Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
The 15’s have less bass without the extension of the soundboard. That makes them more in line with Erard harps. They can sound wonderful and like dreck, depending on the instrument. They are very individual. The Chicago model harps have the same quality but are uniform and good in sound. There is a clear difference between the straight and extended sound-board. The extension gives it the pear-shaped tone we strive for. With a straight soundboard, you have to work harder to project your bass tones. The harp then favors the middle octaves.
The original Salzedos had very wide sounding-boards, so I wouldn’t say they were smaller, and they usually had wide string spacing in the bass. They may be shorter. All the harps are now bigger and heavier than they used to be. My harp has gained weight from 78 pounds when I ordered it, to 81 when I received to 84 pounds after rebuildings. I think lighter is better, even if it means replacing the neck.
It’s all about the wood. I once did a harp and piano recital on a style 16, straight sound-board and gilded column, and that harp was hard to play. I had to really push to get the sound out of the tight response, but it projected extremely well, and balanced against the piano as well as a 23. Some of these older harps have a more piercing tone than the rounded one we are used to. A 14 is very small. A 12 is almost tiny. I have played the 19 for sale now at LH and it is a magnificent harp, not rebuilt. It may last a good while yet.
Really, the competition in the 70s and 80s was fierce. There were few openings, and a huge generation of harpists jostling each other for a position. If anything, the level of playing has not risen, but dropped at the high end. Young harpists seem to know little about music and history and style, and just waggle their fingers any self-entitled way they feel. (Based on YouTube observations, which is probably not representative.) But I have heard that from harpists who have heard many young players.
Baby boomers had strict teaching and high expectations to fulfill. The only thing that has grown is the size of the literature. How much repertoire you are perhaps expected to know has grown. Sometimes a harpist may be hired for more political than musical reasons. Some orchestras are very competitive with each other.
Playing bigger, longer transcriptions is not in itself a mark of high achievement. I think, for harpists under 40, the biggest achievement is in tone quality, sense of style, interpretive knowledge and creative thinking, integrity, authenticity, and deep background. You should know every recording ever made by Salzedo and Grandjany, Lawrence, McDonald and some other harpists. You should know the recordings of Erica Goodman and Judy Loman and the Salzedo Harp Duo, to name a few of today. You should know the great musicians of the early and mid-20th century, such as Casals, Rubinstein, Piatigorsky, de los Angeles, de Larrocha, Sutherland, Caruso, Landowska, and the recordings of the playing of the great composers. You should be able to distinguish between the major schools of playing and the national styles. You should be able to read and correctly interpret baroque and classical ornamentation in a harpistic way. You should be able to create an idiomatic continuo harp part for a baroque sonata that is harpistically possible. Who is playing a lot today, who won a competition is nice to hear, is fine to support, but will not educate you much at all, I think. Music is transmitted from generation to generation, from culture to culture, and if students do not strive to learn from the past or abroad, then they make music that is more and more lacking in value. Music is not about self-expression and success. It is about learning to express the music, universal thoughts, feelings and emotions grand and subtle. It is hard work over many, many years. You must never stop learning and growing. Those of you who want to compete to see what you can win, and only want a few years in the spotlight should not enter. Don’t take the places of those who really care about music.
I think colored harps are tasteless, and the coloring must affect the sound, being an additional layer that maybe equivalent to polyurethane in being absorptive of sound, or inhibiting its transmission. The Salzedo model was specifically designed by a renowned fine artist with Salzedo to look as it does. I don’t think anyone should ask to alter that design at all. I think color is a distraction. I think we should all be more respectful. If a new harp is designed to come in stripes and all colors, then that is suitable to that model, if it works esthetically. If you’re playing commercial music like rock and roll, it doesn’t really matter. What would a blue piano be like?
Instruments are naturally finished to call attention their wooden nature, which is essential to musical expression. A man and his hand-made instrument making hand-produced music is what it is all about. What you can do with your hands and wood. Even a black finish is somewhat of a departure from that, unless you have a solid ebony instrument. Black is a formal color, and the most unobtrusive, so it is acceptable.
Electrified instruments are no longer natural in that way of thinking, so do what you will with them. They are about artificiality.
I suspect there are hundreds of such works. I went through an old ASCAP catalog, and there were lots. I don’t know if you can search their online catalog by instrumentation, but you might be able to go composer by composer and use harp as a keyword.
I think it is perhaps overpriced at $1,000 though I am no expert on it. My original troubador, fortunately, still stands straight and true, and has gorgeous tone quality, even with the levers up. The levers can be regulated, but only so much. If you have to have a harp to start right away, and there are no others around for that price, go ahead and buy it if it has no cracks or warping. Just don’t plan on using the levers a lot if they are out of tune. It is just fine to have nylon strings on it down to middle c, and they are better as the levers will slowly shave down the string, and gut strings will break much sooner, I recall.
I was not advised to have new levers put on my harp. Still, if I had the money, I would. The old wood sounds magnificent. It has always had a crystalline quality. Sam Milligan was quite impressed with it.
Such a troubador can serve you well for two years or so. You can learn your technique on it and how to play musically on a harp. It will not be hard to switch to a pedal harp, but when you get one, get the very best one you can.
I’m sure the order of announcing is the same every year, whether there is a winner or not. A competition certainly isn’t run to spare anyone’s feelings. The worst story I know of is a harpist who saved and saved to be able to go, took the money out of the bank to go buy his plane ticket, and was promptly robbed of all his money, and so, never got to go at all. Or the harpist who was disqualified for tuning the harp before performing. If the film on their website is any clue to how effectively their office is run, it sets the tone. If I can get the competition going that I plan on, it will be quite a different story. Now the big question is, who will buy that specially-made harp that wasn’t awarded? I can bet it is of L & H’s
I disagree, it is no worse than how it has been every other time. It is wrong to assume that not winning implies that they are not “ready for a concert career.” I had that applied to me once, and it was not true. A phrase like that can kill a career, though. Grace Wong, a superb harpist, was given second place. Heidi Lehwalder, a true phenomenon, the likes of which has not been seen since, was given a special prize rather than first, because of her age (twelve). No, there is really no fairness or logic in who wins, except to the judges, as in most competitions. It will be interesting to see if the different approach in the Netherlands Harp Competition will yield a different kind of result. The fact is, an artist should not be made to compete for a prize. That is for athletes.
Don’t mark strings. As you have found, it can ruin them. You can learn to find the right strings with a little time and patience. The easier you make it for yourself, the less you learn.
The Chicago harps I saw and played at the factory were all good. But if you want a harp to keep, get one that has 47 strings and an extended sounding board, which one of the Chicago models has. You will outgrow a 40-string harp quickly, musically speaking, and the way the economy is, don’t assume your parents will be able to buy you more than one harp. Get the best one you can if you are going to stick with it. If it’s possible, get a 23, or a Salzedo. If not, then a 30 or 100. If those are too much, then an 85 or Chicago.
