*Violetta is now offering in-person lessons in studio or in your home to students who are fully vaccinated with the COVID vaccine.
Harp Lessons
Violetta teaches harp lessons in NYC, New Jersey, Connecticut, and online. She maintains a private studio in Inwood, Manhattan where she teaches harp lessons at her apartment or travels to her students homes. She also offers harp lessons online, allowing her students to take lessons from anywhere in the world. She is comfortable teaching almost all styles to students of all ages at beginning to advanced levels.
“Violetta is patient, dedicated, and will make me and my harp sound the best we can during our lesson. Working with Violetta has given me joy and confidence when I play the harp.”
Online Harp Lessons
Violetta is able to bring harp lessons to your home through zoom! These online lessons are a great alternative to in-person lessons while social distancing or if you don’t have a harp teacher in your neighborhood. Violetta is able to work with the student through verbal instruction, demonstration on her own instrument, and discussion giving students all the benefits of in-person harp lessons without the risk.
Pedagogy
Violetta believes in building a healthy technique from the start, so that her students can play anything they want the way that they want without fear of injury. Her technique comes out of the french style of Isabelle Moretti with an emphasis on body alignment, relaxation, and freedom of the fingers. She tailors each lesson to the individual needs of her students and is comfortable teaching almost any style to all ages, from young children to adults. Violetta makes sure to give each of her students the space to improvise and compose as well as teaching them the fundamentals of music theory, ear training, and the repertoire they wish to master. She emphasizes fun and creativity during harp lessons while making sure her students come out of each harp lesson feeling they’ve learned something new. Violetta easily adapts to the teaching style that her students need, based on their interests and goals, she can provider a stricter environment or keep lessons laid-back.
Why learn to play the harp?
Numerous studies show that listening to music effects the brain like no other activity, firing up every part. Actually producing the music yourself by playing an instrument multiplies this activity tenfold. In children, it is indicated that cultivating these musical skills strengthens the bond between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Learning to make music at any age can help you excel in any field, far beyond the instrument itself.
In addition to this, learning how to play an instrument develops self-discipline, focus, emotional intelligence, analytical processing, confidence, and self-reflection in musicians of all ages. The harp is particularly unique, as one of the only instruments where the sound is created directly from the contact of your finger to the string vs. a bow on a cello or hammers in a piano. The harpist can quickly create a strong relationship with their instrument. The independence of each hand sometimes coupled with moving pedals with their feet makes harpists excellent multi-taskers.
The harp is often described as transportive, and music therapy studies have demonstrated “increased relaxation, improvement in sleep, decreased pain and anxiety, stabilization of vital signs, and improvement in mood” in patients. This same sense of calm can be felt by the harpist themself, both in connecting with others and on their own. (see: http://www.harptherapyjournal.com/what-is-harp-therapy.html).
The harp has so many diverse abilities, from therapy to jazz improvisation, from the orchestra to in bands like Florence and the Machine or artists like Joanna Newsom, from irish jams to the solo recital. Beginning to understand this instrument can open so many doors.
To further explore the science of how listening to and playing music effects our brain, check out these videos from Ted-Ed and Wired.
“My 8 year old daughter loves working with Violetta. She is patient, kind and great at getting her to focus and learn new songs. We really love working with her!”