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Dearest GlissBliss,
What you are describing is exactly what all beginner harpists go through. You are having the problems you describe because you have no muscle memory for the various patterns that come up in even the simplest pieces of music. The result is that you have to hunt for every note you play, and you have to do it each time you play the same piece.
The answer is to play exercises and etudes that will repeat patterns enough times to form muscle memory patterns that are the basis of technique. Go to the 30 day challenge and go down to Day 2. There is a reference to an article I wrote for the Harp Column in 2008 about using etudes to build technique. It appears on page 36 of that magazine. Read that article. It will explain everything you are dealing with. I would suggest, when you do get a harp and start learning the instrument, that you use LaRivierre, which is primarily exercises, and my Bochsa Revisited, published by Carl Fischer Music. The two of those will put you on the right track.
When anyone wants to learn a musical instrument, the teacher has to deal with teaching the student two different things: 1) How to play the instrument, and 2) How to read music. If the student already knows how to read music, then that’s a huge advantage. So if you won’t have a harp to practice on for several months, then use that time to learn to read music. Find a teacher, preferably a solfege teacher, who can teach you music theory and reading lines and spaces efficiently. You don’t need a harp to do that. You don’t need any musical instrument. The better you can read music, the easier it will be to learn to play the harp.
Well it’s been over 4 months since the OP. I wonder how it’s going?
I too think that SOME kind of small harp would help even a 19 Pixie harp- or a keyboard- generally had new on ebay for $50 or 60 these days and 61 keys and lots of voices- usually harp- or for $50 on Craigslist used. Amazing what one can get for under $100 these days.
Beyond making rudimentary musical progress there- a great resource for our time is of course youtube- and a lot can be earned simply by watching- not just instruction- but performances. If you eventually have a small harp , some crude imitation of performance videos can go a long way- especially if you have some concept of notes and keys and triads and chords and the like.
Live recitals at university music schools are an interesting and enjoyable way to spend ones time if you have access to them, and the recitals are often open and attendance is encouraged among students and the public to help the aspiring musician. A dozen years ago I was fortunate to be living near my alma mater Indiana University where I was able to occasionally attend a recital or performance by students and even the International Harp Competition held every few years there. Really nice.
Someone mentioned etudes- I was thinking last week that I wished I had some exercises equivalent to the Guiliani Exercises I use on classical guitar and I looked on this forum and searched etudes and I see there is a very thorough book of exercises out there for $35. Personally I’m not ready to spend the 35 right now- also practicing guitar and piano and violin and having invested much on books with many books around my crowded living space.
Then I realized that the “etudes” were really the same thing as piano arpeggio exercises- which helped me tremendously gain there a year or so ago- the few exercises in Sylvia Woods book are identical to the piano arpeggios that got me more flowing up and down the keys- More pointedly they are often OPEN CHORDS that go on up or down across several octaves and you try to play the in rhythm or in musical flow.
so I highly recommend some etude/piano arpeggio practice on keyboard or a harp- and the piano exercse books are many and can be had for more like $10-15 before you may want to get the definitive Harp etudes for $35.
Good luck and keep harping
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