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Great ideas! Luckily the power has stayed on (despite all of the bad weather). I’ll definitely keep these in mind this winter. 🙂
Thanks!
I once played celtic harp at a luxury resort nearby (it’s a big castle that’s been turned into a resort). I played in the music room, and what a disaster. Dim lighting, and the most horrid carpet for harping. It was burgundy with white swirling flowers. Put all of that together, and it was nauseating. It was almost as bad as a time that I played with a large wind ensemble. they had me on the right side of the stage and up front. To look at the strings you had to look right at the lights at the bottom of the stage.
I politely asked to move and they obliged. Every harpist prior and after me had done the same thing!
It’s something I’m worried about too… We’re supposed to get an ice storm tonight and when that happens the power goes out usually… (last time it was out for a week!)
I guess I’ll have to move it into the room with the fireplace and woodburning stove…
Oh jeez, don’t even get me started. I play under a conductor regularly who is a complete disaster story. Here’s one to get an idea:
After rehearsing a piece for half an hour he looked at the horn section and said: “What? You mean you’ve been playing a completely different piece and I didn’t even know it?”
He had the wrong score, and the horns had the wrong piece out.
What a hack job. I’ve got dozens of stories. Like when he got drunk on cough syrup because he drank two bottles at the beginning of a recording session.
Ugh.
As a flute player primarily I rarely have this problem. There was one such occasion though where I was a solo flutist for a mass (orchestra and choir) that was over an hour long. I literally played 12 bars in the Sanctus, and was doubling the solo cellist. I was still required to be in all rehearsals (paid afterall), and I couldn’t exactly go offstage in the performance either.
So… I brought a book. I put a black cover on it and sat it on my music stand. I read through the rehearsals (both of them) and even in the concert. Doing it in the concert probably wasn’t the greatest thing to do, but I was buried back in the orchestra, on the stage floor (risers were for the choir only), sandwiched right in front of a 100+person choir and no one could see me. I couldn’t even see the audience. And if they could see me, they would have just seen me sitting there, occasionally turning a page on my music stand…
The conductor didn’t seem to mind. Or at least… I didn’t notice or necessarily care.
I guess you could argue that. You could also argue that any soundboard with a veneer (regardless of whether or not the remainder was solid natural wood) that they are laminate soundboards. But generally veneers are exempt from this classification (in my experience).
Jerry Brown has a really good article (or two) about solid vs. laminate either on his website (harpkit.com) or in his book about harpmaking. I have his book and that’s where I read it, but I think he has it available online as well.
In this example you are dealing with two separate materials. You have a composite board which has one half cedar (bottom half/end of the soundboard I think), and one half spruce (top half/end). It is covered (I believe), with a veneer so that it looks all the same from the outside. A laminated birch soundboard is a soundboard made entirely of very thin birch veneers that have been laminated together.
One can technically argue that both are laminate soundboards (because of the veneer over the cedar/spruce soundboard), but harpmakers generally exclude veneers from the classification of solid vs. laminate soundboard types.
To me, the type of soundboard doesn’t really matter. You can get a fantastic sounding harp with either type. My only preference for a ‘solid’ soundboard is because the tone tends to mature with age whereas a ‘laminate’ soundboard is more static.
I agree Kay! People forget that Christmas is supposed to be Christ centered. It is first and foremost a Christian holiday that has sadly become secularized. For Christians, Christ is the reason for the season. So if you do a Christmas album, have religious selections. If that isn’t the way you want to go, then do more festive and less religious selections.
I’m a big fan of the Ukrainian Bell Carol and the story behind it (legend that at midnight when christ was born every bell in the world rang).
I think a lot of the suggestions so far have been great. I think that a holiday album full of old pieces would be fantastic. We’ve all heard too many renditions of silent night and what child is this!
I started learning music when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I had been asking my parents for a flute for quite some time but they thought a recorder would be a better idea. Neither of my parents played recorder and no one we knew could, so I took the beginners book and taught myself. After a year they got me a flute. I started taking lessons with some kid at the local high school. She only wanted me to learn a page in the book a day, but I wanted to go faster, so I quit. I taught myself until I could join band when I was 12.
When I was 13 I went to an all state competition and the judges said I needed a good private teacher. My parents disagreed and wouldn’t get me lessons. So I gave up on flute for a bit. That’s how I found the harp. There was one of the little ‘Paki’ harps at a local music store. I rented it, then got a Musicmakers (and later a Lyon and Healy). Because my band director couldn’t teach harp (obviously), I was able to take lessons and I progressed very quickly. I would have been a harp major in college, but I couldn’t afford a pedal harp. So I decided to major in flute instead.
I found a teacher. Paid for the lessons myself, and got myself to my lessons (still in high school) at 7am (only time slot available in the teacher’s schedule). And the rest is history! I progressed very quickly and now I’m auditioning for very competitive graduate schools. Harp is still very close to my heart and by big stress reliever. Nothing soothes my soul more than sitting behind my harp at the end of the day and playing a few things.
These are all really great responses. I know that not all dreams are possible. I mean…. who could honestly expect to change the world like Bill Gates with personal computers, Steve Jobs with portable music and smartphones, or JK Rowling with literature? No one! It doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but almost.
I think my dreams and expectations are realistic. And it’s true! You should always have two careers! Maybe not at the same time, but perhaps several alternate plans to put into action when one fails. I am definitely not short on ideas for alternate careers that I would really enjoy! I have the raw material, ambition, and
Well, it depends on which music stand you look at. At the piano I have several movie scores, and at my harp I have christmas and church music (starting to prepare for the holidays). As for my third stand (for flute–main instrument) I have too much music. Scales, etudes, and everything from Bach and Mozart to Ibert and Jolivet. I have some big auditions coming up for my Master’s degree programs
I don’t know why I do this, but I always play my harp a little bit before tuning. For some reason it seems to tune better and hold pitch better. So even though it doesn’t necessarily ‘warm up’ it certainly seems different as you play more.
I’ve named my instruments, but not in a serious way. For me it’s just silly fun. My harp is named Penelope, my flute is Chloe, and my piccolo is Alice. My Studio harp (by musicmakers) is named Edgar. Whenever I have to leave a rehearsal for a few minutes during a break I always ask a friend to ‘babysit.’ I never think of them as separate entities though. I play my flute and harp and they are extensions of me. Naming is just for fun.
Wow! That was more difficult than I expected (even though I guessed correctly, and didn’t have too much trouble). But either way I’m really impressed. The wood one seemed to have more tone whereas the carbon fibre harps have more attack/articulation.
I’m a flutist first and a harpist second (it’s my stress reliever! And great one too!). While browsing a flutist’s website, I found an article about becoming an ‘ideal student.’ It’s a good read and has a lot of great suggestions. Obviously it is flute centered, but the principles still apply.
http://www.jeannebaxtresser.com/education/article-ideal-student.php
