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The link you sent above has somehow been corrupted as there is no sound, though other nearby performances can easily be heard. Yet I learned that there are other noels from Provence, not only Il est Ne. A day is not lost when we learn something new, and I thank Brian for this correction. Therefore, Karen S, I do believe the Grandjany composition could not be played on a lever harp, after all. I hope someone will perform Grandjany’s Opus 24 on youtube.com with sound, so that we can all enjoy it!
David, above: there is a free site: musictheory.net that explains music rhythm very well. Try it and choose many sections in it, all at your own pace. Try it; you may like it!
Dear Basel, All of us who knew you from the first posting here, care about you sincerely. We pray you are safe and away from the danger and trouble. You are innocent, as are so many in this conflict. Please keep us posted when possible as you are in our fervent prayers.
I do not have a copy of that Opus 24 by Grandjany. However, another title for that carol from the Provence region of France is Il Est Ne, le Divin Enfant, or He is Born, and that carol is familiar to many people. Frequently printed in key of G for many different instruments, the left hand of a lever harp player can use the same G chord throughout the entire piece, and the right hand will need no extra accidentals so it is clearly played easily on a lever harp. If you must have the Grandjany work, search online through several harp music dealer catalogs since Grandjany over his lifetime had his works printed by several different publishers. The carol,so simple to play, is quite charming with no special arrangement. In the Sylvia Woods collection “50 Christmas Carols for All Harps,” it is listed as Il Est Ne on pages 44 and 45, in two levels of difficulty.
Here are some publications that have been useful to me:
“The Private Lesson” by Susann McDonald (small booklet copyright 1983 by Music Works-Harp Editions)
“On Teaching The Harp” by Suzanne Balderston (1980 Salvi Publications)
“Technical Development for Harpists” by Danielle Perrett. Copyright Trinity College, London. Free of charge. 49 pages. e-mail: music@trinitycollege.co.uk
“Teaching Stringed Instruments in Classes” by Elizabeth A.H. Green, Copyright 1966 by Prentice Hall. Inc. Foundations of Music Education Series, 106 pages. It excludes harp but very valuable for chapters on The Teaching of Music Reading and Orchestral Playing in its Earlier Stages.
“The Harper’s Handbook by Laurie Riley. Copyright 1991 by Mayapple Publishers and Laurie Riley. Many useful pages for teachers of harp
“Not Until You’ve Done Your Practice!” Third edition published in Australia in 2000 by FuturePerfect Publishing. Philip Johnston (text) and David Sutton (illustrations).The humorous illustrations and good advice to parents and teachers of music students go a long way to help students achieve their very best, in as short a time as possible! ISBN 0 646 40265 X. 118 pages with no mention of harp but still quite useful.Sitting at a table or desk, get ready to tap both hands to either ” Both, right left right, Both, right left right” or “Blueberry pie”, whichever you prefer. The right hand taps only on both, right, right for the first option, and only on Blue, ber, pie for the second. The left hand taps only on Blue, ry. Slowly, then gradually faster and faster, as you have said, should help solve this rhythm problem. Reverse if you want your left hand to tap three times to the two tapped by the right.
Jodi, the New England Therapeutic Association developed a fingerless glove for musicians who do a lot of repetitive work with their hand muscles. I have not tried these but on Amazon,com in the Health and Personal Care category you can take a look at Handeze Flex-Fit Gloves and see if that product might be right for you. Several people wrote reviews, mostly positive.
The well-known O Holy Night by Adolphe Adam is available published by Herald Music for harp accompanying violin or flute, or viola, or cello, with all these parts included. Harp music specialist dealers such as Lyon and Healy West, Vanderbilt, Sylvia Woods, Melody’s, The Harp Connection and others in the U.S., as well as several in Germany, the UK, and Australia carry Herald Music publications. On another subject, there is a 5-string viola these days, with a top E-string. I have one called the Dahlia model, by Gary Bartig in Minnesota. This enables a violist to tap into much violin literature previously unavailable as long as you can read treble clef. Much high shifting on the viola A string is therefore avoided, and violists may also fill more playing engagements open to violinists, resulting in added income. Mine is excellent in construction, has a beautiful tone, and very reasonably priced. The width of the neck is only minimally wider to accommodate the 5 strings.
Deb, there is a recent movie “alive inside” that documents how recent evidence proves that music helps those with dementia or Alzheimers.I will try to paste below what a famous neurologist said after viewing the movie:
Oliver Sacks, world renowned neurologist and author of Musicophilia (a recent book about music and the brain), was interviewed in the film and he explains that one of the last areas of the brain to be affected in patients with Alzheimer’s and similar types of dementia is the part of the brain that processes music. The key, Sacks reminds us, is that the music usually must be music they are familiar with – music they have known and loved. While Sacks is a welcome addition to the film, the seemingly miraculous transformations we witness demonstrate the power of music better than any neurologist or brain scan ever could.
Eliza, over the years I have changed harp strings for players within driving distance of my home. During the course of the operation, I casually let the owner know my hourly charge for lessons. Then when I give the bill, it is only for the cost of the strings, and the postage I paid to receive them. Always, without exception, the customer remarks that the bill is too low for my time and expertise, and pays me more than I had asked. This puts the decision in the hands of the customer, not myself. More importantly, in helping another harpist, I have gained goodwill that is priceless.
to jimmy-h above: Get in touch with James Pinkerton at http://www.greatharp.com. He is still a professional harpist but took nursing training and does that more often now, rather than only harp, in Texas. He might have good ideas for your situation.
I have never formed calusses, probably because violin is my first professional instrument, begun at age 3 1/2, and harp my second, begun over 30 years ago. However, if you go to http://www.lilyofthedesert.com or read about aloe vera, you will see evidence that this moisturizer gets deeper under the epidermis than other lotions. Putting some on your hands, or any other rough place on your body just before bedtime, it absorbs very quickly. In the morning the result will be a welcome surprise. An 8 oz. tube of 99% “aloe vera Gelly” is reasonably priced, and soothes burns also so that if used quickly there is no scar, I found.
Rachel, perhaps someone has already told you the maker of the new Boulevard lever harp: it is the Dusty Strings Company, located in Seattle, WA.They have a web site with all the details you would need.
Earl Thompson, maker of the lap harps called Linrud Minstrel, is now deceased, but he made many of them for the Christmas toy trade years ago for the Marshall Field Company in Chicago. They fit in an overhead bin on a plane. With 22 strings, the lowest is C below middle C, so the left hand has more to do in bass clef. No levers, nylon strings, standard string spacing, weight about 4 pounds, body in maple or cherry, and hollow sound chamber in fiberglass (made by a boat building company in Ohio) sprayed with gold automobile paint (Ford). There must be hundreds of used ones out there somewhere, so you could do a search and possibly find one under one hundred dollars.Mr. Thompson’s harpist mother, Ruth Linrud, played for Thomas Edison who recorded her playing concert harp on a wax cylinder he invented. His comment was that if her gut strings had been of composite material instead, the clarity of the recording would have been better. Mildred Dilling, harpist, was Earl Thompson’s best customer and practiced on this model in her limousine while being driven to concerts in the U.S.A, She gave away or sold most of these harps.
Alison, does your pupil still have some growing years ahead? Is there a way for him/her to use a harp with narrower spacing between the strings? With harp and piano, hand breadth matters considerably. Here are some measurements between middle C and the next higher C:
Troubadour 4 harp: 4 1/2 inches
Pedal harp of 46 strings: 4 inches
Grand piano (Steinway): 7 1/2 inches.
Physical differences limit prowess on different instruments: flute players do best with thin lips, while brass players need thicker ones. Clarinet and saxophone players must not already have an overbite or the playing will make problems with the jaw. Violin and viola players need their little fingers to be at least the length of the last joint of the 4th finger; longer is quite an advantage. My mother-in-law, from Germany, studied piano many years growing up until she realized she could never play Rachmaninoff or other works in advanced piano literature because her hands were too small. She felt it was quite reprehensible of the teacher not to advise her early on, that her hands were too small. You don’t want to incur such blame later, so in my view it would be a kindness to have a frank talk, if the pupil cannot reach an octave, with the parent about these difficulties already in the way of future progress with harp.
