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Jason, American String Teachers Association, in 2006, published a book that ought to be in the library of most middle school and high school Music Directors. Alfred Music Publishers carries it. It has just what you need, not only for using a student harpist in a school orchestra or smaller group, but much more. “A Harp in the School: A Guide for School Directors and Harpists” edited by Chelcy Bowles is spiral-bound, 74 pages, and will make your integration of a harpist into the ensembles you direct, so much easier..
Regarding music already published for harp and string quartet, I have three volumes of Herald Music publications in that form, available from specialty harp music dealers such as Lyon and Healy West in Salt Lake City, Utah, Vanderbilt Music in Bloomington Indiana, Sylvia Woods Harp Center in La Crecenta, California, and also dealers in Australia, Germany, and England. Ask for Folk Harp With a Friend; Twenty Carols With a Friend, or Familiar Hymns With a Friend(this includes a CD). You will see that the harp accompanies, rather than doubling any other part.Yes, Angela. Never take an unpaid harp playing job if it is apt to take employment from another musician. I agree, we have all worked hard for our playing skills and need to have income from all that sacrifice of time and money. But my philosophy is that not every single moment of our harp playing life must be equated with money because there is a great need out there for people to have uplift. Surely you have heard of doctors who volunteer some time on the ship HOPE, in order to help less fortunate people around the world. Lawyers also have a group that helps, for one time, for perhaps a half-hour, those who need advice but cannot pay standard fees. Habitat for Humanity, Homes for our Troops, and other charities could not survive without donations. I had mentioned non-profits in my post, and also people who need uplift. That is my wish, that we could do some good in the world because there is so much need out there in the world, for good music to counteract that which is not so good. Life is short. Values we learned as children -play nice, share toys- mean we must not become hardened to those people who through circumstances often not of their own choosing, are poor in spirit.
Louise, apparently whoever scanned the harp part into the imslip website made a mistake. I went to the site twice: the first visit, HARP part was listed, as having 2 pages, but they were both the same, as you discovered. So I downloaded the PIANO AND CONDUCTOR part 6 pages. You will notice that your first page of the harp part is the same as what the piano is expected to play, up until all those rests where the piano continues but the harp does not. Your printed harp part stops at the change of key to 2 sharps, right? At that point (measure 85, molto meno) I believe the harp continues, just as the piano part does. My advice unless you can find a perfect harp orchestral part to the Monti elsewhere, is to download all 6 pages (marked pages 2 through 7) of that PIANO AND CONDUCTOR part, enlarge for easier reading, and first number all the measures, out in the margin. Then do not practice all the Allegro Vivace and Allegretto measures ; that begin at measure 113 and continue until the end of the piece. Just play the concluding last two measures with the rest of the orchestra.
The second time I looked for the HARP part on the imslip website, it had vanished!! I think someone reported that mistake, and that part was removed.
To sum up, once you have downloaded all 6 pages of that PIANO AND CONDUCTOR part, (166 measures), the harp would just need to play: measures 1 through 21; 86 through 117; and possibly measures 165 and 166. Best of luck!!For those seeking the Tschaikowsky composition Swan Lake, edited for solo lever or pedal harp, with an option for playing it as a duet either with a piano or a pedal harp, I recommend the version in Marilyn Marzuki’s and Barbara Kaplan’s “Harp Album: Repertoire Primer”, that I obtained from Salvi Harps(1976). Harp 1 can stand alone and only needs an occasional Bb lever. Harp 2 adds considerably to the feeling of the original ballet, with many arpeggios and plentiful pedal changes, using a piano if no pedal harpist is available to play it with you. It is a very well done arrangement and audiences love to hear this.
Tegan Peemoeller, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, also teaches by Skype. You can contact her at info@theharproom.com. She has extensive experience in performing and teaching harp.Alice Giles, in Canberra Australia, and Heidi Lehwalder, of the USA,were her harp teachers.
Years ago I made little packs of what might be called flash cards but really were something different. They were each small vertical rectangles that fit exactly over the piano (or keyboard) white keys, on heavy (67 pound) paper. All were white, except red for all C’s; blue for all F’s. Printed on one side only, each showed the image of a note on either a treble or a bass staff. The note varied from a whole note through smaller values with the smallest being a 128th note. (there are two of these used by Bach in the first movement, the G minor Adagio, of his “Six Solo Sonatas and Partitas for Violin”, Peters Edition). With varying uses, by different levels of students, note-reading progress was usually rapid, especially having them place, beginning with Middle C, the correct card on the correct key, and pressing the note to hear the sound. Then by matching that sound to their plucking of the matching harp string, they had learned the name, sound, image on staff, left or right hand, note values in written music, location of that sound on harp geography, etc. As the student progressed and also took these cards home to practice, I could then start timing them to either complete the whole pack (60 cards) being laid down correctly on the studio piano, or plucking elementary level harp music (one finger at first) while saying the name of the note out loud.. Most of those card packs were never returned, but hopefully used as a kind of game by family members afterwards..
Are you presently with a harp teacher, or on your own? The best solution to your problem would be for a qualified teacher in your area to see you practicing, to evaluate your size and that of the harp, to see your body movements etc. The suggestions of that teacher should be followed and then, if the problem persists, post here again for help. Too much stress often means problems of some sort with the human body, so try to slow down.
Phil,,
You did not say with which edition of the Faure Impromptu, Opus 86, you are working. If it is the Durand, and I compare it with the Peters, just by looking at the first page of each, one sees that the Durand has no pedal markings there, while the Peters has quite a few. The entire 15 pages of the Peters (Edition Peters Nr. 9485, 1975 Leipzig ) printed in the same volume as Une Chatelaine en sa Tour, Op.110, is full of single and double pedal markings, even helpfully connecting some with a line when that pedal should be held until an indication for its release. I notice no fingerings whatever, but patterns of where three or four fingers should be placed are so recognizable that this piece could be well understood by someone who was well taught to intermediate level by some of the standard methods and etude books that have stood the test of time. That is not to say that the piece is for intermediate level players! It demands a mature, advanced technique with delicacy AND ELEGANCE . Since you have no harpist nearby to help, and the piece is copyrighted to protect the rights of publishers, I’d suggest buying a different edition than the one with no pedal markings. The Peters is an option; others on this forum may want to offer their own opinions. If you join American Harp Society you’ll have access to contact information of thousands of other harp players, in the U.S. and several foreign countries. Many of these have the Impromptu under their fingers and may be generous to help others.Look in Sarah Bullen’s 1995 69-page publication with included CD,”Principal Harp” published by Vanderbilt Music in Bloomington, Indiana, on pages 14 and 15 for a good excerpt from this first movement of Smetana’s tone poem My Country, or My Fatherland (Ma Vlast).
Unfortunately no rehearsal letters are included so the exact measures you wish are not easily found. The work is scored for two harps, in E flat major, and this excerpt is helpful showing each, with enough fingerings to be useful, unlike another such collection of 102 pages, by Helga Storck .””Orchester Probespiel “published in 1994 by Schott, on page 32, where only one page from this movement is given with no fingerings or separation of the two harp parts. These volumes contain edited arrangements of otherwise tricky harp parts, from many orchestral works by different composers. Perhaps a professional orchestral harpist will weigh in here, and help with better information! Also, perhaps you are in an abbreviated edition published for student use by Edwin F. Kalmus or other publishers (who has a student edition orchestral harp part of Movement 2, The Moldau). Always give as much information as possible on the forum when seeking help. Best wishes for your success!Hi harp guy;
In my area, the recession caused the state and city to need more money to keep education at a good level; certain enrichment programs were cut. In elementary schools I noticed the Parent Teacher Associations are organizing yearly auctions now, to pay for field trips, specialized programs, and so on. A yearly auction can bring close to $100,000. to some schools here, when parents, teachers, and even students work hard to make it happen. A web site is put up, flyers are printed and distributed, and merchants donate goods. A music teacher needing students can offer with a printed certificate (worth perhaps $150. or less) some free lessons. If they enjoy your lessons and the parents see the benefit and can support continuing with you at your regular fee, you have a new student!. Simply phone school secretaries to find out if there is such an auction, and the deadline for submitting your donation of the gift certificate.Melissa, I’m sure there is a published arrangement for solo piano, or voice and piano, to be found. If you buy that , and want to make your own arrangement, realize it is haunting because the lyrics are very sad; do you want your listeners to hear that? There will also be legal implications if you play this where you are paid; be sure to look into that, since the composer, Thelonious Monk, died in 1982 and is considered one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. Whoever publishes his music has purchased legal rights to do that.
Arrangers must be very careful to respect intellectual property of others.Eliza, I have seen quite a few harpists play with high heeled shoes. I would personally feel unsteady, but perhaps they also have difficulty reaching pedals and find that high heels solved the problem: the harpist’s actual heel is now several inches above the floor while the bottom of that high heel on the shoe, braces the foot just enough to steady it on the desired pedal. Try it, and talk to some players who do this; let us know how it goes!
Because some posts above mentioned drilling a hole in the base of your harp, notice in some pictures and ads for amplifying a pedal harp, most are showing that hole directly at the back, so that the wires come out where the player’s feet need to move around to use the pedals! Only one manufacturer, Salvi Harps, that I have seen, shows that the holes were drilled on the side of the base that is away from the audience, once the solo harpist on stage shows her/his left side to the audience. In the slick 95-page Salvi catalog of all of their harps, is pictured their ECHO 47-string pedal harp model in platinum finish, pages 88 and 89. You will see the two cables emerging from two holes in the right side of the base, leading to a small amplifier. Feet will never get tangled in those wires; doesn’t this make better sense? At
info@salviharps.com you might be able to request a copy of that picture of the amplified ECHO, page 89.Deb, I have a lap harp, cherry wood except for gold painted carbon-fiber sound chamber, 22strings, lap braces, lowest C string is 1 octave below middle C. It weighs just under four pounds. This was called the Linrud Minstrel harp and was made by Earl Thompson, engineer, now deceased. Because the spacing is almost exactly like that of the strings of a large concert harp, these sold very well. Mildred Dilling was his best customer and Earl told me I was the next best, gradually acquiring 46 over the 16 years that I taught a beginning harp class in my city. All were rented out and eventually sold to class members, except mine.There must be a maker somewhere of quality lap harps who has that C3 as the bottom string and C6 as the top string, so both hands can easily perform with standard string spacing, no levers needed. This is a wonderful size and range to take in a car or boat on vacation, to keep fingers in shape, and accompany family and friends singing or playing. Good luck searching for a similar harp.
Jennifer, you may have heard of the American Youth Harp Ensemble, based not far from where you are, in Richmond, Virginia. Lynelle Ediger is Artistic Director, and the group of young students has played on a tour to Europe, and in the White House, and in April they are headed for Alice Tully Hall, in Lincoln Center. It seems to me, transporting many harps without damage would require each one to have a hard case.You could get in touch with the group by http://www.harpensemble.org, or their mailing address: Harps Foundation, 4200 Dover Road, Richmond VA 23221.
