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Diego, if you are near San Jose, in Costa Rica, an excellent harpist there is Jonathan Cascante. You can e-mail me for his e-mail address. and perhaps you could study with him.
Rohan, The renowned Luigi M. Tedeschi, who was Professor at the Milan Conservatory two generations ago, was first a virtuoso classical guitarist before turning to the harp. Then he performed concerts on harp, taught the instrument at the Conservatory, and composed many beautiful harp pieces which are part of the repertoire of every professional. So I would say I frankly do not know whether your guitar technique would suffer if you want to play both instruments, but your left thumb will now be a playing member of your hand, rather than holding the neck of the guitar. You may be so happy to have an orchestral range of notes, and as many as eight to sound at any one time (we do not use the little finger of either hand; it is just too short)that you may gradually start to play less and less on your guitar, as Tedeschi did.
Regarding a teacher in Sydney, you can e-mail me and I will give you a name and telephone number. Between live lessons, which are really essential, you can supplement your learning with a Beginning Harp Book and Video, which really enhance your weekly encounter with any teacher, so that if you practice diligently you can play better, sooner.Best of luck to you!Holly, if anyone would have a copy of an obscure harp work by Bochsa, it would be the dedicated scholar of Bochsa, Patricia John in Houston. She has devoted years, and a whole room in her house, for research on Bochsa. You can e-mail me privately and I’ll tell you how to contact her.
Lynn, Ihave her name, address, and phone in my AHS Directory so E-mail me and I’ll be glad to give it to you. Patricia.
Ahna, I think your seven-year-old brother could sit at your pedal harp, now and then, with you to teach him. First see if he can say ABCDEFGABCDEFG, and then help him to learn the same letters backward, GFEDCBAGFEDCBA. When this is easy for him, take him to a piano keyboard a few times and show him first these same white keys forward and backward. He could copy you with one finger. Finally when this is easy, add the names of the black keys. When going up the piano, call the black keys by their sharp names. When descending, use the flat names, to get him to know as much of this vocabulary as possible. Perhaps explain that when a tire of a car becomes flat, the car sinks down. He does not have to go to formal piano lessons. He could then sit at your harp, on a chair that has enough cushions to have him comfortable, and play with second finger only, after you, simple pieces that are short and only use a few strings, saying the string (note) name as he plays, out loud. This verbalization is important, giving him a connection between the alphabet letters and the sound
Dear Happy Harpist:
All the previous responses sound good, but as an adult, you did not reveal your height. If you get a harp of 47 strings and the harp is too big for your size, or the top A string is nowhere near your eye, or your left arm cannot comfortably reach out to play all of the bass strings, or your pedals are too high off the floor or too far apart for you to finally have fluency of foot motion–you get the idea. You need to be physically comfortable, and not have too much weight on your right shoulder. Physicians are seeing more and more people who have practiced a lot on a harp that has given them shoulder damage, etc. There are many 47-string harps now for sale in classified ads,
Steven, I agree with Alicia’s response to your plight. It is too far, and in such a case, simply refer that job to a New Jersey harpist. If you belong to American Harp Society, you have a blue directory
Tammy, try http://www.harpspectrum.org. It is a non-profit site that tries to educate students and other interested readers, about the harp. Nothing to buy, no required registration with personal information. Just interesting articles by professionals about the world of the harp. Your daughter will also learn new harp terms used in her music, in the Glossary on the site.
Take a look at the Celtic Christmas book of music by Kim Robertson. I think you’ll agree that these pieces challenge a lever harpist, especially the left hand parts. I believe she has recordings of many of her publications, as well.
Stacy, There are 3 cassettes played by Elena Polonska, historical harpist, and the chamber group La Camerata. As far as I know, there are albums of printed music to go with each of these, though I only have one. They are: The Baroque Harp (CT 2262), The Medieval Harp (CT 2307), and The Renaissance Harp (CT 2314). They are “Vox Turnabout” cassettes, and perhaps you already know about them. It would seem that with the cassettes and the printed music you could do the “home study” yourself, especially since you belong to the Historical Harp Society and can get advice from other members. You are right, it is beautiful music and I hope you succeed in reaching your goal.
Dear Rafaella,
Presque Rien, Op. 43, is listed in the International Music Service catalog,on page 32, for $3.00. International is in New York City and the toll-free number is 1-800-959-5972. My copy of this piece is
Maggie, If you decide to come to Seattle twice a year for lessons, I could teach you, and you could stay here for one overnight on the new hide-a-bed! I am also an active senior citizen. You can find a short bio of my credentials on the non-profit website: http://www.harpspectrum.org.
Rafaella, try some other Hasselmans pieces such as Gitana, or the lovely Aubade(hard to get in U.S. but Pilgrim Harps in U.K. has it) before you tackle something as difficult as La Source. Even his Berceuse is easy enough for a 15-year-old student of mine. These three pieces are so romantic and melodic in nature that they please audiences right away and of course also the harpist working on them!Best wishes, Patricia Jaeger
