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err…
so how distinct are guitaric vs pdlt vs bdlc in color?
playing lower than pdlt (shown in the video) almost would require using the fingernail, is that how it’s meant to be?
http://sites.siba.fi/web/harpnotation/manual/plucked-sounds/pres-de-la-table
http://sites.siba.fi/web/harpnotation/manual/plucked-sounds/bas-dans-les-cordesI am not a professional and don’t have specific playing shoes. So I have played the harp with all sorts of shoes, incl. barefoot and socks. Even flipflops work… ok, crocs and wide soles might be unpractical at times, i would not use those if the piece requires a lot of pedal changes. If the sole of the shoes are too rigid (I do have one pair of trekking shoes like that) then I don’t really feel the pedals anymore, and that was indeed disturbing for me.
No specific rules for me whether heels up or down. I guess it works as long as I get them right/precise, swift and silent. Mostly I have heels down on the outer pedals, but heels up on the inner pedals. Having heels down at a B flat and E flat position causes pain around my ankles as my foot would have to be flexed up so much.
Mostly I do a slight raise. My hands don’t rise beyond the lowest pin and my left hand does major of he expression. If it’s heavy, like sarabande, I’d rather stay, or in case of a strong bass chord, play towards the column. There were occasions where the piece ended with bass octave played on one of the last few string near the column, and I’d just stretch my whole arm straight out downwards after playing. If it’s in the middle of the phrase, I’d drop or raise depending on what makes sense… I guess. If downward progression to a tonic, I probably drop after the phrase; if upwards, I’d probably raise.
Just an update to the topic. Problem seems to have been solved after a couple of lessons.
What helped was the exercise with the unnatural rhythm, still don’t understand how but it did help.
Another help provided by my teacher is the focus of stronger first finger placement on the string with every change of hand.It’s some sort of ‘pivoting’ action… can’t really describe it well with words. That might have been a correction in my playing, but it certainly has helped me a great lot.
Yes, I do have a teacher and will certainly be focusing a bit on the techniques the next sessions. Interesting that you mentioned scales, that happen to be my weakness as well, especially when they span across more than 2 octaves.
I should bring my Bochsa to the next lesson…Oh yes… indeed, but I really do appreciate all the hints and help out here.
My focus is to play arpeggios evenly, but several other advice do touch on other aspects which is definitely going to be great help.
Starting slow and increasing tempo didn’t work for me, so I’m going to try Carl’s advice on playing with uneven accents and uneven in order to play them played evenly up 4 octaves.
Thank you all!
Since I’m working on this now… It seems all the bass are played with harmonics, so I couldn’t really follow the thread properly.
Though I always wonder why Glinka chose to write identical phrases contain such minor differences. Eg. Bars 8, 16 of var II, bars 5, 7, 13, 15 of var IV etc. Wondering also if the b in bar 8 of Var III was meant to be played as harmonics. If so a harmonic notation is missing…
Well… I am guessing what Eliza meant is raising more for musicality reasons rather than technical (although they are somewhat related).
What’s the goal of wanting her to practise raising?
Try playing a simple piece for her, once with the hand stiff and close to the strings. Then repeat with raising (the way you like it) – allow her see and listen to the difference, which is definitely perceivable (unless a beginner) – best effect where strong bass or chords are required.
Also, try simply playing 2 chords alternately 10 times – play twice & vary the speed: start the first 10 times with 80, then play the next 10 times with 120. The point is to demonstrate how gestures can actually contribute to avoiding stress and tension during playing. Also, how the hand “jumps” from one chord to another would actually be a raise on its own…
What I learnt is that, in order to “feel” the need to raise or drop or play “towards the column”, or play “out” or sometimes even deliberately staying close to the strings, you can use different passages that best demonstrates the value of hand gestures – that it’s not all “fluffy” as Salzedo puts it.
E.g. if you play something majestic and grand and chordy on both hands… the raising/dropping actually brings weight onto the strings, which might allow your student to “feel” this extra benefit herself. I did.
