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I believe that most successful rock and jazz musicians are able to read music. And they can all count and do count. Springsteen and Hendrix and Bon Jovi and Charlie Parker
Loading my pedal harp was excruciating the first few times I did it. With practice it got much easier and now I can load it relatively quickly. Of course it’s quite heavy, but you eventually get a feel for the harp’s balance and know where to hold it and how to get it into your vehicle. A friend can still be very useful, especially if it’s someone who’s helped you before. I’ve found that you shouldn’t give a friend too complex a task if they’re not familiar with it.
Generally I will lay the harp in and ask them to help push it from the base once I’ve gotten it in. This is a fairly straightforward task, easy to explain to someone who’s never done it, and it can be helpful since I can focus on guiding the harp in at the best angle for the car and keeping it from bumping anything sticking out. Also, on the few occasions I have to load it on the column, that’s a huge help since keeping it upright until it’s all the way in takes a good bit of effort, and outsourcing
Does your institution have a subscription to JSTOR or another source of scholarly articles? Usually this would be through the university library, or perhaps the music library if the school of music has its own library. Austin Caswell at Indiana University wrote on the history of improvisation and I’m sure others did as well, and some general history of improvisation would be useful.
Google Scholar could help if not, though many of its results won’t be full text since many journal publishers require subscriptions. If they don’t have a subscription, Google Scholar could be helpful, though many of the results it gives won’t be available in full text without a separate subscription. Some might be available on a pay-per-article basis from the publisher or from JSTOR.
That doesn’t really sound like an insult to me, though maybe the tone could make it such. I’d take it as a descriptive remark and just say “Yes, they come in all sizes. It’s very easy to carry around.”
There’s no advantage to starting on a cheaper violin, flute, etc. either (except for those specifically designed for smaller students), except they’re easily broken by young students and children’s interests can sometimes fluctuate, limiting the initial investment.
I attended a recital recently with a Chicago extended soundboard harp, I think a semigrand or concert grand, and it sounded quite nice. However the 85P harp in the room had a better sound. I haven’t played a petite Venus, but I believe they make them in the same place and the same way they make their larger harps, so I’d suggest trying to play one sometime, or look for a used 85P.
The evening of rehearsal was unexpectedly freezing and very windy.
I scraped the fender of the rental in the parking garage and would have to pay for repairs.
The usual parking lot was full for a special event so I had to cart the harp in high winds over two blocks of cobblestone sidewalks.
They decide at the last minute to keep working on another piece so the piece with the harp didn’t get touched anyway.
I’ll mention here that I find the string swell at the beginning of the overture one of the most excting moments in music.
In every field I’ve encountered, stories of baby boomer retirements have been greatly exagerrated, much to the detriment of students who rely on them before they pursue degrees.
My prediction is that when orchestral harpists start retiring, orchestras will stop staffing full-time harpists and hire on the spot for individual pieces with them. Next will be percussion, and then anything beyond of core of strings and principal wind players.
The upshot
