Harp teaching question

[Harper10]

I have a friend who is looking to become more serious in their harp study. Specifically pedal harp. They are an adult, are a working professional who is not in college and has studied pedal and lever harp for 5 years. Should they consider a harp teacher who is a graduate harp performance student or is it really best to find a teacher who has been teaching for many years?
Thank you.

• This topic was modified 1 year ago by Harper10.
• This topic was modified 1 year ago by Harper10.
• This topic was modified 1 year ago by Harper10.

[balfour-knight]

Hello Harper10!

I think that a graduate harp performance major might be an excellent choice, but it all depends on the individual. Does this person already teach other students, and are the students successfully learning how to play the harp? Might there be masterclasses or recitals offered by the graduate student, so that by attending one, you might “sample” their performing ability, teaching methods, student results, etc.? Every teacher has to start somewhere. If everyone held out for an “experienced” teacher, a new teacher would never get any students and would never have the chance to teach anyone and get experience!

Hope this helps.

Harp Hugs and best wishes,
Balfour

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

One should always seek out the best-possible teacher. If one is not suitable to them, they will let you know or recommend someone else. I thought I knew it all at ten years of playing and could teach. I was wrong. I could teach basics. After twenty years, I could do a pretty good job teaching. After thirty years, I could do a very good job teaching. After fifty years, now I think I might know what I am doing. Lucile Lawrence was 73 when I began studying with her, and she was great. So maybe by the time I am 73, I will be great at it, too. She always taught beginners, no matter how old she was. Her last youngest student, Helen Gerhold, now plays in the Philadelphia Orchestra.
There are simply too many people teaching who don’t know what they are doing. Unfortunately, we have no credentialing system, other than getting degrees, so uninformed people really don’t know how to choose or look.

[balfour-knight]

Saul, glad to see your post here. Along with my performing career, I also taught music (harp, piano & organ) for 37 years before I retired from teaching in 2013. I now wonder if I ever “knew what I was doing,” ha, ha! I was successful at it and always kept plenty of students and a waiting list, but it was sometimes very difficult. I could not handle the pressure of it now that I am almost 70. I really admire folks who can still teach music at this age and older.

Harp Hugs,
Balfour

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I attempted teaching after college, and even after my Master’s degree, and I did not know anything more than the bare basics of what is involved in playing. One does have to get teaching experience, the best way is by observing a fine teacher in lessons, and by gaining experience performing and playing, such as at least ten year’s worth before attempting to teach. It is a problem that so many unqualified people teach, because then another teacher has to clean up the mess they made, the student has to start over or rebuild from the ground up, or make painful corrections while having to learn challenging music. They rob real teachers of potential students, and even don’t want to let go of them when it is time to move on. For such a teacher, students should not stay longer than three years. By then, you need to be learning proper technique, beginning intermediate music, etc. And for students starting in their teens, they have to get to a strong teacher right away or very soon, or too much groundwork is lost. Even a fine teacher can have too many students to really pay full attention to each one. A teacher should at least have one or preferably two degrees in music, at least one from a conservatory, and summer study with major teachers.

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