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Playing in band can make me fumble on some surprisingly easy passages. It’s a whole different mental thing from playing solo. Not only is there the pressure of “not letting the group down”, but your mental resources are spread more thingly. You have to watch a conductor while still glancing at your music and strings, count sometimes long rests and coming in cold, and listen to others while paying attention to your own playing.
In one of the orchestral guides, maybe Sarah Bullen’s “Principal Harp” excerpts but I think it was Beatrice Rose’s “The Harp in the Orchestra”, the author notes how many harpists have difficulty making the transition to orchestral playing (often in college), since many of them don’t get the same large ensemble experience that most winds, percussion, and bowed strings do.
I try to borrow from Albert Ellis’ books on rational emotive therapy and remind myself that the worst that can happen is I sound absolutely terrible, just dreadful, I play every note wrong and every mistake is heard by everybody in the audience. Let’s say that happens. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, life would go on, and it would be an embarrassment but no real harm’s been done to anybody. You have to have a bit of that attitude. Not only does it help lesson the stress that can worsen your playing, but when the inevitable mistakes happen, it lets you keep going and keep playing, which is the best way to improve.
It might help (and if nothing else it’s amusing) to Google “trumpet bloopers”. One of the first hits is a site that has compiled clips, some of them by professionals, of highly exposed mistakes (it’s hard to get more exposed than a solo trumpet). And remember, moments like this happen to even the best:
@http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DBAoWr-imY
PS on ZipCar – You have to find and pay for parking while at the gig or whatever. As Maya said, taxis pick you up and drop you off, then they go someplace else and you don’t worry about it. Learn to pack light for gigs and load efficiently so you can get in and out of the cab in as few trips as possible. And of course tip generously. If you find a driver you like with a suitable vehicle, I’d ask for their card if that’s legal in the area (taxi regulations can be quite complex).
Taxis are generally the way to go if the companies are reliable and have vehicles large enough. Many do. In Washington DC, taxi companies are not particularly reliable and often don’t show up when called. Livery services might be another option, which often have better service than taxis.
I’ve used ZipCar and still often do, though vehicle availability can be an issue. They don’t have many vehicles that will accomodate a harp and they can move vehicles around without notice, so the nearby vehicle you rely on might suddenly vanish or be replaced with one smaller. The basic annual fee is fairly small, so I’d suggest signing up anyway. Just don’t get one of the higher usage plans where you pay a minimum amount every month.
I wouldn’t think of my pedal harp on mass transit. The elevators (DC Metro stations are further underground than most city’s due to softer dirt or something) aren’t that large and often the elderly or disabled need them at the same time and an escalator is a YouTube video waiting to happen and be reposted on the Fail Blog. They’re also often out of service, requiring shuttle service from the next station. Finally, rush hours would just be too crowded. In Washington bikes aren’t supposed to be on the trains during rush hour, so you can imagine the looks a harp would get once the novelty wore off.
If you want a transit-friendly harp, I’d get a lap harp. Fortunately I hear Maeve Gilchrist just joined the Berklee faculty so there is a strong lever harp role model.
I was in high school show choir and we were usually paid a few hundred dollars, probably two or three, which went into our budget for music, etc. This was around 1989-1991, so the figures would probably be three to five now. They were usually retirement homes, local VA chapter dinners, and so on.
The community band I play in has a few small ensembles that also do small events, generally where the budget wouldn’t have afforded professional rates anyway (several of our members are current or former professionals, often playing a different instrument than they do in their day jobs). I don’t know what they charge for everything, and sometimes donate their services, usually for local causes such as an animal shelter, or the roller derby league. I think the marching band usually performs for pay, again not a gigantic amount, though I imagine some events, like the Pride Festival, are part of our service (we’re an LGBT community band). As a non-profit we’re expected to be doing things for the community and try to do so in some of our playing, giving free tickets to various organizations, and so on.
I think most of the events they play are ones where the sponsors couldn’t have paid rates anyway that really have tight budgets and have a lot of donated services for their events (i.e., the animal shelter). For student groups it’s legitimate to see what kind of event is going on and price accordingly.
I play with organ shoes so they have that bit of extra heel, and also thin soles for feeling the pedals. So many men’s shoes have soles that are not only thick, but also stick out a bit from the sides so that it’s easy to hit other pedals while playing. I have some other “business casual” shoes that do OK for playing, though my favorite dress shoes don’t work at all. I once had to kick a shoe off during a lesson because I forgot to wear the better ones and I couldn’t do a thing pedalwise.
I envy the fact that female players have so many options for footwear in which you can play harp. A lot of casual pumps seem to work well. The internet is still in wonder at Karen Vaughan’s adorable shoes with the little bows.
Linking to Karen’s amazing shoes here since the embedding doesn’t allow start time: @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JZcHSSQbD8&t=10m
John Kovac has tons of harp videos, mostly folk harps and folk music. You can find him on YouTube by searching for his name.
For classical music, maybe Sam Karlinski’s videos. Search for SKHarp23.
Justin, did you find the Star Wars Trilogy printed pedal markings a mess? So many changes were missing and others redundant because they’d already been changed (sometimes marked and sometimes not). Maybe the key was changed when it went to band and either some changes were lost in transposition or they weren’t needed in the orchestral edition. On the second page of Leia’s Theme alone I had to add six changes and cross three out.
I guess you could give them credit for trying, but as we all know, “Do or do not, there is no try.”
A hole off to one side could be very nice, and one point in favor of letting the cord come out of a soundbox hole, so it can be taped to the desired side. Foot issues will be greatly helped by taping down cables once things are set up, which should be a standard practice, not only to prevent them from being knocked loose, but as a safety precaution to keep anyone from tripping over them.
Too many men learned some terrible idea that if a “firm handshake” is a good thing, then a really manly man will break at least two knuckles, and dislocating the victim’s elbow or shoulder during the handshake a signed of truly exceptional character.
In theory, yes, though due to our size I’m going to pitch some discrete amplification to the conductor if our rehearsals suggest it will be a problem.
I was a bit surprised to learn that the band transcription of The Planets doesn’t have any harp, so that lessons my workload quite a bit. The Star Wars Trilogy music, however, has a substantial part on each of its five movements, most of which will require some work, so I have plenty to do regardless.
My Song In the Night is a hymn. You can find several versions of it being sung and played on YouTube. It’s quite nice.
I should clarify they were done with picks per score instructions, though it would be too painful to play three pges of ff and fff glisses without them. Having rehearsed the piece for a month with the band, it’s a minor miracle I never broke any before (I did replace one in the third octave a few days earlier, and no doubt its lifespan had been shortened). Too bad they waited until the performance to give out.
