Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
A number of you have said that “weddings are a lot of work.” That reminded me of one of the local harpists here who for years worked with a Justice of the Peace who made a whole career out of officiating at wedding ceremonies. He advertised, had brochures that he handed out, and basically promoted himself endlessly. But he also included in all of his promotions this harpist. In effect, promoting the two of them together. So the harpist most of the time was working with the same JP and knew the format. I suspect that that is the best way to go: work with one or more people who officiate at wedding ceremonies so you know each of their formats. And maybe by being closely associated with a JP or minister/priest, etc. you’ll get more wedding gigs.
All of the above posts are great. One point that I would emphasize is that, with all harp techniques, there is more commonality than difference. This is even more true at the advanced level. After all, all techniques have to work with the same hand design.
Salzedo trained players, at the advanced level, are almost indistinguishable from French players. Just go to youtube and watch harpists like Yolanda Kondonasis, Alice Giles, and other Salzedo harpists play. Their elbows are lower, the wrists are straight, the thumbs are lower, the palms are more horizontal, and there is no raising. Some even rest their right arms on the soundboard! The most important thing you can do is find a teacher who you like, who knows how to teach and communicate with you, and who will advance your playing ability, regardless of the method he or she teaches.
All of the above posts are great. One comment that was made several times and needs to be emphasized is the fact that all techniques have more commonality then differences. After all, they all have to work with the same hand design. I would add that at the advanced level, and here I emphasise Salzedo harpists are virtually indistinguishable from French harpists. Just go to Youtube and watch the Salzedo harpists like Yolanda Kondonasis, Alice Giles and others. When they play, the elbows are lower, the palms are more horizontal, the thumbs are lower, and there is no raising. Some of them are even resting their right arm on the soundboard.
For a one hour gig you would play for 60 minutes nonstop. For two hours there needs to be a 20 minute break someplace. Your fee should be higher for the first hour. There is a minimum fee for just being there, transporting the harp, setting up and breaking down afterwards, and that needs to all be taken into account in the first hour fee. The second hour or any number of hours after that should be charged at a much lower rate. Just to give you an example, I’d suggest you charge $150 to $200 for the first hour, and $75 for each hour after that. You can adjust these numbers as you see fit. But the difference between the first hour charge and any other hours after should be about the same as above.
Angela-I’m with you. Warming up is a bad habit. Launch right into the pieces you’re working on, even if you have to start by playing them slower than you normally can. In the real world of performing, there is almost no chance to warm up before having to perform. You might have to sit on stage for 45 minutes before playing the 2nd movement of the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, or wait in the wings for a half hour before walking on stage and playing an audition. Get used to playing with no warm up!
As far as getting 4 harps in the car is concerned, they go in with the column on the floor and the knee block at the roof, and they are nested front to back. The first one goes in head first and leans against the left wall. The second, from the right side door, goes in so the top of the column is at the tailgate and it is leaning against the first harp. The third one goes in, also from the right side door, also so the top of the column is at the tailgate, but it is leaning against the wall opposite the first harp. The last harp goes in from the tailgate, top of the column first, and is slid in between the second and third harps. They are all separated by large sheets of cardboard. The cardboard is put in place after each instrument is put in the car. I’ve never had any damage at all using the cardboard.
I have a very large sheet of cardboard on the floor of the van with a moving quilt on top of it. That works well enough. I use old pillows under each of the pedestals. Four harps is the best way of packing the car, because they are in there tight enough so nothing moves around. If I’m carrying 2 or 3 harps, I lean them all against the left side of the van at a pretty low angle so they don’t all shift when I go around a corner. Again, cardboard keeps them apart. Heavy duty cardboard, like appliances are shipped in, or better yet, an old cardboard harp crate cut up, works best.
Briggsie- I’m glad you like the Caravan as much as I do. I’m on my 4th Caravan(in a row) right now. Did you get the Grand version, which is longer? In my Grand Caravan, with all the back seats out, I can get 4 pedal harps, any size in the car. I do it all the time.
Ashley- Thank you so much for all the background information. If that’s the harp I think it is, it is the first or second harp we built, and it was ordered and sold to an older woman in New Orleans who has since died. The current owner could be the second or third person to own that harp.
You’re right about the stunt harp. They contacted me because there was a similar harp for sale on my web site. But it was not black and it didn’t have any of the gold decoration that normally comes on it. So they asked me how long it would take to paint the harp black and put all of the decoration on! They were thinking in terms of hours or days, and I told them it would take weeks. So when I didn’t hear back, I assumed that they had the prop department make something that would pass. I haven’t seen the film yet, but now I’m anxious to see it.
Alyson- We are not going to get into the semi-grand market. There are various reasons for this which I won’t go into here. But to a large degree our concert grand harps are the best of both worlds. Our Scuola model is a concert grand that weighs about the same as a semi-grand. In fact it’s lighter than some semi-grands. The Empire model is only slightly heavier, and significantly lighter than many other concert grands. So you might look into both those models. I currently have a used Scuola and a used semi-gilded Empire for sale. If you email me I can send you photos. Within the next two weeks or so I should have pictures of both instruments up on my web site, http://www.swansonharp.com
I think the one they used was a fully gilded Empire with an ebony finish. It was the first harp we sold and it went to a woman in New Orleans. She died several years ago and that harp has changed hands at least once. The person from Tarantino’s production team that I talked to told me they were renting it from a man. I’m assuming a male harpist.
Let me see if i understand this correctly. You are beginning work on all four of these works??? What are you thinking? Any one of them would be a major job. Why are you working on all four? The most productive way to work on pieces at this level is to pick one, work on the first page until you have it memorized and can play it confidently, but not necessarily up to full tempo, and then work on the second page, working on one or two measures at a time until you have worked your way through the whole page and have it memorized. When you can play the first two pages smoothly, you learn the third page the same way, then add the fourth page, etc.
The least efficient way to learn music is to work on several pieces at the same time, working a little bit on each one each day. You learn next to nothing that way. You don’t spend enough time on anything to memorize what you are working on. You don’t develop any muscle memory for whatever you are working on, and it will take you the better part of a year to learn all of the pieces you are doing at the same time. In addition, you will very likely learn mistakes, and make the same mistakes in the same places every time you play through each piece because you are not devoting enough time to it to learn it in a systematic and thorough way.
If you have to be away from a pedal harp for a month, then pick one of these pieces and take it with you and study the printed music whenever you can to learn(intellectually) the notes, the harmonic progressions, and basically to memorize the piece, without the harp present. When you do get back to the harp, you will be surprised at how fast you learn to play the piece.
Stephen-Funny you should mention this. I usually end up telling people to contact a local harpist, have them bring the harp to the site, then let them stand by while you play for the occasion, and you pay the harpist her usual fee as if she had played. The biggest reason that I don’t rent to these one-off wedding requests is that most of the time the wedding is outdoors. Who is going to take responsibility for the harp? Who’s going to make sure it doesn’t fall over? And what happens if it rains? So I don’t do short term rentals at all.
Good suggestions Kim. I do have vocal cues written into my part. I would also add that when a conductor calls hire you for this piece, ask him if he’s ever done this before. If he hasn’t, let him know that if the choir is having any pitch problems, the harp is not loud enough to hold them on pitch. And then just generally talk through how he wants to do the piece. In other words: Do you want me to play the Introit and recessional? Do you want to go, with almost no break, from one carol to the next? Are you going to conduct That Younge Childe and Spring Carol?
Another thing. Balulalow, when you are practicing it, sounds like it’s in 3. It’s not! It’s in 2! Make sure you hear it that way in your head as you practice, because you may be thrown for a loop the first time you do it with the ensemble.
