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Mel- I’m not sure what the answer is. I understand your dilema and there is no easy answer. What little teaching I do these days is usually older students(teenagers and college age) anyway. So I worry less about that. But over the past 30 years there have been some truly horrific trials where innocent people were convicted on flimsy or non-existent evidence, and it took years to get these wrongful convictions overturned. Music teachers should not think that they are exempt from this kind of thing, especially where they are in such close physical contact with the student.
I want to add one more thing to this. When I was growing up in the 1950’s I was in Boy Scouts for about 6 years, and had a wonderful scout master, a distant cousin on my father’s side of the family. Just a few years ago his widow told me that when Swede(the scoutmaster) was working in scouting, he made absolutely certain that there was always another adult present so that he would not be open to false accusations. I was stunned. Even in the 1950’s he was thinking about this and taking precautions.
There’s another, legal, side to this that needs to be considered. If the student is under the age of 18, working alone with the student could leave the teacher in a very vulnerable position and open to the possibility of false accusations concerning what went on in the lesson. Public school teachers and day care workers have gone to prison for years and were ruined in every way because of false accusations about their behavior with the child. I would INSIST that the parent be in the room while the lesson is being taught to any child under the age of 18.
I agree with Misty. But I have to clarify one point you made, and that concerns playing with “flattened” fingers. I know Grandjany played that way, as did my teacher, Pierre Jamet. But neither of these men insisted on it for their students. it was their personal preference, and my last teacher, Bernard Zighera, who had studied at the Paris Conservatory under Tournier, didn’t play that way. So my question is, did Grandjany insist that you play with flattened fingers?
Zen- Sorry to hear about your shoulder. I had rotator cuff surgery about 18 years ago and had 3 months of physical therepy afterwards to get the range of motion back. It’s no joke. I think you need to see a doctor and figure out what exactly is happening to your shoulder before doing any kind of physical therapy exercises. But you really are going to have to do exercises to get range of motion and strength back to your shoulder. My shoulder has been fine since recovering from the surgery. My range of motion as about 95% of what the other arm has. There is no pain and it’s strong. So with work you should be able to get similar results. But start with the doctor.
How far are you from the Albany NY area? There are several teachers there. Liz Huntley is up in the Saratoga area.
Steven- That’s great advice. No matter what you want to play on the harp-classical, pop arrangements, hymns, jazz improvisation, etc.- you need the ability to get around the instrument easily, and the technique doesn’t change. Especially if you want to improvise on pop or jazz tunes, what you do in those improvisations will be directly tied to your technical ability. If that ability is low, then you’re going to be stuck playing triads and single notes in the middle two octaves of the instrument. As your technical ability advances, you will be able to use more of the instrument in more ways.
John- Very good caution. I’ve given a lecture several times on the use of etudes to advance technique, and I make a BIG point of saying that etudes are only a format that the teacher uses to teach technique. In other words, etudes by themselves don’t teach technique. And since they are only a format, it is possible to learn bad technique as well as good if one tries to play them without the guidance of a teacher. or plays them with a bad teacher. But when used correctly, they are a marvelous way of learning to play the harp.
John- Very good caution. I’ve given a lecture several times on the use of etudes to advance technique, and I make a BIG point of saying that etudes are only a format that the teacher uses to teach technique. In other words, etudes by themselves don’t teach technique. And since they are only a format, it is possible to learn bad technique as well as good if one tries to play them without the guidance of a teacher. or plays them with a bad teacher. But when used correctly, they are a marvelous way of learning to play the harp.
John- Very good caution. I’ve given a lecture several times on the use of etudes to advance technique, and I make a BIG point of saying that etudes are only a format that the teacher uses to teach technique. In other words, etudes by themselves don’t teach technique. And since they are only a format, it is possible to learn bad technique as well as good if one tries to play them without the guidance of a teacher. or plays them with a bad teacher. But when used correctly, they are a marvelous way of learning to play the harp.
Anne- Thank you so much for that. It’s nice to have input from someone who has current first hand experience.
Anne- Thank you so much for that. It’s nice to have input from someone who has current first hand experience.
Anne- Thank you so much for that. It’s nice to have input from someone who has current first hand experience.
Sam Milligan told me a story about how years ago he had to play Aida and the two harps were back stage. He knew that there was a whole menagerie backstage for the big parade and he prudently put a cover on his harp and recommended to the other harpist that she do the same. She didn’t. A camel felt nature’s call and, well, you can guess what ended up on the harp!
