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I apologize, for not having that DVD right in front of me when I wrote! It was in 2004, when that International Jazz and Pop HARPFEST was held, and Becky(using slap bass technique on her harp) and the others played. on that DVD, in Salt Lake City at the U. of Utah. What a wonderful event it was, and I should mention the other harp players on the disc: Jan Jennings, Michelle Gott, Marimikel Charrier, Mary Amanda Fairchild, Phala Tracy, John Metras, Cindy Horstman, Nina Ruthardt Cynthia Douglass, Carol Robbins, Ray Pool, Lori Andrews. Is anyone aware if there will be another harp festival, uniquely for pop and jazz harp?
Perhaps not on You Tube, but Becky Nissen , pedal harpist, won the Lyon and Healy International Pop and Jazz Competition in 1999. I was impressed in the way she used slap bass. and this was the main reason I bought the DVD available after the event, on which she is shown smiling throughout playing her winning piece, obviously greatly enjoying her sharing of the music. She’s in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. Others on the DVD are Park Stickney, Paul Baker, Kim Robertson and other fine players. , I show portions of this DVD to students so they can get an idea of professionalism, which took these players a lot of hard work, beside their initial gift of talent, to achieve.
If there is no published lever harp-and-violin version, because any accompanying instrument to this well known D major composition needs more accidentals added, in order to keep its integrity, you must rely on adaptation. Several suggestions: look at the violin-piano publication, widely available in many music stores,, and see if you can leave out quite a few of the accidentals. Or, get the Salvi publication “Plaisir d’Amour” (copyright 1978) where Meditation and nine other wedding pieces are published for pedal harp solo. Play the bass clef notes only, using both hands to fill out the part. Leave the treble to the violin, to play the top solo notes only, except in places here and there where a “double-stop” will provide a needed accidental in the harmony, saving a lever move by you. Violinists are used to playing two or even three -note-chords when necessary. Listen to that video you provided here, to have a clue to making adaptations. Write both parts out, on staff paper. Making your own arrangement is enjoyable, and you may find others enjoy it so much you will be asked to play it more than once. Good luck!
Donna, for what it’s worth, there was a concert here last week that I missed, where a blind pianist gave a recital of Debussy and Chopin in our largest concert hall. Nobuyuki Tsujii has been blind since birth, yet has performed major concertos and recitals in many parts of the world, and records exclusively for Avex Classics. In 2009 he shared the gold medal award at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. A live DVD of his 2011 recording of a sold out Carnegie Hall solo recital is distributed by Naxos in the U,S. and was chosen DVD of the Month by Gramophone in November 2012. This is truly amazing!
Donna,
Sigma Alpha Iota is an International Fraternity for Women in Music. For many years we have had outreach projects to help musicians with special needs, such as the blind. There are so many resources available these days, no teacher of music should have to be self reliant. Go to this web site to find wonderful help. Best wishes from Patricia, Life Member SAIWould you both enjoy playing the Cesar Franck composition Panis Angelicus (Bread of Heaven)? There is a lovely free Guitar-and-solo instrument arrangement I found, at http://www.freescores.com/download-sheet-music.php?pdf=5832. At this location is listed:” Panis Angelicus. sheet music (31.73 Ko – 3 pages) If the PDF file is still not coming after 5 seconds, click here……Arranger: Bergeron. Guy Donate Publisher.”
I tried to find Bergeron and there are several Olivier Bergerons; not sure which one arranged the piece. When I downloaded two copies of this music, one for me and one for a guitarist, I found the solo line, with all chord symbols given, is usually just one note at a time so any wind or string instrument in treble clef could use it. If a harpist wanted to play it with the given, notated guitar part, you could either play both hands using octaves, or fill out the chords however you wish. I’m playing this also in March, with the church guitar player and the arrangement sounds very good to us.If any one might know a date for this, it may be Marisa Robles, virtuoso Spanish harpist now a British citizen teaching in London. She knew Guridi and he wrote several pieces for her. You might be able to contact her through the United Kingdom Harp Association.
Janna, “Unless I got a mattress and something to slide it on”–YES! After measuring the size of a harp car flat interior area where the harp will be transported, get a foam rectangle of those dimensions, 4 or 5 inches thick. Wrap this in heavy vinyl from a fabric or sporting suppl;y store, secured closely around the foam with duct tape. This slippery vinyl surface will be what a harp, in its transport cover, will easily slide onto., and it should last for years. Now between the “mattress” and the flat floor of your car loading area, you may want two things: one could be a plywood sheet about the same size, perhaps painted green, on which a harp and bench would fit for an outdoor wedding. The other may be a thin, shiny board, same dimensions as the “mattress” but cut into three manageable sections, on which the vinyl would easily slide. When loading a harp, pull the “mattress” out of the rear of the car perhaps 8 to 12 inches only. Stand the harp behind the car, tailgate open, and judge whether by leaning in the crown part of the harp, it will safely land on the soft vinyl. When that is accomplished, the only lifting you need to do is the pedal part, or base, of the harp and gradually push harp along with the mattress, toward the back of the driver seat area until harp and mattress are both safely in.
There is an excellent harpist and teacher from the Canberra area who has just opened a harp and theory studio in Gibsons, near Vancouver, B.C., Canada..She could teach you by Skype. She has several harp degrees with honours, and her main teacher was Alice Giles at ANU. She will still be touring with Seven Harp Ensemble (SHE) in Australia. The web site of Tegan Peemoeller is
http://www.theharproom.com/The_Harp_Room/Home.html You can e-mail her at:
To Unknown, above: That is what violinists do, when a harmonic quite high on a string and quite weak, can be easier and sound more strong, when found on a different string, lower on the fingerboard.
Angela,
In an early copy of Folk Harp Journal Mr. Robbie Robinson (who started the magazine in 1973) had about 5 pages filled with many sketches showing the evolution of the pedal harp of today, beginning with the harp of Ur and Egyptian harps from hieroglyphics, through many changes and ending with the 47-string pedal harp. He even included the Vulcan Harp played by Spock in the Star Trek television series, for humor! I photocopied those pages and have connected them into a frieze that I showed to my night class students, and also every harp student since that time, to give them a perspective they might not otherwise have. See if Phyllis Robinson (Robinson’s Harp Shop in California) still has those pages, or if they exist in the archives of Folk Harp Journal, if you also think it is worthwhile for students to know. If I were to make photocopies to send you, they may not be as clear, being “second generation” copies that successively lose ink in reprinting.
Try some European harp music dealers., since not all French compositions are imported to the U.S.A. because of expense. Also, look at piano sheet music of ” The Bird as Prophet”, widely available here,. and see if you can adapt it for the harp. My edition of that Schumann work is violin and piano , copyright 1913, transcribed by Leopold Auer, published by J.H. Zimmermann, in Leipzig. The company is now in Frankfurt:
e-mail: info@zimmermann-frankfurt.de, or FAX: 069-978286-79.Lily, I would first talk to those two dealers you mention, asking them about harps they have shipped to Canada, both new and used. That way, you could find out much logistical information, and costs, that you need about crossing the border from the U.S.A. with an expensive musical instrument. Then talk to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario (They must have a web site with contact information) and find how those pedal harp students acquired their harps, once you have contact information for the harp teacher there. Also find harpists playing in large symphony orchestras in Canada, who probably teach pedal harp and might know of one for sale in Canada. You could also place a “Wanted” ad in various music stores such as Remenyi House of Music, 210 Bloor Street, Toronto. While you are searching, take piano lessons because it is much easier to transfer skills from piano to harp, than from another instrument, or from no instrument at all. Perhaps a Canadian harpist will post here with helpful information. Good luck!
I have several such spools of DuPont nylon of different gauge widths that I have from a harpmaker now deceased. You could ask a very knowledgeable person in the trade, Betty Truitt , of Dragonwhispers Harps in California. It has been my understanding (please correct me if I am mistaken) that this bulk nylon string has not yet been drawn through a diamond die, to be perfectly cylindrical and therefore produce a tone pure enough for using on finely crafted harps . Fishing line, “weed-eaters” and other nylon string products would not need this refinement. As a stopgap emergency harp string on folk harps when you don’t have a music-quality string on hand, it is useful however until you can get a quality replacement.
You can contact Betty at (619) 473 9010, or by regular mail: Dragonwhispers Harps, 33920 Mount Laguna Drive, Mount Laguna, California, 91948.I play both violin and harp professionally. I gave two classical violin recitals in Germany years ago., after degrees from Eastman School of Music in N.Y. Learning harp from 9 years of private lessons later, I’m not an orchestra player on harp; my upper-intermediate playing level allows background music, weddings, and church music. Diversity of instruments allows more employment opportunities, I have found.
