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-I disagree on the value of these etudes. They only prepare you for 19th century music, neglect the left hand terribly, and I think lead to stiff playing from over repetition.-
Saul- Nothing could be further from the truth. Good etudes, such as the Bochsa series, teach you how to get around the instrument with ease, facility, and suppleness. They are also the best way to make the fingers truly independent. The only way to learn that is by playing a whole series of etudes that focus on endless patterns. The length of Bochsa’s later etudes(50 etudes in two volumes) teaches you how to play long difficult music in a relaxed efficient manner. Students who have never studied etudes judiciously and try to play difficult repertoire will sound like they are struggling and do not have complete control.
The use of etudes on all instruments really came into prominence in the 19th century and has a long proven track record. Hasselmans terrorized his students at the Paris Conservatory with his demand that the learn etudes fast and accurately(and memorized), and he produced all, ALL, of the virtuoso harpists of the 20th century.
Sherry-The easiest of the Bochsa Etudes is Op. 318-40 Easy Etudes. There is also a set of 25 Exercises/Etudes, Op. 62 which I never studied but which are I think the next step after the Op. 318. Following that are the 50 Etudes in two volumes, op. 34. These are the most advanced that I’m aware of and which I studied with Pierre Jamet. They are not killer difficult, but they are long and when played at a good clip will build up your endurance as well as teach you the technique involved. There is also a set of 20 Etudes in 2 volumes, but I’m not familiar with them.
Sherry-The easiest of the Bochsa Etudes is Op. 318-40 Easy Etudes. There is also a set of 25 Exercises/Etudes, Op. 62 which I never studied but which are I think the next step after the Op. 318. Following that are the 50 Etudes in two volumes, op. 34. These are the most advanced that I’m aware of and which I studied with Pierre Jamet. They are not killer difficult, but they are long and when played at a good clip will build up your endurance as well as teach you the technique involved. There is also a set of 20 Etudes in 2 volumes, but I’m not familiar with them.
Sherry-The easiest of the Bochsa Etudes is Op. 318-40 Easy Etudes. There is also a set of 25 Exercises/Etudes, Op. 62 which I never studied but which are I think the next step after the Op. 318. Following that are the 50 Etudes in two volumes, op. 34. These are the most advanced that I’m aware of and which I studied with Pierre Jamet. They are not killer difficult, but they are long and when played at a good clip will build up your endurance as well as teach you the technique involved. There is also a set of 20 Etudes in 2 volumes, but I’m not familiar with them.
Give me a dadburn minute Saul!! Jeesh! This is the first time I’ve seen this post.
First of all, you left out Dizi, and there may be others too. I don’t know. Secondly, it is the French and the Russians who make greater use of etudes than almost any other nationality. And the results are evident in international competitions and orchestra auditions.
I don’t pretend to speak for the whole French school of playing, but I suspect that the first etudes a student would work on are the 40 easy etudes of Bochsa, on which I’ve waxed poetic before. They would work their way through the next 4 sets of Bochsa Etudes and at an advanced level do the Dizi. But you have to understand that a French child taking music lessons is most likely taking solfege lessons(or classes) as well. The child is advancing in theory, sight reading, etc. as much as in playing the instrument, without burdening the harp teacher with all of that. The harp teacher can spend the whole hour teaching harp.
In the French musical education system, one NEVER outgrows the need for etudes and technical training. An American friend of mine was at the Paris Conservatory at the same time that I was studying privately with Pierre Jamet. Years later she showed me her book of Dizi etudes that she had done, in class, with Jacqueline Borot. At the top of each etude was penciled in the date that she had studied it, and she had gone through one etude a week with Borot, and that meant playing it from memory!
It’s not enough to simply play etudes as part of your study. Etudes are just a format for learning one tiny aspect of technique. One will deal with octaves, another scales, another jumps, another Alberti bass, etc. And each etude has to be learned solidly so that the student can play it with no mistakes, no stopping and regrouping, and at a pretty fast clip. Only that way do you really learn the technical point involved.
Give me a dadburn minute Saul!! Jeesh! This is the first time I’ve seen this post.
First of all, you left out Dizi, and there may be others too. I don’t know. Secondly, it is the French and the Russians who make greater use of etudes than almost any other nationality. And the results are evident in international competitions and orchestra auditions.
I don’t pretend to speak for the whole French school of playing, but I suspect that the first etudes a student would work on are the 40 easy etudes of Bochsa, on which I’ve waxed poetic before. They would work their way through the next 4 sets of Bochsa Etudes and at an advanced level do the Dizi. But you have to understand that a French child taking music lessons is most likely taking solfege lessons(or classes) as well. The child is advancing in theory, sight reading, etc. as much as in playing the instrument, without burdening the harp teacher with all of that. The harp teacher can spend the whole hour teaching harp.
In the French musical education system, one NEVER outgrows the need for etudes and technical training. An American friend of mine was at the Paris Conservatory at the same time that I was studying privately with Pierre Jamet. Years later she showed me her book of Dizi etudes that she had done, in class, with Jacqueline Borot. At the top of each etude was penciled in the date that she had studied it, and she had gone through one etude a week with Borot, and that meant playing it from memory!
It’s not enough to simply play etudes as part of your study. Etudes are just a format for learning one tiny aspect of technique. One will deal with octaves, another scales, another jumps, another Alberti bass, etc. And each etude has to be learned solidly so that the student can play it with no mistakes, no stopping and regrouping, and at a pretty fast clip. Only that way do you really learn the technical point involved.
Give me a dadburn minute Saul!! Jeesh! This is the first time I’ve seen this post.
First of all, you left out Dizi, and there may be others too. I don’t know. Secondly, it is the French and the Russians who make greater use of etudes than almost any other nationality. And the results are evident in international competitions and orchestra auditions.
I don’t pretend to speak for the whole French school of playing, but I suspect that the first etudes a student would work on are the 40 easy etudes of Bochsa, on which I’ve waxed poetic before. They would work their way through the next 4 sets of Bochsa Etudes and at an advanced level do the Dizi. But you have to understand that a French child taking music lessons is most likely taking solfege lessons(or classes) as well. The child is advancing in theory, sight reading, etc. as much as in playing the instrument, without burdening the harp teacher with all of that. The harp teacher can spend the whole hour teaching harp.
In the French musical education system, one NEVER outgrows the need for etudes and technical training. An American friend of mine was at the Paris Conservatory at the same time that I was studying privately with Pierre Jamet. Years later she showed me her book of Dizi etudes that she had done, in class, with Jacqueline Borot. At the top of each etude was penciled in the date that she had studied it, and she had gone through one etude a week with Borot, and that meant playing it from memory!
It’s not enough to simply play etudes as part of your study. Etudes are just a format for learning one tiny aspect of technique. One will deal with octaves, another scales, another jumps, another Alberti bass, etc. And each etude has to be learned solidly so that the student can play it with no mistakes, no stopping and regrouping, and at a pretty fast clip. Only that way do you really learn the technical point involved.
I just looked at my piano keyboard to verify what you said, and yup, the harp goes down as far as the lowest C on the piano.
Chris- You’re right of course. We had to make compromises to put that up on youtube. But I think it was worth it. For a harpist watching her play, it’s obvious that she was a very good harpist and it’s wonderful that a virtuoso from that generation was so carefully filmed. It’s sad that that sort of thing wasn’t done more often.
You should look carefully at each of the nylon strings to see if the string is damaged or pitted where the lever engages it. If it is, then change the string.
I just called Geraldine, who knew Mildred since 1931, and she says that Mildred always carried the harps with her in the car. Before the War she traveled by train and the harps of course went in baggage. But sometime after the war she started traveling around by car and carried everything with her in the car.
Patricia- What wonderful memories you must have of that. I never heard Mildred perform, and I never attended one of her masterclasses. I regret both. I know that she was the first person to take Conrad Nelson under her wing and he went to many of her masterclasses. I’m curious though. You said her harps traveled separately. I was under the impression that, because she used a Chevy suburban, it was because it could hold the harps. Did she have a separate driver and van for the harps? I had never heard that. I’ll have to ask Geraldine Ruegg about that.
Karen- It’s wonderful to hear about her concert from an “eye witness.” If you read the blog that I wrote about Mildred, you will see two complete programs that she used printed there. They both follow the same format you just described. I regret that I never saw her do one of those Community Concert programs.
One last thing. All of the above information is correct. There are no comments to read after the first two parts, but you can click on comments anyway to get the text to take up the whole screen. When you want to go to the next part, just hit the ‘back’ button and scroll back to the next part and again click on the ‘comments’ command. Most or all of the comments are after part 3.
