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Elinor- I agree with you to a certain extent. The student should learn the notes and rhythm from the printed music. But along the way the teacher can demonstrate any number of things besides pure technique. If the piece calls for a slow crescendo over two measures for example, the teacher can certainly demonstrate that and it will help the student to hear how it’s done. Ritards, tempo changes, muffling, etc. are in the end all technical issues, and it can be very helpful for the student to hear how it’s done. But I don’t think the teacher should be playing the whole piece right at the beginning just so the student has it in his ear and will likely learn it (incorrectly) by ear.
It’s already difficult to keep beginner students from playing by ear because the material they are playing at that level is melodic, simple, and short. After they hear it one time, it’s easier for them to play it by ear than to read the music, especially if they are also learning to read music. So it’s very important to include things in the lesson that force the student to read the music, and read it accurately.
I sit at the instrument all the time to demonstrate things for a student. But it’s never so they can how a piece should sound. That should be something that they learn themselves by reading the notes and rhythm correctly. I’ll demonstrate technical issues, tone, hand position, etc. I think that playing a piece for the student so that they can hear what it sounds like will make them play by ear and not pay close attention to what’s written on the page.
Maybe some of the French readers could think about this one. Back around 1906 or so, the young Pierre Jamet was taking private harp lessons from Alphonse Hasselmans. Hasselmans was not charging the family for the lessons. So Pierre Jamet’s father Henri, who was a very good impressionist painter, painted a 3/4 portrait of Hasselmans. The only photograph that exists of it is a black and white. I have no idea where the protrait went. Pierre Jamet thought that it went to the United States with Louis Hasselmans, who was an opera conductor. But I did some research years ago and actually tracked down some people who knew Louis Hasselmans and who had been to his house, and no one could remember seeing the portrait.
Hasselmans daughter Margarite was the long time mistress of Faure. I don’t know if she kept the portrait and what would have happened to it. So anyone with any ideas as to how it could be tracked down: I’d love to hear from you.
I just looked at Sylvain’s video again and caught something else. Watch his left hand from the 2:10 point of the video. He muffles ever single note that the left hand plays, sometimes with the left thumb(in the descending scales) and other times with the 4th or 3rd fingers. In the rest of the video, he only muffles left hand notes when the harmony changes. When the left hand is playing notes that outline a chord, he lets them ring. This tape is a superb lesson in muffling.
I was a junior in high school and planning on being a piano major in college. I got my classical music fix in the rural area I lived in by singing in church choirs and community choruses. One day the church choir director came to me and told me he was planning to put together a girls chorus to perform Brittain’s Ceremony of Carols, and he asked me if I would be the rehearsal pianist. He said that if he couldn’t find a harpist for the performance, I’d also have to play for that too. He gave me a copy of the music and a recording of Osian Ellis and Trinity College Choir performing the piece. When I heard it I was transfixed by the harp, especially the Interlude. I listened to the recording over and over again and decided to try to find a harp teacher. I found one(Lois Bannerman) who was willing to teach me and also willing to rent me a harp(a brand new 23!!). As soon as I had my first lesson I knew that was it. A year later I was majoring in harp in College.
When I visited Dale Barco several years ago, he had cords hanging from the ceiling that he could loop around the neck of a pedal harp. At first I couldn’t figure out what they were for, not coming from an earthquake zone.
I forgot to say anything about the salon concerts. They have been wonderful. I went to both the masterclass and the concert by Marie-Pierre. She’s in a class by herself. Extremely musical player and also a virtuoso. At the moment, Boston has quite an active harp community with lots going on.
William- I think Sylvain is an elegant player too. I’m planning to be in France and England this summer, and one of the things I want to do is track him down and meet him. I noticed when I watched his video again this afternoon that he also has some interesting fingerings in both the left and right hand that allow him to muffle individual notes with either hand. Its rare that you ever do individual finger muffles with the right hand, but he does that towards the end of the video.
Jerusha- It wasn’t Sylvain who played one of my rebuilt harps. It was Emanual Ceysson. He recorded some pieces for harp and violin with Anne Akiko Meyer, a truly wonderful world class violinist. The CD was originally supposed to be out in January, but Koch records has now put off the release until September. I’ve already contacted them about putting one of the cuts up on my web site so that anyone looking at the Wurlitzer DDX that I have for sale can also hear this instrument. I need to contact them again.
Maria- Any advanced harpist does this, at least from the French school. There’s a video on youtube of Catrin Finch playing part of the Goldberg Variations. She’s doing all of the things I mentioned, but its very fast so it may be hard for you to see. Sylvain Blassel also plays parts of the Goldberg variations and you can see it there too. Particularly at the 3:50 mark on the video where there are some close ups of his hands. Emmanel Ceysson plays Une Chatelaine en sa Tour and right at the beginning there is a good close up of his hands.
With all of these players, notice that they never have more than 2 fingers in each hand on the strings at a time. They “walk” over the strings, or place in sequence as I call it. With all of them, their left hands are constantly muffling individual strings as they play. You can see the 3rd or 4th finger reach out and touch a string to muffle it as they play, and the muffle occurs at exactly the moment that they pluck a string.
The problem you’re talking about has to do with placing. There are several techniques for dealing with it. One is to place in sequence. That means placing only one note at a time ahead of the note you are playing instead of placing blocks of three or four notes together. You can even place in sequence on rolled chords.
Another technique, which should always(ALWAYS) be used is to place at exactly the same time as you play another string, thereby camouflaging any sound from placing. The third technique is to replace quickly and firmly onto the string, so that you stop quickly any sound that it can make.
I don’t know what level you are playing at, but you can and should practice these techniques, individually and then together, on much easier pieces than you are used to playing, or on exercises. If you practice them enough, you will develop muscle memory for these techniques and it will become completely natural.
Not only do you have to perform the music you want to publish. But you also have to be sure that what is written down is what you are actually doing. Often I edit a piece of music at the beginning of the learning process, and then, as I’m learning it, make changes here and there and don’t bother to write down the changes. I’m much more careful about that now. But for years when I’d go back to a piece I had played years before, I had to figure out what I had actually done, since what was written (pedal changes, fingerings) did not always match the final product.
