Starting the harp as an adult

[evolene_t]

For most people, music isn’t about success, it’s about enrichment.

Couldn’t have phrased it better!

I too have started the harp as an adult, and what matters is the enjoyment of it.

I, too, was feeling a little self-conscious. I’ve asked my teacher the same thing : why would she teach beginners when there are child prodigies all around to be taught? She answered that she liked teaching adults a lot, they don’t take advice for granted and what to understand the method behind practice. This in turn leads her to reflect on her teaching and everyone grows with it.

As a side note, I’m comparing my progress with that of my boyfriend’s daughter who started the piano as I started the harp, as well as some cousins : and we progress quite similarly!
Now I’m sure that the malleability of kid’s brains means that she can pick up on things faster ; but she is also easily distracted and not always willing to sit down at the piano whereas being more mature, I know what it takes to progress.
(I also have the money to buy myself a harp and be aware of the investment : her parents spent quite a lot to buy her a decent electronic piano that is close enough to a real one, but they don’t really know if she’s going to stick with it).

Like Biagio said, I’m a little puzzled at the idea that anyone taking up any instrument should want to be a pro virtuoso. Wanting to cook a few good meals doesn’t mean one has to embark on a quest to be the world’s greatest chef… And if it sounds absurd in cooking, it should be the same for music. One should play first and foremost for themselves, their own enjoyment! And if it leads you somewhere else (becoming pro for example), enjoy the ride!

[Biagio]

“Like Biagio said, I’m a little puzzled at the idea that anyone taking up any instrument should want to be a pro virtuoso.”

Thank you Evolene. A couple of reflections…

“Music is what happens between the notes” Yo-Yo Ma

“I took the harp to the ridge, to learn what it could teach me” – Chris Caswell

“Just play one note and listen to it” – Carlos Salzedo

Biagio

[Anonymous]

nice

[Sylvia]

I was 20 and in college when I started.
If you’re a harpist, it will find you.
Like others have said, most people will not turn into a virtuoso.

[Paul and Brenda]

We started at 29, with no music background. That was 40 years ago, and we still love to play every day. If you love playing harp, that is all that really matters.

[hearpe]

I got that first little Pixie 19 string harp back in about 2004, after writing a script called “The Hearpe”. So I was 50 then and played a little piano and guitar. I recall I started playing it from the other end with the sound box away from me until I got on the internet and saw some pictures.

Now I find it an enchanting instrument and have several including the latest steel string 26. But I still can’t give it as much time as I’d like and it has to stay behind the classical guitar and keys and about- no pun intended!- even with violin in the attention I can give it- which should be RIGHT NOW instead of writing inanities on the “misinformation highway” as it’s becoming.

Happy Holidays!

[Veronika]

Victoria, I’m glad your friend has decided to give the harp a go. If it’s something she’s wanted to learn since a young age, why care about “possibilities”? All that matters is that she wants to do it. Thinking that there are limited possibilities before even starting something is like being in a dark corridor and thinking that there is no light in the room behind a door – you can’t possibly tell! (Uh, can you tell this is a soapbox-subject for me?)

One think no one has addressed on this thread yet is the master classes, camps, and workshops: there are tons of opportunities for adult learners once you start to look. Not just classical music workshops, but folk music and early music, and probably much more.

I don’t know about competitions, but then, do competitions really matter? I used to work in science, which is a highly competitive environment, and, after 15+ years of observation I know that success in (the science equivalent of) competitions has zero correlation with actual accomplishment.

One thing, your friend might want to consider what kind of technique she’d like to learn to start with (classical or “folk”?) and choose a teacher based on that. It does matter. If there isn’t a suitable teacher in the area, a lot of teachers do Skype lessons these days – not ideal, but certainly much better than learning without a teacher.

Funnily enough, my teacher prefers teaching adults, because, she says, with children it’s often the parents who push for the lessons, rather than the children. Harp shops might know of teachers – that’s how I found mine.

To add to the statistics, I started to learn the harp when I was (cough) certainly over 30 (OK, 41) and, after almost two years of learning I can’t imagine not playing. And, I find, people love listening to the harp no matter what level the harpist is.

[Author]

Posts