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Sounds good, Kay! Just think arpeggios right now–they sound so good and will gradually toughen up your fingers. Don’t overdo it. Good luck! (Balfour)
Thanks again, Allegra. That is exactly what I noticed when I re-examined the link you sent. It is very interesting that the extra measure worked out so perfectly for Gounod–I have always been amazed that he could “hear” that beautiful “Ave Maria” melody against the Prelude, and that he made it work! It is a lot like the counterpoint going on in Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” “Now Thank We All Our God,” and many others. Of course, Bach took the Chorale melodies and really did something different with them!
Incidentally, I do always put in that “extra measure” anytime I play the Prelude by itself, on harp, piano, harpsichord, or organ. I guess I have done it so long WITH the “Ave Maria” that it sounds wrong to me without the extra measure!
Thank you, Allegra. The extra measure was either already there for Gounod, or HE added it. The “Ave Maria” will not work with the Prelude in C without the extra measure! It works as it was meant to WITH the extra measure. I play the Prelude on the harp and my wife sings the “Ave Maria” with only the Prelude as the accompaniment, and it works perfectly.
Well, Mae, I think all these lovely people have told you what I could not put into words! All good ideas, and thanks everyone!
Mae, Sylvia raised a good point: do YOU want to be a better sight-reader, or does your teacher want you to be?
I do not know the answer, either, but I am thinking about it. If I come up with something, I will certainly let you know.
Best to you,
BalfourAs a harpsichordist, I can say very definitely, Bach did not write this “extra” measure! Look at the Urtext version of the Prelude in C and you will be able to see exactly what Bach wrote. The extra measure was added solely for the purpose of accompanying the Gounod “Ave Maria.”
Mae,
How neat! That just proves that “great minds think alike!” 🙂
I know that all of us are looking forward to hearing you play that harp on a video, soon, we hope!
All the best,
BalfourTracey and Sid, I had a good experience trading in, through The Atlanta Harp Center, with Lyon & Healy. They gave me full value on my previous harp, and a good allowance on the transport cover set. All in all, it was a very pleasant experience.
Kay, I forgot to say that you might like to apply some Aloe Vera to your sore fingers, either directly from a live plant, or a bottled gel. It works wonders for me when I practice or play too long and rub off my calluses.
I must say that although I have never been very far away from a harp, I also have a performance degree in organ. I can leave THAT instrument for long periods of time–it is not the instrument of my heart like the harp is! Hope you have a great comeback.
Kay, good luck on your “comeback”! I have never been away from a harp for more than a day or two, it is like a magnet draws me to the harp, I love it so much. I even travel with my smallest harp, Ravenna 34, so that I don’t get out-of-practice. Do you have a small harp or just the large one you wrote about? A small harp seems to be more inviting sometimes, and is fun to play, also quicker to tune! Best wishes, Balfour
Mae, I want to say again how much I am enjoying following this blog! I found the conversation between Tacye and Biagio very informative and riveting.
Although I usually do things by “feel” and “from the heart,” I wanted to say to the physicists that I designed and built my own four-octave harpsichord when I was in high school, finishing it my first-year in college, getting college credit for it. I did study and know the string physics at that time of my life, and took two college physics courses. My special project in second-year physics was “The Physics Involved When Designing a Harpsichord.”
Also, when I was in Graduate School, I was still working on a nine-rank pipe organ (two manuals and pedal) that I designed and built, taking over nineteen years total from start to finish. Check out the math and physics involved with organ pipes and the all-tracker action if you want a fascinating subject! My sister, who is a high-school math instructor, helped me with the logarithms and higher mathematics during this long project! So did my sweet, long-suffering wife, ha, ha!
So, I have really enjoyed the highly technical end of this forum. Now lets all go have a cup of tea with Mae, at least in spirit. 🙂
Thank you all so much!
Hi, Marco!
Great to get your reply, and I checked out your group “Windseeds” and also Andreas Vollenweider. You guys are great! I can see why a damping system would be very useful on your harp when playing this wonderful style of music. So, like I said, go for it!
Hi, Mae!
So glad the file idea is working, and thanks to Tacye for giving us the correct name “Needle File.” My dad had wonderful tools and could fix anything, but I did not always know the correct names of them!
I wish we lived close enough to you so that my wife and I could pop over there, put the kettle on, and have a cup of tea with you. We would bring all our harp supplies and try different sizes/types of strings on that harp until something sounded great, ha, ha!
