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Sid, I just tried that one in the Key of F by ear, and it worked for me. It seems to me to be about the same level of difficulty of playing “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue,” that I play for gigs frequently on pedal harp. It is indeed full of pedal changes, but I love that and feel that you can do it! What key is the printed music written in?
Best wishes,
BalfourGood advice, everyone! Check with Vanderbilt or Lyon & Healy to see when they will have a sale on complete sets of strings. Also, the Atlanta and Virginia harp centers.
Cheers,
BalfourJanis, I assume you mean the Rachmaninoff “Vocalise.” What a beautiful piece, and I have a somewhat difficult arrangement of it for organ, with many accidentals! I have never tried it on pedal harp, but it might work! When I get it out to play for church again, I will try it on the harp and let you know if it might be possible, for me, at least.
The Prayer from the GOTHIC SUITE by Boellmann is absolutely beautiful on pedal harp, and I use the organ score for it. I have done an abbreviated version of it on lever harp with success. You might like to arrange it for harp, also.
Best wishes,
BalfourBiagio, I use that LH thumb technique without previously knowing that Cynthia had discussed it! Good for her–it is very useful.
Cheers,
BalfourYes, Andelin! A few years ago, a bride requested “La Califfa” by Enio Morecone on lever harp for her wedding. All I could do was find it on You Tube and learn it totally by ear. (There are several nice versions, including one by David Garrett on violin.) At that time, there was no printed sheet music available of this beautiful song/piece. I do not know if that is still true, but since I now play it all the time, I no longer need music for it. However, I know other harpists would love to play it if the music is available.
Sylvia Woods listens to what harpists want her to arrange, so my suggestion would be to ask her about your piece. She might even arrange it, or know a source on it for you.
Have a great day,
BalfourI was only using SS because I have seen it used many times to mean same-sex. Thanks for your comment, Gretchen. I never even thought of the Nazi meaning! I guess it is time that the abbreviation found a new meaning, Paul!
Best thoughts,
BalfourSylvia,
In answer to your question, I have only gotten one SS wedding so far as a result of the legalization. It was for two women who have been together for over thirty years, and it was a very sweet ceremony. I played lever harp on the landing of a beautiful stairway in the old Victorian house where the wedding was held, with perfect acoustics for un-amplified harp.
I did ask some of my friends in Asheville, NC today, and they said that weddings had indeed “picked-up” and there have been a lot of SS ceremonies there. So I believe you are on to something, Sylvia! Good luck in your “neck of the woods.”
Best wishes,
BalfourHa, ha, Gretchen! 🙂
You are right–there are definitely no C flats on a lever harp, whether you tune in C or E flat! So you would have to use B natural, ha, ha! That accentuates my hang-up about “C flat is B natural,” you know. Only on pedal harp can you play a C string and get a C flat, so that totally explains things–thank you for noticing, friend Gretchen!Interesting for E flat lever harpists trying to play “Soupir,” in the last line (or “system”) there are harmonics on middle C flat with the left hand, followed by a B flat immediately. It would be terribly awkward to fix a B natural for that C flat and then have to change it to the B flat which is also a harmonic. I might consider tuning an actual C flat on middle C, temporarily for this piece.
For C-tuned lever harps playing this in the Key of E, this is no problem. You have C and C sharp available!
Okay, friends, let me know how you like this piece on lever harp!
Cheers,
BalfourI will add to these fine posts that harpists have it great compared to pianists and organists! Being proficient in harp, organ and piano, I can say that practicing on one organ and going to have a lesson on another one is one of the most difficult things a musician can do! Pianos vary a great deal too, in size, touch, tone and volume. Pianists and organists can never take their own instruments to their lessons, as can harpists, and they are at the mercy of the tuner who last tuned them! Also, much practice time is required on the organ or piano one is having to play on for a concert. The harpist can just take his/her own dependable harp, thank goodness!
That is why I usually only do harp concerts presently; I have had my fill of bad pianos and organs that I have had to perform on over the years.
I do sympathize, Aria, but maybe you can do like Carl said and play several different harps. I own three, and play several others at different venues. They are all incredibly different, so it keeps me “on my toes,” ha, ha!
Best regards to all of you,
BalfourI agree, Andelin. Playing “by ear” is a little hard to define! To me, it is hearing something played or sung, then being able to sit down at your instrument and play it. Singing by ear is more common, since your voice is your built-in “instrument.” I have many in my church choir who cannot read music, but they can learn to sing their parts “by rote” very well.
I once knew a woman who wanted to play the violin by ear, but she could not “carry a tune” when she sang. She had very little sense of pitch. Therefore, the violin was not for her. She instead learned to play the piano, since it has set pitches, and she played somewhat mechanically, like someone typing, totally by memory, playing the keys and not really “hearing” it! Of course, any expression in her playing was out of the question, but she enjoyed it, just playing notes and chords.
Do you all remember “dueling banjos?” A harpist friend of mine who also plays beautifully by ear joins me in concert from time to time. We call our act “dueling harps!” She will play a melody by ear, made up on the spot, then I will duplicate it, and make up one of my own. Then she will duplicate that one. We do that with progressively more complicated tunes for a bit, trying to “stump” each other, then go into a piece/song we know. The audience loves it. At one of our concerts, a soprano from the audience requested, then joined us for, Schubert’s “Ave Maria” and all three of us did it by ear, since there was no music available and we had not planned on playing that one! It took just a minute to find the correct key to play it in, but once that was decided, it worked very well on two pedal harps. That was the first time any of the three of us had done “Ave Maria” together!
So, Clinton, find another musician to play tunes for you to duplicate, and have fun. Learning music can be a real chore, but playing music is the greatest joy!
Cheers and best wishes,
BalfourThanks, Biagio–I just caught this, too, and started to respond to Clinton about the half-steps in the Key of E flat, but you got there first! That was wonderful!
Clinton, check out Angi’s Lead Sheet Basics first, then if there are particular songs you want to learn, she probably has a simple arrangement of them! I helped her out on two books and most recently on the “Essence of Swan” sheet music. We have deliberately kept all the arrangements very simple, which is difficult for me to do, ha, ha! I play the harp more like Harpo, with all the glissandos and flourishes! Hope there is something you can use out of Angi’s many publications.
Best to all of you,
BalfourOn the subject of “having fun” with your music, Clinton, please check out Angi Bemiss’s website at http://www.simplytheharp.com She has put together excellent resources on learning how to play and enjoy the harp simply. Being primarily a pedal harpist myself, Angi really taught me a lot about making the lever harp work, getting the most out of it; what to leave out that was not entirely necessary, tricks on getting the “essence” of the piece/song, etc. I learned to love the lever harp for what it is, a very beautiful instrument, not minding very much what it cannot do that a pedal harp can. (The lever harp can do things that the pedal harp cannot, too! So can the chromatic and double-strung harps.) It is also a very much more portable instrument, as those of us know who have to move a large pedal harp frequently!
So, experiment and learn all you can. I love all these posts, my harp-friends!
Have a great day,
BalfourJust another thought about this subject! I have a friend who teaches harp and many other instruments, including mountain and hammered dulcimer. She has said repeatedly “most people can play by ear if they will just try and do it!” She thinks that too many people learn to read notes and then entirely depend on them. They think that they are not playing correctly if they make up their own variations as they play. This attitude can “note-tie” people so that they believe they cannot play any other way.
So I say, Clinton, just “try and do it.” Prove that my friend is correct. If you are only 32, you should have plenty of time to learn, play, and enjoy your music.
Wishing you all the best,
BalfourThanks, everyone! These are great posts, and it was good to be updated by Clinton! Yes, YouTube is great for being able to hear something, to see if you are doing it “like it is supposed to be.” In the “Old Days” I would sometimes be given just the melody to something and had to figure out by ear which chords to add to it. There are many possibilities that sound nice! All I had to do was hear the song/piece to know what to do, but finding someone who knew it, or getting a recording of it, was not always possible. Also, the tempo, style, dynamics, etc. are all important when someone has requested a favorite piece for their wedding, party, dinner, concert, etc. It does need to be recognizable, ha, ha! Thanks, YouTube!
My very best wishes to all of you,
Balfour
