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If you’re up in Vancouver, BC, get in touch with me. I should be here for most of the summer, and I will be teaching. You would be welcome to come for one lesson to see my teaching style. You can e-mail me for my phone number. I have two students who come up from Washington for their lessons; I can give you their numbers for references.
The only time I use a “support” finger is in orchestra passages where you have to repeat, ad nauseum, the same note many times. In this way, you can keep your eye on the conductor. An example is the beginning of “Danse Macabre”, with the twelve strokes of midnight. You can use a finger to dampen the previous note, as in “isolated sounds”, but when you’re just playing normally, no, you don’t use “support” fingers.
There are usually several options for fingering the same passage, but they have to be musical, yet comfortable. Since we all have different sizes of fingers, etc., there is no one-size-fits-all fingering rule. Practice putting the emphasis on different fingers in the same passage, i.e. a scale, just to develop the ability to bring out the phrasing no matter which fingering you use. However, bear in mind that it is MUCH easier to bring out the phrase if your fingerings are working with you, instead of against you. Sometimes you’re stuck with having a weak finger on a strong beat, but it’s better if you can avoid that. Always try several fingerings before you settle on one, then write that in (in pencil) so you don’t forget.
At the risk of provoking flames, there are some things jumping out at me right away. No teacher should be getting up to answer the phone in the middle of a lesson unless there are unusual circumstances, which they should explain. And they should never short-change you on your lesson time. If something arises to make this necessary, then that time should be made up. As for rhythm-training, I believe this to be essential. It is hard enough for a young person to acclimatize to ensemble work, without having to learn to count on the spot! I agree also that it is counter-productive to try to learn too many new pieces all at once. It is much better to learn a lot of technique at the beginning, with a couple of pieces to make it fun. On top of that, no teacher should be bad-mouthing colleagues or former students or complaining about things. You are not paying him so that he can sound off. Can you imagine going back to a hairdresser who did that? If you wish to continue your association with him, it would be a good idea to talk to him about these things. If you can find a more professional teacher, that would be preferable. After nine months, there should be noticeable progress.
If you go to this web site, http://www.sciandmed.com/mppa/, you will find the journal Medical Problems of Performing Artists. There is also an excellent book by Dr. Richard Norris called “The Musician’s Survival Manual.”
I have never heard of the Widor Chorale and Variations! That’s why I love this forum; I learn something new every day.
I agree, Carl, it’s a necessary technique for certain passages! In Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, in the final movement, there’s an excerpt in which the lines are only a third apart. Luckily, Grandjany re-arranged the first and second parts so that the hands are separated better, but this excerpt is on many audition lists and would have to be played as written at a professional audition. Salzedo’s Conditioning Exercises also specify sequential placing for a couple of the exercises. You’re absolutely right that students should first learn to place in blocks, though. If they try to place sequentially all the time, then they cannot play quickly with a good position. I’m enjoying your blogs! They’re full of good information, and entertaining as well.
I have written a suite of three short pieces for lever harp (Spring in Vancouver, Fall in Vancouver, and The Downstairs Spider). They are at an intermediate to difficult level. If you like, I could scan a bit of each one and you could see whether you would be interested. Each time I have performed them, they have been very well received.
If you feel her feelings would be hurt by coming right out and saying she should not be teaching yet, then I would say something like this: “As you know, good technique is very important, and it takes a lot of experience to recognize bad habits and correct them before they become extremely difficult to eradicate. So I suggest that your student come to me at least once, preferably twice a month, so that I can see if there is anything requiring correction. This would also help you in designing a lesson plan. If you prefer, you could both come and we can work together.” The student’s student should keep a notebook into which you both would write the week’s goals, exercises and pieces, with all the suggestions in point form. It would not be long before the student would recognize the better teacher. Even if you only gave her a lesson a month, the girl would at least have a chance to become a proficient and uninjured harpist.
I can’t play comfortably with rings on. If I forget to take my wedding ring off, I have to turn my hand sideways to dampen, in order not to buzz against the strings. The ring also restricts my ability to stretch my hand. My problem is remembering to put the ring back on, so that I don’t have to dodge all the admiring males who think I’m still available! (Just kidding.:))
The Reinecke Harp Concerto is gorgeous! I bought the music years ago, but it is a dog’s breakfast of errors and chicken-scratch printing. There are excellent recordings, though, and I imagine that nowadays it is possible to get a better edition. Saul mentioned Saint-Saens as well. I think he might be referring to the ravishing Piece de Concert for harp and orchestra. These are both first-rate composers.
Get as many cues written into your part as possible so that you won’t be worried about your entrances. Mark where the phrases begin, because many times, the rehearsal numbers are not where the phrases are! For example, if there are eight bars to count, but the phrase begins in the second bar, mark 1/7 in the 8-bar phrase. Listen to the recordings if you can get them. If you are still worried about entrances, ask the conductor to cue you. Get there early enough to tune and warm up, and tune to the A that the orchestra plays. It may be sharp. Get an electronic tuner and microphone, if you don’t already have one. When you are in the orchestra, listen to what’s going on around you and try to blend in with the others. If something sounds wrong, it could be you, so it’s better to leave out some notes than to play dissonances. If they are playing faster than you can keep up, have a Plan B. Practice a simplified version of any really hard parts just in case the orchestra gets adrenalin-happy and starts galloping. Find out where the most exposed places are and practice those the most. Remember to stay loose, keep breathing, and have fun!
Is it buzzing in flat or with the discs engaged? Which string? Check under the title “noisy actions in harps” under the Professional Harpists forum. There’s some good advice there. There are some good books on this. I have Samuel Pratt’s “More Affairs of the Harp” but I believe Carl Swanson has written a book on this as well.
Sometimes it’s just that the disc is a bit loose, or the screws in the pedal caps are buzzing. If it’s in the springs, then you have to tighten up the back plate screw. But don’t try this unless you know how. If it’s a wire string buzzing in flat, it could be that it’s not seated properly in the groove. If the stationary nuts are the old style, you can just loosen the string, put a small piece of felt in the groove and then rest the string on it before you tighten up the string again. The new style have an adjustable groove, but you need to know how to adjust them. Is there a technician in your city?Neumann’s book on Baroque ornamentation mentions that JS Bach didn’t care whether the ornaments started on or before the beat as long as they made musical sense, but his son, CPE Bach, wrote a book stating that the ornaments should start on the beat. But then, after the book was published and widely read, CPE Bach changed his mind and loosened up. There were so many types of ornaments floating around at this time, and so many ways of playing them, that musical performance resembled jazz in its freedom of expression. Finally, composers got tired of hearing their music so covered in ornaments as to be unrecognizable, so the practice began to be discouraged.
At any rate, I find that listening to recordings of early music specialists is a great help to understanding the style of the period. I recommend Andrew Lawrence King and the Harp Consort.
