Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I don’t have the ABRSM course list, but I do have the 2011 Manual of Syllabuses published by the Australian Music Examinations Board Ltd. The Harp Grade 6 Studies might be somewhat similar; you could even ask if they would be allowed. Besides several
OOps; in the third line of my post three posts above this one, I wrote
on your test drive, to your trusted mechaniic. I should have written: bring a car you are considering. My mind was wandering, I guess. Bear in mind that when people post here from outside the U.S. where the driver may sit in the right front seat, instead of the left, then naturally when they recommend
Bagatelles (3 short pieces): Four Short Etudes (no. 3 on p. 5, No. 4 on p. 7); Grandjany works both published by Marks Music, are suitable for lever harp, with few lever changes. Works by (or arranged by) Susann McDonald, Phyllis Schlomovitz, and Louise Trotter also lie very easily under the hand of the harp player.
Sidney, the climate where Vanderbilt is located (Bloomington, Indiana) may be similar to yours, but the gut strings, I have read, come from Australia where the company made a contact with a firm supplying stringing for tennis racquets.
Anja, if you stay with playing harp, since you mentioned the possibility of a pedal harp some day, there is a wonderful book, “Affairs of the Harp”,
As Sylvia does in the above post, I find storing replacement harp strings by octaves in larger ziploc bags suits my needs, and then the whole lot in one even larger transparent bag, along with a small ziploc of string anchors, and a very tiny scissors. All of this is stored inside
It seems to me I have read that some computer-based music notation software programs have the ability to transpose a work into a different key, before printing it out.
Anja, When you wrote “metal pieces that holds the knots of the strings” and “metal strings in the lower octaves,” were you referring to metal washers that your carpenter acquaintance installed between the bottom knot of the bass strings
Regarding Orchestral Harp, there are few openings, and when there are, many competitors for the Principal Harp position, in large cities. Community Orchestras would not pay a living wage. There are at least three publications to own, that have excerpts of just the more difficult harp parts in orchestra repertoire: Principal Harp (by Sarah Bullen, published by Vanderbilt Music Company; with a CD of those excerpts, and also generous text tips throughout the book); Orchester Probespiel: Harfe
Anita, in case you still need names of harp teachers, you might wish to e-mail the Camac harp company in France,
David, Claudia Place has done an arrangement of Take Me Out to the Ball Game for solo harp. Melody’s in Cypress, Texas, has it. No idea whether it resembles Harpo’s. Mary Radspinner at the store would know.
Rosalind, I agree. The piece is lyrical, with the melody line in right hand needing to be brought out. Sometimes there are ornaments such as two-handed trills near a cadence, with no ritardando indicated. To try to keep up with a metronome at the marked speed takes away from the enjoyment of the composition for both harpist and audience, in my opinion. I would suggest a maximum of 116 per quarter beat, and students could start even slower. Then in the various sections allow some rubato to let the piece breathe a bit; otherwise it might sound too mechanical, especially as the main theme keeps recurring.
