Accountability buddies!

[Perelandra Yvain]

Do you find it helpful to check in with a buddy and keep each other accountable to practice regularly?

Let’s chat! I’ve been taking lessons since the beginning of the year, and my teacher has me doing lots of drills and learning to read sheet music. It’s good for me, but definitely not fun. I’d love to connect with some accountability partners and keep each other excited about the journey of improving our skills 🙂

Cheers!

[wil-weten]

Hi Perelandra, there is really nice music to play from the very beginning of one’s harp journey. Did you talk to your teacher about also learning fun pieces? All my harp teachers gave me every lesson both technical exercises as well as pieces which are fun to play. Do you have a lever harp or a pedal harp? Which kind of music would you be able to learn to play?

We could mention several books, but I just wonder which books have you been using until now?

[Perelandra Yvain]

Thanks for the reply! I have a 26-string lever harp.

We’re using some exercises by Barbara Ann Fackler and an Italian book of harp drills that says copyright Italy in 1946. I just have photocopies, not the actual book, so I don’t know the title.

When I got bored of those (not mastered them, just bored of them, haha), I got the first Teach Yourself Harpsicle book and started playing All Through the Night. Thought I was doing a pretty good job of it until I played it for my teacher and discovered that the proper fingering is a little more tricky than I’d thought. So now I can crawl through one short song 😉

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by Perelandra Yvain.

[wil-weten]

I know just one great harp teaching method that is useful for harps from 19 strings and more. The F below middle C is the lowest string. So this method is suitable for most lap harps. That is to say, for harpers who can read German.

Its title is Saitenklang and it is written by Monika Mandelartz. Can you read German?

You may like to get an impression of some of its tunes here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3j_4TxzLNGi8UdATer9dhvidB-ZIEZ7v

[Gretchen Cover]

You should consider joining the Harp Mastery group run by harpist Anne Sullivan. Anne is a superb teacher and motivator as well as excellent harpist. This group is for both
lever and pedal harpists. http://www.harpmastery.com

[Perelandra Yvain]

My German is not so good, but thank you 😉

Anne’s website looks very helpful. Are you learning with her? How does the online learning experience compare to in-person instruction?

[Gretchen Cover]

Harp Mastery is designed to be an add-on for lessons or to help those harpists without access to a teacher. Anne prefers students have lessons in person. I believe you can try Harp Mastery for a month for free.

[Perelandra Yvain]

That’s good to know. Have you tried her “Etude a Day” program?

[wil-weten]

Hi Perelandra, I don’t know the Teach Yourself Harpsicle Method, so I can’t say anything on the usefulness ofits fingerings. But I do know that different teachers prefer different fingerings, and frankly, I don’t understand why your teacher didn’t write the fingerings she preferred in your score.

Did you talk to her about your wish to play fun pieces as well? The fact that a lot of pieces go several strings lower than your 26-string harp can, needn’t be an obstacle: you could play most pieces a whole octave higher.

[Gretchen Cover]

Perelandra, try out Harp Mastery and decide for yourself if this program works for your needs.

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