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Yes, I just listened to it again. Aside from wonderful playing, I am conscious of her fingertips on the strings. I think the mics were too close.
So far, I have found Elizabeth Richter’s Looking Glass River, and Erica Goodman’s Dance of the Poplars by Milton Barnes to have more of the sound I want. The notes just appear, no discernible onset, and they sustain well into the space. I am convinced that digital mics are overly detailed beyond what we normally hear, and thus exaggerate those tiny details into being audible.
Should I even say? I remember it as Isabelle Morreti’s debut recital in New York, but I wouldn’t swear to it, it might have been someone similar, it was a long time ago.
When I heard the Debussy Danses performed by Grete Wangensteen and William Wangensteen, it was then that I understoond how beautiful and compatible the harp and piano could be. That was because he played the piano with such sensitivity-as though he was playing Debussy-that it enhanced the harp rather than obliterate it. If only all pianists could so modulate their touch. Perhaps it takes a fine pianist to adapt his tone to whatever instrument he is accompanying, or a fine father.
I think the style is the main thing. Depending where you are playing, you want to look professional more than fashion-conscious. You need functional outfits, too. Too-long skirts can interfere with pedaling, and too-frilly outfits are distracting or noisy when you move. Being in England, hats are another issue. I believe they are standard for churches, so perhaps there are very small ones you can wear to one side away from the harp. I think you would also want a simple, black dress that you can wear for funerals and church services. You can accessorize to accent the look. Pins, belts, scarves are all very flexible. I do find that women who wear very fashionable outfits while playing detract from their playing if the dress calls attention to itself. One harpist did a recital in a dress with a twenty-foot train, and it overshadowed her program. I think good costume jewelry is also something to look into, necklaces and earrings, especially vintage pieces.
Well, yes, you develop certain skills with scales, others with arpeggios, and still more with other patterns. All are essential. However many scales you have practiced, when you hit the scales in Symphonie Fantastique or the Solo and Cadenza from Lucia di Lammermoor, they are suddenly incredibly hard.
I do agree that scales alone are insufficient. One has to practice wider intervals as well. My exercises utilize every possible pattern of note combinations and finger sequences, and every possible interval, up to sixths. Certainly, a harpist who has only ever played scales and arpeggios will not have enough stretch or reach in his hand. Doing wider intervals does stretch and broaden the hand. One of my favorites is to play c-f-b-e, d-g-c-f, etc.
Ten-to-fifteen minutes of scales every day is plenty if you do the same amount of other exercises as well. With Salzedo’s Conditioning Exercises (I was once told that no other instruments has such a complete, simple set of exercises), after doing the 3421 and 2431 exercises, I also do 1423, 4231, 3124, 2134, etc.
Another way to do scales is broken: 4231, 4231 or cedfgbac etc.
Thank you, I knew you could find something. The difficulty is that Warner-Chappell is now an enormous conglomerate interested in their popular music, and it is extremely difficult to request anything classical from their website. I did contact European-American, and they say they do not have it. I think at least one or two of the pieces you listed are not readily available, either.
Sorry to have troubled you, but I do not have easy access to either of those libraries.
Speaking for myself, not Salzedo or Swanson, I have found scales to always be pretty important. In fact, I generally always include scales and some sort of arpeggio or chord-based exercise in my warm-ups. Scales are certainly not as big of a deal on the harp because we use the same fingerings in every key, unlike the other instruments, who have to practice every kind of scale. What is different is the string tension, so we should practice in different keys on different days, like c-sharp and c-natural. We should also practice them with different fingerings, like 321321 and 432121 etc. So, actually there are a lot of scale exercises possible. We also need to practice them in canon if we want to play Flight someday. I practice them in four tempi a day, usually doubling the speed so first it is one note to the beat, which between 60 and 80, then two notes, then four notes, then 8 notes, so, yes, I am effectively playing scales at 160. It took quite a while to get there, of course.
That’s what I’m having for lunch today. I love tzatziki.
If you have grapevines, pluck the tender young leaves and cook them for about two hours with tomatoes and you will have a wonderful sauce.
There is a Lyra edition as well. Zabaleta did a pretty nice recording of it. As it is public domain by now, I’m pretty sure, in any case, you may be able to find the parts in a music library. It is definitely German romanticism. Reinecke is a good composer.
I have never seen the Peer edition. Where did you purchase it from?
I believe that there are many errors in this publication, in the Meridian edition at least. Some were corrected in an article in the American Harp Journal a long time ago. Others were not, but look wrong.
You are right, that is a G# in that measure. What gets me is three measures earlier when that pattern is first introduced, and there is a note left over in the left hand at the end. I swear, any sensible composer would mean that to be the first statement of that pattern, followed later by two more. But the hands don’t match up in the same way, their high and low notes happening in different places. It is also very irritating how they did not use any leger lines in the left hand, instead, putting left-hand notes on the right-hand staff.
In the second movement, Tailleferre is inconsistent with the left-hand pattern. Playing every note as written is very awkward, and sounds unclear. But then, toward the bottom of the second page she fixes it, with a 4 123 123 123 pattern, so, I use that pattern throughout the movement, so the bass note can sustain, and on the third page, I take out some of the left-hand notes that are played at nearly the same time by the right hand. It leads me to think that
I would suspect that they are not practicing, if they can identify notes, but not read them in harp music. It is a delaying tactic. If you use the ABC of Harp Playing, it teaches basic reading skills, and if the students are not having genuine difficulty, it will show. The basic approach of having them play the note, name it, and point to it on the page at the same time should burn them into consciousness. Repetition is the other part. Perhaps you can have a class apart from lessons just to work on reading skills.
I would suspect that they are not practicing, if they can identify notes, but not read them in harp music. It is a delaying tactic. If you use the ABC of Harp Playing, it teaches basic reading skills, and if the students are not having genuine difficulty, it will show. The basic approach of having them play the note, name it, and point to it on the page at the same time should burn them into consciousness. Repetition is the other part. Perhaps you can have a class apart from lessons just to work on reading skills.
