Lesson Information
I prefer that you pay by the month,
if possible. You may make up one lesson per month.
Please
contact me regarding current rates.
1. Lesson time may vary from 30, to 45, to 60 minutes for
adults,
depending on how much music you are learning and how much time
you have
had to practice. Young beginners may schedule lessons for
15 or 30
minutes in length, depending on the young student’s attention
span, and
how much music is being learned.
2. I recommend twice weekly lessons, if possible for young
beginners
for the first few months. Later this can be changed to
weekly, or
perhaps every other week. For older beginners I recommend
weekly
lessons, which may be changed to every other week if mutually
agreeable
between myself as teacher and the student or the student’s
parents (aka,
the “designated chauffeur”).
3. You may use one of my harps for lessons, or bring your own if
you
wish. (Parents: playing some one else’s harp after
practicing on your
own feels like someone else has driven your car and rearranged
the
position of the driver’s seat and mirrors; my harp may feel
unfamiliar
but it is a harp.)
4. Always make sure at the end of your lesson that your next
lesson
time is set.
5. Cancelled lessons: if you cannot make it to a lesson,
please phone
24 hours in advance so that I can re-schedule my time
accordingly. I
will try to re-schedule you for another time. If you
simply forget and
don’t show up for a lesson, I expect to be paid for the time I
prepared
and waited for you. Likewise, if I forget your lesson, the
next one is
“free”.
6. Try to touch your harp everyday. Practice if you can,
but if you
don’t have time for a full practice, sit down and play one or
two of
your old tunes to “keep them under your fingers” and keep
contact with
your harp. If you can’t play, at least say “hello”
to it, and tell it
you love it. Harps do have souls!
7. If you haven’t had time to practice, I recommend coming to
your
lesson anyway so that you don’t break the rhythm of your
lessons. We
can always find something to work on – new music, expression
and
interpretation, transposing, chording, microphones – there are
many
things we can do. Don’t be embarrassed that you
haven’t practiced very
much. We are all busy and our lives have hectic times now
and again.
If you are consistently unable to practice, maybe you should
take a
break for a month or two. Be aware of this, though:
if you don’t
promise yourself to start again on a certain day, it may be a
year or
two before you get back to it.
8. Brand new students: Your friends will be thrilled that
you are
playing and will want to pressure to perform immediately.
Go ahead and
play for one or two friends, but please, please don’t commit
yourself to
playing concerts at parties and or at church until you have had
several
months of lessons. Performing forces you to neglect
technique and cope
with notes, and will set you back almost to the beginning.
RESIST!!
9. I will play for you at your lessons, not just have you play
for me.
It is important to see harp playing “live”.
Please seek out as many
opportunities as you can to attend harp concerts, both Celtic
and pedal
harp.
10. At some point you will decide you have had enough lessons
and want
to work on your own. When this happens, please don’t
just drift away;
let me know, so that I won’t wonder if I’ve insulted you or
not met your
needs, or leaned on you too hard, or whatever. This
decision is a
logical end to your lessons, whether you’ve taken for six
months or for
years. You should celebrate your independence. If
you simply need a
break from your lessons, say so. It happens to everyone.
For my part,
I need to know whether to keep your lesson time “open” or to
allow
another student to fill your time. If you want to be
mostly independent
but check in every few months – do it! I welcome the
opportunity to
work with students on musical interpretation. You may
desire a lesson
or two before a big performance.
Good Luck in your harping adventure, and keep your thumbs up!
|
