Help! I’m really trying to learn!

[catherine-rogers]

What Carl wrote is so true and probably the best way I’ve ever heard (read) it expressed. When people ask me, “How long did it take you to learn to play the harp?”, I reply, “I’ve been playing 30-something years and I’m still learning. And I hope I always shall!”

There’s more music in the world than one could learn in a lifetime (and new works are constantly becoming available), and the learning is as much fun as (if not more than) the performance.

[Jerusha Amado]

Wonderful advice, Carl!

[Briggsie B. Peawiggle]

Jerusha, I so agree with your teacher. Case in point……Isabelle Moretti at the AHS Conference played everything beautifully — really difficult harp lit, and then at the end, one of her encores was a very simple, beautiful arrangement of Eleanor Plunkett, and OMG…..I had tears in my eyes listening to the beauty with which she expressed that piece.

Briggsie

[Anna Lea]

I cannot thank all of you enough for taking time to encourage a slightly discouraged grandmother.

[unknown-user]

HEY GAYLE- Do you know how important it is to be asked to play for a friend’s wedding??? I am SO jealous. My friends call here first just to make absolutely sure that I’m nowhere near the harp before they come! (just kidding!) But seriously, playing for others is really important, and if you were able to do that without making people run screaming out of the ceremony, you must have plenty going for you!

I hear where you’re coming from about getting your pedal harp. There’s a lever harp I have my eye on, and it seems that it just keeps coming up and taunting me, but all in good time. The most important thing is to play as beautifully as possible right now.

[Kathleen Clark]

Hi Gayle, this year I’ll be in my 60’s and I started playing the harp a couple years ago as therapy after a debilitating stroke. I play both the pedal harp and the lever harp. I love my pedal harp as I can hug it and feel its vibration along the whole length of my body. Because of the pedals it has given me good physical therapy, retraining both my feet and hands. I had absolutely no idea when I started to learn to play the harp where it would lead me. My teacher doesn’t let me get too ‘busy’ on the harp. Whenever I get too caught up in the notes he leans over and plays ONE note, and that gets my attention. When he plays that one note it is the most beautiful sounding and most graceful movement in the world. He never lets me forget that the harp is a journey of the soul. Each note counts. Each note by itself is lovely and should be cherished. Just last week I was depressed that I didn’t think I could play very many things and he stopped me and made me look at what I’ve accomplished in the last couple of years. I’ve been very focused on things that I love on the harp. I haven’t done much, but I have done things that I love. There is a lot of good advice people have written here already. All I can add is to cherish the journey one note at a time. If there is any music that speaks to you that you want to someday play ask your teacher to help get you there. Sometimes for me it is just snippets of pieces I want to learn (I think this is how I have gotten so involved in arranging for harp now). So it is a process and the more you follow what you love about playing the harp, the more clear your path will become, and the more in love you will be with your instrument every day.

[Liam M]

Kathleen,

I am in love with this one phrase, “All I can add is to cherish the journey one note at a time.”.

[Kathleen Clark]

Liam, I would be very touched and honored for a poem. Curious, too, of what these words have sparkled inside you. Thanks for making me smile.

[Mel Sandberg]

Hello Gayle

My congratulations too, on your tenacity of purpose.

[Anna Lea]

Hi Mel,

[Liam M]

Journey

I vowed to make it my own
I wanted this heavenly sound
Thus here I sit learning,
thumb up, fingers down.

Too much to do,
too much to know.
Change from nylon to wire
Now willing nails to grow.

The wonder that occurs,
with the measure you play.
You have heard it before,
and you are doing it today!

You have a warm feeling,

[harpglo-jean]

Brilliant!! you’ve done it again!

[Anna Lea]

Hi Liam,

Not JUST brilliant, but absolutely lovely!

[Kathleen Clark]

Thank you, Liam, for your heartfelt and thoughtful words, I am very touched, and I think you express the experience a lot of us are going through. I am so very honored to be on this journey with you!

[Kathleen Clark]

Gayle, I’m not a pro, but I know from having bought a pedal harp in my later years that one thing to make sure of is that you’re comfortable with the pedal spacing. I originally bought a petite harp but the pedals were too close together for my feet.

Also, I found out some of the petite models are too small in the neck for me and I couldn’t get my fingers inside to play the upper strings very well. If you are a petite person then none of this would be a problem, but I was and am recovering from a stroke and these details ended up being a big deal for me and as a result I now have a larger harp which solved these concerns. It was a long process, but I do wish I had known about the pedal and neck spacing issues before I took the plunge, or wish that someone would have mentioned them to me. It’s hard to really test these things when you are a newbie and don’t know what questions to ask, which I was. Hope this helps a bit on your harp hunt. A pedal harp is wondrous instrument, very much to be cherished.

[Author]

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