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Jordan- What level are you playing at? Did you just start the instrument? Are you trying to get into more difficult pieces? Do you have a teacher right now?
Theodore Dubois(1837-1924) was a French composer at the time of Hasselmans and Faure. He was also President of the Paris Conservatory for much of the time that Hasselmans taught there. He was definitely a follower of Faure and not Debussy, so he was very much an old school academic composer. It’s no surprise that he wrote something in tribute to Hasselmans.
I was not aware of this composition and would be interested to hear it. I’m not aware of any publication of it. So you may have something very rare indeed. I’d be very interested in hearing it.
I just googled Daniel Pollack and his web site explains how he is a superstar in Russia. It’s worth reading.
I agree with you that there is all too much emphasis on the first prize winner and that is true in all musical competitions. Did you know for example that when Van Cliburn won the Tchaikovski competition and received so much worldwide publicity as the first American to win that competition, that the second prize winner was also American? His name is Daniel Pollack, and there was a lot of controversy over that decision because many Russians thought Pollack should have won. He ended up having a big career in Russia, but is virtually unknown in the United States. But back to this thread: that is why I’m interested in the top three prize winners, not just the first prize.
I think there may be two possible reasons why a very fine musician does not take first prize. One is that the jury may feel that the person being considered is not yet at their full potential and so should wait and mature more before being given a prize intended to launch a career. This happens a lot in voice competitions. And many people who never got a first prize go on to have important careers. The second reason is much simpler, and that is that, on that particular day, the person in question just didn’t play that well. The pressure is enormous in any competition, and the jury can only judge based on what they hear. They can’t take into consideration illness, injury, jet lag, emotional distress, or anything else that is going to throw someone off their game. It all comes down to who plays the best at that particular moment.
Clinton- OH MY GOD!!!!! This is the best news I have heard in a long time. I was in Paris two years ago and spend several weeks trying to chase down the ledgers(the list of serial numbers) of the Erard Company. I spoke several times with the head of the musical instrument museum in Paris, who had tried a few years earlier to get access to the records, with no luck. He told me that he was going to make another attempt soon. At that time(two years ago) the records were in a storage facility in St. Denis( a close suburb of Paris) and were inaccessable to anyone. They belonged to what remained of the Pleyel company.
So are you saying that plans are afoot to publish the list of serial numbers with the corresponding information(date of manufacture or date of sale,model, etc.)? That would be wonderful. The same thing should be done with the English Erard records as well. How about one book that contains the serial number lists for both the London and Paris Erards?
Thank you so much for posting this.
I thought they deliberated only in the final stage. How could they come to an agreement to not award a first prize without deliberating?
Judith- You’ve inspired me to get back to the gym. I get lazy about that and suddenly months have gone by and I haven’t exercised at all(but have still paid the monthly dues!).
I’m slightly younger than you, but I’m feeling the age issue, mostly because 1)I need to exercise and 2) I need to loose 20 pounds. Thank God I don’t have any joint issues. But I know I need to exercise. Thanks for the reminder.
p.s.- My 88 year old aunt made a statement similar to yours recently. She said,” Getting old sucks!”
As far as the long haul is concerned in any career, it’s not only talent, ability, etc. that count. I think that the most important trait anyone can have in any profession to be successful is persistence. Successful people just never give up. NEVER!!! So in terms of a harp career, there are prize winners who eventually disappear, and others who are very successful. And there’s a third component too, and that’s timing. With major orchestra jobs for example, they don’t come up very often, and to get one of those jobs, in addition to being very competent, you have to be the right age and ready at the right time. Many very competent musicians will never get that coveted job just because the timing wasn’t right.
By the way, I still would like to hear what went on in the jury room to result in no first prize being given. They may have had very valid reasons, or there may have been a back stabbing cat fight and this was the only way out. Either way, I’d like to know.
Emily- What a wonderful explanation. Everything you said makes perfect sense to me.
What’s interesting is that if you take the long view of competitions, and pay attention to not just the first prize winner, but the first three prize winners
-what Pierre Jamet called Grand Prize winners- then competitions are often an accurate predictor of who is going to have a significant career. A competition is a way of letting the world know, again, through the first three prize winners, who is a solid, gifted, hard working, dependable performer. And these top prize winners often end up in major orchestras or with major teaching positions.There may be too many competitions around now, not simply on harp, but on the more popular instruments as well like piano and violin, and thus, too many first prize winners to attract special attention to start a solo career. But I can’t think of anything else that will give young performers the opportunity, at this particular stage of their lives and careers, to push themselves as hard as possible to reach as high as possible with their playing. Musical competitions in this way are like the Olympics or any athletic competition, where at a specific point in time the contestants involved are in peak form, higher than they will ever be again. And competitions can give these people, for better or worse, an accurate overview of where they stand in their musical training.
-I’d be really, really careful with contacting parents etc, because then you sort of ‘betray’ the person’s trust-
What do you think it is going to look like if this student really injures or kills herself and the parents and authorities find out that the teacher knew about this and didn’t tell anyone?
One of the hardest pieces I have ever played, and the hardest for the harmonics, is the Serenade by Parish-Alvars. The entire first page is chords of harmonics, with the left hand playing either 2 or 3 harmonic chords on every beat, while the right hand plays the melody entirely in harmonics. It nearly killed me to learn that page, and I could only practice it for a minute or two initially before my hands would start to tense up from the awkward position. When that happened, I’d just skip down to the bottom of the page and practice the rest of the piece(which is not harmonics). I figured that by the time I had learned the rest of the piece, I would have learned the first page and built up enough stamina to get through it, which is what happened.
At first it was very frustrating trying to nail the harmonics, particularly the 2 and 3 note chords, all harmonics, in the left hand. I had to hold my hand in a very particular position and place the heel and side of my hand just so against the strings to get all 3 harmonics to sound. But I eventually got it, without ever marking the strings. I think it just takes practice, but eventually you learn the position for the harmonics in any given piece. Also, some harps produce better harmonics than others. Oddly enough, i think that nylon strings, even in the 4th and 5th octaves, produce better harmonics than gut strings.
Excellent advice Barbara. I tell people that it is not wasted money to rent for a year or so when you’re just starting out on the harp. If you try to buy before you can play, you have no idea what you are looking for, or at. After a year of lessons you’ll have a much clearer idea of what you want, and your teacher can provide valuable insight about buying either new or used.
What level is this student playing at? It’s easy for beginners to memorize their music. They’re actually playing it by ear, not memorizing. The tunes are easy and short and there’s not much going on technically. But when the music gets harder and longer, then the same student has trouble, because he/she never really learned to read.
What level is this student playing at? It’s easy for beginners to memorize their music. They’re actually playing it by ear, not memorizing. The tunes are easy and short and there’s not much going on technically. But when the music gets harder and longer, then the same student has trouble, because he/she never really learned to read.
What level is this student playing at? It’s easy for beginners to memorize their music. They’re actually playing it by ear, not memorizing. The tunes are easy and short and there’s not much going on technically. But when the music gets harder and longer, then the same student has trouble, because he/she never really learned to read.
