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That reminds me that there may be significant differences between American and European orchestras. I think American orchestras tend to ask for a lot more.
I spent quite a few years doing that. It was the only way I could study solo, chamber, concerto and orchestral literature at the same time while in school and for auditions later. Fortunately, you can acquire many standard orchestra parts at little or no cost.
An aspiring professional needs to be familiar with pretty much all the standard literature, and there are a lot of odd works that turn up as well, especially with community orchestras and choral groups. The Seven Last Words by DuBois or Durufle or Dusomething else gets done a lot in Pennsylvania.
I am noticing that English composers tend to write very irregular, assymetrical parts, so it is a good idea to know their music ahead of time. Vaughan-Williams, Bax, Finzi, Britten, etc.
The other great thing about orchestra parts is that they tend to build a lot more strength and tone quality than solo literature. Just knowing you might play with an orchestra makes one play louder, and they tend to have lots of loud passages anyway.
You “must” learn the Two Preludes by Marcel Tournier. They are good for all occasions. They are more musically than technically difficult.
Let me add to that, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Ravel’s Bolero, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto, anything by Berlioz, Wagner (yecch), and so on.
What look like staccato marks are often, in French music, a kind of accent. The nature of the phrase should guide you.
Perhaps having three teachers is part of the problem. Flutists are different from harpists that way. You have cleared things up much more. Nevertheless, her personal life is none of your business whether it is an influence or not. From what I am reading, apparently your strategy is to not look for support from her, and find it in your piccolo teacher and master teacher only. That is reasonable. It may be that your teacher is uncomfortable with that role. Lying is not good. But, what were the reasons? Teaching is complex, especially when opportunities come up. It sounds like you are meant to not only play the flute, but to have a flute and harp duo. You certainly have made terrific progress. You are likely to get into a top school. Are you auditioning for Oberlin, because Michel Debost is a fine artist and teacher.
I guess you have figured out not to worry about it too much and work with the resources you have available, which seem to be ample. I wonder, though, can’t you study flute with the piccolo teacher? When I went to college it wasn’t because of who the harp teacher was, and when it came time for lessons, I went outside the school, initially, then they hired someone suitable for me when it became necessary, though only for me. Something like that may be possible, that they would add the piccolo teacher to the flute faculty but only for your use.
It sounds to me like you’ll do just fine. If you come to Philadelphia, let me know, I am right near Curtis.
I pretty much disagree with Weidensaul’s approach and never found her practicing tips very helpful. I also didn’t observe great results from them, either.
There is no one, correct tempo for a piece. What the composer indicates is usually an intellectual ideal, unless they are a harpist. The best tempo is the one that is the most musical for the harpist to play the piece in. Ideally, it will be close to the composer’s tempo, either slower or faster. Giving specific metronome settings is a fairly recent phenomenon, and not as musical as a verbal instruction.
Doing exercises is important, and I feel they must be practiced in four-to-six tempi. I will take one exercise from Salzedo’s Conditioning Exercises, especially number one, and do it as one note to the beat, then two, then three, then four, then six, then eight. One needs to be able to play quickly as possible in a slow tempo to increase finger speed, and to play slowly as possible in a faster tempo to improve tone and control. The Salzedo approach traditionally was to practice slow and strong to build strength and muscle memory, then to go fast and light, and eventually blend the two together. That works quite well. Chalifoux taught me to play as if in a faster tempo, just with more time between the notes, then to gradually eliminate the time.
Only doing slow practice or fast practice will cause thickening of the muscles and stiff playing in my experience. One needs to be as loose as possible yet controlled. I have been able to develop nearly as much speed as any other harpist, despite having fibromyalgia, using these techniques. I was able to play “Flight” at 152 in performance. It took a long time, but I got there.
Tempo has as much to do with musical control and understanding as it does technique and strength. Understanding the concept of tempo and especially tempo rubato requires much study of music, and how it can be done on the harp, which is different. My ballet teacher used to tell me I cannot leap higher than I can land neatly, and it applies to music as well. You cannot play faster than you can control the musical flow.
That relates to expression. What I have been thinking lately is that, although many people want to play music to express themselves, that is not good playing. Good playing is when you use your abilities to express what is in the music, what the composer put there. You have to put yourself out of the picture, strip away the ego layers which are superficial, to uncover the deeper picture. When you are completely aware of how the notes relate to each other and how the phrases are shaped, then you can manipulate the tempo by small degrees to enhance the expression of the shapes. It is more satisfying, but more significantly, you are expressing a much deeper part of yourself than when you play something as you “feel it.”
For example, in Debussy’s Arabesque no. 1, it is easy to imagine a young harpist wanting to speed up and slow down with the arc of each arabesque phrase. That would not be what is in the music. But over the whole introduction, that you could do once you can control it. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of listening to music in general.
I’m not convinced about a riser. Joan Mainzer always played on a podium, and it may have enhanced her lower register, but it didn’t help the higher register at all, and she was placed between the violins and winds, and was often covered up by their sound. If the harp actually had a small bandshell around it, that might project the sound.
I just got a Stokowski recording of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, and the harpist, at the end, lets out with a volcano of rising chords (Miss Lawrence, I believe) but as soon as the tutti resumes, it is obliterated.
Spend the money! Work chairs are not appropriate. I have a heavy, piano artist bench, and it should last the rest of my life. It also looks decent on stage. You do not want something with wheels or a back. There are some benches that are less than $600. A harp bench is the suitable thing for good reasons. The bench should match the harp as closely as possible. It needs to have sturdy legs and adjustable height. It needs to be made to last.
I have one, but I’m not sure I want to sell it. What you can do is commission a portrait from an artist who can work from a photograph.
We had the Malecki Concertion performed twice at the Harp Festival of Philadelphia by Harps AFire, and I like it so much, and so much more each time I hear it, that I would gladly feature it every year. I think it is truly a classic piece. And Harps AFire gives it the best performance I have heard yet.
