How long did it take you to learn the harp?

[Molly]

Hello again! I am curious how long it took all of you to learn the harp. I know it probably takes a lifetime to master (especially if you are playing classical)- but I am talking more so just being able to play music proficiently. I am coming up on my first year soon (yay!!) and I am very excited to reach an “intermediate” level where I can read more music on my own and play more interesting pieces. I know most of you on here are seasoned harpists, so I’d love to get your perspective on how long it takes to become “fluent” in playing this instrument!

Please share your personal experience with learning the harp, how your first year(s) went, and where you are at now! Please share the method you learned and how that shaped you as a harpist. 🙂

[balfour-knight]

I am a professional harpist, and I am still learning, ha, ha! So, I guess it takes a lifetime and then some. I did learn initially with the great Henriette Renie method, though. I learned to love the French method and also the great French harps, and all the music written for our wonderful instrument by French composers. I hope other folks contribute to this thread!

French harp hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[Molly]

Thanks for your reply!! Can you explain a little more about this method and how your first year(s) went?

[balfour-knight]

Well, that is sort of hard to explain, but I played a small “harp-like object” that I made when I was not yet a teen-ager, no levers, so I had to retune when I needed something like an F#. I took piano and organ lessons from the time I was 6 years old, on through a Master of Music Degree in college, with harp as my third (and favorite) instrument. I had to use the school pedal harp, as we could not afford to buy one in my “early days.” It ended up that I was proficient in these three instruments, even though I did not own a “real harp!” So, I have no idea how long it took me to be good on the harp itself, I just learned it little by little along with piano and organ. I did play “professional, paid gigs” on all three instruments from the time I was eight years old, so I would say a couple of years got me to the point I could make money doing that. I also could transfer what I learned on one instrument to the other two, and did so constantly, only limited by the diatonic nature of the harp, even the pedal harp with its chromatic possibilities. Some pieces are just meant for the chromatic keyboard, ha, ha!

I hope this gives you some idea of the time it actually takes to be “proficient” on an instrument. I also have enjoyed playing “by ear” all my life, and memorize things quickly. If something doesn’t work on my instrument, take harp for example, I figure out a solution to the problem and adapt. I have always learned the big harp pieces on piano first, memorized them, then applied that to playing it on the harp, as I hate to read music at the harp! Looking back-and-forth from the music to the harp strings is distracting, and you don’t have to do that at the keyboard.

The Renie harp method is very complete. I believe that in there, one can find the solution to almost any problem on the harp. You can check out a copy on inter-library loan, for example, to see for yourself. This book is a great technique builder, and there are many examples of great harp literature included in the book.

Best wishes,
Balfour

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I finished college and realized I did not really know how to play yet, so I went to study with Lucile Lawrence. After ten years of playing, I remember being really impressed with myself and how advanced I was. Ten years later, I thought the same thing, and laughed at myself ten years earlier. I think when I have been playing 50 years, I’ll have finally figured it all out.

[Molly]

Thanks Balfour!

Wow, haha, I guess it’s all about perspective. I listen to videos of myself from before I started lessons and I think “whoa, I’ve come so far!” But when I listen to my teacher or to videos of other harpists I love, I see that I haven’t even scratched the surface. A little intimidating at times, but also exciting to know there is so much to learn! 🙂

[Faith Viers]

Six years in and I’m still learning every time I sit down to the harp. Musicianship is a constant learning process, and I doubt there will be a moment where you feel you’ve “learned it”. More specific to your question though, sight reading can help you test how comfortable you are with the harp, as well as improvising. When there’s no prep work in advance, how comfortable are you? With no sheet music? Try it out 🙂

[Molly]

I am starting to realize what you mean- now that I am advancing, yes my technique is able to support playing those pieces now, but it takes much more effort and time than it used to because they are more advanced! I am able to sight read a little bit, and am currently working on a new piece I chose on my own. My teacher is helping me to correct spots where I’m not quite getting right, but each week she expects me to take it upon myself to learn the next part of the song and show her what I’ve come up with. It’s a pretty cool thing! It pushes me. Sight reading definitely helps me to feel that I am more “proficient” and able to make music on my own. I am learning the Suzuki method which is by ear, so I have been able to sound out chords and melodies and it’s been very helpful!

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

It really depends on how you are being taught. It can be very simple if your teacher gives you a comprehensive, consistent method of playing, with constructive exercises and strong guidance, ie. a lot of corrections. Some people can play very well after only four years, especially if they have come from playing the organ or piano, but there are also special challenges in transferring from another instrument. Suffice it to say, as I said before, every ten years one reaches a higher level, hopefully, and each level shows you another level to reach, particularly with regards to repertoire. Learning repertoire is probably the biggest challenge.

[Molly]

Thanks for your insight! This is my one and only instrument. My teacher is very detail oriented and spends time with me to correct (sometimes frustrating) issues that seem “small” but have absolutely made a difference over the past year. I’m very motivated to be able to play music I enjoy more, and have been told that I’m a fast learner. But I also accept that it’s a journey and we are all working within the limitations of our own brains (and sore fingers- ouch)! Understanding something and then doing it well, are completely different things some days!

At some point after you get past the early beginner phase, does it get easier? Do things just “click” more with your technique and sight reading?

[balfour-knight]

“At some point after you get past the early beginner phase, does it get easier? Do things just “click” more with your technique and sight reading?”

Yes, Molly, it will indeed get easier as you advance. The hardest thing is having enough patience to stick with it until you can play very well. At that point, it becomes a joy! The great Henriette Renie would ask a prospective harp student, “Do you love the harp?” If the answer was not a resounding “yes,” she would not take the student.

Best wishes on your harp journey,
Balfour and Carol Lynn

[Molly]

It is such a relief to hear that it does get easier. I have had a few of those “aha” moments throughout the past year I’ve been playing, but the going is still tough. I am very much dependent on my teacher to show me how to play most pieces, as my sight reading is so slow, but I can certainly say without a doubt that I am in love with the harp and LOVE playing. I think I can accredit that to why I’ve stuck with it for a whole year so far! I am really looking forward to the next year or two when those pieces start to really “click”.

What were those “aha” moments for everyone? When did you really think to yourself, wow this is making sense? I recently learned a song where there was a lever change and overlapping fingerings, and when I figured it out, I was just like WOW, this feels right! Did any of you have one of those moments?

[balfour-knight]

Molly, I have played the piano, harp, and organ for so long, it is difficult to remember too many specific “aha” moments, but one sticks in my memory forever. During work on my Master’s degree, I was practicing the organ, harp and piano more than I had ever done in the past. One day at the organ, I suddenly had an “aha” moment, when my feet fully understood what they should do on the pedalboard! At the Master’s level of organ playing, the feet do their “own thing” on the pedals, with contrapuntal melodic lines going on along with separate melodies in both hands, and this three-way manner of thinking is very difficult for most people. Suddenly, it all came together, so that I could think three different ways, and it was amazing! Pedaling on a pedal harp is similar, and we are dealing with the “odd” pedal order (DCB–EFGA) that has to become “second nature” to a pedal harpist. I know that it just clicked in one day for me, but it took a while!

You are on the right track–you LOVE the harp!

Best wishes to you and all,
Balfour

[Molly]

Wow, that is a lot of things to keep up with at once!! That must have felt so empowering to feel so under control of multiple functions at the same time. I feel that way when I can put my right hand and left hand together in a new song, and understand what they’re doing and how it flows together. Such a cool feeling!!

[Philippa mcauliffe]

I was a Suzuki “light” learner from 9-16. I had a lever harp for 14 months then a concert grand pedal harp. I learnt all the Suzuki repertoire and did my final graduation but also played a lot of other things alongside that and did plenty of orchestral work. Each piece is a major milestone with new things to master and the Suzuki method does really demand mastery before moving on from a work. I find it much easier to keep pupils keen by adding in level appropriate non Suzuki rep. I have also had considerable teaching input from great exponents of the Salzedo and Renie/Grandjany techniques and consider myself a hybrid now I am professional. I was a fluent reader of music in both hands from piano when I started. You really never stop learning but when I finished with my first main teacher I think I had the technical ability to try almost all of the solo repertoire. Although I wouldn’t have wanted to perform it all publicly until I was well into my Conservatorium degree. The most difficult works can take a matter of years with revisiting
to embed to the point of being confident of a truly reliable performance. One of the greatest players in the world told me she worked on a particularly challenging piece for 4 years daily before she recorded it!

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