Dale-This is actually quite an explosive question. You’ll see why as the commentary comes in. Here is the situation. It was Salzedo who decided that scales, arpeggios, and etudes were not necessary for learning to play the harp, in spite of the fact that he himself was a virtuoso harpist who had studied with Alphonse Hasselmans at the Paris Conservatory, who made vigorous use of scales, arpeggios, and etudes. So it has been primararily Salzedo’s disciples,(but not exclusively) who have carried this torch.

Regardless of who is teaching that way now(without using scale and arpeggio exercises, and etudes), the theory behind that position makes no sense. Why would the harp be excluded from a form of technical study that clearly works and which is embraced by every other musical instrument? International harp competitions are a good barometer for who is producing the most technically proficient players, and consistently it is the French and the Russians, who both make extensive use of the above mentioned material, who make it to the final stages.

A friend of mine, currently president of an important music conservatory, told me that in his former job, one of his duties was to audition music students(on all instruments) for an advanced level summer student orchestra. He told me that for the 20 or so years that he did this, he “always had to lower the bar for the harpists.” He said that it didn’t matter what school of playing they had been trained in, they were all equally deficient.

There is no excuse for this. Harp students need to be held to the same standards as everyone else, and the harpists who are play much better for it.

My piano teacher in high school was on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music, and he told me that a requirement for Piano students at that school was that they be able to play scales, 4 notes to the beat, at 132 on the metronome. I made that my goal as a student and got to the point where I could do it. Barely, but I could.

The point of this is that any student on any instrument has to learn to play at a fast tempo, and scales, arpeggios, and etudes are the best way to start building a technique at that level. If you depend solely on playing fast pieces to learn this, you will not develop a technical basis that can be applied to other fast and hard pieces. It will only apply to the one piece you learned. More importantly though, if you don’t work out the technique for playing fast on scales, arpeggios, and etudes, I find that the result is always somewhat lumpy and uneven, and the player sounds like he/she is struggling.

I agree with Carl. Try playing a Bach transcription on harp without having practiced a lot of scale exercises. Good luck.

Briggsie

Scales at a very fast tempo are difficult on the harp, but for different reasons than on the piano. One of the many reasons to play scales and arpeggios on the harp is that they help to develop the ability to ‘feel’ ones way around the instrument. After all, unlike the piano, we don’t have an arrangement of black and white keys to help us orient ourselves to the instrument. There is just a plane of strings and we have to be able to feel specific distances to get around the instrument easily without looking constantly at our hands. Scales and arpeggios, in all their variations, are a good way of learning those distances.

I’m not really qualified to discuss the rest of your post. Trying to form a list of the ‘best’ soloists is subjective at best. Also, many times a soloist can have a great career in one part of the world and be completely unknown elsewhere. There was an American harpsichordist named Scott Ross who had a great career in Europe but was completely unknown here. The Amnerican pianist Daniel Pollack won second prize in the Tchaikovski competition the year Van Cliburn won first. Pollack was enormously popular in Russia for years, but never had a great career elsewhere. Much of the success and fame of soloists and ensembles has a lot to do with their concert management and the people who run those agencies. They can make or break a career. Just read “WHO KILLED CLASSICAL MUSIC?” by Norman Lebrecht to see what I mean. it’s not a pretty picture.

In the case of orchestras, there are many European orchestras that are wonderful but which don’t tour, or don’t tour often. They are state supported and run organizations who perform a service for their particular city or country and don’t record or tour. That doesn’t make them inferior ensembles.

Hi Dale, as i am following the Russian Method let me tell you that Scales and Arpeggios are basics in the russian method, its not a joke , you have to start your day practicing and warming up with it, there are many forms of them to practice, and playing them in a fast speed gives you a high technique believe me. you feel that your hands with finger are flying freely after playing it, but let me tell you something too sometimes we dont have enough time and we need to practice an important piece so we dont do it, but is it positive ? yes 100% its………

I’m a harp beginner but have played woodwinds professionally in the past.

I can’t imagine how one could achieve technical facility without concentrated attention to scales and arpeggios. My teacher is eclectic in her training and in her teaching methods, so no particular bias on my part.

Hi Dale, i dont agree with the idea that harpists do play scales because other musiciens do it, it really very useful for technique, let me tell you my opinion as i practice the scales in a high speed i can after that play classical pieces with scales pattens easily and freely as Mozart concert, french classical music ,as Hasselmans, Naderman, Cardon etc……, and at the end it warms up your hand, but i think many of us dont want to start the day with it, as we dont have the patience and we need to start playing the pieces we work on . it s my opinion, mayb not right.

regards.