[Alison]

Thanks guys, that all makes sense. Indeed my Salvi harp is probably over 40 years old and whilst the mechanism was completely overhauled in Chicago, the pedals weren’t touched as the body of the harp went back to Italy. Now I appreciate why the new Aoyama has bolts and nuts there, having thought initially it was a cheaper solution.

[Alison]

Well there’s a thought as my mother’s Indian club is under my bed !

[Alison]

The Bardic 27 is a sturdy little harp with thankfully nylon and carbon fibre strings so I hope it will put up with being in a warm car as it’s an ideal size for taking on holiday.

[Alison]

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[Alison]

Thanks for this insight, I remember learning this myself at lunchtimes in the corner of a crowded and noisy classroom when a schoolgirl and I still play it today on gigs. I knew from the marking cloche under the stave at the opening that it was bells so that’s really helpful to someone with an Anglican upbringing.

[Alison]

Lots of us have bought the bardic harp for taking around with us to demo in teaching sessions and presumably for busking with selective or pre-arranged repertoire, only very tiny children would want that as their main instrument. When I ordered mine I requested additional half length legs which are safer and fine with a low stool.

[Alison]

I was fearful that playing outside would be an issue on Saturday as its been 30 degs C here in the UK, I wondered for reference could direct sunlight damage the lacquer it wasn’t my best harp and the finish on camac lever harps seems to be more solid simple varnish on plywood, however we had shade and greatly appreciated it.

[Alison]

I was fearful that playing outside would be an issue on Saturday as its been over 86 F or 30 degs C here in the UK, I wondered for reference could direct sunlight damage the lacquer it wasn’t my best harp and the finish on camac lever harps seems to be more solid simple varnish on plywood, however we had shade and greatly appreciated it.

[Alison]

Is it catching ? I also have soreness of the main thumb muscle in both thumbs which is a giveaway, probaby because I am practising quite hard after relatively little playing over the last year and perhaps from using this tablet too much. I am trying to finish Impromptu Caprice an intense piece so hard going and resting helps. Thinking it was down to age and fatigue, I asked a conservatoire student whether she ever had sore thumbs and to my surprise she replied that yes indeed she had, so maybe it is overuse for me.

[Alison]

Whilst the Wasps is a great piece, I love it, it’s too advanced for a junior orchestra and certainly needs a pedal harp and an experienced player, with a lot of preparation necessary. Alison

[Alison]

Thanks, can I query Musikfind myself then ? I really am just curious about the orchestration of these works always have been.

[Alison]

Well, I have tried that a few times and can find nothing beyond vocal scores and they don’t list the orchestration. Current interest is in Elgar’s works and Dvorak’s Stabat Mata, the real reasons are that I like to have the vocals to hand when preparing for a job and there are quite a few vocal scores in the charity shop at the moment but I can’t buy them all ! To experiment choose the Spirit of England we know there’s 2 harp parts in that but in The Kingdom I have no idea. I bought 4 of the Elgar’s and the Dvorak and had a few others already like the Brahms and Faure Requiems. Also it really helped me to appreciate the prose in the tacet movements during a concert following a recent bereavement. At the moment the Dream of Gerontius is on the radio and I can hear plenty of harp.

[Alison]

Only now that I have listened to BBC’s comprehensive Composer of the week, 5 hours of radio dedicated to Pachelebel’s life story, the overlap with the Bach clan, and all his many other works, plus many jazzed up and amusing performances of this Canon, including some pop songs, can I now contemplate enjoying it and improvising to make it fun for the current pupil and hopefully myself !!

[Alison]

Several of my students want to play solo Canon in D before they are ready for it, as like any arrangement of a classical piece the fingering and progressions are not trivial. The first was also a guitarist, more mature and she persevered and mastered the Sylvia Woods arrangement for her cousin’s wedding. The second was pestered by her mother who had this at her own wedding, and once the student had explored it enough she dropped it. Now I have a student who wants to learn by strings and ear, as with ASD he struggles and refuses to read music. Knowing how much richer this sounds with a full bowed strings and continuo instrumentation I think we could enjoy this much more as a duet, with improvisations and with some sections played in canon mode.

[Alison]

I have played 2nd before, I think you’ll fnd many OUP scores were updated and handwritten for some reason, so it’s not just me who finds them ambiguous sometimes. Can I help, I could dig out the part ?

[Author]

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