4 years later and I am returning to this topic. I have been teaching a piano grade 5 teenager who wants also to play the harp in orchestra, now that’s an interesting reason for starting out. So in a record 9 months she has made the transition from hands that could not play to a very accurate and careful player who still lacks the strength to perform. Her reading is excellent but acquiring harp skills cannot be hurried, playing 3 fingered straight chords needs developing, in scales her 4th finger would crash into her 3rd & she found spread chords in the right hand counter intuitive. However her patience and easy familiarity with the harp’s string pattern and compass are great and as a piano to harp guinea pig we have found out what the commonalities and the differences are. She’s very lucky to he moving onto a local orchestral centre for youngsters which provides a pedal harp and a graduated introduction to orchestral works.