Rebecca Hass: Pianist, Composer, Educator, Creative Coach

Courtney Miller "How's it bee?" an interactive children's recital

Happy Meowniversary to , the Professor of Play, equal parts spunky goofball and aggressively affectionate love muffin! I can’t believe he’s owned us for 4 years already! 😻

🎶: Patas de Problemas / Troublepaws (his middle name), written by me but essential inspiration from 😻

Even though I’ve been quiet, my 100 Day Project is almost halfway complete, and going strong!

If you’re not familiar, is a global creative community and free annual art project that anyone can join.

I love a good creative practice project - this is even in my official bio: “She is always designing new practices for herself, her students, and her creative coaching clients.”

My 2 100 Day Projects in 2017 ( ) were SO pivotal in writing material for both of my albums.

Despite being a very busy season, it was much easier to stick with this project than I expected, because:
1) I really enjoyed the work of composing
2) Public accountability was motivating
3) I chose a manageable daily amount of work (8 measures).

This daily creative habit released the pressure from my inner editor and let me just keep making stuff. Each day was a fresh start!

I ended up with 23 pieces or fragments, many of which were finished and recorded on my second album, Bright Little Worlds, in 2024.

After the 100 days ended, I missed the ritual and accountability of writing and posting daily, so I did another self-guided 100 Day Project later that year.

🙌 This will be my first year completing a 100 Day Project since then - my project is to practice a different musical lick (a short catchy phrase) daily by transposing it to all 12 keys.

In the past I felt hesitant to be reliant on licks in my improvisation, especially when formulaic, but since I’d been feeling bored and limited by what was coming to me naturally when improvising, it was time to intentionally expand my musical vocabulary.

In some ways, I’m fulfilling my goals with this project, but in other ways, things are missing, which is why reflecting on the process is so helpful.

This is an excerpt from the latest Creative Joy Beams newsletter - check out the full version to hear more about:
⭐️ What I’m noticing and learning this time around vs. in 2017
⭐️ How to select your own project theme for meaningful creative growth!

(rebeccahass.substack.com / link in b1o)

💐 I have always looked forward to spring (my favorite season), but I’ve also noticed that this can also be a difficult time of year for many of us.

The energy of early spring can feel uncomfortably buzzy.

I start waking up earlier as the sunrise gets earlier, mirroring the outdoor landscape.

This waking-up and coming-out-of-hibernation energy is exciting, but it can also can present as agitation and anxiety, as our nervous systems catch up with the change.

➡️ Transitions can be tricky! ⬅️

Spring gets romanticized because there's often nicer weather as winter ends.

But even with positive transitions, there's a lot to process.

Coming out of hibernation poses adjustments, and takes a lot more of your body's resources than you realize.

If spring is actually a tough mental health time for you, it's more normal than you think, and this is good information to have about yourself.

Now that I know that I have this increased anxiety and restlessness starting in early or mid-March, it’s much easier to handle, because I can prepare for it.

If you have similar feelings, you might have to shift your self care practices in order to nurture yourself through this season.

You may need different things in the spring than you do in summer, fall, or winter.

I find anything that feels grounding to be a helpful practice during this time of year, like:

💗 Getting under a weighted blanket
💗 Putting on a lavender-based essential oil blend
💗 Reducing sensory stimuli when I feel overwhelmed
💗 Paying attention to when energy wanes, and resting when necessary

I have a whole PDF (Balancing Spring Energy) full of many more suggestions - find the l!nk at rebeccahass.substack.com and in my IG b!o)

This is an excerpt from the latest Creative Joy Beams newsletter - check it out for tips on how to take care of your creative self with curiosity and joy!

This year it took me until Feb. 9 to find my word of the year, but you can’t rush these things!

A good word of the year usually has the element of challenge and a bit of discomfort, and is multifaceted, with many meanings.

I always love flower and nature metaphors (I use them all the time in my creative coaching and piano teaching), and my first album is even called Florescer (“bloom” in Portuguese), so I'm not surprised that FLOURISH came up for me as this year's word!

What does FLOURISH mean?

- Letting things unfold at the right pace
- Not inadvertently using the clown car approach to scheduling (too full!)
- Not overthinking or overworking (a tree wouldn’t!)
- Staying connected to my authentic self
- Pruning away things that aren’t helping me
- Buffer time between activities, so I don’t always feel like I’m running
- Making time for creative hobbies
- Wearing more floral prints 🤓
- Enjoying life more

Beyond that, it feels like a litmus test for my decisions this year:
⭐️ Will this help me flourish? If not, I probably shouldn’t do it!

I also just realized that for years I’ve had this lovely coloring sheet (art by , coloring by me) as the cover of the binder where I keep my journal, so it’s always been an important word for me!

I’ve been doing this practice since 2017 - here are some of my past ones:
2017: Listen and Intent
2018: Connect
2019: Joy
2020: Trust
2021: Embody
2022: Play
2023: Visionary
2024: Inhabit + Believe
2025: Fierce Light

If you are looking to pick a word for 2026, it's not too late! Or, you can pick a word of the month, week, or day.

You’re not behind if you’re still working on 2026 planning, or if you haven’t started at all yet. Calendars are arbitrary, right?

If you need help finding your word, try brainstorming words in an open-minded way first.
You'll know when it's the right one - it'll feel a little bit magical!

This is an excerpt from the latest Creative Joy Beams newsletter - check it out for tips on how to take care of your creative self with curiosity and joy!

(rebeccahass.substack.com / link in b1o)

This year is pretty collectively heavy so far, right? Life is always fragile, but when scary things are happening, it makes our vulnerability more obvious.

If you’re like me (a person with anxiety), these moments might make you want to retreat inward and might steal your creative energy. That’s normal!

It might take a period of rest and replenishment for your creative zest to reappear, or it might just be coming in little drips, but it’s not gone forever, I promise.

Creativity might seem like the least important thing amidst the heaviness, but we need these moments of joy and fulfillment to keep going onward.

Perhaps you’ve been finding it really hard to focus on work of any kind lately, even the creative kind which you’re “supposed to” want to be doing and enjoying.

Let’s normalize the whole range of emotional reactions and the need for rest!

Unusual times may call for unusual amounts of self care, and if that means taking a break from creative stuff because you’re not feeling it, that’s fine!

You’ll come back to it soon, or when it’s important, and I really hope you don’t shame yourself when you’re not feeling it.

We get to care for ourselves by meeting what needs arise moment to moment. This may be pounding out a samba on the piano (👋), or it may be eating a pile of hash browns.

There may be moments where you feel you need to convince yourself that your art and your creativity matters at all, because so many huge other things are happening.

Then there also may be moments when you feel sure that music and art matters more than ever, and you want to harness it for resistance or personal catharsis!

All of this is normal and okay - as humans our feelings and moods fluctuate and we have to ride the waves, it’s just that sometimes the waves get much larger.

This is an excerpt from the latest Creative Joy Beams newsletter, Staying in touch with creativity during tough times. 💗 I’d love for you to check it out!

(rebeccahass.substack.com / link in b1o)