Don’t fall into this TRAP as Self-Taught Harpists!
It’s SO tempting, but can be really damaging to your progress. Today I’m going to talk to about a trap many self-taught harpists fall into! Let’s begin.
Imagine you hear a piece…. and you think to yourself, ah! That’s so beautiful, I want to play like this! – maybe it’s a hymn, or a Celtic piece, or a song played in your church, and you get excited and tell yourself you’re going to practice really hard and play this on the harp. Let’s say you start working very hard on your piece – like a few a weeks – but you begin to get frustrated. No matter how much effort you put in, this piece is not progressing or sounding fluid like you’ve expected.
THE TRAP
So what is it? Some of us think we’re not practicing hard enough, often enough, or even cleverly enough. But actually, the trap is starting with a piece that’s too difficult / beyond the skill level that you’re still at. This can be really damaging! Going a few steps too far, it’s easy to miss out on some foundational skills that would have prepared you to cope with the piece that you’re so excited about. This leads to solidifying poor habits, which can be really discouraging because you’re just working so hard without knowing what you’re doing wrong.
Sometimes this is the reason people lose the passion for playing the harp. Yes, it’s normal to have one or two difficult sections in a piece, and it’s good to have solid practice strategies. But unless you’re at an advanced level, or an advanced harpists involved in working on a long hard piece, the piece you choose to play shouldn’t take you months to accomplish.
HOW TO SPOT THE TRAP
What I would do to figure this out, is first look at what’s difficult in your chosen piece. Are you struggling to read the sheet music fast enough? Could you be having trouble placing your fingers in advance (I talk about finger placement in another video), or are your fingers not feeling strong enough for a specific part in the music?
If there are one or two of these things in your piece, usually that’s considered normal, but if there are too many difficult things in the music to accomplish, that’s a sign the piece is beyond your ability. If that’s the case, go back to something a bit simpler – something that’s mostly easy for you to play, but helps you to isolate a specific skill that needs improvement (I recommend focusing on one skill at a time).
You can find pieces for different skills, and go over them again and again until you feel prepared and more capable to attempt that dream-piece you were trying to do in the first place! And this time hopefully it won’t feel so frustrating or take you too long.
ONLINE COURSES (Learning The Harp)
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I have been reading out many of your stories and i must say pretty clever stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your blog.
Hi there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!
Wow thanks @Christy-Lyn. The thing you said about starting at a more difficult piece than your actual level is kind of put me thinking because when I started at LTH, and got my first course I didn’t know which level to learn. which level would I be, if I’ve had: no previous harp experience, no harp teacher (except for you, now!!) and learnt nearly everything by ear (before) and no one to guide me for……. nearly a year now????? I am also twelve years old, so if you’re going to give me some advice please consider that….Also I am interested in learning Classical music and hymns mostly. So have I started at the wrong level (early- intermediate) or do you need more information about my ”harp journey” so far? Please answer back because I need some expert advice fast, so I can know what level course to do next. Thank you so much @Christy-Lyn
Hi Ruth! That’s very exciting that you’re learning harp, well done for doing so much on your own! If you’ve managed to stay motivated on your own without a harp teacher, then you are going to do SO well with the help of courses. That’s fantastic!! It’s possible that you could be playing pieces at an early-intermediate level, but it’s also likely that you probably have some things about your technique that need to be fixed up to enable you to keep progressing. So I would recommend choosing a late-beginner piece, for example “Morning has Broken” or “I need thee every hour” or “This is my Father’s World”, because it will allow you to spend a bit more time concentrating on your technique and less time thinking about the notes. Then you can take it from there. If you find that you are still struggling to keep up with the technique reminders and you suspect that you still have some bad habits with your technique that you would like to spend some time fixing, then you could also try doing a mid-beginner piece like “Amazing Grace” purely to allow you to properly concentrate on fixing the technique challenges. And then as soon as you can consistently play that level while maintaining good technique, then you know you are ready to move up to the next level.
It might only require you to play one piece at a mid-beginner level (see how you feel about your technique at that point), and then progress up to the next level when you can see that your technique can sustain it, without throwing all the technique out the window to focus on the notes. Does that make sense?
Unfortunately I can’t give you specific advice to your situation, since I haven’t seen you play, but I generally suggest that students look at how they feel at the level they are playing at, and don’t feel bad about going back to a lower level to fix up some things about your technique, it doesn’t say anything bad about you or your progress, it can be a very strong and wise decision to make, if you truly want to keep progressing well without hindering your long-term progress.
If you want more specific advice for your situation, perhaps you might consider sending in a video of your playing for feedback from our other harp teacher Carrie? She’s super helpful with helping you figure out your level and what to focus on fixing about your technique, and she’s very encouraging 😊 https://www.learningtheharp.com/shop/feedback-videos/
Hope that helps! Sending lots of love, and keep up the great work!! It’s really exciting to be playing the harp 😍😍😍