Talented Students

[unknown-user]

Have you ever met very talented students that you think they could become top harpists in the future? How are they like? Do they learn

[carl-swanson]

Stephen- Your question is an interesting one. There are always, in each generation, students who have extroadinary skills. They learn music faster than you can put it on the stand and they learn it accurately. Their hands just seem to fall on the strings the correct way from the begining. Most importantly, they are persistant and expect a very high standard from themselves. They often memorize easily and in performance just never seem to make a mistake. Does that necessarily mean they will become major artists as adults. Not at all. There are so many factors that go into becoming a major artist that skill at playing the instrument is only one of many needed for success.

In my lifetime, I have seen several harpists who were child prodigies and were phenomenally talented burn out as young adults and actually give up the instrument for years. I have also seen extreemely talented harpists jinxed by personality traits that sabotaged their careers. And then of course there is the question of timing. If there are no major (or minor) job openings for years, a wonderfully prepared and talented musician may be stuck doing the grunt work that everyone else has to do to make a living and may ultimately give up the instrument and change careers to make a living.

One of my clients told me an interesting story recently. She had studied as a child with a woman on Long Island who for many years was THE harp teacher there. There were regular student recitals, and before one particular recital all of the students were warming up and practicing their pieces. This woman’s mother watched all of this for a while and then, pointing a finger at one 6 or 7 year old child who was warming up said “She’s the one who’s going to make it. She’s persistant.” The child she was pointing to was Nancy Allen.

[unknown-user]

Carl, the Nancy Allen story is very interesting.

I feel the road for professional harpists is rather narrow. Harp soloists have much less opportunities than many other instruments. And places for harpists in orchestra

[carl-swanson]

Let’s be real. The vast majority of harpists have two options open to them to earn money. They can teach and/or play weddings and function. Nearly all are going to do both. Broadway shows have almost completely dried up. Studio work is almost non-existent, and orchestra jobs come up so rarely that there could be dozens of highly qualified harpists who never get to make their career there. For these reasons I have to say that it is difficult to encourage even a good student to spend 4 to 6 years and heaven knows how much money pursuing a degree(or several degrees) in performance. They leave school saddled with debt and no way of making that money back.

I have been teaching a talented student for the past two years and I’ve tried to convey to him and his parents the above information. I’ve told him that he has enough talent and intellect to be able to pursue the different aspects of making a living as a professional harpist without getting the degrees. In performance, no one cares about the degrees. I’ve suggested to him several times that if there is some other non-musical career that he could train for that will earn him a decent living he should do that. He’s probably going to go to culinary school(he loves to cook) and will continue harp in private lessons. If in the end he does decide to go to music school, he will at least do it with his eyes wide open and know up front what he is getting into. I think that one of my roles as a teacher is to be realistic.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

It’s not a question of quickness, not in learning notes, I don’t think, but the fullness of their understanding of the music and sensitivity to it, and what they bring to it. If you play an Irish tune, and in doing so, you don’t just play a cute tune, but put in it all the feelings you have ever had about Ireland, your understanding of it, your sense of its culture, then I would say you are very gifted. And if each piece acquires its own unique flavor, color, tone, and seems to come from its own place inside you, then you are born performing artist, if you can perform. Those are the essential things I demand from performers beyond any technical considerations, along with a sense of style and interpretive authenticity, which I have more-or-less described here.

If you feel you are

[harpglo-jean]

Bravo Saul!…so well said!!…I really needed to read those words, as my own note reading is not the greatest, and sometimes I am intimated by other harpers/harpists.

[unknown-user]

Bravo, Saul.

[carl-swanson]

There are many players on all instruments that have dazzling technique but have nothing to say. There are even some major international artists who, because they have been heavily promoted, have careers but nothing much to offer artistically. But the hard fact is that, in addition to having a real musical sensibility, you simply have to be able to learn music at lightening speed to move in the highest musical circles. If you are harpist for example in a major symphony orchestra with a 52 week season, you have to be able to learn a staggering amount of music quickly. No amount of heartfelt musicianship can make up for that fact.

5 years ago the winner of the USA competition, Xavier de Maistre, stayed with me for a week. He was about to start his new job with the Vienna Philharmonic. The players in that orchestra also play in the Vienna Staatsoper orchestra as well. Xavier had to learn the harp parts to 60 operas for that season!! And he was going to have to play them without any rehearsal because they were already in the orchestra’s repertoire. Not everyone has that ability, but Xavier does, as do most of the harpists I know in major orchestras. Sorry everybody, but speed really does count.

[vincent-pierce]

Carl, you have a good point. Xavier de Maistre is an amazing player, and mostly because he has technique and agility but is also highly expressive.

[carl-swanson]

Vince- Many years ago when I was an undergraduate, Horowitz gave what has become a landmark Carnegie Hall Concert, his first public concert in over 12 years. Horowitz had HUGE problems with stage nerves and retired from public performance numerous times in his career because of it, so this particular concert was a BIG DEAL. He made an obvious mistake in the first measure of the first piece, and then went on to play a flawless and electrifying program. I believe you can find it on CD, and I believe that Horowitz insisted that the mistake be left in.

A piano teacher at my college worshiped Horowitz and I believe had even managed to have a couple of lessons with him. This man gave a faculty recital that exactly duplicated Horowitz’s Caregie Hall recital. All of the notes were there, and his technique was flawless. But his playing was deadly boring and the audience left in droves at intermission. It was really very sad that someone had dedicated so much of his life to music and was obviously talented, at least from a technical standpoint, but had absolutely no comprehension of musical expression.

I like what Diane had to say(I like all of what she has to say!) and she’s right about the various elements that go into producing a real (successful) artist.

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