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An exercise would merely repeat a particular figure, a scale or arpeggio sufficient time to result in a perceived improvement. Look at the difference between the Conditioning Exercises and the Poetical Studies, or Czerny/Hanon and Chopin’s Etudes for piano. A concert-worthy etude does not have a particularly obvious form, and may not even have a particularly obvious challenge. The technical challenge is deployed in purely musical terms. Thus, an etude in parallel thirds would use them as melody and/or accompaniment and in long phrases that might use the whole range of the instrument. A Bochsa-type etude would use them in only one octave and be rather repetitive. A Nadermann etude would do the same only with very few changes of harmony. A concert-worthy etude would go harmonically far beyond I-IV-V-I in any period. It might have suspensions, pedal points, sequences, etc. Bochsa’s most advanced etudes, who can remember what opus, are much more like that than those in the Universal Method.
Chopin’s Etudes are very expressive of distinct moods, are at an extremely high technical level, and are great music. Posse’s etudes are that technical, and I think only Salzedo’s are nearly as expressive, of all the ones I know. The Godefroid ones I’ve heard are expressive and pretty, but tend to lack clarity and freshness, which Chopin abounds in, and are basically pretty conventional. I always found Hasselmans technical pieces preferable, like Follets and La Source, perhaps because he makes use of added tones so well. The 19th-century etudes seem very pianistic to me, perhaps because the composers were trying to keep up with the advances in piano playing. It is a pity that the composers who did write well for harp, like Spohr and Dussek, did not write us etudes as well. The Spohr Fantaisie and Variations are very good as etudes, however. There is another Spohr Fantaisie out there somewhere. There is so much music to be located in Europe, I wish that would get done.
Misty touches on some very important points. I don’t agree at all that you can go only by results. I’m sure most competitions tell the entrants that it is not about winning, but doing your best and gaining experience. Americans have been turning against competitions for several reasons. Many do not want to learn the repertoire that is required. We don’t always find out about the competition right away. There are some that routinely did no publicity in the U.S. until perhaps a year before. Israel was the only one to do clear announcements well in advance, even though the contemporary piece was usually not announced at the same time. Not having a full three years to prepare is not good. There was a perception of bias in some competitions, if not most. I know that Miss Lawrence came to hate competitions and mostly discouraged her students from entering. One was supposedly voted down in Israel merely for tuning the harp before playing. That would be very discouraging. She preferred her students be judged against other musicians or on their own merits, and they did extremely well in those circumstances.
Knowing the repertoire already is a great advantage. Not that Sivan did not deserve winning in any case, but that surely gave him more calm.
I believe Ina also did a degree with Miss Lawrence before moving on to Miss Pilot. Am I wrong?
I don’t think there is any question of American harpists not playing as well as European harpists. I think exercises are far more effective than etudes. The only effect I see in doing etudes for years is perhaps more confidence, but just having more years in which to play does that as well.
Learning advanced repertoire is not a problem if you are able to play it well. Having gaps in your technique can expose problems. That comes from starting late, most likely. Each teaching system has its pluses and minuses. Miss Lawrence, for example, used the Conditioning Exercises, Method, and Daily Dozen exercises almost exclusively. Beyond that, she used orchestra parts and repertoire as etudes. She did not use LaRiviere, as Chalifoux did. She did teach sight-reading. She did teach advanced repertoire, so we worked on the most sophisticated music, in general, usually more difficult than what other teachers used. We grew tremendously from that rather than being held back by taking only baby steps and never getting to learn the important repertoire. It is very different when a student starts young, but a lot of Salzedo students start later and have less time, so it is a more condensed course. That said, I think the results speak for themselves.
Beyond everything else, winning competitions must also have to do with personality type, the competitiveness, amount of drive or ambition, the winning “spirit”, focus, approach to music, etc. A sensitive artist would have a difficult time of it, I would think.
I do think we need other ways for artists to build their careers, to win recognition. I think we all need to look beyond the surface and give people a chance. If we should support winners, maybe we should equally support those who don’t win, or didn’t enter. A competition only reflects who is accepted to it, and the people/organization running it. It will be interesting to see if Remy Kesteren’s approach will continue and produce different results. But he still has age limits in his competition.
I want to see one with no age limits, and no required music or very little, to judge each performer on what they play as well as how they play it. Too many careers have been warped by having only contest material as repertoire. So it seems to me.
If the etudes available were designed to equally develop both hands, deal with more than just nineteenth-century musical ideas, and were first-rate music like Chopin’s etudes, then I would be much more in favor of using them. I think Bochsa is pretty much a waste of time as he does so little for the left hand. Only his most advanced etudes for the most part are good music. Practice time is too precious to waste on music that can’t be performed. There are so many orchestra parts to master, and they are full of arpeggios and tricky patterns, big chords and all that we need to practice.
There are many solo pieces that make good etudes, such as: Caplet’s Divertissement, Faure’s Impromptu, Salzedo’s Ballade, Variations, Preludes; Tournier’s Au Matin, Busser’s solos, the Mozart Concerto and most of the other classical concerti,
Before I read the new posts, I want to say that there is one more factor: travel. I know several Americans who went to Israel, but got sick on the way over. It is not nearly so far from Europe, and how far you have to travel, how long you can stay would seem like factors.
I would include it in whatever fee you quote. When people have to pay extra fees, they will opt for other instruments than harp.
I would like very much to start a competition in conjunction with my festival, but I am very much constrained by available funds and personnel.
I will weigh in with my two cents worth. I think that winning competitions probably has much to do with the degree of control one has, and the extent of one’s performing experience and performing the repertoire of that competition. As an American, I have found it unbelievably difficult to get even the most basic experience of practice-performing a program. I was recently questioned, why would I ever want to perform for free or even at cost, rather than be paid a measly $100 or so. The need for experience was unfathomable to this person. Living in a big city like New York did not make it easier. It is slightly easier in school, because you have juries, various people available to listen to you, and maybe a placement office to provide some playing opportunities.
Would anyone enter the Olympics without specific training and experience? Would a horse be entered in a race without having done other races leading up to it?
I think what is different is that European harpists, I assume, if they don’t start younger, they are in a different educational system that makes preparation easier, and if it is not that, everything is closer together, more cities, more places to play. So, my assumption is that they have had more performing practice. Or, perhaps that is only those who win.
Not to stir things up, but I have been thinking about this. I looked at some European harpists on YouTube, and realized that some of them are playing with their fingertips and really nothing else. They are not thinking about position, posture, anything else visibly, only the notes their fingertips are playing. It made me realize that I have perhaps focused too much on my arms and other aspects of playing that should be secondary to what the fingertips are doing. That simple shift of focus changes the result. So, perhaps that has helped these performers through their repertoire. It is something to consider. I haven’t changed my position, but my focus is different.
Is it also a question of numbers of harpists, or the availability of funds to support their travel and expenses? I could never afford to go to Israel or any other competition not local. Many American harpists have started later in their life, as teens or older, and all the harp competitions I can see make no accomodation for that. You are supposed to magically catch up in six or seven years to those who have been playing for more than fourteen. It is wrong, I think, to regulate all categories in contests by age, and not take into account length of study. It is just fine for those students who start before the age of ten and have or get to excellent teacher right away or very soon. Those students tend to win the AHS competitions, seems to me. There again, we actually have very few competitions here. We have AHS, local and national (that used to be the only one), ASTA, and USA International. Are there any others? There used to be the Hobin competition in New Jersey, but no more. We should probably have several more in this country (and Canada, Mexico), if we want to produce more international winners.
I can only imagine the difficulty of playing a group of watery pieces like La Source and the Moldau if the imagery got a sympathetic response from one’s body.
