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The cons are the weight, increased size, heaviness on your shoulder, and whether you like the sound or not. Even with the improvements, I still find Salvi harps lacking when compared to Lyon & Healy’s, particularly in the treble register. On the other hand, a Salvi is very sturdy.
I’m not sure what you are referring to.
The Salzedo School repertoire consisted of his published music, that of Marie Miller, and before the Method was published, the Bochsa Universal Method and LaRiviere Exercises. Also any music by other composers edited by Salzedo or Lawrence.The wire strings would likely not be broken, but many gut strings would be broken in half, or at the top, and dangling. Occasionally, one might break at the bottom and dangle from the top. Some string ends could be wound around the tuning pins on the neck. Strings near the top end are more likely to remain. The sounding board can definitely have vertical cracks, especially along the center strip. If it’s an antique harp, it could have horizontal cracks. There can also be ripples in the veneer, with cracks where it curves out the most. The neck can be twisted, with cracks at the treble end, and the column could have vertical cracks between strips of wood. There can also be a gap or total break between the bottom of the sounding board and the base. The feet can be gnarled from use. Scratches, divots, bangs, gouges can be anywhere on the harp. Only so much dust would accumulate, but there could certainly be many spider webs, and mouse dung. It might well groan in a draft. It could also fall over, all by itself, or with the slightest vibration or bump. If a string broke, that would be a loud snap followed by groans, and a wire string would make a loud snap and whine.
I have tried all the possible resolutions if indeed that was a misprint and none of them work any better. I also went over them with Miss Lawrence, who rejected them. Play it as written.
I conceived of Concedo strings at least thirty years ago or more, because I noticed that the dyed strings did not break when tying a knot, they were more flexible than the natural strings. I suggested this back then, and when they began making them, I wasn’t notified, so I’ve never tried them. I am now using Bow Brand heavy-gauge gut strings and love them. They’re not actually heavy, they’re the original gauging before they were thinned back in the ’90s.
I don’t see anything wrong at all. It seems to me that you are nitpicking. A handmade instrument is likely to have slight variations, as you pointed out, or someone else did. I don’t see a major change in the string spacing. What matters is the sound. 3/8 of an inch is tiny. Just enjoy it.
That’s odd, as it is in Solos for the Harp Player, edited by Lucile Lawrence, which has never gone out of print. Are there any differences between the editions?
Why ask for possible trouble that doesn’t have to exist in the first place? Pencil and eraser can’t be beat for markings. And the craft of page turning is fun to learn. And no distractions for the audience, no intrusions of technology in an analog art.
Simply put, you’re too old. Going to school will give you an education and lots of performing experience, and you will learn far more than you would with private lessons. That said, you might as well do private lessons twice a week, if you can practice four-five hours a day. It takes at least that much to learn to study enough music to give a recital. The only orchestral work you are likely to get is with part-time or community orchestras. You won’t be competitive with young harpists in their 20s, or those with one or two decades of professional experience already. But, miracles can happen. I’m surprised that a performance program would accept you at your age, unless you are paying cash. You may become a good harpist, and play lots of chamber music and recitals on your own. You can probably freelance as well, but it’s very hard work, not much of it, and not paying as well as it used to, with so many amateurs playing professionally.
You might consider working in a harp business, or being a harp supporter. You could start a harp concert series and run it, or start a music school. There are many things you can do, but to be competitive as a professional, it totally depends where you are and who else is there, and is not very likely to work out. It’s harsh, but true. When I started performing as a singer, a professional friend who was a star said, when talking about someone else, “he thinks he can become a star, but he’s too old.” and I took that as advice to myself to not have any illusions. So, go into it, but without illusions. The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to start young and get experience while young.The risks one takes when young. When I had to get my harp to Chautauqua Institution to play in the festival orchestra for the summer, the only car I was able to rent was not long enough, and was a hatchback, so the base of the harp was sticking out, and, while padded underneath, I had to tie a rope around it so it wouldn’t fall out, and luckily, it did not. I had no choice, but how stupid.
I discussed this with Miss Lawrence, and she said that Flagello saw the final copy and did not ask for any changes. The accidentals are wrong, but just play it as written. Those chords are not in the bass, so even though it would make the accidentals correct, the jump from treble to bass does not make sense. The tonality of the passage is extended anyway. Kathleen Bride published an article in the American Harp Journal discussing supposed misprints, but as mentioned, the composer did not ask for any corrections at the time of publication. It is not easy on the ear, but that’s the style. European lullabyes tend to be rather grim and nightmarish at times.
I strongly recommend that anyone who has soft-tissue injuries to see a radiologist who uses ultrasound for examination and to guide injections or other treatments. Dr. Levon Nazarian of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital pioneered this remarkable treatment and has trained many doctors in it, who are now dispersed around the country, so check if they trained with him. What he does is, after you get a referring prescription from your doctor, he uses the ultrasound to get a visual picture of exactly what is happening inside you. You can watch as he does it. He can see every blood vessel, artery, vein, tendon, ligament, muscle, everything but bone. He can see exactly where you have a pocket of inflammation, which is a cause for bursitis, tennis elbow; or he can see if a tendon sheath is inflamed, or if you have trigger finger. Instead of blind injections, he can then use the ultrasound to guide his needle to inject medicine into the pocket of inflammation. The first time I went to him, I had tennis elbow, and had been getting useless injections. He looked and saw that there was a second pocket of inflammation above the elbow, and that was why the lower injections did not work. So he injected the upper pocket, which also dribbled down into the lower one, and fixed it. He has also fixed trigger finger for me so I did not have to have surgery. It is remarkable! Thoracic Outlet Syndrome is similar to bursitis and can be a pocket of inflammation or a tear, perhaps, and is treatable the same way. If treated properly, then the physical therapy will be much more effective. As for strengthening the arms for playing, physical therapists always wanted me to do counter-strengthening, such as in the upper back, but when I used my weights to strengthen my hold in the forward position I use for playing, that’s when it was improved. Increasing your strength beyond what you need for playing, logically, will make playing easier and less stressful. Stronger muscles protect your joints and tendons. But that’s about as much as I know, aside from being effortless when playing. So I will be very curious to see what you come up with, along with your husband.
