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You’re right about the printed pedals being teeny tiny on the most part, also the other thing that bugs me is when the pedal is written e.g C-C# instead of just a plain old C#, I already KNOW that I currently have a C nat., that’s a case of too much unnecessary information. I don’t see as much of multiple pedals marked by seventy-two different harpists in all colors of the rainbow in the classical repertoire that we get in as rentals than I do in Pops concert charts, ugh, it drives me nuts! I too much prefer to see the actual string I have to play instead of a circled enharmonic, I will copy the section or page & rewrite it as played.
If I know pedal markings have been put in by an actual harpist then I always appreciate the help & it saves me a TON of work. Pedal diagrams also are always helpful especially at major starting points and after long tacets.
I know each harpist has their own way of notating pedals, I personally HATE HATE HATE pedals below the staff (sorry Carl!) & I also have my own preference for which foot goes ontop of the other when it comes to 2 changes simultaneously, but if they are correct & printed then I will simply make a copy & rewrite them in where I like to see them.
I love to get all the help I can get when it comes to preparing multiple orchestra parts week after week, month after month & I thank you for your efforts on behalf of all us orchestral harpists!
BTW, I realized you’re up in MT, I just flew up to Idaho Falls on Sunday & met up with another pilot who’d flown down from Lincoln, MT. Maybe I’ll make it all the way up to you one of these days or if you ever find yourself in SLC give me a call & I’d be happy to give you a lesson!
Louise
I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time, playing well in orchestra takes practice so hang in there and don’t give up, it’s good he’s willing to work with you!
If you can, find recordings of the arias you are performing, you should be able to locate them on iTunes & listen to them along with your part (& score if possible), then try playing along with them. If you know what to listen for – approx. tempos, what & where the melody is doing/going, hear good cues from other instruments that tell you where you are in the piece etc. WITHOUT a conductor waving his stick in front of your face then you’re halfway there! Practice with a metronome making sure you don’t hesitate, slow down or stop & if you do -KEEP GOING, a lot of the time getting lost is a result of not being able to keep up with the rest of the orchestra & getting behind. Also make sure you are set up well when you are on stage, meaning that your harp, stand & conductor podium should all be within your peripheral vision, you want to avoid having to move your head excessively from music-strings-conductor while playing.
Thanks Misty! I’ll pass on the information & yes Saul, I know Baylor has a music dept. but the teacher there is Salzedo trained.
I played it here in Utah in Dec. 2000 on a combined concert that the Utah Symphony does every other year with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, (The O.C Tanner”Gift of Music”), it was recorded for a nationwide PBS special broadcast.
http://www.kued.org/productions/giftofmusic/program.htmlIf you can get a good soprano, the “Folk Songs” by Luciano Berio for voice & seven instruments (written 1964) come to mind. It is a setting of 11 folk songs which he wrote for his wife Cathy Berberian.
I have played it with 2 harps but a lot of it is just doubled, some places the second plays chords the octave lower than the first but it is all in fairly loud passages. There is just one spot between fig 137-138 where the two harps diverge & it is marked “p” but it could be possible to somewhat combine the parts, I think it can be done with one harp if necessary.
I too refuse to remove my wedding rings when I play, I have a (rather large!) engagement ring I wear on my left hand along with my wedding band which belonged to my husband’s grandmother so I REALLY don’t want to misplace that! I know I probably would too if I were to keep taking it off every time I played.
To prevent the rings from sliding around & getting caught in the strings I have a roll of Nexcare waterproof foam tape (available from any drugstore or supermarket first aid section) & cut off a small piece that I stick on the underside of my ring finger & slip the rings over the top, this keeps them nicely in place and if I have a lot of LH muffling I add another strip over the top of the rings (like they are “sandwiched” in between 2 pieces of tape), it was a bit irritating at first but I am now so used to it I don’t notice it anymore, well worth it since I never have to worry where I put my rings plus I get a lot of compliments from audience members on my ring when I play since it sparkles under the stage lights 🙂
Exactly! Use that peripheral vision, it sure comes in useful esp. when you have a conductor that likes to wave his stick SO FAR ahead of the beat it is useless to follow! We had an experience with a conductor like that a while ago and I had a relatively inexperienced orchestral second harpist hired for that week (our regular subs were already booked). There were a lot of FF solo+orch tutti unison chords that we had together on odd beats & EVERY time she would beat the entire orchestra on the chord because she was following THE CONDUCTOR! When she started following my lead we were consistently together with the orchestra & she could only do that because she was positioned on my right, slightly behind & could see my hands.
I suppose this counts as (recycled!) food & luckily this did not happen to me but the worst & grossest spillage has to be vomit.
