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Well this isn’t clichéd, listening and watching a teenager play Ravel’s Jeux d’eau on the piano yesterday made me assume it would be impossible on the harp but no, Varvara Ivanova and Oliver Wass have done it and Oliver was interviewed here in harp column in 2016.
The orchestral part to the Wasps has been on my stand for a long time. Yes it’s a good time to go back to the Sonatas which I have worked on before and polish those, whilst getting my hands back into playing order. A case of old tunes for old harpists (& a pun on the title of my first tutor book).
Then you must have new reedition, for lever harp, my old version simply advises C natural for Baccorolle on lever harp. some volume collections reproduce and edit the layout etc, perhaps allow for notes too low or difficult on lever harp. I will check the publisher of original edition. It,’s about grade 3.
If you are in the UK there are small Derwent harps, by a name which escapes me check out poppyharp.com – no levers mind so really for very tiny children. Also see this page
http://www.harp.net/HarpMakers.htmOuch, I’ve sudden!y experienced tendon inflammation in the top thumb joint in the tendon that bends the thumb as you play, very painful.
Unfortunately my young visitors sleeping in my harp room left the window open overnight recently and the outside temperature was about 4 to 5 degrees centigrade. Thankfully there is no apparent damage to the finish of the harps as the room rarely gets above 17 degrees in winter, they were covered with their dust covers and the room was not unbearably cold in the morning. However it’s a warning to me to ensure guests do not do this again. I think I suffered the greatest shock myself, worrying, but remarkably not one string broke that night, not even the frayed one.
Apologies for belated reply, I would end up writing them between the staves however I prefer left over right so I would be very pleased to see English pedal markings underneath, as a guide. So long as the size doesn’t interfere with the vision on following system (staves) also okay smaller as they are a prompt there, I get fussy about their horizontal placing too so what you have done looks good. Time to reset Ceremony of Carols for the harp as the main instrument instead of the Piano.
Well I heard the SATB performance last night and enjoyed it tremendously, the harp (mine) was situated out front so between the choir and the soloists. Yes the harp was more covered by the tutti ensemble in Wolcum Yole and throughout Freezing Winter night but that didn’t detach from the work, however if you are listening for cues as you perform you do need to pay attention to the vocal score as they are different and I hadn’t expected that.
Very interesting now I understand that it’s a bona fida reduction by Boosey & Hawkes or Bernstein. I’d assumed it was a David Hill reduction. However it’s reported to be dificult so perhaps needs revising or splitting into 2 parts or well, made playable… I’ve only ever played the fully scored work, with 2 harps.
Well I wish they hadn’t stuck that music stand with an open book in front of it. You were brave to leave it with them.
Beware of tuning pins which are milled, they have longitudinal grooves in them and grind away the slot so cannot hold their tune, I discovered this on an older LH100 once and LH confirmed my suspicions so I didn’t buy. So tune once and play for long enough to test how it holds the tuning. For an individual instrument, take another musician with you. Play easy thinly textured pieces for the sound and more difficult pieces for the feel & action.
