Subject: [Harp-L] Time Required to Study the Musical Instrument

[Eliza Doolittle <eliza.doolittle@xxxxxxxx>]

Are keyboards faster to learn than other instruments? It all depends on the level of proficiency you want to reach. A very basic level can be reached faster than for, say, violin or French horn. In that sense, it may be more or less like harp. But playing the piano really well can take decades.

This is not easy, and most players never get proficient enough to play it properly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWyE3CxONrk

However, not everybody needs to reach these levels. Why should they?

This is very basic, and I'll give a black eye to anyone that says it is bad playing ;-) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXYX-drQWQk

I know many people who boast 'I can play the piano' or 'I can play the guitar' when they can only play two songs with each instrument, and rather clumsily. In some cases, I think 'Great!', and in others 'If you call that playing an instrument, then I can play ten instruments'. It depends, more than anything, on the attitude with which they claim that they can play an instrument. People who can play just a little, enough to have a great time and to fulfil all their needs, and are conscious of where they are, are all right for me. But I cannot put up with bigheads. I will never look down on anyone because the instrument they are playing is -apparently or not- easier than others, or because they are playing it worse than others. But I don't like boasters around me, if possible.

Eliza Doolittle