Wire Strung Harp Lessons
You want to learn about playing wire strung harp: This is wonderful, and welcome. While many people find they can learn on their own with resources like books and videos, there is much to be gained by taking a personalized approach of studying with a teacher as a guide. I am available for private lessons, and structure the lessons I offer in various ways to suit your individual goals:
Cynthia’s Harp Studio and Library
- One–time coaching session — a single lesson
- Goal–package of lessons
- Long term study
- Immersion Learning
- On–line lessons
A Single Lesson
A single meeting with an experienced player may be all you want. Perhaps you just need someone to check your posture, to assure you that you are doing it right
. You may be rather far along in your playing and are looking for a suggestion on where to take your studies next. Maybe you have a performance coming up and want some friendly (and confidential!) coaching. A single lesson may be the right option for you. We can schedule one, either in my studio near Washington, D.C. or at a conference you are attending at which I am a presenter. A lot can be accomplished with a bit of time on Skype or by sharing videos.
Goal Package of Lessons
Single goal study is like choosing a school semester. You sign up for a class with the intention of learning some specific thing. For the harp, it might be learning ornamentation or modal music. You might want a better understanding of playing a lever–free instrument, exploring what doors that opens for your music. If you have something in mind, excellent! Or, if you only know you want more than one lesson but you also don’t want to commit to an open–ended arrangement, we can talk and identify a nice compact package
of study for you. These lessons can be in person or we can utilize Skype and other long–distance learning options.
Long–term Study
Many people sign up for lessons and never stop! Think of people who study languages and keep adding new ones, or who take classes in woodworking, sewing, needlework...the list is truly endless...and they eagerly await the listing of new classes on offer before the current one ends. If this is your feeling about studying harp, the good news is there is always more to learn! With gaining skills, technique, repertoire, history, there is always more. For this type of study, the beginner may want a guide through the first book all the way to arranging their own advanced repertoire. There is no limit.
[Return to Top of Page]Immersion Learning
Imagine this scenario: you are coming to the Washington, D.C. area to attend a conference and find you can spend three extra days after the conference is over. Or perhaps your spouse is attending a conference and you want to tag along. A day of site–seeing sounds like fun, but what else can you do? How about two or three days of total harp immersion with a private teacher? An hour of instruction, followed by an hour of practice (with immediate feedback given as needed). Then another hour of instruction. Or an hour of study in a well-stocked library, either my personal library (which is nice enough) or join me in a trip to the Library of Congress for a guided review of their music collection. This type of study takes some careful planning, but it's been done before!
[Return to Top of Page]On–line Lessons
The internet opens up many possibilities for distance learning. Watching a good harper in a YouTube video can be very instructive. So much more is a video especially made for you showing the technique you are trying to learn, or a custom recording for you of a tune you are trying to read off the page but finding that it sounds not–quite–right. Even an email exchange can help you with some questions, and while most of today’s players are very free with their time, there does come a point sometimes where you may want to guarantee a sustained one–on–one correspondence. And then there’s Skype! I find that Skype alone is sometimes not enough, and so my Skype students also receive Lesson Reports
relating what was covered, and which may include exercises or written music or a link to a video or recording in your own folder in the cloud (I like Dropbox, but will use whatever you have that works.)
If any of this sounds right for you, or if you have your own idea, contact me and let’s make some plans!