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Thanks for all the replies….and I’m glad I’m not the only one! I do laugh it off. Usually I get the people who want to tell me how the aliens have implanted a radio in their heads to control their thoughts. But this one totally caught me off guard! What does make me sad is the thought that this woman (who, while frail, didn’t strike me as one in dementia) can not take or give pleasure. How sad to always look for the negatives in life–to concentrate on the thorns and never smell the roses!
Perhaps that’s the life lesson here…..ignore the thorns and smell the roses instead!
Alas, the only recordings I know of are of the full orchestrations. And I never found any 5 piece orchestrations on YouTube.
Hi All,
Mea Culpa for not posting recently. I am doing very well. I went to a shoulder specialist and he felt that it was bursitis, and not any torn ligaments. He gave me some exercises to do, and the pain levels have dramatically dropped. I still feel twinges at night, especially if my arm is in a strange position (I share my bed with 3 dachshunds who manage to completely take it over every night) but overall I’m much better, so I’m hoping and praying that doctor is right. He said that it IS bursitis because if I had torn tendons, the pain would NOT get better or ease up, and mine has.
I do have a recording, I believe, where I integrated the Lincoln Center production into the broadway recording. As for fingerings, pedals, etc. I found the printed part to be pretty right on. There are a couple of sections where the pedals are insane, and I just simplified as best I could. The harp is pretty much essential throughout and there’s not too much to leave out without seriously hurting the intent/orchestration. If you have to drop a chord/note here or there, okay, but you can’t just say, “Oh, the piano will just have to cover this” because the piano is equally busy.
But the part is gorgeous and the harp is really a character in the play, so it’s totally worth the effort you put into it. Just to play the opening bars……!!!!
Orchestral playing can be very intimidating–one harpist told me, truthfully, “all it takes is one moving plaid shirt in the first violins, and it’s over.” It’s true!
That said, the other comments are true, too. PEOPLE DO NOT HEAR THE MISTAKES…assuming you don’t give it away with a horrified look, grimaces, etc. There have been times when I wanted to slit my wrists backstage after a performance, and that was the time when people came up to me, literally with tears in their eyes, to say in complete sincerity, “That was the most gorgeous thing we’ve ever heard.” Go figure!
Deep breathing before an entrance, subdividing the beat before your entrance, LISTENING TO A RECORDING prior to rehearsal, annotating your part with cues (i.e. “cello scale”, “soprano”, lyric cues, anything and everything to help you find your place. Watch the conductor even on pieces you’re not playing for to get familiar with his beat pattern…how does he conduct 2, 3, or 4 beat measures? Write in the rhythms if you need to (1…2+….3…..4 e and UH…”) Nothing is off limits if it makes you more comfortable and secure. Also, if you have to drop notes in order to be secure, do so. After 32 years of orchestra, trust me, a conductor wants sound from the harp…if you have to drop notes to get the part solid, he’d rather have that than silence! Listen to a recording…..are you solo? Or are you doubled by the celli and basses and 4 trombones? Then simplify, drop the redundant notes, just play whatever will get you thorough a section in rhythm and in the harmony. Lucille Lawrence stated that “you don’t play the notes, you play the composer’s intent.” Dorothy Remsen told me, “You just decompose”….in other words, play what the composer wanted to hear because most times, they don’t know how to write it. (A classic case is the printed version of the Nutcracker Cadenza!)
Start with a community orchestra or band, and relax and have fun. Yes, it can be stressful, but on the other hand it’s great fun to be in the middle of all that SOUND and you’re a part of it!
I’m truly horrified by Allegra Lilly’s story about THE KNOT. I’ve had a running dialogue with them (I confronted them in person at the Wedding MBA conference last October in Las Vegas about their horribly inaccurate article about harpists and live music.) They were totally unresponsive and, yes, snotty about it. Their promises to “review the issue and get back to you” was ignored. That’s why I have NOTHING to do with THE KNOT that involves one cent of my money. They are NOT harp friendly, and they know the situation about vendors….and they should absolutely be ashamed.
I think it was Jan Jennings who said, after being fed the “think of all the exposure you’ll get” the classic retort, “Yes, and you can die of exposure.” I’ve adopted a great response to those requests: I tell people that I do 2 charity functions a year (which is true), and I’m already booked for this year. If they want to give me a call in January with dates and times for next year, I’ll see if it’s open. I’ve never gotten a call back….and after 35 years of playing, I’ve never EVER gotten a single paying job from all the “exposure” gigs.
On the other hand, like many of you, if the charity resonates with me, I will do it. A struggling community orchestra that needs a harpist to play Carmen Suite #1? Sure. A candelight vigil for Parents of Murdered Children….I’m there in a heartbeat. But I no longer allow myself to be intimidated or browbeat into submission, especially when they can pay for the parking valets and the open bar!
Email me…..I have a pdf file of my fingering/reworkings.
David Ice
harpdude@cox.netUPDATE
I was at the Wedding MBA Conference in Las Vegas this month, and I did speak to THE KNOT about the incorrect information on their website. They seemed rather astonished (and initially resistive, as in “we try to give brides all options”) but I pointed out that they didn’t editorialize against other vendor catagories nor did they advocate using minor children as vendors in any other categories. They asked me for further information and I provided reams of it.
Yesterday I got an email that their editorial board will be researching and “reporting” the story.
David Ice
Re: seeing another harpist’s markings….
Years ago I was asked to sight read “Pace, pace” from Verdi’s La Forza del Destino.
Disney did his first CinemaScope cartoon, called “Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom”….very close!
I always loved the great Anna Russel’s description of an orchestra:
