How to play four finger chords evenly

[carl-swanson]

Gretchen- I forgot to answer your question. The whole collection is from pieces that are either currently in print, or were in print but I don’t think are now. In choosing these pieces, I wanted, as I said above, to make the pieces immediately accessible. I wanted to do this so that harpists who may have never played Tournier before, or certainly not these pieces, would not be overwhelmed trying to figure out how to play the notes. Here’s the list of pieces I chose:

Au Matin
Offrande
Vers la source dans le bois
Berceuse Russe
La Voliere magique
Eternal Reveur
Lolita la danseuse
Cloches sous la neige
Claire de lune sur l’etang du parc
Jazz-Band

Do you know all of these pieces? I’ve used many but not all of them in recital. They’re all just gorgeous. Several of them are quite easy technically. But Tournier makes enormous demands on the player as concerns the musical nuance.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Just playing through etudes will not accomplish much of anything. You may end up with a very stiff, thick way of playing. It’s how you play them that matters. It’s how you use exercises, or repertoire, that matters. It’s all in the way you move.

[Gretchen Cover]

Carl,

This is an impressive collection! Is there a reason why you did not include Soupir? I played Promenade with a bassoonist recently. Yes, the notes were easy for that piece and 90% of our work was in the phrasing and musicality. We spent a lot of time working on details. I am working on Nocturne after Christmas.

[carl-swanson]

Gretchen,

I chose the ones I chose because I liked the way they contrasted. I wanted a nice balance of pieces with different feels to them. I think these 10 pieces make a nice first collection. There are tons more Tournier pieces, and I’m sure, if I do a vol. II of these, a number of them will show up in that one.

[Veronika]

Carl, that sounds great. I wish I had access to a pedal harp, but I don’t, so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that you get to publishing the piece(s) for lever harp! 🙂

[Author]

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