Group Harp Lessons
Individual lessons aren't the only way! Group lessons work well for some students - here's why!
♫Learning by listening - even when you are not playing, you can listen to hear how others play it
♫Learning by looking - see how others get their hands round the strings - we're all built differently!
♫Learning by copying ('Monkey see, monkey do' is my favourite phrase) we learn naturally by copying one another!
♫Learning by playing together - in unison (as one) or in parts, supported by the group
♫You're not alone - after the class you have the teacher, and a group of like-minded harpists to ask for help.
♫The social aspect - we share music, laughs, life stories and experience.
♫ With more students sharing the teacher's time, the lesson isn't as costly as an individual lesson.
From my experience, when working with students of similar ability and age, they build up confidence in their skills more quickly because they are seeing that their fellow harpists are doing the same sorts of things, having the same challenges, and wanting answers for the same questions, rather than believing that the journey is theirs and unique.
When learning in a group, we learn very quickly that our tempo is rudimentary to our music making - we have to all play at the same speed to be able to play together, and while we might speed up and slow down as needed in our practise at home, we can't do that as a group, or we'll end up as a musical train wreck! We are also taught that to play it slowly and correctly is better than quickly - even if it feels good to play it fast - it's not such a productive way to learn.
We also get to hear how other people do it on their instrument, and how different fingers and different harps make different sounds. We learn a lot from listening not only to other people playing, but the comments, and sometimes just the casual comments, can make all the difference to our musical journey - knowing that we are not alone in our learning.
Learning in a group also has the benefit of making music together - sometimes its too challenging to play both hands together of a new piece, but you can play one, then the other hand well enough. In a group lesson, we can split the group so that one half plays right hand, and the other plays left hand ... when we do this we get to 'hear' the whole piece together which is valuable for our overall knowledge of the music. It's far easier to reach the end result if you know where you are going!
Harp lessons comprise of teachings about harp technique, harp tunes and theory of music, and are complimented with extra resources such as videos, audio files and sheet music .
When learning in a group, we learn very quickly that our tempo is rudimentary to our music making - we have to all play at the same speed to be able to play together, and while we might speed up and slow down as needed in our practise at home, we can't do that as a group, or we'll end up as a musical train wreck! We are also taught that to play it slowly and correctly is better than quickly - even if it feels good to play it fast - it's not such a productive way to learn.
We also get to hear how other people do it on their instrument, and how different fingers and different harps make different sounds. We learn a lot from listening not only to other people playing, but the comments, and sometimes just the casual comments, can make all the difference to our musical journey - knowing that we are not alone in our learning.
Learning in a group also has the benefit of making music together - sometimes its too challenging to play both hands together of a new piece, but you can play one, then the other hand well enough. In a group lesson, we can split the group so that one half plays right hand, and the other plays left hand ... when we do this we get to 'hear' the whole piece together which is valuable for our overall knowledge of the music. It's far easier to reach the end result if you know where you are going!
Harp lessons comprise of teachings about harp technique, harp tunes and theory of music, and are complimented with extra resources such as videos, audio files and sheet music .