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I used to play this piece multiple times every December. Every so often, the solo singers would get lost in “That Yonge Child”. I had to skip a beat sometimes to stay with them. That’s why it is so vitally important to know the vocal parts. I even got the words and wrote everything into my part. And the tempi can vary wildly from one choir to the next, even though there are metronome markings. Don’t be afraid to use enharmonics or trick fingerings when necessary.
I have a Prius V, and the my LH Style 23 harp fits in beautifully. I don’t need to adjust the front passenger seat, but I fold down the back seats. My husband cut a piece of plywood and attached a couple of handles, so I can slide it out, rest the harp on its side (tuning pegs down) and slide the board in with the harp on it, all by myself. If I don’t have the board, I like to get someone to help me lift the harp in on its side. I move the base over to one side, and the folded bench, music stand and harp cart go alongside the harp. A bigger chair could go in the passenger seat if you don’t have a folding bench.
You can keep your fingers in shape on a lever harp, if the tension is not too loose, but it will be really hard to make much progress on these pieces without pedals. You could work out the fingerings and get some of the passages into your muscle memory. It would be very confusing to your ear to hear it without the pedal changes, though, and that may cause mistakes later.. However, it’s better than nothing. Is there any way you can get a pedal harp to practice on while you are away from your own? Is there some way you can take your own with you?
Which city are you in? Sometimes there are second-hand harps that are available for you to try. I know of one in Vancouver, for example.
At the World Harp Congress in 2011, there was a premiere of a piece for harp and steel pans by Kevin Fox called Lily Lake Road. It is a really nice piece.
I looked this up, and discovered that there are several different types of progressive lenses. I suspect that mine may be the premium type, since I can see the conductor and my music so well. Here is the article I found: http://vision.about.com/od/eyeglasses/tp/Progressive_Lenses.htm
Dear Heather, That’s amazing! I had requested exactly that type of thing several years ago, and when my bifocals arrived, they were set up with only a tiny fraction for reading, and all the rest was for distance, which was not at all suitable. When I asked them to re-make the glasses, they told me that it was impossible. (Hundreds of dollars down the drain.) But now, it’s a moot point anyway. I got my computer progressive glasses, and I love them. I have been using them in the orchestra for about a week now, and I can see everything clearly. The distance part is at the top, exactly where the conductor looms into view, and the middle part is for the music. I can see the strings much better now, as well. I have “prism” in the lenses, since my eyes don’t look straight ahead and I used to get double vision if I didn’t blink often enough.
The rates vary from city to city, so you should probably check with the harpist who you are filling in for and ask what he or she is getting paid. Don’t forget to charge extra for cartage, if this is the norm in your city.
They are wonderful. They performed at the 11th World Harp Congress in Vancouver and had a very enthusiastic response from the audience. Also, get in touch with Marilyn Rummel, who was on our WHC Organizing Committee. She lives on Vancouver Island and is planning a harp festival there in February.
To answer your question about what the first lessons were like, I have to say that it is such a long time ago that I can barely remember. I used method books and syllabi to form a curriculum, and did the best i could. But it gets much easier as you gain experience.
I started teaching around 1976, when I had completed my formal education and was still studying with Judy Loman. I taught beginners at the time, and applied the teaching principles that I had picked up from observing not only my harp instructors, but also my piano and flute teachers and conductors who I had worked with. Once I moved to Vancouver as the symphony harpist, people would request lessons after the concerts, or call the office for my phone number. I was hired to teach at the university and other institutions shortly after I arrived.
Ever since I began to teach, I have been buying books and journals about teaching techniques and methods, and of course I subscribe to Harp Column, the AHS Journal and the World Harp Congress. It is amazing how much you learn from teaching! I have loved every minute of it.I put my tuner on the music stand with the clip-on mic attached to the back sound hole of the harp. I move the tuner to a higher or lower sound-hole depending on the register that I am tuning.
Ah! Aeolian rustling is described in Salzedo’s Modern Study of the Harp. “The hands, pressing the strings, are drawn slowly across them, fingers close together in the horizontal position. The notes indicate the (approximate) point of departure of each movement.”
If the nail symbol is above the gliss, it is the “falling-hail” effect. “By gliding in the centre of the strings, with the back of the fingernails; in descending, the palm of the hand inward; in ascending, the palm of the hand turned outward. This sonority is finest when played softly and rather slowly.”
Both these effects are on page 11.
