I was going to start this musing gently, but to be honest, I can't. It makes me feel sick to think of the role Ai is plays these days (2026) and how it is ripping the life and soul out of our arts. Do you really want to listen to music that a computer wrote, having scavenged all the thoughts, feelings, memories, skills, experience and musicians that the collective body of thousands of years of creators have put their heart and soul into.
The fact that is now so difficult to tell the difference between Ai music and something that was created by a breather, is not a good thing. It's daylight robbery and it's unforgiveable.
And I'm haven't even started on the water consumption aspect - WTAF???
I'm sorry, but it seems pretty hopeless in the current climate, with the moronic leaders that dominate the world scene and can only think about how they are lining their own pockets, not about the cost to the environment, the people, the arts.
The internet has changed the way we view the world - it's wonderful and horrifying, and we have 25 years of young people who don't know a world without it. The shift in attitude regarding what we can learn from the internet has impacted teachers, not just music teachers.
From my personal experience, I have picked up the pieces of students who have, either started learning from a friend or inexperienced harp teacher. It's rare in these circumstances that the student has had a progressive, technique based harp education and there are generally a lot of gaps to fill. The biggest gap is the confidence of the student harper, some harpers lack experience in their own playing and then pass it on to those they teach - if you haven't had a lot of exam experience, performance or concert experience, competition experience, or your own technique is still developing, how can you pass on your experience when you are still getting there. There is also the topic related experience - in this case both harp technique and general musicianship and theory, and teaching experience - how to help people learn. It takes years to develop these things, and keep up with current trends and new music.
I was surprised (and not in a good way) the other day to be taking a secondary school level (year 10) music class (so they had elected to be there due to their own interest in music) with 10 harps in the class, and the students in pairs, with me delivering a basic 'first' harp group lesson. One student had turned around, taken her lap top out and dialled up ' Beauty and the Beast' played on the harp, and was planning to teacher herself to play this instead of engaging in the basic lesson with the class.... she didn't even know the names of the strings - she was merely going to copy. I've picked up a few self taught students - either from 'teach yourself books' or YouTube and it's hard work for both of us. Generally the student doesn't last long in my lessons as they believe they should be able to play any music they want from the start (regardless of difficulty) and can't work out why they need an understanding of technique and hand position, or why they can't make their fingers move as fast as my other students. Needless to say, the 'Beauty and the Beast' student lost interest - the goal was too hard to reach. In the meantime her classmates, learnt a few tunes, found a few that they could pick out by themselves and had a great time plinking away.
Sorry peeps, there is no short cut for learning a skill...
- you can't speak French just because you have memorised a poem in French, it takes years to learn the structure and nuances of a language.
- you're not going to turn up to play tennis at Wimbledon, without putting in years of training and working your way up through the system.
- you're not going to win a 100 metre sprint if your competition has been training and you haven't.
Unless you are the one in a million prodigy or virtuoso musician, you aren't going to become a successful harpist without putting in the hours, and getting good teaching - teachers know the short cuts (from their experience and their teachers) so you don't have to take the long route.
The fact that is now so difficult to tell the difference between Ai music and something that was created by a breather, is not a good thing. It's daylight robbery and it's unforgiveable.
And I'm haven't even started on the water consumption aspect - WTAF???
I'm sorry, but it seems pretty hopeless in the current climate, with the moronic leaders that dominate the world scene and can only think about how they are lining their own pockets, not about the cost to the environment, the people, the arts.
The internet has changed the way we view the world - it's wonderful and horrifying, and we have 25 years of young people who don't know a world without it. The shift in attitude regarding what we can learn from the internet has impacted teachers, not just music teachers.
From my personal experience, I have picked up the pieces of students who have, either started learning from a friend or inexperienced harp teacher. It's rare in these circumstances that the student has had a progressive, technique based harp education and there are generally a lot of gaps to fill. The biggest gap is the confidence of the student harper, some harpers lack experience in their own playing and then pass it on to those they teach - if you haven't had a lot of exam experience, performance or concert experience, competition experience, or your own technique is still developing, how can you pass on your experience when you are still getting there. There is also the topic related experience - in this case both harp technique and general musicianship and theory, and teaching experience - how to help people learn. It takes years to develop these things, and keep up with current trends and new music.
I was surprised (and not in a good way) the other day to be taking a secondary school level (year 10) music class (so they had elected to be there due to their own interest in music) with 10 harps in the class, and the students in pairs, with me delivering a basic 'first' harp group lesson. One student had turned around, taken her lap top out and dialled up ' Beauty and the Beast' played on the harp, and was planning to teacher herself to play this instead of engaging in the basic lesson with the class.... she didn't even know the names of the strings - she was merely going to copy. I've picked up a few self taught students - either from 'teach yourself books' or YouTube and it's hard work for both of us. Generally the student doesn't last long in my lessons as they believe they should be able to play any music they want from the start (regardless of difficulty) and can't work out why they need an understanding of technique and hand position, or why they can't make their fingers move as fast as my other students. Needless to say, the 'Beauty and the Beast' student lost interest - the goal was too hard to reach. In the meantime her classmates, learnt a few tunes, found a few that they could pick out by themselves and had a great time plinking away.
Sorry peeps, there is no short cut for learning a skill...
- you can't speak French just because you have memorised a poem in French, it takes years to learn the structure and nuances of a language.
- you're not going to turn up to play tennis at Wimbledon, without putting in years of training and working your way up through the system.
- you're not going to win a 100 metre sprint if your competition has been training and you haven't.
Unless you are the one in a million prodigy or virtuoso musician, you aren't going to become a successful harpist without putting in the hours, and getting good teaching - teachers know the short cuts (from their experience and their teachers) so you don't have to take the long route.