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I suspect there are a lot more jobs for music therapists. You might also consider music education. I have a colleague who went that route, taught kindergarten-level music, and had a full career in addition. It also depends on which school you go to and what they offer. You don’t really have to decide until at least your junior year of college. Start as a music major and see how that develops. You can then add therapy or education to it, or in graduate school. I think education will pay more than therapy. I don’t think there are very many jobs in therapeutic harp, it depends on the area.
I am not particularly pleased by the Suzuki books. I think the best pedagogy is Lawrence/Salzedo. The ABC of Harp Playing, Pathfinder Studies, the Method for the Harp, and the Art of Modulating. By the time you complete those, which should not take more than four years, you are an adept harpist, at least an upper Intermediate player. It’s meant to be very economical and efficient, rather than taking many years to get anywhere. After that, the training comes from repertoire.
The other way is to apprentice to a harp technician, or a harpist such as Richard Turner, who is expert at regulation. The question is, where do you live, and why aren’t any technicians visiting? I live in a major city, yet only one technician ever comes here, and he is limited in what he does.
You can always borrow notes from one hand to the other. It’s the simplest solution to many passages. Do not be flummoxed by how the notes are written on the page. It is rare that they are written in the most-playable fashion. If you want to know more, book a lesson with me.
Relax! Go slower. Practice more and practice better. Break everything down into the smallest possible step. Take great care when placing. Your pinky should always be relaxed. All your fingers should be relaxed. If you are tense, then you don’t know what you are doing well enough. Drill every bar or beat ten times or more every day until it feels natural. Make sure you understand finger and hand position, and finger movement.
Affairs of the harp has many technical details about regulating and repairing harps, in far greater detail than Mr. Swanson’s book, which covers the basics. Lyon & Healy once published a booklet called “Happiness is a Contented Harp” which told how to change felts, check and oil springs and studs, and do basic regulation.
My parents had a Toyota Siena for many years and many hundreds of thousands of miles. I felt it was too high off the ground to make loading easy, but if you can buy one that was handicapped-equipped, you might be able to use that in loading, it will have a ramp, and even a harness to hold the harp up in the air (don’t do it).
Yes, in time, the wood fibers will change their alignment according to who plays it regularly. School harps that are regularly played by many people lose their focus. My teacher, Frances Miller, told me that, and every summer, she would take one or more university harps to her cabin, and play scales and exercises on them until the sound was revived. My own harp has changed greatly over the years. You can control the sound as long as the wood is able to be cooperative. And even when a harp has a new owner, it will retain some of the signature of the previous owner.
I have always wanted a used Mercedes station wagon, but I hear they can need a lot repairs. But classy! Maybe I would settle for a Volvo.
It really depends on how you are being taught. It can be very simple if your teacher gives you a comprehensive, consistent method of playing, with constructive exercises and strong guidance, ie. a lot of corrections. Some people can play very well after only four years, especially if they have come from playing the organ or piano, but there are also special challenges in transferring from another instrument. Suffice it to say, as I said before, every ten years one reaches a higher level, hopefully, and each level shows you another level to reach, particularly with regards to repertoire. Learning repertoire is probably the biggest challenge.
Bryan retired some time ago, though his business is still going. Thom Bell also does restorations, but is backed up, I hear.
I tried clear nail polish once, and it added a very noticable thickness to my nails that definitely interfered with my playing. The chemicals in it also penetrated into my finger and I could not wait to remove it. Harpists do not need polish. You can buff your nails and make them shine. That is all.
