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Hi Natalie,
There is a lot of good intermediate repertoire out there. McDonald/Wood Graded recital pieces are nice to provide some material that gets gradually more difficult and teaches you new techniques. Two Guitars in Vol 4 I think is always a favorite. Andres has a lot of music at an intermediate level. Do you have a lever or pedal harp? Andres has a lot that is playable on lever. You could also look on a graded type list (like the one below) to get an idea of the level you are playing and where to go gradually from there. I think it happens to often that people skip the intermediate stuff and get frustrated with playing things that are too difficult. http://midamericamusic.org/tests/Harp.pdfIt is a tough piece to learn so quickly. I have had to play it several times without much notice as it was a concerto competition winner and wasn’t on the schedule. The cadenza was always conducted when I have played it. Last time there was an accelerando at the end of the cadenza. 12 goes by so quickly it really has to be memorized. Probably memorize 21 too because of constant tempo changes.
There are two editions of this piece though. But the notes are all the same so go with the cheaper edition.
I use the Brock arrangement as a solo as well. It has all the melody in the harp. I think the flute is usually just doubling stuff.
I recently played on someone’s carbon fiber lever harp. The sound was nice (though a little different than wooden) and the lightness was so awesome. But for me as a pedal harpist it would take a lot of getting used to the style of the heartland. It has a curved back so you don’t pull the harp back to rest on your shoulder. It made it so your RH was very close to the soundboard. Just felt weird but I am sure people get used to it. I wouldn’t buy one without physically playing it to see if you would be comfortable.
The Jazz Pop Harpfest is in New Orleans this summer.
http://www.neworleansjazzharp.com/There is a nice voice or instrumental/harp version in the Harp Olympics book One. It is a big book to buy for just that piece though. It is very simple, just arpeggiated chords in the key of e minor with the voice singing the melody
I have the Opera Tryptic arranged by F Seeman. It is very nice. I love O mio Babbino and the Flower Duet. The Bizet Carmen Intermezzo would be nice too. My arrangement is for fl/harp/viola but I am sure a cellist could adapt it.
I have done it in a Toyota Sienna. I put the back seat down flat. I column loaded the harp on the right side (the two middle seats were close together and the backs were folded down so they were lower but they don’t go into the floor). The bass went rested on it’s back with the neck sitting on the folded middle chairs, well padded. Good luck! I guess every van is different.
The most standard set of songs that I find people choosing is:
Jesu for the seating of the mothers
Canon in D for the bridesmaids
Wagner for the bride
Mendelssohn or Trumpet Voluntary for the recessionalI always play lots of different options at a consultation and of course some people don’t want any of the standards but I find that these traditional songs account for the majority of the weddings I play. So I am having them start with those basics. That is interesting that you do so many Catholic weddings. I have only done a full mass a couple of times. I find that most people tend to use the church organist because it comes with the wedding package or something? Most of my weddings tend to be outdoors or not in a church. I love the idea of taking them to observe a wedding or having them turn pages for one. That would be great hands on experience.
If you have really never had a lesson, I would hold off on learning scales. I usually don’t teach my students a scale with a cross under for quite sometime. There is so much to learn before that. It is awesome that you are so eager to play but you don’t want to develop any bad habits!
I saw on the link that Carlos Salzedo is supposed to enter the public domain in 2012. I agree that if I am studying a solo piece than I would buy a hard copy but it is nice to preview it before hand and know that it is something at your level. I have found this sight most useful for orchestra parts so that I can be familiar with the piece before the orchestra gets it. I recently have been trying to look up the part for Prokofiev R&H suite number two and it is kind of frustrating that it is there but you can’t open it because of copyright laws I guess.
