I played the piano when I was growing up, (mainly because my grandma is a piano teacher and she "strongly encouraged" me and my cousins to get into music) and then viola to grade 2, but then kind of stopped as I wasn't too keen on it any more. I mainly played it because I've always been tall and teachers kept suggesting massive instruments to me but I never really took to it... I didn't like doing graded exams, and I wasn't keen on my school orchestra, so it all felt a bit directionless and lonely at the time.
Still, I've always sung in a choir so music's always been a part of my life. I'm 20 now and just about to take up an instrument that I've always wanted to play but that my parents didn't have the space or money for - the harp! I'm so excited. I'm renting a lever one to start with, out of my student budget, and keeping it in my college so my parents can't complain about it taking up space in the house. So far I've only had one lesson (which was SO much fun, much better than my previous experiences), and seeing as how I know nobody who plays any strings I thought I'd try these forums for a bit of advice and to find out more about it.
I'm a bit daunted, as while I enjoy the piano and can read music okay, the harp just feels SO different. It is nice to play an instrument that's big (I'm 6ft), and that makes a beautiful sound without me being any good at it yet (that was partly what bothered me about the viola...) so I have high hopes! I'm also looking forward to practising lots as procrastination from my uni work
A lot of my friends sing and are into folk music, so ideally I'd love to be able to play and improvise with them. I'm hoping to play a bit of everything - folk, jazz, and classical.Anyway, I can't wait to meet you all and get properly stuck into a new instrument!
