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Joan- Just make sure you leave plenty of slack before tuning up the string. My book, A GUIDE FOR HARPISTS, has a chapter about changing wire strings(as well as many other maintenance and repair issues). You might want to take a look at that before changing your strings if you’ve never done it before. The book is available through Vanderbilt Music Co.
It sounds like it might be the strings themselves. Try ordering two new strings and use them and see what happens.
Are the eyelets in the soundboard metal? If so, are they cracked at all?
Kay- That’s a priceless story. Thank you. it’s unbelievable how some people live. As a harp technician I have seen my fair share of great, and aweful habitations. I’ve gone into one or two apartments or houses where it was overrun by dogs or cats and was never cleaned. I could barely breath from the stench. How can people live like that?
Sam- The harp should fit snugly in the case so it doesn’t move around inside the case. It should be pretty easy putting it in and taking it out. The case should be laying on it’s side or on the column with the kneeblock up in the air whenever it is being transported.
Michael- I can’t think of a better reason to be part of the local music community and in particular, to be on good(really good) terms with other harpists in the area than for the reason you posted. If you are on good terms with other harpists who play the same type of gigs you do, you can all refer work to each other when one of you is already booked and you will have several other harpists that you can call if something like you described should happen. It’s a win/win situation. But it requires that all of the harpists in your group really be equally diplomatic and professional with each other. I’ve heard several harpists tell me that they have passed of several gigs that they couldn’t take to someone else, but that person has never passed a gig to them. See what I mean?
I would suggest that you also make friends with some guitarists who can play the type of gig you do. For an outdoor wedding in particular, a guitarist could pinch hit for you, while a pianist probably could not.
For any harpist who wants to pursue this and develop a circle of musicians(harpists, guitarists, etc.) with whom you can swap gigs, or who can pinch hit for you, I would suggest that you quietly ask around as to the dependability and abilities of anyone you want to work with. Better yet, try to hear them, preferably without them knowing so it doesn’t look like your auditioning them.
I could swear that silver strings have a better tone. But my good friend Eleanor Fell, owner of Vanderbilt Music Company, told me that they have had countless ‘blind’ tests of wire strings, with harpists listening and trying to guess which strings were silver and which were tarnish resistant, and no one was ever able to tell the difference. And even if you still feel that there is a difference, the C’s and F’s are not silver wound and should therefore sound different!
To me there is a difference between striving to play a piece at a very high level and “being a perfectionist.”
Striving to play a piece at a very high level means having the technical and musical aspects under control and easily within reach and allowing those elements to form the framework for the performance of the piece. Thus, the performance will be slightly different each time, but mistakes or memory lapses will be minimal and the player can recover and continue in the performance.
Perfectionism on the other hand can be quite toxic. It means having a rigid interpretation or concept of the piece, and any variation from that is “less than perfect.” When someone is a ‘perfectionist’ it usually means that they are constantly beating themselves up over anything and everything they do, feeling that every effort they make falls short of the mark.
When a perfectionist is applying these impossible standards to someone else(a student, a spouse, a child) it is even more toxic and can be a form of abuse. It usually means that “my way is better” and therefore perfect.
The actor Jack Nickolson said(I think making reference to Barbara Streisand): “Just because you’re a perfectionist doesn’t mean you’re perfect.”
To me there is a difference between striving to play a piece at a very high level and “being a perfectionist.”
Striving to play a piece at a very high level means having the technical and musical aspects under control and easily within reach and allowing those elements to form the framework for the performance of the piece. Thus, the performance will be slightly different each time, but mistakes or memory lapses will be minimal and the player can recover and continue in the performance.
Perfectionism on the other hand can be quite toxic. It means having a rigid interpretation or concept of the piece, and any variation from that is “less than perfect.” When someone is a ‘perfectionist’ it usually means that they are constantly beating themselves up over anything and everything they do, feeling that every effort they make falls short of the mark.
When a perfectionist is applying these impossible standards to someone else(a student, a spouse, a child) it is even more toxic and can be a form of abuse. It usually means that “my way is better” and therefore perfect.
The actor Jack Nickolson said(I think making reference to Barbara Streisand): “Just because you’re a perfectionist doesn’t mean you’re perfect.”
To me there is a difference between striving to play a piece at a very high level and “being a perfectionist.”
Striving to play a piece at a very high level means having the technical and musical aspects under control and easily within reach and allowing those elements to form the framework for the performance of the piece. Thus, the performance will be slightly different each time, but mistakes or memory lapses will be minimal and the player can recover and continue in the performance.
Perfectionism on the other hand can be quite toxic. It means having a rigid interpretation or concept of the piece, and any variation from that is “less than perfect.” When someone is a ‘perfectionist’ it usually means that they are constantly beating themselves up over anything and everything they do, feeling that every effort they make falls short of the mark.
When a perfectionist is applying these impossible standards to someone else(a student, a spouse, a child) it is even more toxic and can be a form of abuse. It usually means that “my way is better” and therefore perfect.
The actor Jack Nickolson said(I think making reference to Barbara Streisand): “Just because you’re a perfectionist doesn’t mean you’re perfect.”
Every time a non-musician writer writes about the harp or worse, a harpist, they try to compliment the harpist they’re writing about by saying things like that. The he/she took a dowdy instrument and turned it into something of real value. Or that they took it from behind the potted palms and made it into an instrument to reckon with. These half-wits are just showing their ignorance.
I went to a play last week in which one of the characters makes reference to ‘a Bohemian’ to which the other character asks, “What’s a Bohemian?” “It’s someone who wants to be an artist but who has no talent” is her response. The same could be said of many critics and people who write about music and musicians.
If you’re referring to my two posts, I just read them again, and i just don’t see any problem with either one. What’s your problem with some clarification? If her paper is going to be accurate, she needs to start by asking the right questions in order to come to accurate conclusions. As far as Saul’s post is concerned, he didn’t mention the one thing that is at the core of French technique. I thought he might like that clarification. The best test of any idea is how well it stands up to withering examination. That’s the foundation of scientific and legal endeavors. Why can’t we apply that to musical education?
-What I have observed in some other techniques is that there is little or no movement in the arm, and the hand/fingers do everything-
You left out one critical element, and that’s the wrist. In French method and all of the methods derived from it, the wrist is loose and supple and is constantly flexing. That’s what allows the player to play very difficult pieces or to play for a long time and not tire. What I’ve observed in Salzedo players, at least at the lower levels, is that the wrist(both left and right) is rigid and inflexible. The joint may as well not be there. Instead, the player ‘raises.’ Using the wrist as it is done in French method completely eliminates thge need for raising.
The problem with Musicals is that many have been reorchestrated for a smaller ensemble and frequently do not include harp. They will use instead a keyboard with a “harp” button.
The wording of your questions is odd. You didn’t use the one word that best describes the contact of the right arm on the edge of the soundboard, and that is the word “rest.” So your questions should be worded:
a) never rest the right fore-arm on the soundboard but occasionally touch it.
b) rest on the soundboard for occasional passages(certain techniques, perhaps trills)
c) rest on the soundboard most of the timeI don’t know of any technique that tells you to press the arm against the edge of the soundboard.
I think one of the things to consider when arranging a program is whether the audience is made up of harpists or non-harpists(non-musicians). If the people attending the concert are not harpists or even musicians, there’s a good chance they have never heard solo harp before. In choosing an opening number for that kind of audience I would stick with something relatively short and very melodic. The Harmonious Blacksmith variations, the Glinka Nocturne, or any number of Handel theme and variations come immediately to mind.
