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As a student, I find that when I’m not able to progress, it tends to be due to a specific technical problem. Once we’ve identified the problem with my teacher and worked on it in the lesson, it’s fairly straightforward for me to continue working on it at home and it tends to sort out several apparently unrelated issues at once.
Has your student learned how to practice effectively? That was another thing that made a huge difference for me. The Bulletproof Musician blog is a great resource for this.
Yes, it’s the chance of working with fantastic harpists that’s the main attraction for me. The question is how much of a chance a participant gets to work with anyone if there isn’t a restriction on class size? That’s what is not clear to me…
Of course it might be a good chance to meet up with other people from this forum! 🙂
I know it’s March, but the weather feels more like January over here, so I’m not starting a March thread…
I’ve started on Annie Challan’s Broceliande so as to have something a bit less frustrating to learn than On Selworthy Beacon for now. Broceliande has the advantage that even if you make a complete hash of it (cough), it still sounds nice.
If it was a favourite of Benjamin Franklin then it can’t very well have been written by Betty Paret…
It’s all very intriguing.
If you do decide to buy a second hand harp after all, I’d suggest phoning the harp shops – there may well be harps available that they haven’t yet put online, or they might know of rental harps that are due to come back shortly. The rental harp that I returned to Morley Harps never even made it onto their website, as far as I can tell, so I am assuming it was sold very quickly (it was a lovely harp!).
Personally I wouldn’t be confident in my ability to assess a second hand when buying from a private owner, but I’d be happy to buy one from a reputable harp shop.
Hi Jerusha, these look great, thanks for pointing me towards them! Something for next Christmas…
I do wish Andres would write more pieces, especially more advanced pieces for lever harps. Not that I’m able to play advanced pieces right now, but it would be something to look forward to.
I’m glad to see this thread. So many new pieces to explore!
I’m (still) on an Andres binge, currently working on the first Danse d’Automne and on Kola from Epices. I was beginning to get worried that it was a case of ambition outstripping ability, but according to my teacher I am making progress, so I shall persevere.
I’ve started on On Selworthy Beacon by Sarah Deere-Jones (that’ll keep me busy for a while), and I’m still working on Deborah Friou’s arrangement of Scarborough Fair (getting there!).
Very cool! And a beautiful harp. (Just wondering, how did they think the sheet music would be played with the stand facing away from the harp?)
It doesn’t happen on any other websites for me. It’s definitely the mobile version of the pages that’s the problem, because if I use the “Request desktop site” option in the browser I can see the links.
Victoria, I’m glad your friend has decided to give the harp a go. If it’s something she’s wanted to learn since a young age, why care about “possibilities”? All that matters is that she wants to do it. Thinking that there are limited possibilities before even starting something is like being in a dark corridor and thinking that there is no light in the room behind a door – you can’t possibly tell! (Uh, can you tell this is a soapbox-subject for me?)
One think no one has addressed on this thread yet is the master classes, camps, and workshops: there are tons of opportunities for adult learners once you start to look. Not just classical music workshops, but folk music and early music, and probably much more.
I don’t know about competitions, but then, do competitions really matter? I used to work in science, which is a highly competitive environment, and, after 15+ years of observation I know that success in (the science equivalent of) competitions has zero correlation with actual accomplishment.
One thing, your friend might want to consider what kind of technique she’d like to learn to start with (classical or “folk”?) and choose a teacher based on that. It does matter. If there isn’t a suitable teacher in the area, a lot of teachers do Skype lessons these days – not ideal, but certainly much better than learning without a teacher.
Funnily enough, my teacher prefers teaching adults, because, she says, with children it’s often the parents who push for the lessons, rather than the children. Harp shops might know of teachers – that’s how I found mine.
To add to the statistics, I started to learn the harp when I was (cough) certainly over 30 (OK, 41) and, after almost two years of learning I can’t imagine not playing. And, I find, people love listening to the harp no matter what level the harpist is.
I’ve had the same problem since I started to read the forum on my phone (Android, Samsung Internet) about two years ago.
Thanks, Christy, that’s useful to know – I’m sure there are other tall people with the same problem…
The FH34 is a wonderful harp. And of course the one you made for me earlier this year is the best one you’ve ever made! 🙂 And the craftsmanship is superb, not just the sound – such attention to detail.
Jerusha, I’m glad you like it! It’s one of my favourite pieces.
Annie, welcome to the forum! A ukulele arrangement is absolutely on topic – the topic is what’s on your music stand, not what harp music is on your music stand! 😀
Jerusha, the piece has a kind of new-agey feel, which I mean in the best possible way. It’s a good show-off piece for intermediate players (like me), because it’s not too difficult but it sounds really nice. It’s great when people ask you to play them “something on the harp” – so far everyone has really liked it.
Here’s a part of the first page and a (synthetic) midi file: http://www.megrobinsonmusic.com/dance-of-the-night.
I don’t know about events, but I’d say informal events for audiences that don’t expect classical music.
