Category Archives: Learning

When do you stop taking lessons?

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The other day, someone asked me when do you stop taking lessons?  Sounds like an easy enough question.  If only.

There are a lot of reasons to stop taking lessons – money, time, fit with the teacher, and more.  Money I can’t do anything about for you, so we’ll just glide past that.   

First, let’s get time off the table and let’s separate time available and time duration.  We have to assume that you have time available – both for lessons and for practicing between lessons.  As for time duration, you can’t really expect to set a timetable.  If you’ve been playing the harp any length of time, then you already know that learning the harp is anything but a linear process.  And that some things feel easy while others feel like insurmountable obstacles.  If you haven’t been at it for long, you might still think that there’s an end – a point at which you’ll have nothing left to learn (quick hint – there is no end).  Those of us who have had more experience already know – you will always have something more to learn!

OMG – is she saying that I’ll be taking weekly lessons forever?!  No, that’s not what I’m saying.  That’s not the right question. 

The better question is: 

What are lessons for? 

There are at least four reasons for lessons:

Lessons can give you a foundation. The harp isn’t easy to play. It requires finesse and skill to play well.  A teacher in regular lessons can help you build the foundations you can grow from so that you can (eventually) play the music you are moving toward.

Lessons can help to protect you – Leon Fleischer called musicians “athletes of the small muscles” and in lessons you’ll typically learn good technique which can help protect you from injury.

Lessons can teach you a framework – We don’t make music in a vacuum and lessons can help you build your own framework from which you can develop your musicality and musicianship.

Lessons can help you learn to teach yourself – I’m going to let you in on a dirty little secret – teachers don’t want to have you in lessons forever! (for a lot of reasons)  But no teacher will want to “graduate” you until you have learned how to teach yourself.

A teacher can use the time in lessons to help you navigate the pratfalls of playing, make clear those things that are opaque, and illuminate the path so you make progress faster.

Of course, the flip side is just as important.  So another good question is:

What are lessons not for? 

There are at least four things lessons aren’t for:

Lessons are not to keep you motivated to keep playing. In the end, music is a solo pursuit. Even if you’re in a group, ensemble, band, or orchestra, there’s only you playing the harp.  Only you can motivate you to play and while lessons might contribute to your motivation, they will not act as your sole motivation.

Lessons are not to provide you with accountability. Relatedly, if you only practice because you’re afraid to look bad at a lesson, you haven’t solidified your self-accountability. Lessons won’t change that.

Lessons are not to keep feeding you music. While we expect child students to need a lot of guidance on music, adult students would have increasingly greater latitude in music selection – which would include selecting the music you want to move toward.  But you need to figure out what that is for you.

Lessons are not to prevent you from being a responsible musician. Lessons are not a substitute for thinking for yourself (ref earlier comment about teachers wanting to help you learn to teach yourself).  This goes beyond selecting music and includes analyzing the music, self-critiquing (not self-criticizing!) your playing and developing your repertoire.

What other reasons are there to take lessons? And to not take lessons?  Let me know what you think in the comments!

It’s time to plan – Summer Camp!

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I know, I know, it’s only mid-March and we’ve just turned the clocks back so it’s still dark through breakfast!  But…

SUMMER IS COMING! Time for Summer Camp!

I know it seems like summer is really far away.  But really, summer starts in just 99 days (when I wrote this, so even fewer by the time you read it!).  So, if we want to be ready, we should start planning now.

Summer CampThere are a lot of summer programs available.  You can tailor your planning to your type of playing.  I have some real favorites and I’d like to encourage you to join me at all or some of them!!  These are all adult friendly, beginner friendly, and well, just friendly!  Here’s a chronological list:

The 41st Edinburgh International Harp Festival, 8 – 11 April 2022.  Ok, not strictly summer, but… This year has a hybrid program so you can participate in classes and workshops, attend concerts all from the comfort of your home computer or you can be there in person!  This is very exciting because so many of us have wanted to go and have now had our appetites whetted with two years online but with travel still a bit snarled, this is a great option for those of us who don’t live in the UK.  There are a number of exciting presenters and the concerts are fab – even if you are watching on your computer.  The events are available online during the Festival and on demand afterward.  The price is very reasonable – and a la carte!  All the info is available at harpfestival.co.uk

Ohio Scottish Arts School, Saturday, June 25 – Friday, July 1, 2022.  Aaahhhhh – to me, OSAS is the quintessential Harp Summer Camp!  This year OSAS is breaking in a new venue – with Air Conditioning!!  Woohoo!  An entire week of great in-person instruction, wonderful tunes, amazing people, and Scottish music coming out your pores!  I liked Scottish music before I came the first time, but I LOVED it by the end of my first week.  I think the best sales pitch for OSAS is the number of students who have come year after year after year – both adults and kids (and adults who started as kids!).  This year’s instructors are Corrina Hewat, Sharon Knowles, Seumas Gagne, and me.  Registration has started and will close when the class fills so don’t wait.  For those of you who have come in the past (or specifically haven’t come) – I’ll highlight – AirCon!  All the details at ohioscottishartsschool.com

Somerset Harp Festival 21 – 24 July (in person and 1 July – 31 October online). Somerset is possibly the most flexible event I’ve seen – even in this new world of working!  There are in person events, online events and subsequent events that will occur throughout the open online period!  There are options to fit every schedule whether you can travel or not.  And there are still the additional events like Harpers’ Escape and special add-on workshops.  Be sure to read the registration page and sign up for the best fit for you.  I’m excited to be teaching two workshops this summer in person and I hope you’ll come see me!  All you need to know is here: somersetharpfest.com

There are loads of other summer programs as well.  I can’t list them all here.  Many are pedal-y-er and oriented to younger harp players (by which I mean kids).  Most are listed in the Harp Column with info available here: harpcolumn.com/summer-harp-camp-directory

If you have never come to a harp summer camp, you have missed out!  I can’t tell you how much you will learn, but you’ll definitely learn a load of great music, applied theory, excellent arrangements, and what a great community the harp world is.  If you are hesitant, give yourself a little push and give it a try.  I think you’ll be surprised – and delighted!

Are you going to a harp camp this summer?  Which one(s)?  What made you choose it? What did I leave out?  Let me know in the comments!

How to Never Run Out of Things to Practice

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Do you ever have that feeling like you’re casting about trying to decide what to practice?  You know you should be practicing, but maybe you don’t know what to work on.  Even if you have a teacher who helps structure your practice time, do you feel hesitant on where to start on other stuff outside your lesson?

No?  It’s just me then?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Never Run Out of Things to PracticeIt can be a little challenging to think of what to practice, especially at those points on the calendar (like now) when we know we should have already started on holiday repertoire (but maybe haven’t).  Or at the end of the year when you’re staring into the abyss of the upcoming year, but not knowing what you might want to come out of it with.  Or thinking about the upcoming competition season and preparing to perform, but not being ready to buckle down.

There are all kinds of reasons that we can be a little stumped on what to be practicing at any one point in time.  And if you’re an externally motivated person (that is, if you need something or someone outside of yourself to get you kicked into action), it can be very difficult to determine what you should be practicing, which can lead to procrastination….or worse, just not practicing!

So, this week, a few ways to help ensure that you never run out of things to practice!

1. Keep track of what you’re working on, how long you’ve worked on it, and your assessment of your progress to date. Why yes, this is just another thinly veiled suggestion that you keep a journal, but it will help you keep in mind what you’re working on right now (and how well it’s going) as well as whether you need to keep working on it.  It also gives you an idea of which tunes might need to be parked so they can marinate for a little while (that’s fancy talk for “put it away and bring it out again later”).

2. Keep a list of tunes you would like to play. Just note them down, preferably with as much detail as possible (title, composer, anything else that helps you find it later). You can’t possibly learn all the tunes at once, so you will be well served to write down the ones you’d like to learn…later.  Don’t worry about it getting too long – you can always add to it, or cross titles off as you go along (and you get the added bonus of crossing titles off as they move to your “learning” list! and you begin to practice them).

3. Focus on what you’re practicing now. When you’re practicing, don’t think about what you’ll practice next.  Think about what you’re practicing now.  Save thinking about what you’ll do another time…for another time… and actually practice while you’re practicing. If you have a great idea while you’re practicing, jot it on your list of tunes you’d like to play and then get back to your originally scheduled practicing.

4. Make connections between music you already know and that you have to learn. It is always useful to be a thinking musician. It’s an illusion that great musicians just sort of channel stuff.  They are actively involved in the music they play.  They analyze the music.  They don’t let it just wash over them!  Thinking about what you already know, what you’d like to learn and how they’re related will help you find tunes you like and will make practicing easier (because similar patterns will be easier the second time and even easier the third, etc.).

5. Be curious. It’s all well and good to know what you like and play that, but be curious about it – what is it about the music you love that captivates you? How far away from the exemplar can you go and still love it?  What other music has those same traits?  Does it appeal to you, and will you learn it?  Being curious means you’ll find new things to play in places you wouldn’t necessarily look which not only broadens your repertoire but also will expand your thinking.

6. Refer to something you practiced before. Why yes, you can always practice something you used to play to death but haven’t in a while.  Keep those oldies but goodies in your hands and in your memory so they’re ready to go when you are!  Those tunes are, after all, the core of your repertoire.

Don’t be left feeling like you don’t know what to practice or how to get started. These six simple steps will help you pull it together so you can never run out of things to practice.  What else should we add to the list?  Let me know in the comments –