What is intermediate level? What is advanced?

[carl-swanson]

There are an endless number of beginner books available to get harp students going. But then what do you do after that. Over the years I have seen too many teachers give students pieces that skip too many levels of difficulty. Tiny tales to first Arabesque to the Mozart Concerto. I’m not kidding. So my question is this. What do you give students to play after they have gotten the basics under their belt? once they are ready to move beyond the beginneer stage?

Give me a progression (in terms of difficulty) of 4 or 5 pieces that you use to move a student from “advanced beginner” level into intermediate level. And if you want, explain what you think each piece offers in terms of advancing the student’s ability to play the harp. I’m just curious to see what other teachers use and why.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

The problem is, there are so many. Tiny Tales are actually quite difficult, because of the fingerings. I hope to soon provide suitable collections. In Solos for the Harp Player, you can start with (my own progression) Pavane, Correlli Adagio, then Sarabande (?), Durand Chaconne, then the Correlli Giga or the Cabezon Fuga. Ellis Schuman’s Handel transcriptions are good. I think it is important at this stage to use as much baroque music as possible, and classical. Then there are the good old Marie Miller transcriptions. Grandjany Automne is a good transition piece, then the two folk songs Le Bon, Patapon. Some of Salzedo’s Sketches are easier to handle than the Tiny Tales. Depending on the student, one can go right into his Preludes for Beginners. Dussek Sonatinas, too.

[carl-swanson]

Don’t overlook the little Renie pieces either. Au Bord du Ruisseau, Invention in the old style, etc.

[alexander-rider]

I played;

Dussek- Sonatines,

Grandjany-deux chansons populaires francaises and the Three Preludes which are lovely.

Renie-Feuillets d’Album (Esquisse,dande d’aurefois, Angelus)

There’s quite a lot of nice stuff by Andres that I played too,- Rimambelles, Aquatintes, Automates, Petits Pas…. All big books with lots and lots of material in. And they are always suitable for both kinds of harp.

Although I never played them, what about the Tournier preludes- they seem very nice.

[carl-swanson]

Let me state this in a slightly different way. Once your beginner student can read lines and spaces and can play THE BUNNY HOPPED DOWN THE ROAD, where do you go from there? And what exercises do you give at that level? I find that it’s very difficult to avoid giving a beginner student pieces that are just too big a jump from the little rank-beginner things that they’ve been playing.

[erin-wood]

McDonald/Wood Graded Recital Pieces are a good transition from Beginning rep to the Intermediate stuff already mentioned.

[rod-anderson]

Carl, I don’t know if this is any help, but in the UK we

[unknown-user]

I don’t recommend them, but I was raised on the Dilling collections before the other material I spoke of. The exercises in the Salzedo method are basic enough for beginners, and can be expanded on.

[carl-swanson]

I love the Bochsa op. 318, 40 easy etudes, as a foundation for good basic technique. They do favor the right hand, but it’s easy enough to have the student play the right hand line with the left hand, either where written or an octave lower. And I think they can be started right after that lines-and-spaces-bunny-hopped-down-the-road phase.

[unknown-user]

The Bochsa etudes are some definite help… i don’t really agree with the UK system of examination, altough i was brought up in that line of thinking, and graduated fellowship from two of them…

[carl-swanson]

Esmeralda- I’ve taught many of those pieces and agree, they are good music and are basically intermediate level. My question to you though is this: What easier pieces do you use to get a beginner student out of the beginner phase and up to the level technically that he/she can play those pieces?

[jennifer-buehler]

At what point of competence does previous musical experience no longer make an impact?

[unknown-user]

Carl… i apologise for not understanding your question well…

recollecting the days when i was myself a beginner… my professor had given me works like Grandjany’s Petite Suite Classique, Pratt – Sonatina, The Mc Donald Harp solos Volume 5 offer a good number of works which are intermediate level… i’m remembering Noctorne for example at the moment, Purcell’s Suite Grandjany’s trois preludes, Tournier’s 2 Petites Pieces Breves et Facile and Bercease maybe Handel’s Passacaille, the Parry sonatas are not that difficult either, altough one has to be a late intermediate to tackle them.

But as i said, i was brought up in my early years in the

[diane-michaels]

This is a great question because it has me somehwhat stumped, and perhaps I’m not alone.

[Tacye]

I am a fan of many short pieces (1 page at most) rather than only longer ones, this is one of the reasons I am fond of Dilling’s Old Tunes for New Harpists and more exercises than studies.

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