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David Kortier also makes electric harps, including some chromatic cross-strung versions. Here is a link to his page. I haven’t had the chance to hear his models, but I’m very curious about it myself.
I don’t know the Braille music system, but have used the simple ABCDEFG braille dots for piano and harp students. I will sometimes place very small adhesive little beads at the base of the strings, or at least on the C’s and F’s, so they can feel to find their point of reference.
I would recommend taking them through the Suzuki method that has a strong ear-training element. Since it is graded from the very beginning through advanced and comes with recordings, it is a nicely established course that can be used for the visually impaired. There is a great deal of classical repertoire here, so it can help to fulfill a desire to learn that style.
I would also recommend having them work through the folk repertoire with its improvised nature. They will be able to learn the tunes by rote, learn how to do basic harmonizations and apply different patterns over time.
A third useful course is to encourage them to compose and improvise the sounds of their own choice. In this way there are no external limits set with the requirement of internalizing outside, pre-set sounds. If their fingers are exceptionally agile, their minds highly intelligent for patterns, then their full potential is their only limit.
One final comment is a Braille music course designed to bridge the gap between the visually impaired student and the sighted teacher. It is called “Dancing Dots”, and I’ve wanted to purchase that curriculum and learn it, but the initial cost is $600. I haven’t been able to justify that purchase with the occasional student with visual impairment, but it is out there, so anyone seeking to specialize in this area could benefit greatly from it. http://www.dancingdots.com/main/index.htm
I once taught a banjo player who used longer nails on the right hand for that instrument, so she had a strong case not to cut the nails. I can see that some teachers could tell a student that they can’t work with that issue, but I’ve always done my best to accommodate a student’s goals.
It helps for her to use a bit more finger pads to avoid the click-tone of the nails. I will caution a student that the nails will definitely limit what they can do on the harp, so if they insist on nails, then their goal needs to match the limitation they have set. I will work with someone who is a hobbyist harpist with nails, but I explain that they will not be able to play more advanced repertoire and that the tone will be compromised. If they accept those limitations and desire to learn for personal reasons, I tend to tell them I’ll do my best to accommodate by altering technique slightly to use more finger pads and in some cases slightly alter hand position.
If their two most important goals are long nails and playing the harp to a high level without limitations, then they need to learn a traditional wire harp which requires nails and has more narrowly spaced strings. I don’t teach that technique, but I would recommend that course for a plan.
I am happy to find this thread because I was going to look for feedback about dealing with finger joints affected by arthritis. I have some very focused older students who make a wonderful effort to apply correct technique. There have been some issues with thumb joints, including the tip of the thumb which limits its ability to curve, so it cannot produce as much strength plucking the string.
So far the best helps I have found including suggesting using warm water soak to loosen up the soft tissue in the hands before practicing, and advising the use of the lighter tension harps with the best tone, so that if they cannot get that strong fingertip pluck and complete closure into the hand, they can still produce a good sound with less effort. There can also be some occasional issues throughout the body, so correct posture at the harp with periodic breaks is even more important for older students.
I don’t consider these to be all possible solutions, so I look forward to continuing to read more input from others. The issues I’ve noticed are irregular joints due to arthritis and some stiffness in the range of motion in the fingers that can limit full closure into the palm.
This is a fantastic thread!
I would love to see every economically disadvantaged child have their needs met including having music lessons.
I would love to see more openness, compassion, and respect instead of fear, defensiveness, and dismissal.
This could be a desire for credibility if the student sees a harpist as someone who can play certain pieces that demonstrate their skill. This is not necessarily a bad place to start. It can sometimes help to think outside the box if we first know what is inside the box. It can also happen that by thinking outside one set of constraints, we replace these with another set, which has certainly been seen in the development through modernism into post- modernism.
It’s ironic in a way that we have a cultural value of being unique and standing out from the crowd which certainly can produce progress, but sometimes as artists we can actually fit in by matching this value. There are artistic traditions the world over that have developed by staying true to a certain aesthetic and repertoire, so it is worth stepping back and reflecting on what it means to fit in or stand out in terms of artistic expression and progress.
When someone has an expressed desire to “fit in” it makes me think that they might struggle with feeling too different in most contexts. This is common for young people who are still developing a sense of self. I would not look down on that attitude, but instead encourage a refocus on the music. I like the comments that refer to learning the masterpieces.
The Venus chamber harps like the Prodigy have 44 strings, but they go down to 7th octave D, so the size doesn’t limit repertoire choices. These also weigh less like 67 lbs. These harps also have a full base sound. I’m average to small, but plan to eventually buy one of these. Their chamber harps are also really beautiful in the visual design.
Just for a different perspective, I’ll add that from experience I can see a couple of reasons pianists could benefit from beginning on the harp, although it makes most sense to me to just start on the instrument you actually want to play. But for argument’s sake – it takes notable effort to get young pianist hands stabilized into their curved position and not collapsing outward onto fingers 4 and 5. They don’t have the musculature early on to maintain curved fingers. Finger 4 is strengthened quite nicely in harp technique along with every individual joint. Also the resonance of the harp directly into the body creates more natural awareness of tone for young children.
I read through the thread and the comments on the benefits of the keyboard for music theory is something that does apply to the requirements of majoring in music. I do think that conceptually learning the layout of the keyboard is fairly direct for people with experience in music. The main pitfall is the requirement to play piano scales two octaves hand together for piano proficiency. That requires more than one semester of piano to accomplish, so if that is the goal it is important to get started before college, but not before harp. 🙂
I also think it is ideal to begin with harp. For the absolute beginner the harp can have an advantage of starting with the focused concept of playing with finger 2 alone to establish the open-close motion of the hand while learning to read notes and count rhythms. Pianists always start with five-finger patterns and so they have two sets of numbers, fingers and rhythms, which can cause confusion especially for young children. Starting with harp is a wonderful opportunity to clearly establish rhythm and counting right from the start.
The role of the wrist is different, and so it takes more effort to stabilize the wrists on young harpists who have started on piano. It’s doable, but requires special attention or the wrist will curve out at times, and they will tend to release using the pianistic technique of leading with the wrist.The muscle development on harp is also different from piano and requires more control each individual joint in the hand.
Another big issue is how the fingers are wired. On piano opposite fingers play together at the octave and their many, many five-finger exercises establish this strong-to-weak finger relationship. On the harp the fingers play in parallel. That reversal of fingering in the right hand can be disorienting for some beginners and is a fundamental difference. At some point this creates an issue that has to be reckoned with.
The registers on the two instruments behave quite differently especially the low register. It takes constant effort for beginners to not overplay the left hand on the piano, and constant effort to bring it out clearly and cleanly on the harp.
I started in piano and moved to harp. There are a number of parallels between the instruments including reading the grand staff, coordinating the two hands, and responding to spacing and pressure. If you have played one then your neuromuscular system has developed to respond to fine motor control which will aid in learning the other instrument.
I primarily perform on harp, but teach both harp and piano. One issue for maintaining a high level is keeping up with both repertoires. There are also some physical requirements that necessitate the ability to switch between two sets of internalized, automatic responses for each instrument. The use of the wrist is fundamentally different between the two instruments with far more motions, rotations, and angles used for piano. The wrist is far more stable for harp, and I have found in working with students or in my own playing the need to consciously switch gears. The piano uses circular motions and a variety of releases that lead with the wrist. Another difference is that the harp requires more strength and stability in each of the joints in the hands. It develops the musculature that controls the fingertip joints and the base joint of the thumb to a much higher level than the piano requires, although both instruments use gently curved fingertips. The concept of outer balance in the hand is also different since piano playing uses the curvature of the hand to create the outer balance between thumb and fifth finger. Much work and practice creates independence between fingers 4 and 5. The outer balance for
This is an especially informative and interesting thread! I was wondering also what people’s thoughts are on how many pieces one should work on concurrently? I realize this varies between students, but if it takes two years to learn a serious piece of repertoire, then it would makes sense that during those two years an hour of music at least would be studied concurrently as preparation for a recital program? More of course for those entering competitions.
Yay! I’m so happy for you Kay, and your beautiful harps! This is a very uplifting thread. I especially like what you said, “SO, anyone thinking that your dream harp is out of reach -I’m here to tell you that dreams DO come true”. That is important to remember, and I think that when you have to work really hard for it, you can appreciate it really deeply.
I grew up on the edge of poverty, but always had a deep love for music and would play any piano I could find at a church or school for as long as people would let me. I would make up my own music because I couldn’t read music, didn’t have any lessons, but created hours and hours of my own music. I would occasionally see a harp and would perceive it like it was the Crown Jewels. It was beautiful, but out of reach. When in college I had some harp recordings I listened to all the time, and got to hear one student perform on an elaborate golden harp. It never occurred to me that it was an option for me, and so I appreciated it in the same way one is grateful to see the play of gold and light at the top of a grand old oak tree.
The sound of the harp always resonated deeply within me – it sounds like my “inner voice”. When it came time to choose a project for my doctoral dissertation I wanted to compose a harp concerto. There was a Lyon & Healy style 17 in a practice room and I got permission to start playing it. I signed up for lessons and took three years of lessons in preparation for my composition project. I fell so in love with the instrument and it felt like a part of me like an arm or a leg. I never felt that before. I felt peaceful when I thought of myself as “a harpist”. I spent the last years of my doctoral studies working multiple jobs, taking out more student loans, and wrangled together enough to buy a Lyon & Healy 85CG with the style 11 soundboard because I loved the organic, natural beauty of the line of the harp combined with the image of the flowers.
I spent hours practicing technique – specifically those physical gestures that were different from piano. I was advanced as a pianist and worked to transfer my skills to harp. I entered a masters in harp directly after finishing my doctorate where I studied Healing Harps with Ron Price and repertoire with Liz Cifani. That program changed my life in a profound way.
I saw the harp as a noble instrument being used in hospitals, with special needs students, and as a way to help people deal with anxiety and grief. I also saw the harp as universal being present almost as far back as written history and present in every geographical region. It reassures me that deep down people are drawn towards the beautiful, noble, and peaceful qualities of this instrument.
It is an instrument that I love to hear for hours for practicing, teaching, and performing. I don’t grow tired of the sound because it is close to me like the sound of my own breathing. Playing it feels wonderful because you interact directly with the strings and create a wide range of color. You can feel it resonate into your own self and so you become one with it and the music. There is an honesty and clarity to the mathematically based organic curves and the openness of the exposed strings. The elegance of the design is a metaphor for my own ideals. I think it is a good thing as a person to become like a harp.
Wow, David. That harp circle story is quite ironic. Having someone be antagonistic in an attacking way is one main underlying fears people have about speaking or performing up front. She was demonstrating how it could be scary while saying the opposite. You showed how to maintain composure when up front even under uncomfortable situations and were honest about it.
Good thoughts Kay and Carl. I’m not a conflict oriented person, so I don’t think I’ll take an aggressive response, and I mostly posted to increase awareness, but I very much appreciate the input. The non-confrontational advice from Carl and Kay sounds especially helpful for me or anyone else trying to resolve this sort of issue.
Kay’s comments are important about not lowering behavior because the only person who would understand the context is the one who started the bad behavior. As far as everyone else is concerned, I would be initiating a problem, but I do appreciate the encouragement to solve a problem and be assertive. I do know this is how many problem behaviors begin. The woman who entered my program might have been reacting to something that happened to her and she was executing her own justice with me as the bystander. At the same time it does require a kind of assertiveness, that doesn’t perpetuate negativity. It is tough negotiating the hugely complex human interactions that result in a field that is unregulated by standards, and in which it takes tremendous effort to build up a livelihood.
