That first inspiring work….

[barbara-brundage]

>The soloist is Taka Kling, and the orchestra is the Louisville Symphony.

I LOVE that recording. Has it ever been released on CD? My LP Is pretty much worn out.

[unknown-user]

Thanks Pat,

I would love to hear that recording! I tend to stalk ebay for old recordings, and have found many great recordings of Mimi Allen that way, but I will put the Taka Kling and Louisville Symphony on my list.

I’ve actually

[unknown-user]

Thanks for that Laura, well, after the composers idea of dressing the harpist like a ‘dame’…I can’t resist and may well recommend that work to a local concert band for their next concert!

I agree with you on all the works you listed, they are so wonderful. And also your list of performers.

[Fairy Reel]

Sunrise, Sunset from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ (that movie has been my favorite since I was three years old, and has only been recently bumped out by Phantom of the Opera!).

[unknown-user]

Hi Fairy,

It is a lovely tune. I’ve been thinking for a while of adding it to my resteraunt gig repertoire. I think there is an arrangement of it by Lynne Palmer, who is just about my favourite arranger for popular tunes and jazz standards. And after your recommend, it is definitely added to my list of what to buy next!

Cheers.

[laura-smithburg-byrne]

Hi Curls,

Thank you for mentioning Ann Hobson-Pilot as she is an amazing harpist and teacher.

I will never forget taking a lesson with her 20 years ago in Boston.

I was prepared to play my whole senior recital for her and was proud to start our lesson with Faure’s “Impromptu”. She stopped me half way through and started talking to me about thumb tone. She went on to describe the many colors that could be created with slight differentiations in articulation. She blew my mind. She also taught me about the role of the thumb in creating and shaping melody within a complex figure. I share her pearls of wisdom with my advanced students and am always quick to credit her as she truly “opened my eyes and ears” to the sound palette within our fingertips. I am so glad the harp column is honoring her as she is so highly respected and deserving of serious accolades in the harp world.

[Fairy Reel]

Glad I could help! I do love that song–I’ll never forget my first teacher just easily pulling that song of the strings of her harp, like it was effortless–that is my goal. To spin a song so seamless from strings and wood, so that it resides in memory forever.

Cheers to you, to!

~Fairy

[carl-swanson]

I’m surprised no one mentioned Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. That was the first time in my life I had ever heard harp, and it wasn’t just the Interlude that I loved, but the harp accompaniment to all the carols. The recording was King’s College Choir with Osian Ellis, and I nearly wore out the record. It was a loooooooong time before I heard any other harp recordings, but the Britten was all I needed to get started. I had an excellent teacher named Lois Bannerman and 6 months after my first lesson I played several movements and the Interlude from the Ceremony… That was kind of my dream come true at the time.

[unknown-user]

Hi Fairy,

Yes, you and Laura have well illustrated that it is – of course – often the player and how well they make the harp speak and express the music to the audience that inspires….not just what they play.

I have included a couple of Irish sets of music to my resteraunt repertoire! Partly thanks to your various posts.

[unknown-user]

Hi Laura,

I wish I could have had lessons with Ms Hobson Pilot. She sounds like such an inspiration. And she is such a gracious person, a true professional in every sense of the word.

The year that I was at the summer school, Elizabeth Remy was there and she was playing fantastically. I thought then what an amazing teacher Ms Hobson Pilot must be, as Elizabeth really was playing up a storm. She played a little concert for us at the Salzedo house, and it was Lara’s Granada (Salzedo) and I think also the Scintillation. Wonderful playing,

[laura-smithburg-byrne]

Hi Curls,

I only had one lesson with Ann Hobson Pilot when I was auditioning for graduate school.

My audition was on St. Patrick’s Day and a great day to be Irish in Boston! ; )

I was so impressed with Ann and was sure my destiny was in Boston but Cleveland offered me a very generous scholarship and so I stayed there.

Miss Chalifoux was very fond of Ann and always spoke of her with great respect. I remember meeting Elizabeth Remy when she was maybe 12 years old and it was clear she was a brilliant talent. She practiced constantly and put the rest of us to shame with her level of dedication to the harp. I am not surprised that she became so successful.

Maine was so incredibly special and I met so many amazing harpists there.

I always left exhausted and totally broke and completely INSPIRED!

As a performer and a teacher I try to exemplify the best of my training in my own work and in that of my students.

I encourage my students to play with passion and commitment to their musical ideals.

I don’t know if I am playing up a storm but I am working very hard to make a living. Not everyone appreciates a strong and confident harpist, but those who understand it – LOVE IT! I recently had a lovely conductor ask me if I was amplified,

I had to laugh! “No” I said, “I am just very strong!” : )

[unknown-user]

Go Laura! I’d love to hear you play one day!

What I have found, is that it can be really hard when you are working all the time to keep the passion going and not fall into a “this is a job” mentality. Keeping that balance is..tough. I’m not sure I’ve always achieved it. That is why I almost hero worship players with major orchestras that can keep playing up a storm, keep that passion going, throw themselves into chamber music and solo concerts too, and teach with such commitment. Ann Hobson Pilot and Judy Loman are amazing that way.

As to those that don’t understand passion and strength….well, some people are threatened by what they do not understand. It always surprises me (in the arts in general), that you sometimes get this ‘cult of the insipid’….flocks of people with no creative “oomph”,

[laura-smithburg-byrne]

Hi Curls,

I will agree with you it is hard to stay inspired and I have had my share of less than inspired performances. Life does interfere and often we get called to perform when we’re feeling sick, injured, or in a bad mood due to a bad performance situation. This past holiday season while doing a Nutcracker run, the dancers with the candy cane hoops kept loosing control of their hoops and they kept flying into the pit. It would have been understandable if it had only happened once but it happened three times! The first one hit me in the face and left a bruise on my cheek, the second time it hit the scroll of my colleague’s cello, and the third time I stood up and caught it mid-air with one hand. Although my colleagues were impressed with my left handed save in the pit, to say the musicians were mad would be an understatement. It really upset me because I love playing for the Ballet and I was so happy to be there. I told them it would be one thing if my cadenza had tanked and it was some lame attempt at payback. But considering that I was playing beautifully for them night after night, year after year, as were all the other musicians; it was reckless regard for the safety of all the musicians who were supporting their performance. It was completely unacceptable and the musicians and I wanted an apology and assurance that it wouldn’t happen again. They apologized and said it was an accident, but none of the musicians trusted them after that. From then on the stage crew stepped out on stage and caught the rest of the flying hoops before they got to the pit.

Staying inspired is difficult especially when conditions are not acceptable or people are nasty and indifferent to your needs. Yes the insipid wannabes do travel in flocks and packs and try hard to shake your confidence in all kinds of outrageously petty ways. I will say that it is a wonderful feeling when you can rise above it and still perform beautifully in spite of it all. It is rewarding when your colleagues know and give you that wink or silent nod of approval. It’s especially rewarding when someone really famous gives it to you, and you know, and everyone else knows how good you really are! : )

[unknown-user]

My teacher had asked me last week to buy myself a copy of Hasselmans’ Petite Berceuse, and it came today. I looked at it, read the notes and heard it in my head, and knew I would be unable to wait to my lesson to play it.

Fortunately the fingerings are well marked and the brackets are easy enough to figure out for myself. It is now, after two hours, almost impossible to pull myself away from my harp. It is not quite perfect in terms of fingers and notes, but it is becoming music as I play it. This is the first time I have played a harp piece and felt that my playing can make this sound as it should. I am truly inspired by playing it.

[laura-smithburg-byrne]

Hi Ann,

Welcome to the club!

You have now officially become a lifetime member of the highly coveted secret society of inspired harp players. There are no initiation fees but the dues are great and sometimes painful. They include finger blisters, an aching back, mental fatigue and frustration, and an occasional moment of musical bliss. : )

The best way to keep that inspired feeling alive is to keep practicing until you are ready to perform, then perform often.

After your performances pick a new piece and start all over again. If you are lucky and truly dedicated, that glorious moment of inspiration will return to you again, and again, and again, throughout your life.

Congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of harp music!

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