Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Jerusha! I haven’t played the Blackbird in about 10 years, maybe the same for the march. The Miser’s Purse I have revived more recently, but constantly lose the left hand due to it being a bit complicated and then I go a while with not having it under my fingers at all. I always find it easier to revive an old piece than learn a new one (of course!) so it won’t take long to get them polished up again. I’m almost there.
The first little performance is part of the ‘Music at the Abbey’ series and is just different musicians playing in the Kirkstall Abbey on Sundays in the summer. It’s fairly casual and people turn up with folding chairs and picnic blankets and sit outside on the grassy bit of the cloisters. For those who want to sit just inside where I am on the stone floor and steps I bring loads of old cushions and blankets and a few folding chairs.
Kirkstall Abbey is a gorgeous 12th century abbey in Leeds, check it out–I’m too lazy to put the link here.
The second performance is part of the Saltaire Festival which runs all September long and music is just a part of it. There are multiple stages, we’re (husband and I) on the Roberts Hall Park stage. If the weather is good it will be fantastic!
I am reviving some of my older pieces which I stopped playing and am bringing them back into my current repertoire. A few of those are The Blackbird (set dance) MacAllistrum’s March, The Miser’s Purse.
I am putting the finishing touches on Lament for Limerick and working up Tell Her I Am.
I’m also putting together an hours’ worth of music for two performances coming up, one in August and one in September.
When I first started playing and bought my Dusty Strings FH 32 I didn’t have a car, so I brought it home on the train (from Bucks County to Philadelphia’s Center City) and walked from the train station.
My best friend also played and had the same style harp. Both our harps fit in her car. One on the back seat, one in the trunk (I have no idea what kind of car it was). Later a third friend with a similar size L&H harp had an SUV of some sort and all three of our harps fit in it! We played as a trio at the PA Renaissance Faire one summer.
Meanwhile, I remained carless and if I ever needed to get to a gig without my friend(s) I’d call for a taxi and tell them to bring one on the larger side to fit a large instrument.
Then I met my now ex and he had a station wagon, later it was a small SUV. Both cars fit my harp and his bass, plus music, etc. My current husband has a VW station wagon and it fits everything–my harp, his guitar plus loads more.
If we are ever in a position to buy a home it will definitely have a music studio in it! At the moment we have a tiny tiny spare bedroom–upstairs–which doubles as an office for him and a music room for me. He keeps his guitars downstairs as the would not fit in the little room.
I know a woman who transported her harp a *huge* L&H lever harp, to the Antrim Glens in N. Ireland (we attended Janet Harbison’s week long harp intensive course) in a soft case (no padding whatsoever!) from the US! When she got to Belfast to get the bus she had to convince the bus driver it *would* fit on the bus! She got it there and back to the US without a scratch!
It could just be excess adrenaline. Maybe you’re confident and not nervous about playing the piece, but maybe you’re just really excited?
Do you mean something for both harp and violin to play together? Irish or Scottish tunes would be perfect, including O’Carolan pieces. Anyway, that’s pretty much my entire repertoire (I play both harp and fiddle).
Yes it will still work, and be even easier, I think if they’re just doing left hand stuff. You just may fit it all into an hour–good luck!
I just realized your class is only an hour long. That’s a lot of stuff to cover in an hour *plus* learning a tune!
Well for starters, I prefer the term ‘learning by ear’ (which in the Irish and Scottish traditions is actually more accurate) rather than ‘rote’. Rote just sounds like such a boring drudge-y task.
First thing: play the tune for them a few times so they get what it’s supposed to sound like in their heads. Then start with the first phrase (phrases may or may not correspond to measures). Don’t say every note, maybe just like this for example, “First phrase, place four fingers starting with thumb on high c and go down.” So they’ll then play cBAG. Go around the room to make sure everyone’s got it before moving on. Then do the next phrase. Make sure everyone’s got it. Then remind them of the first phrase, play the second and make sure everyone’s got the two phrases together before moving on.
Other examples of describing phrases: ‘Place three fingers from the D, skip over the blue F and play up.’ ‘Place three fingers up from C on every other string’ Or if they know what it is ‘A triad on C’
Does this make sense?
My teacher has said, “People have been known to *die* of exposure!”! That being said there are a few things I do for free that no-one would be getting paid to do. One is a big arts festival. I love the atmosphere and none of the musicians are getting paid anyway. The other is a monthly crafts / farmers market. I do it once each summer. Again, no-one would be getting paid to do it and I love the atmosphere.
My current job (I am one of those ‘amateur harpists’ who makes her real living at a job unrelated to music) which is a charity is encouraging employees to generate feel-good stories and extra revenue by doing something unusual. For example, one of the managers got sponsored to do a sky dive. I’ll be busking outside my shop on a sunny day next week. All the money will go to the charity. I won’t even pay myself back for the taxi. A nice thing to do and it all goes to a good cause.I find that some of the most simple pieces are the most impressive and I still play them at gigs for background music. I will get compliments on the easy music every time
I agree with this. I have tunes in my repertoire that I play the same as I did when I first learned them. But then as I’ve gained more experience I have chosen to update other pieces with a more difficult left hand, etc.
And as far as pieces sounding really impressive until you learn them, well, you know the old saying ‘It’s easy when you know how’!
Don’t feel pressured to ‘be great’, just be you! When I first started playing I took my harp to the street and did a bit of busking. I had about 6 tunes, but people loved it. I got asked to do gigs and I always told people, ‘Just so you know, I can only play 6 pieces.’ I still got the gigs. It was great for my confidence and I just kept on building on what I had little by little. 6 pieces soon became 16 pieces and that eventually became more.
I think I started to think of myself as a real harper at the end of those 7 years or so. But I *always* think of myself as a learner, too!
I think it depends on how intensely you’ve been playing and learning in those 4 years or however long. Some people don’t have a teacher and are learning at a slower pace. For me, the first 7 years all I did was take lessons and practice and play, play, play. But between then and now there have been years when I didn’t play as much due to other life issues taking precedence over my music. Divorce (that stopped me dead in my tracks for two years!), moving to another country, workload increasing, etc. So even though I’ve been playing for 15 years that doesn’t mean that I have 15 intensive years of playing and learning experience. But those first 7-10 were amazing!
