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HEY GAYLE- Do you know how important it is to be asked to play for a friend’s wedding??? I am SO jealous. My friends call here first just to make absolutely sure that I’m nowhere near the harp before they come! (just kidding!) But seriously, playing for others is really important, and if you were able to do that without making people run screaming out of the ceremony, you must have plenty going for you!
I hear where you’re coming from about getting your pedal harp. There’s a lever harp I have my eye on, and it seems that it just keeps coming up and taunting me, but all in good time. The most important thing is to play as beautifully as possible right now.
Anyone else buy anything yummy? How about the Harp Tastings? Any surprises there? I sure do hope I can go next year!
Hi there – I just wanted to echo Gayle’s suggestion… I recently purchased a 85P from the Atlanta Harp Center – and I LOVE it.. http://www.altantaharpcenter.com
As
Hello Catherine – THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH for this informaiton! You are a star!! Kind regards – William
Thanks Paul for clearing the confusion up! On the show they referred to her as “Nancy” – thus the confusion.. Thanks again – Great!!
The ‘oft-quoted second language learning example’ is a perfect example of why one shouldn’t teach on the basis of thoughtless personal prejudices.
Thank you all for the replies.
Since then, the buzzing has actually gotten worse.
I have moved the harp to different rooms. The buzz is coming from the harp.
I played with the pedal caps and they all seem snug.
Now all of the gut strings from octaves 3-5 buzz and sizzle when the pedals are
in flat and natural. In sharp, some do not buzz at all and some make a very
little noise.I also have pressed on all of the string ends the buzzing still persists with
each one of them. The fact that almost the entire gut range is buzzing makes me
think it has something to do with the strings themselves.I tune every day, sometimes even twice a day. One night, about a week ago, there
was barely any noise and I really thought my harp had fixed itself. Tonight, I
can barely hear if my fingernails are clashing into strings because of the
loudness of the buzzes.I will not put my harp in any awkward position (on its side) or unscrew any
part of the mechanism.If anyone has resources for harp technicians in South Florida, please let me
know.Thank you.
Sorry – meant to pass this info on as well… His name is Tony Terran – if you go to myspace and search on his name you will find his page… Kind regards William
Hi Gayle- I’m a retired music teacher and have taken lessons with an excellent teacher for 14 months. I am a good sight reader in both clefs, and had a few years of really bad piano instruction about 40 years ago.
I’ve just begun the first selection in Suzuki 2, finished the second volume of “Fun From the First”, and finished the first volume of “Classiques” (leDentu). It was very hard for me to relax and make good use of my practice time when I started because I felt as though it should be easier for me to play harp than it was.
Whenever I become frustrated, I go back in my books and find a piece that I worked on for weeks and thought I’d never ever be able to play, and after playing it slowly a couple times, I realize how much easier it is now.
Have you discussed how to practice with your teacher? If someone told you that they wanted you to learn to race walk, you’d think “Easy”, right? Actually, it wouldn’t be easy, because you’d need to know the very specific movements you’d need to perform in order to move as a race walker instead of your typical gate.
I have to admit, and I should know better, that I have wasted a lot of practice time brooding about how little music I can play. I suddenly had an “ah-hah!” moment just a week ago, and my lesson for this week sounds much better than all the lessons I’ve taken previously.
If you love it, or even like it a lot sometimes but don’t know if you can do it, don’t even think of giving up. If you’re not sure you love it, take a break for a couple weeks and see if you find yourself going over to your harp and plucking a little bit. If it’s calling you back, give it another try.
I’ve pondered this for a long time, years actually, and this is what I think- adults have great difficulty using newly taught techniques without unconsciously intermingling them with previously learned habits.
Example- the aspiring student is a former softball player who drinks bottled beer. Upon being shown the position of fingers on the strings, h/s makes a global approximation of the position, while unconsciously referencing holding a softball and/or twisting a beer cap.
Now the teacher must determine whether the student is OK with playing the strings as though they were a softball being pitched, or whether it is worth the investment in time to teach the student correct hand position.
If the student is OK with the softball approach, the teacher must decide whether it is worth the effort to convince the student that it is not possible to advance toward La Source without the new hand position. If the student wishes to play Hasselmans with the softball grasp, the student and teacher may amicably part company here, with the teacher’s explanation of why this would not be practical.
If the student expresses both the desire, fortitude, time, and observational skill to understand the need for the correct hand position, lessons proceed. The student will need to learn the novel skills particular to the hand position of the harp, as mentioned by Carl.
This model actually works for any teaching-learning situation I can think of, including the oft quoted second language learning example. It is not impossible for a non-English speaker to achieve accent free English, but the task requires making so many small changes that the learner typically resorts to a comfortable level of communication that is neither too arduous to achieve nor too difficult for the listener to interpret.
An additional critical decision for student and teacher is determining a good meshing of mutual goals. I am thankful every time I sit down to play that I have found a teacher who is a bear for technique. I KNOW the importance of a good technical foundation, and I know what I must do to develop the technique I need to play more and more wonderful things. (Carl, I believe I could be the sort of beginner you could tolerate too). We have a shared mutual goal, no conflicts there. She does no Celtic music, and I love Celtic music, but I know that if I learn what she is teaching me, my skills will generalize to any style of music I choose to take on.
I have seen this situation with unconscious contamination of technique
Hey all just wanted all the harp enthusiasts to know that
Goderich Celtic College will be going on from Monday August 4th to
Thursday August 7th, come and participate in are fantastic harp
workshops taught by some of the greatest harp players of this generation
including Grainne Hambly (Ireland), Sile Denvir (Ireland), and June Naylor
(Scotland).
