Tacye- I can’t imagine any harpist who plays beyond an intermediate level not doing this, but I guess the point of my post was to ask if it is consciously taught, and what other teachers call it. I find it particularly useful in playing Bach, but frankly, as I said in my original post, since learning the technique a long time ago, there is almost no place that I don’t use it.

David- Honestly, I can’t understand the logic of placing high and then sliding down. I have a student now who did this big time when he transfered to me two years ago. His previous teacher didn’t teach him to do this, she just let him do it, as well as a whole host of other things that caused many problems.

The most obvious reason I have for not placing high and then sliding down is that it necessarily forces you to place before you actually play the string, and many times, on fast difficult repertoire, there is just no time for this added motion. Also, if you are placing on a string that has just been played and is still vibrating, you stop the sound. As one gets into harder repertoire, it becomes important to touch the string at the moment that it is played and not a micro-second earlier. To me, the best technique is the most efficient, meaning that the desired result is achieved with a minimum of effort and movement. Placing high and then sliding into position sounds to me like a lot of unnecessary movement with a high probability of creating unnecessary noise(sliding on the string), buzzing(by placing earlier than necessary) and stopping the sound(again, by placing earlier than absolutely necessary).