[richard-hagan]

Hi Lyn —

I think the pickup will stop the jumping around. And they only cost about $15.00 USD so there is not too much of an expenditure! Should be able to find them at just about any music store.

Hi Barbara —

I never thought about clipping to the metal bar. I am going to try that tonight. It makes sense that it would be an excellent place to pick up the vibrations.

All Best Regards,
Richard

[richard-hagan]

Hi Lyn —

I clip mine to the sound holes in the back of the harp body. I move the clip up as I move up the harp. (I too use a Korg tuner — I think it is the CA30 model). I am not sure if you have a folk harp or a pedal harp. On my folk harp, I found the top most strings were hard to get to register. I had to try different spots until I found the sweet spot.

For the pedal harp for the top most strings and the bottom most strings, I have to clip the pickup to the action plate. I clip it at the top note area and I find that it has to touch the nut at the very top. For the highest notes this is the only way I can get them to register. For the lowest notes, this is the way I get the needle to not jump all over the place. (I am not sure what causes the extreme wavering — jumps all over the place — of the needle on the lowest notes — too many overtones?)

For the folk harp, matrix makes a really nice pick up. (I did not like the Korg one — it was way too sensitve and the needle on the tuner jumped all over the place.) For the pedal harp, the wood is thicker and so the Matrix model does not work. Seiko makes one that opens wide enough for a pedal harp. I do not remember the model number for the Seiko. I got it from Michigan Harp Center.

Some people clip the pickup to a tuning pin (I call them the “through pins”) in the area of the string that is being tuned. I have tried that (on the folk harp) but did not like it as well as the method that I described above.

(Not sure of the proper terms for some of these parts of the harp…)

All Best Regards,
Richard

[richard-hagan]

Hi Caroline —

There is an entry about Mme Freddy Alberti in “Dictionnaire du repertoire de la harpe” by Annie Glattauer (published in 2003). Mme Alberti was born in Paris in 1911. She studied with Lily Laskine. She was involved in chamber groups. One of her specialities was jazz harp. She hosted a radio jazz program. She was also a composer. At least a couple of her compositions are still in print. The Dictionnaire does not list a date of death but keep in mind that it was published almost 10 years ago.

Sometimes the Dictionnaire tells who premiered a composition. But the entry on Bernard Andres does not mention that about Epices. An educated guess would be that Mme Alberti premiered it.

I do not know where you are but the book can be ordered from http://www.amazon.fr. I am in the U.S. so it took a couple of weeks to get my copy. The book is a very handy reference. I have ordered books from the French and from the Italian Amazon. They work the same way as the US and UK ones however you will need to answer whether you want Amazon to do the curreny conversion or your credit card company. They share the same database of userid and passwords.

Regards,
Richard

[richard-hagan]

Interestingly, Mark Palkovic in “Harp Music Bibliography” lists it as circa 1960 (Madrid: Union Musical Espanola) and Annie Glattauer in “Dictionnaire du repertoire de la harpe” lists it as 1960. I suspect that 1960 is the date of publication of the available sheet music. As a sidelight, the Dictionnaire mentions another composition for harp by Guridi and identifies that it was premiered by Marissa Robles.

A zortzico is a Basque dance in 5/8 time. I found a brief discussion of Basque dance in “The Music of Spain” by Gilbert Chase (Dover press).

Jesus Guridi was Basque and took inspiration from Basque music.

Maria Luisa Rayan-Forero played the piece beautifully in her concert at Lyon and Healy in December 2012. It was my personal favorite of the program. She recorded it on her album “Latin Fire” (Egan Records). The album includes program notes on the composer and the composition.

[richard-hagan]

Hi Carl —

The website for the Erard archives is http://www.sebastienerard.org.

[richard-hagan]

Hi Ruth —

As far as working on Pavanne, you might be interested in the 3 CD collection titled “Pieces Faciles pour Harpe” with Catherine Michel.

[richard-hagan]

Hi Mike —

There is an article on this subject on the Harp Spectrum website http://www.harpspectrum.org.

[richard-hagan]

Sam —

Here is the link to the excellent diagram “Camac String Knot”.

[richard-hagan]

Hi Eliza —

Silvia Woods has published an arrangement of “The Water is Wide”.

[richard-hagan]

Hi Mary —

You might want to check with Harps Etc which is in Walnut Creek (San Francisco area).

[richard-hagan]

Frank —

It is available through her website.

[richard-hagan]

Hi Sarah —

Searching around on the web, I found McDonald/Wood “Music for Worship and Weddings Vol. 2” and Dewey Owens “A Collection of Jewish Traditional Music”.

Regards,

[richard-hagan]

Suzanne Guldimann has published an arrangement of it in her collection “The King’s Delight”.

[richard-hagan]

Hi Sam —

Kathleen Bride played the piece at the AHS conference in Detroit.

[richard-hagan]

Hi Susan —

Vanderbilt Music is located in Bloomington Indiana.

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