Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I looked up Laurie on You Tube. She is truly wonderful! Biagio, practice hard for such a special teacher as her–it is a true honor to be able to study with her, you know!
Still digging out of EIGHT MORE INCHES of SNOW!
My best wishes to all of you,
BalfourMae, I’m glad all these ideas came pouring in, and that you are experiencing some good practice on your harp. By the way, how is the new double-strung sounding?
That’s right, Allison! I wanted to post an update and say that my two lever harps being tuned in the two different keys, has worked out very well, EXCEPT for one violinist!!!
The harp/violin performance was today and went very well. However, getting there—–
The violinist just could not make up her mind about the keys we were to play in. She wanted G AND F! I told her this was not possible when we planned this gig weeks ago, and that she needed to pick all sharps (C through seven sharps) or all flats (C through seven flats). Well, she finally came to terms with it when I would not give in on the issue. She selected sharps, and hand-wrote out all of her transpositions from flats to sharps! (I knew all the selections by ear/memory, so could go either way.)
Although I felt bad about her going to all that trouble transposing, maybe it will make things better when we play together in the future. One can only hope!
It is good to have a nice thaw here in the mountains and be “out and about!”
With best wishes,
BalfourTacye, it is good to hear “from the other side”, what some of my musician friends refer to as being “note-tied.” I wondered about that while studying this blog–what would someone say who ONLY plays by reading the music. I know there are others out there, if they will only add their thoughts here! Now we will have to hear from Mae, too, and I hope some/all of these points are useful to her. Thanks for sharing, Tacye.
Hello, all you wonderful friends! We are finally having a thaw–the temperature is up to 35 degrees! There IS hope for Spring!
Biagio, thanks for posting the videos–they are both very nice. It must really take some coordination to play those pipes, pumping as he has to do. I played the accordion as a child, and it would wear me out!
Allison, I’ll have to remember to send the “harp police” out to check up on you, ha, ha! No, really, this blog can go where it wants to go; I am really enjoying it!
Hi, Brook!
Good to see you back. I remember you used to play some of my harp arrangements that I did with Angi Bemiss! Best of luck in your harp playing!
Good wishes to you,
BalfourAndelin, you might want to get in touch with Angi Bemiss, Simply the Harp, in Atlanta, GA. She knows everything about this sort-of thing, and is always willing to help out.
Hello, friends!
You all have really been busy on “my blog” while I was out, ha, ha! We finally got out today in the ice and snow to run errands and get groceries so we are prepared for the next snowstorm they say is coming. Hope for Spring to come soon to the mountains of North Carolina!
Interesting point about Irish/Scottish. Around here, most people do not know the difference, and once or twice at our concerts, we have wrongly announced that a tune was one or the other. When we realized it later, we corrected it for the next occasion, but most folks just love Celtic, without regard to exactly which country it truly is.
Mae, how did you know that recording was in C flat? Were you playing along with it, or do you have Perfect Pitch? I wonder if recorded music plays at the same pitch in the UK as it does here. When I was growing up with just a record-player, it did not play at the standard pitch, it was at least a semi-tone higher. I played everything in C sharp trying to keep up with it, ha, ha! And I started tuning my own piano when I was 15, so I knew by the tuning fork that it was tuned to A=440.
Keep the replies coming–I love them!
Best wishes,
Balfour (and Carol)Congratulations, Mae! I just found this older blog, and enjoyed reading it. Kay, I am 60, so this sort-of puts things in better prospective! Mae, good luck on your PHD (what field?) and attaining Level 8 with the harp. Where are you right now in your quests?
Best regards to all,
BalfourThat was a nice reply, Janis. I, too, would rather not have to read the music, even though I am good at it. It is much more fun to just “play” without the impediment of the written score.
However, I feel that all of us are indebted to the many composers who took the time and trouble to write down their music, to preserve it before we had recording capabilities, and to enable other musicians to play it.
Mae, what you are saying is PERFECTLY NORMAL! All of us have to look at our hands and the strings when we play the harp, to play it WELL. That is why the strings have colors 🙂 When I play in the dark, or blindfolded, my playing really suffers, because I have to use the “anchor-strings” technique and I feel like I cannot jump around freely like I can when I can see. Watch videos of harpists playing, and they look at their hands on the strings!
The spacing on your Dusty harp is called “concert spacing.” It is normal for the octaves to get closer together as you ascend on the harp. My Musicmaker’s harp has wider spacing at the top, and you can’t gliss quite as well–your glissing finger tends to fall in the gaps, ha, ha!
Have a good day. We are off today because of heavy snowfall here in the western NC mountains. It is cold and very beautiful!
My best to you,
BalfourJanis, I wish you could have had my piano teachers! They “made” me sight-read and not look at my hands on the keys, when I would have rather been playing by ear making up my own things. My dad was really a task-master, too, and insisted that I perform to the best of my ability.
This consisted of having to play well when reading music, memorizing it so that if I forgot my printed music, I could still play for people. He also admired and encouraged my ability to play by ear, improvise, and compose. I also had to (really, I wanted to!) learn all styles of music so that I could play at an old Inn for the guests in the summer time. I started this at 8 years old, having played since I was 5.
I agree with Mae, I mess around with my instruments and play just what I want to play by ear or by memory, but I toughed it out in college, earning both Bachelors and Masters degrees in music. I also “buckle down” to learn music well for my classical concerts. My dad passed away three years ago, but his “legacy” lives on. I am SO GRATEFUL!
Hi, Mally & Biagio,
Neat about the gut strings on the bowed dulcimer! That sounds like what happened to me when I decided to add some lever gut strings to my Musicmaker’s Large Gothic 36. Jerry Brown, the builder, had installed some lever guts on one of his other models, the five strings in the 5th octave (pedal harp numbering system) a-b-c-d-e. The lowest 5 strings (6th octave) are metal, and have full, super tone c-d-e-f-g.
Jerry’s scaling already sounded good, with 5th octave a and b being nylon wrapped over metal, then going to solid nylon on c (.060) and on up to the top c with solid nylon, various sizes.
Anyway, Jerry mentioned to me that the lever gut gave that part of the harp a very warm, full tone, and so I experimented with it. I ordered the 5th octave set, and also the 4th octave set. I installed all of them on the harp, and just in a few days, the top gut string, e, broke! An expensive string, yes! I replaced it with nylon, and in a few more days, the next highest gut string broke, followed by two more. (I should have researched their breaking points, I know!)
To make a long story short, the length of those particular strings is too long to accommodate the tension required to put the guts in tune. So, what works very well on this particular harp is to have 8 gut strings, a–a, a beautiful-sounding octave, which does, in my humble opinion, make this harp sound perfect! If I had never experimented, I would not know this, so I say EXPERIMENT, by all means, Mally.
My best wishes,
BalfourI’m glad those strings worked to make your harp sound better! It was good to experiment carefully so the harp did not pull apart. Biagio really knows a lot about this sort of thing.
Okay, friends, I’m going to jump back into this thread, for what it is worth :). I was blessed throughout my life with excellent teachers, one being my freshman-college piano performance professor. Way back in 1973 he taught “placing” on the piano keys and playing in the dark. We learned to do that very well, and he stressed memorizing everything, with a Master Performance Class each week for his 20 students.
Most piano teachers I know do not seem to know much about “placing.” I think that it is crucial–just watch a concert pianist play! They place, whether they realize it or not!
So, the problem on the harp is that all the strings feel alike, different than being able to feel the raised sharp keys on the keyboard instruments and the raised sharps on the pedalboard of the organ.
Frank Voltz has taught master classes on this very thing, and one technique is to feel the actual vibrating strings (notes you have already played) to help you know where your fingers are. Another thing he stresses is intervals, just like in some of the other replies to this thread. Also, knowing the compass of your harp and the distance involved going from octave to octave, etc. Practice playing in the dark, or at least by candle light. Hope some of this helps, Mae!
