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Brandon:
I totally agree with everyone else here—go for it! We need more young men playing the harp. I’ve seen more and more in the past few years, and I’m happy that it seems to be a growing trend. I have two young men (age 13 and 17)
I’ve noticed that a lot of students who come from piano don’t quickly grasp the concept of closing IN to the palm. Maybe because with piano your fingers come up and away from the keys? Not closing all fingers, especially your pinky, into the palm always leads to tension. People coming from piano often let the picky come up away from the hand, even as the other fingers are closing, which leaves tension in the hand. I would recommend playing very slowly, as has been suggested, and checking to make sure all 4 fingers are closing fully into your palm. Then be sure this translates to a faster tempo. Just remember that at a faster tempo you’ll be worrying more about notes and it’s easy to revert back to improper closing.
If you watch some good harpists play, you can see that closing is the one element that virtually all good harp techniques have in common!
KIM
The Ibert Entracte is showy and not that hard for harp. It’s for flute or violin—about 2-3 mins. with a little harp cadenza in the middle. This piece always works well for the end or as an encore. It is flashy with a Spanish sound.
KIM
Diana:
Wow, I could write a novel…… I have probably the most double jointed thumbs of any harpist you will encounter. I feel strongly that the most important thing is placing the thumb high on the string and closing. I always tell the student to “push towards the column” as they are playing their thumb. A person who is extremely double jointed may not be physically able to straighten their thumb. But if they can place high and close, everything else usually falls into place. I think teachers often fixate on having a “straight” thumb. A straight thumb is defintiely preferable if a student can do it, but if the student physically can’t straighten it that is not of much help. I prefer to focus on what everyone can do, which is place high and close. The combination of those two elements will usually result in a good sound and secure technique.
I should give a big caveat here that there is a big difference between someone who truly cannot straighten their thumb, and those who are just not used to doing so. You really have to examine a student’s hand and work with them for a while to figure out exactly what is going on and what their physical capabilities are. Sometimes it’s just a matter of strengthening, but sometimes it’s a physical thing that is not ever going to change.
Stressing to the student to place high and close is almost always best way to go in this situation. You may find that the thumb will naturally straighten on the string if the student can get used to placing higher.
Good luck!
KIM
Carl:
Interesting thread! (I see a Harp Column article in your future….)
I wanted to pipe in that I think teaching students block placing is crucial in the beginning. So much of beginning learning on the harp involves shapes and as Carl mentioned, envisioning the shape you want your hand to land on before it hits the strings. Not only from a technique standpoint, learning block placing also strengthens music theory concepts for beginning harpists—root position chords, inversions, etc… Also, I think block placing is REALLY important in the left hand. I’ve seen too many students want to place big left hand chords one note at a time, from bottom to top, and not only does that distort the shape of their hand and lead to a lot of moving around, but they often can’t get big left hand chords quickly enough that way.
I think this is a classic example of “you have to know the rule before you can break it.” A student has to be advanced enough to understand where this kind of technique is going to be a benefit, and they have to have enough basic skills that placing one note at a time isn’t going to mess them up from keeping a steady hand.
A final request to please stay on topic. Any further posts that stray too far off topic will be removed.
Thanks, Kim
This is an interesting question and one that I have thought a lot about! I am a pretty good reader, while my husband plays very well by ear. We are both weaker in the opposite skill, yet we are both competent musicians. He plays mostly jazz, which as has been pointed out (along with folk music), is a genre where playing by ear is the culture and is encouraged and desired. I play mostly classical, where I don’t usually have a need to play “by ear” although memorization skills are important, which are similar to playing by ear. In classical music notereading is the culture and is a desired skill.
I find that people fall into either the “note reading” category or the “playing by ear/playing from memory” category, based both on early experiences learning music or just having a predisposition towards one way or the other. (Similarly to how people tend to be “right brained” or “left brained.”). Obviously in order to be a well rounded musician having both skills is important. I think most serious musicians recognize and try to improve on their weaker area, although one usually remains dominant.
Now for the point of my post: with young students, I think it does an extreme dis-service to them not to introduce both ways of learning. You have no way of knowing what kind of music that young child will eventually want to play, so teaching them both note-reading and aural skills is important. And if you recognize that one area is dominant, it makes sense to help them develop the other skill early on. I have encountered so many students who insist the “can’t” play from memory or “can’t” sight-read, when really they have just never learned or spent time on the other approach. They just get stuck on the way they initally learned because that’s the easiest way.
So, that’s my soapbox for the day!!! Both skills are important, and especially so with younger students.
KIM
Trista:
After many years of charging per lesson, this year I switched to a “semester” payment plan and I love it. I divide the school year into three semesters (Sept-Dec., Jan-March, and April-June). I send out a schedule of the weeks I will be teaching, times that by my lesson fee, and divide by the number of months in the semester. The student pays the resultant sum at the first lesson of each month. If they miss, it’s up to me whether I will schedule a make up based on their reason for missing. Make ups have to be done within two months. I do not send out any invoices and do everything through email.
Although this sounds incredibly complicated on paper, it works beautfiully and I am fairly compensated for time I have set aside for a student. I have had many fewer cancellations this year, which is obviously good for the student as well.
Summer months I charge per lesson due to vacations and my own out-of-town schedule.
KIM
Folks: A reminder to please keep the discussion harp related. I have removed several posts that I felt drifted too far away from our original topic and the harp in general.
KIM
I had a high-school student show up drunk for a lesson once. It was President’s Day (many years ago) and apparently the student was off from school and forgot she had a lesson and went out with friends, and well, the rest is history.
I realized there was something odd when she just couldn’t get through anything and kept messing up pedals…..
KIM
I was fortunate to hear Germaine Lorenzini perform the Debussy Danses at the Camac showroom opening in Paris two years ago. I don’t think she performs much anymore, so this was a rare opportunity. She really brought the house down and gave an amazing performance. I would love to have had the chance to talk with her in person. I know she is a highly regarded teacher in France, having instructed Isabelle Moretti, among others.
KIM
Playing different dynamic levels, and variying tempo(ritard and accelerando) are as much a part of technique as using the fingers correctly. At what point do you introduce those things, and how do you teach them?
I think it depends on the student. For example I have a 9 year old who has been playing less than two years who is extremely concerned that her piece be accurate to the instructions on the page in every regard! If I happen to ignore a tempo marking or dynamic, she is quick to point them out to me. She has good rhythm and a mature concept of phrasing so there was no reason for us not to focus on these things from the very beginning. For her it’s just part of the package.
Of course on the other hand I have older students who are still struggling with rhythm and technique issues–dynamics are certainly at the bottom of what we have time to deal with in a weekly lesson. I wish this weren’t the case, but sometimes you have to focus on the most important thing….
So my answer is to introduce them as soon as the student is ready. As soon as a student is mature enough, they should know that music is about expression as much as the notes on the page.
