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Salzedo marking

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Home Forums Performing Salzedo marking

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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  • #189515
    Timbre
    Participant

    Really quick… Can someone remind me what the Salzedo symbol represents that is a square with a dot in the middle? Specifically looking at Quietude pg2, and at the ending.
    And his kind of scalloped line above and below is his version of PDLT, isn’t it?
    Thank you! I can’t find my copy of his method book. 😉

    #189516
    Donna O
    Participant

    Square with dot =isolated sounds
    Scallops= pdlt guitarric sounds

    #189517
    Sylvia
    Participant

    All I could find in my Method book was on p57, he says to consult the Modern Study of the Harp, p19. He calls it Isolated sounds (the square with a dot).

    Looks like you play with one finger and muffle with the thumb, but on p57, in XI, M8, there is also a tie, so I don’t quite see how that one could work.

    #189708

    PDLT is NOT Guitaric Sounds! Do not mistake the two for each other. Guitaric and Plectric Sounds are played at the BOTTOM of the string, while PDLT is only “near” the bottom, which is usually quite a bit higher. Please watch the video made by Lucile Lawrence to understand his notation clearly and how to play it. Isolated Sounds is a kind of legato unique to the harp in which the note just played is muffled by the preceding finger as the next note is played, which is why in passages of that sound, there are two rows of fingerings above and below the continuing line. If anyone is going to play Salzedo’s pieces properly, you must seek out a full understanding of what the notation means. It is usually clearly explained in the preface to each piece, or in Modern Study of the Harp or the Method for the Harp. The Preludes for Beginners in the Method should be thoroughly studied in preparation for playing his solos. Each tone color has a unique sound. To recap, Guitaric Sounds are not a version of PDLT playing, but an entirely different sound, with the goal of maximum contrast to playing in the middle of the string. Also, you do not drop or slide down the string into those notes, but you turn your hand a bit more sideways so you can reach the bottoms with your fingertips.

    #192451
    Loonatik
    Member

    err…

    so how distinct are guitaric vs pdlt vs bdlc in color?

    playing lower than pdlt (shown in the video) almost would require using the fingernail, is that how it’s meant to be?

    http://sites.siba.fi/web/harpnotation/manual/plucked-sounds/pres-de-la-table
    http://sites.siba.fi/web/harpnotation/manual/plucked-sounds/bas-dans-les-cordes

    #192452
    Gretchen Cover
    Participant

    In the clips you posted, the harpist is first playing at the bottom of the soundboard using the fingertip, not the nail. Same with the second clip except the harpist is playing a little higher on the strings. Neither requires the string to be played with a fingernail, just the fingertip. Besides, your fingers nails should be so short that playing the string with your nail would require extra effort (no comments from the wire harpists:).

    #192516

    You also adjust the angle of your fingers more sideways to play with the flesh. When you play at the very bottom of the string, there is a very noticable difference in tone quality from pres de la table, which is a good bit higher. It has a wooden nasal tone from the stiffness of the string, which is lost higher up. PDLT is like speaking in a French accent, where Guitaric and Plectric Sounds are like plugging your nostrils and speaking. Big difference. Again, ANYTIME the music says to play with the fingernail, it is Plectric Sounds and MUST be played at the bottom of the string. NOT in the middle of the string, or PDLT. Playing with the fingernail in the middle of the string just sounds obnoxious to me, like bad playing. Osian Ellis did it a lot, though, to get an accent, so in Britten, if you want to do it like him, do, but he used the corner of his finger, not the middle of the nail.

    #192522
    Gretchen Cover
    Participant

    GREAT explanation, Saul! Thx.

    #192665
    Loonatik
    Member

    Understand the difference better now. Thanks.

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