How long did it take you to learn the harp?

[Molly]

Wow Philippa, so you learned all of the Suzuki books?? I am almost finished with book 1 and haven’t scratched the surface of what is yet to come. I am not surprised that some pieces take years… I am working on a non-Suzuki piece right now for about 2 months and am only about halfway through with learning it! Of course, I don’t have much sight reading skill so that makes the process much slower, but even so, it is quite a challenge and patience is key.

Tell me more about your Suzuki training! I have yet to find another harpist (other than my teacher) who has completed it and would love to hear what your experience was. Were there things you liked, didn’t like? Do you feel it has prepared you adequately in your career?

[Philippa mcauliffe]

Compared with piano or violin Suzuki very few people finish the harp repertoire. They probably need to supplement those books by letting people do non suzuki easier rep alongside so they feel more sense of accomplishment and have more things up their sleeve that they can perform. I was already a reasonable pianist when I started the harp – non-Suzuki taught and I carried on the piano alongside the harp. For a long time I performed on both. So I could read treble and bass clef and had done a fair bit of theory – that certainly helped me progress. Suzuki teachers vary hugely in when they introduce reading but I was never a little toddler harpist – I was 9 when I started and around 5 ft tall. I did my final graduation at about 15 or 16. There was no choice but to learn from a Suzuki teacher – that is all there happened to be in my city. However, after about a year of lessons (playing Minuet 2 in fact…) I went to a residential harp camp run by an incredible harpist and teacher who is known all over the world as one of the great “Salzedo” players.

From then on I had input from both and as my Suzuki teacher had learnt the harp as an adult and recognised the superior skills of teacher number 2 she was very keen to take on board all the suggestions I got. So I am a hybrid who has since adopted a few things from the Russian and French schools as well.

I think the regular performance opportunities with Suzuki are a huge plus unrivalled by most non-Suzuki teachers. I think the way they teach very young children is great. I think regularly hearing excellent (and not so excellent) violinists, cellists and pianists is very useful at the mixed concerts. It might have helped my memorisation skills although I also performed a lot of big piano rep by heart which makes that hard to tell. If you don’t play by heart young you are very unlikely to ever develop that skill later which is something a professional with solo aspirations has to do. I was told early on that my scales sounded musical and even despite the fact I didn’t practice “a scale” or “an argeggio” other than those found within pieces.

Normally with Suzuki (piano, violin etc) you know what rep is coming up as you hear it all the time from more advanced students who give you something to aspire to. That was not the case for me as I became the most advanced harp student of my Suzuki teacher quite quickly (she was mainly a Suzuki piano teacher). We did some harp ensemble work but not as much as some Suzuki harp students would get – 100s of them on stage in salt lake city etc! I think it probably doesn’t matter how you learn frankly as long as you have good posture, your teacher ensures that it looks and feels “easy” and all movements are kept physiological with close attention paid to tone and tone colours. What you need is the passion to keep going and to find your own inspiration. For me that was hearing a truly great player live for the first time at that harp camp.

That is all easier said than done and means adapting whatever style you teach to each person’s body, arms, hands, finger size and shape. Finally you need to find orchestras to play with once you reach a reasonable standard if you want to play that sort of music which I certainly did and I was lucky to have both youth orchestras and good community orchestras around that I played for from quite a young age. And parents willing to drag the harp around a lot of course.

It has yet to be divulged what career this will be…intermittently I am playing professionally casually, I get some solo recitals, I teach a bit, I do events (could do more if I advertised I am sure but I just finished my degree last semester and went to my first professional orchestral audition so was working non-stop for that for a while). I prepared to compete internationally but COVID stopped me getting there, I write program notes professionally… I expect to have a hybrid career and might have to take up accompaniment on the piano at some point too I suspect!

[balfour-knight]

Philippa, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your musical journey. You play the harp and piano so well, and I hope you do indeed continue both instruments throughout your career. I have done the same with harp and piano, and of course, organ–yesterday I did a fun church concert on all three instruments. I love that I have also had a “hybrid career.” That is such a good way to put it!

Did you get the orchestra job, or do you know yet? We certainly wish you all the best.

Warm regards,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[Philippa mcauliffe]

Thanks Balfour,

Got to the final round (3 people) – no appointment made though. It was nervewracking that’s for sure…no wonder people knock back the Rescue Remedy (not very homeopathic if you read the fact the flowery bits are in 70% alcohol) or beta blockers. I wished I had had some! I could sign on for a PhD at this point but I am not feeling very keen on that currently – might try for a big scholarship to travel and study or finish my french degree that i did half of alongside music.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I am not particularly pleased by the Suzuki books. I think the best pedagogy is Lawrence/Salzedo. The ABC of Harp Playing, Pathfinder Studies, the Method for the Harp, and the Art of Modulating. By the time you complete those, which should not take more than four years, you are an adept harpist, at least an upper Intermediate player. It’s meant to be very economical and efficient, rather than taking many years to get anywhere. After that, the training comes from repertoire.

[Molly]

Phillippa, thank you for sharing your journey! I have to agree with you that there needs to be a good amount of non-Suzuki rep in order to stay inspired, as I expressed in another thread that I was not feeling very excited about Book 1’s nursery-type songs in the first half of the book. But I do really enjoy the songs I’m learning in the second half of the book. I plan to stick with Suzuki for as long as I continue to enjoy it!

And Saul, is there a particular reason you aren’t a fan of the Suzuki books? Is it just that you think it’s slower learning that way? By the time I complete Suzuki book 1, it will have been about a year and a half for me. I have no point of reference to whether or not that is slow or fast.

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