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You can email me at harpphila at gmail.com, do the other teachers not have contact information listed? It is worth traveling any distance to study with a worthwhile teacher.
I have a straight-backed Troubadour and a round-back Ogden, and the round back is much preferable, though the Troubadour has a great sound.
I like to think that the harp is such a glorious instrument, at least a Lyon & Healy Concert Grand is, that it cannot possibly be enhanced in any way by electronics.
If I didn’t say so already, for any soft-tissue injuries (non bone) I strongly urge seeking out a radiologist who is trained in using ultrasound imaging to provide an accurate picture of what is happening in the body, and who can then use needle therapy (injections or needling) to cure such conditions as trigger finger, tennis elbow, bursitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and such things, without surgery. The technique was perfected by Dr. Levon Nazarian, my doctor, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and he has trained many doctors in this procedure.
I have not found physical therapists to be of much help. Their training is too limited, and their practice limited to giving standard exercises from the computer. For example, they might think you need to strengthen your back muscles more to compensate for the forward movement in playing the harp, which is partly true, but what we need more is to increase our arm strength well beyond the capacity needed for playing the harp, so that playing never gets near our limits. So if using weights, you should thrust them forward from your shoulders, it seems to me. But good posture and good position, with good technique alone can eliminate many problems. But more than that, for overall good health, strengthening and toning the whole body is quite important. Which is why we incorporated exercise into the program at Rocky Mountain Springs summer harp program.
By the way, the piece is in some ways reminiscent of the Fantaisie by Saint-Saens for harp alone, which precedes it by a good ten years or so. The cadenza passages are clearly similar.
Unlike many Impromptus, this one is basically a theme and variations, but on two alternating themes, and variations were a standard way of developing a work in French music, something you also find in Salzedo’s Ballade, rather than an ABA form or something like that, something more Germanic.If you have Salzedo’s markings, they compensate for acoustical shortcomings on most harps. My harp is now so full-bodied they are not necessary, but on younger harps they are.
So now I have to count 165 bars? I don’t see any bar in which your question applies. Moving the octaves in the bass an octave lower engages the harp more fully so it has the oomph it needs. So yes, unless you are playing on an old Erard.
I would say the molto slargando does not apply to the arpeggio, but to the following bass D and the octaves melody following. I think that a few of the tempo indications in the piece are unclear or missing. I have heard the piece played on 23s with and without Salzedo’s editings, and his editings definitely enhance the drama and excitement by causing the harp to resonate more fully. It helps avoid having people overpull a single string trying to get maximum volume out of it. Again, this piece has certain demands that most harps cannot respond to fully enough, until they are very mature, so the doublings are needed. Someday, we will have the Salzedo Edition published.Not only that, but it is clearly marked where it should be harp one only, which means there should be a second harp doubling the rest of the time. I don’t know it wasn’t printed as a Harps part, but it may have just been a typo. One should check the orchestral score and see if it says harp or harps.
Bigger fingers with thicker pads mean better tone quality, usually. Try to place less flesh on the string, just the corner of the tip, and try stretching your hand open when you place, a little air between your fingers. That may help solve any problems. If not, try angling your fingers farther down. Watch the videos by Heidi Lehwalder.
Don’t help the insurance companies! We need full replacement value for our harps. As cosmetic damages increase and perhaps repair needs, the tone quality improves, and that never seems to get a monetary value as it should. To not be able to replace a harp that is smashed up, would be a disaster. That said, having a ball-park figure for value is useful, and there is a depreciation formula, I believe, which might be from Lyon & Healy. Beyond that, it is what the market will bear. I think one can see what is overpriced by how long it goes unsold. It doesn’t help when sellers say, “local pick-up only.” People overseas need inexpensive pedal harps, so second-hand ones may be the only option for them.
On the other hand, many second-hand harps should be growing in value, because of the quality of wood they were made with, the quality of workmanship, and that their sounding boards do not need replacing. Lyon & Healy has often produced instruments that should be considered the Stradivarius of harps, yet hooray for us, they are not priced as such.
