the triad notes to create broken or rolled chords.

4. Single Notes – If chords are still too much, just play the bass note (the first note of each measure).

Step 3: Make It Yours

This process is all about creating an arrangement that works for you. It doesn’t have to match the original exactly—it just has to sound good and feel playable.

I always say: the goal is to play beautifully, not perfectly. Sometimes, the simplest arrangements are the most moving.

Want to Go Deeper?

This blog post is just scratching the surface of what’s possible when simplifying music and making your own arrangements of songs that actually suit your ability level.

If you’d like to dive deeper, I’ve created a full course on making your own harp arrangements. You don’t need to know complicated music theory—I break everything down step by step. Check it out here!

I hope this helps you get more use out of your sheet music! Have a piece you’re going to try simplifying? Let me know in the comments—I’d love to hear about it.

Until next time, happy harping!