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Yes, we played the Fairy Fountain, and the harps are very prominent in it, but not totally solo.
Someone in the audience recorded us and put it on Youtube. You can find it by going to the search engine and typing in “Zelda Vancouver Fairy Fountain”.Louise Trotter has written a book about the subject. Here’s a link where you can buy iy: http://www.folkharp.com/product/first-steps-to-harp-improvisation
I just played it in Vancouver not too long ago. I don’t think I kept my copies of the parts, or i would look it up, but I don’t remember it being too difficult, though there’s some wild counting in one piece. You get a click-track, which is enormously helpful. Do you have your parts yet? You will want to have a look at them beforehand. There are lots of really exposed bits.
A lot of great orchestra repertoire requires two harps, (i.e. Debussy: La Mer, Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Ravel: La Valse) so make sure that you only request the ones that only need one harp. You also may have to keep in mind how advanced your orchestra is. Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite has a lovely harp part. Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome are fun to play. Debussy’s Petite Suite has a lovely, single harp part, and The Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun can be done easily combining the two parts. Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite has one harp part, and it is really gorgeous.
Yes, I did go to the Sibelius forum, and Daniel did get in touch! I shared my story here, in order to let people know that typing in an incorrect e-mail address will cause a huge problem. I also told Daniel and Avid (Sibelius’s company name) that the help phone line makes it much too difficult to find a human voice. I hope that Avid will fix this in the future.
In the Professional Harpists Forum, I just started a thread about the nightmare I just went through, updating to Sibelius 7. I had no choice but to update, since the company did something that made my Sibelius program incompatible with my Mac OS 10 Snow Leopard system. All of a sudden, all my files looked like a child had scribbled all over them, and you couldn’t start any new scores. Anyway, the good news is that I have got the system up and my files look normal again. The problem occurred because I had mis-typed my email. Their tech support phone line has many options, but it requires expert sleuthing to find a person to talk to. I was able to find an email address, finally, and that is how I was able to get an answer which solved the problem.
Success! Here is what happened, as a warning to anyone who types fast, as I tend to do:
I mis-typed my email address while ordering Sibelius 7, and that basically opened the gates of hell. I spent many frustrating hours trying to connect with their support staff. I finally got one person on the phone who told me that he had re-set my email and password, but it turned out that he had not. When I got another guy by email (after much searching for an email address), he told me that it was still under the wrong email address and I just had to type that in with my password, and I would get in and be able to retrieve my file and registration info. So I did. I could not re-set my email, though, since they said it was already in use!! So I changed it to another email address that they didn’t know about yet, and it’s all good. I was about ready to ask for my money back and switch to Finale. I love the SIbelius program, but if you need to talk to someone in tech support, they make it impossible to find such a person unless you’re Sherlock Holmes.I am fortunate that my hands aren’t too dry, but I do get hangnails frequently. I clip them off immediately so that they don’t get worse. It is terrible to have an infected finger and try to play the harp! If I do get a cut or an infected hangnail, then I use a very thin Bandaid – Plastic Comfort-flex brand. They are so thin and flexible that you can even play a concert while wearing them.
Wow. I have spent more than an hour trying to get to a tech support person, but their “help line” never gives you a person at the other end. I bought the newest version of Sibelius online, and it won’t open to install. I am supposed to be e-mailed an “avid support code” but it is not showing up in my email. I am at my wit’s end!
Isn’t she fabulous? She just released a CD of violin and harp music with Lara St. John. They performed at the World Harp Congress in Vancouver. She flew all the way from Berlin, gave a master class, then a concert the next day and flew back! I’ll be eternally grateful to her for that.
I play section 58 pretty much as written, and it is fine as long as you don’t attempt to close your thumb every time. Just push off and rotate back to the next placement. In the fifth bar of reh. 58, I use a Gb enharmonic for the F#’s, then an Fb for the bottom E natural in the sixth bar. I return the F to # in the next bar, and the G to natural in the subsequent one. Second bar of reh. 59, I set an A# to use instead of the top Bb’s, to make the distance a seventh instead of an octave in the Bb major figures. On the last 3/4 bar before reh. 60, instead of the fourth D of each figure, I use the A#, so that I can keep doing the same pattern. I also have written in the instrument entrances.
Sometimes a part was written reasonably, but becomes unplayable when the conductor chooses an inappropriate tempo. That’s why it is good to have Plan B up your sleeve.
Check your local musicians’ association and see what the going rates are for something like this in your area. Rates can vary enormously, depending on star power, how many seats can be sold and for how much, etc. Do you have CD’s or other products that you can bring and sell afterwards? You have to consider what you would pay your flautist or violinist as well; they may have a bottom line which could be higher than the local association’s minimum. Do you have to split the profits with the person or group who hired you? Do they have grants that give them the money to pay you, or does it all come from ticket sales? These are all things to consider. Don’t forget to charge for cartage as well.
