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your advice please

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Home Forums Forum Archives Professional Harpists your advice please

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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  • #148546
    mr-s
    Member

    a new adult girl 22 years old came to me and asked to start hapr lessons and to prepare to the conservatory entrance exam, i

    #148547

    I would say to keep this student but tell her honestly that trying to play difficult, conservatory-entrance-required exam pieces at age

    #148548
    mr-s
    Member

    Hi

    #148549

    This is an age-old problem, to teach”by the book” with rules to obey, or to teach to needs of an individual student, bending the rules. You alone must decide which you will do, and take the consequences of your decision. We are all unique; I lean in the direction of helping the student with a compromise when necessary, for the happiness of the student.

    #148550
    mr-s
    Member

    hi Patricia again, the shape of the hand and fingers position is very strict in my School, i was taught differently from what you had, for me the fingers position has a big influence on the sound production, so not playing the same way i was learned and teaching it will produce a different sound , in petersburg conservatory in Russia were tow classes when i studied one my teacher and one another and the beautiful sound of the students of my teacher was remarkable by me from the other harp students , and i was able to know a long time graduate harpists if they belong to my school or to other from sound ,and that all come from the hands position.

    #148551

    Dear Mr. S, perhaps you have heard or seen performances of the young violin virtuoso Hilary Hahn. On http://www.youtube.com she speaks about teachers and how she believes the best ones would teach. Here is the link:

    http://www.youtube.com/user/hilaryhahnvideos#p/u/2/x695xrkrvfI

    #148552
    Dwyn .
    Participant

    Personally I think it’s silly to insist that everyone “shape” their fingers exactly the same way when playing the harp.

    #148553
    Karen Johns
    Participant

    And sometimes, even when a student has short fingers and small hands (like me) they can adapt and overcome this problem. By rolling my wrist I can now manage a 1-5-10 chord. This is a huge accomplishment for me as my ring (4th)

    #148554
    jessica-wolff
    Participant

    Kare, that’s encouraging. I have kid-size hands and short fingers too. Though from your description of that rolling action, I wonder whether you aren’t throwing your timing off.

    #148555

    I have studied many methods – Renie, Salzedo and personal methods by teachers all around the world. There are SO MANY WAYS of reaching the most wonderful musical conclusions and they do not depend on a hand or finger shape – they depend on a musical ear and a musical soul, and a REALLY great teacher to nurture that player’s musical expression through their large/small/flexible/unflexible joints. If the joints are not very flexible, more ‘souplesse’ can be put in the wrist. If the fingers cannot be trained to all pull in the same direction, the teacher must help the student find the best way for that individual to train their hands to get to the same musical conclusion despite the difficulties. Nothing should be seen as a problem.
    As Salzedo said, there is nothing difficult, only that which is new. Harpists come in hundreds of different shapes and sizes, just like athletes do – teacher and student work together to find the individual method for each student. Try to be open minded and the rewards for YOU, as the teacher, will be immense!

    #148556

    I often think of playing the harp as choreography. Your finger touches the string and goes into your hand, but how you move, the way in which you do it and what you do after that affects the music so much!

    #148557
    mr-s
    Member

    Sorry dears but i am talking about School of playing and the school i am following is very strict and clear and no one from the Dulova’s School can accept what you are talking ,maybe in other schools its acceptable to shape hands and fingers differently from the written Methods, i can understand what you say, buti used to deal with fingers like that and also love to keep like that .

    #148558

    Then you have to decide.

    #148559
    Philippa mcauliffe
    Participant

    You have answered your own question.

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