What you’re told to play vs what you want to play

[Molly]

I played clarinet in school and used to read music, but that was a long time ago and it was only in the treble clef. I don’t have zero experience with music, but I have a LONG way to go! My teacher gave me a theory workbook and I do those lessons each week outside of class. But perhaps taking another course would be helpful as well, I will look into that!

And yes she knows I have an affinity for Celtic music, she and I worked on a Celtic song together that we’re actually going to perform together next week for a recital! So yeah she’s been great about that 🙂 I am just really eager to get to the point where I can learn more of it!

[balfour-knight]

Hello everyone,

Having taught many students in my time, I found that usually it was easier to teach note-reading by learning first Middle C, and then the space notes of the Treble clef–FACE. Then learn the Bass clef space note–ACEG. Recognize these by seeing the notes on the page and playing each one on the harp. After that becomes natural to you, concentrate on learning the line notes in each cleff. They are adjacent to each space note, and should come pretty easily, one at a time. Pretty soon, you can see, for example, C-D-E-F, which on harp can be fingered 4-3-2-1 in the Right Hand. With flash cards, you could get out those 4 notes, play them in order, then re-arrange them and play them in THAT order. Re-arrange them in every way they can be, and see if you recognize each note and can play that on the harp. (When you previously learned the 4 space notes of each clef, you would have used the flash cards to re-arrange those, also, playing them in every different order until you KNEW you were actually reading the notes.)

I must confess, I taught this more easily on piano, before a student took up the harp, and it was good to have a keyboard foundation before harp or organ, like Charles mentioned above. But, if harp is the beginning instrument, it CAN be learned, one note at a time! I agree, music theory should be added very early for an adult student.

Best of luck with your harp learning journey,
Balfour

[Molly]

Thanks Balfour! That is very helpful. I really hope it will start becoming easier soon- I know reading music is a huge part of the learning process and it will really help me play what I want to play. For now, I just need to give my poor brain a chance to catch up. And trust that this book series I’m doing is a “learning” book and not the end-all-be-all of what I can do.

[balfour-knight]

You are welcome! The main thing I can say here is “be patient.” So many adult students that I had were not very patient. I would tell them that even I took years and years to get to where I am, and I started playing piano by ear at 5, with formal lessons at 6. (Harp and organ a little later, ha, ha!) I am now 67 and STILL learning! That is what makes life so interesting and enjoyable, especially in retirement, and now I can finally play just what I want to play!

Best of luck,
Balfour

[charles-nix]

Absolutely agree with Balfour on “be patient”. I would add “Be sure to enjoy the journey, and that includes making sure you thoroughly enjoy the privilege of practicing.” Progress will happen, but in fits and starts. There will be times you hit a wall, then make sudden progress.

[Philippa mcauliffe]

I was a Suzuki harp pupil originally although I came to it with the full ability to read both staves as I also play the piano. Whilst quite a few pupils started during my 7 years with my Suzuki teacher only I reached the final graduation and only a very select handful before me had ever got that far. This was not exactly “traditional” Suzuki for me where the music reading is introduced variably and rather later – especially for pupils who are pre-reading age. However, I also experienced a number of different methods from early on and I certainly do not solely use Suzuki book 1 to teach from. For anyone Nor do many teachers with Suzuki training that I know (for harp that is). It moves rather too fast early on in my opinion so mastering the techniques required for each piece can take a long time and it becomes rather tedious for both parties unless your pupil is a natural talent, very hard working and has a very keen parent supervising (and is usually rather young). I think a teacher should be flexible enough to combine what they think/know the pupil needs to learn with something of what the pupil aspires to. It’s not that difficult to write something for them or take a slowish song melody (be they Disney, scottish, Irish, 60s, lloyd webber, pop fans) and simplify it or put a few chords with it for them. But lets be honest, we give rather similar harp lessons and advice for some years to most of our pupils! Posture, placing, hand position, closing and relaxing, oscillation…the key concepts take a long time to become second nature and you can’t play more advanced rep well without them. There is quite an attrition rate in harp pupils no matter who your teacher is because it does require patience and ability to celebrate small victories. Fortunately there is a ton of great non-advanced rep out there and the harp sounds lovely from the start which is encouraging. The trick is helping people recognise how they are progressing and persuading them to avoid advanced stuff they are not capable of – because reteaching them is a nightmare once bad habits are engrained unless they are super motivated to improve. How many of us have taken on pupils with their knuckles sticking up like Bunny Ears whilst massacring some overly difficult piece and failed to get them to do the work required to improve their placements?! The one thing I refuse to take on is someone who wants to sing and accompany themselves from the start because they can never seem to concentrate adequately on their harp playing. Trouble is that there are usually so few harp teachers around unless you live in a mega city you are not going to be able to swap around much to find a good match. So you may have to negotiate a solution with whoever you are with.

[Molly]

“The privilege of practicing”, I love that. What a great reminder that any point in the learning process, should be respected! I just moved on to a new song this week, and I am feeling MUCH better. I think I was getting frustrated because I was stuck on the last song for like a month, and getting really discouraged. I am also drilling myself on music notes and was even able to sight read a few measures on my new song!

Thanks for your input, Phillipa. My teacher has some non-Suzuki teaching books she has showed me (one song of which we have learned) that we will learn more from, but right now she does want to focus mainly on Suzuki. I didn’t self-teach before I started lessons, so I don’t have any habits to un-learn, however it’s still really challenging to learn good technique and it will probably be a lifetime process of that! But hopefully, it will become more muscle memory and I won’t have to try so hard. I do have a little bit of “hook finger” and tense hands we are correcting, so I have to be very intentional about that! Funny you say how rare it was that you finished the Suzuki series, because in only one year of lessons, I have seen at least 2-3 new harp students come and go already! It’s crazy. I think so many of us just get into this thinking “the harp is so pretty I want to play that!” and then you realize it is SERIOUS business, LOL! My teacher tells me that I am her fastest learning student, so because I’m moving through songs rather quickly, it’s maybe not as frustrating as it would be for someone else. But really though, I do have some songs that have taken me a month to learn (ahem… my last song) so the frustration is REAL no matter your level. I’m just happy I get to move on to a new song, finally!

[charles-nix]

A month for a new piece, from start to finish, said piece being more advanced than whatever level you are playing at, sounds really quite fast.

A teacher once told me that “as adults, we are used to picking up most new things and then just doing them relatively quickly. Music doesn’t work that way. You need to re-set your expectations.”

As you move on, especially with a piece that is challenging to you, you may work on it for many months before it comes together. And you may set it aside multiple times, wait for your technique to catch up, and come back to it multiple times.

That does not mean that you will take months on every piece–only on those that are stretching your ability–either your ability to play the notes OR your ability to interpret musically OR your ability to read the notes.

[dancingpiper]

Wow; you are learning a new tune in a month? You are fast indeed, especially after taking lessons for one year. I’ve been taking lessons for four years and it will take me months to come close to mastering a new tune. I can pick things up fairly quickly until I try to use both hands together. Unfortunately my instructor, the closest one around, lives three hours away so I only get a lesson every two or three months. I’m glad your progress is much better and your situation for lessons is more agreeable. As mentioned above, do be patient with yourself. I hope your instructor is able to find a good balance of technique tunes and your desired tunes to help you stay motivated.

[Molly]

Yeah, I guess it depends on the type of piece. The songs I am playing, while they are increasing in difficulty, are very short. Idk, maybe I am just going fast, but for me a month is a long time to spend on one! Typically they are similar to the previous song, but will introduce one or two new elements that throw me a curve ball. So it hasn’t been too hard for me to pick up at that faster rate. A reach, instead of a giant leap if you will. But as I go on to more difficult music I think a month is probably going to become too ambitious, so I’m trying not to have that expectation. Plus, the music will probably get more interesting and it will be really satisfying to spend more time on those as they come together! Or, I hope so!! 😀

[balfour-knight]

Back when I taught music, my students used to have 4 or 5 different books at a time. I can’t imagine just working on one piece at a time–I think variety is very nice! In her great harp method book, Henriette Renie always gave a list of supplemental music for the student to learn along with the method. Working with your teacher, I am sure you two can reach a common ground on this, and it will be more enjoyable for both of you.

Harp teaching hugs,
Balfour

[dancingpiper]

It is nice to have more than one tune to work on at a time, especially if one of them doesn’t really grab one. Personally I find that two or three are enough to work on at a time; otherwise I feel overwhelmed and less able to focus on new technique. Being older and still blessed with a day job, time ad energy are limited. For those in different circumstances, more tunes at a time may work well. Learners are so individual!! It’s a wise teacher who is able to figure out the perfect balance for each student.

[Philippa mcauliffe]

One Suzuki book piece a month is definitely very good progress! Well done. A lot of Suzuki pupils only practice about 10- 15 mins a day whereas adults often do much more.

I also would never just have one piece on the go – probably not too early to start pupils preparing for an Xmas ensemble concert! And if you learn something a little easier than the Suzuki piece you are working on then you will feel more encouraged. I am quite partial to Old Tunes for New Harpists by Mildred Dilling.

[Molly]

I used to do one song at a time, but I was working ahead in the book a lot, so my teacher would start me on a new piece when I was *almost* done with my last one, so usually I’m working on 2-3 at a time! It really has helped me a lot to not get super bored. I think I’ll probably go to longer/more frequent lessons so I can fit more in. The first few months were tedious because all I was learning was variations on “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, one at a time. I started out with 10-15 mins per day, and now I’m up to about 30-45 minutes.

[Gretchen Cover]

I would suggest you check out http://www.harpcenter.com for the article about music apps. I would get a couple music apps and work on them to supplement lessons. They have apps for rhythm, note reading and other music needs. The sooner you have note reading etched in your brain, the quicker you can advance. It is like learning to add and subtract. You do it until it is automatic. Secondly, with your teacher make up a quick sound bite you can play so you have a piece ready when someone wants to hear your harp. My suggestion would be to play the final page of The Little Fountain. You can make really nice glissandos simply by pressing two strings on your lever harp.

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