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It’s always good to have some short pieces amid the longer ones. I have used the Musical Snuff-Box by Liadov, the Prelude in C by Prokofiev, among others. Variety and delight is key.
There’s a huge difference in difficulty between the Suite of Eight Dances and Ballade. Without knowing your playing, it is impossible to make a useful suggestion. The Suite is 20 minutes, so it would fit very well. But if you want a bigger ending, the Variations would work better, though it’s closer to 15 minutes. But you should discuss this with your teacher. How far off is the recital? Ballade needs more than a year to prepare, I’d say. I don’t relish listening to the Zabel. The Saint-Saens Fantaisie or the Spohr would both be more interesting and challenging. You could also use some pieces that are more recent, Berceuse by Flagello, Four Vignettes by Wagenaar, Four Caprices by Tcherepnin, and Lydian Song by Paul Creston come to mind. And then there’s my Nocturne, published by Harpiana Publications.
There is a point at which one should invest in a pedal harp, and playing pedal repertoire is that point, in my view.
Study harp music. Learn from the examples. See what the masters did. Check your orchestration books. Do not use the playback on the software, use your inner ear. The software will totally mislead you on what is playable. Write what you know will work and build from there. Kudos to Yolanda for taking on that task, it is an enormous one.
I find all versions of the Handel equally hard, no matter how many notes. Nevertheless, it is usually the first one taught. There are many others. The Saint-Saens Morceau de Concert, Virgil Thomson’s Autumn, and one of the many classical-era concertos are all worth considering. The Dittersdorf was my first, that is the most accessible, I think.
I think many of them, particularly brass and percussion do, but they’re not as severe as our problems.
Lyon & Healy used to sell a tool kit, and they had a whole survival kit for people who lived in remote places. Karen Rokos taught me that before you go at the discs, move the adjustable around first to see if you can fix problems that way.
Also, if you are relying on a phone for tuning, then you are also relying on its battery. I tried an app on a phone and it was not that accurate, the microphone is not high quality, and the phone itself is a constant distraction.
Move with the times? How ridiculous. Never.
I did get a Peterson tuner and it is nearly useless. I had to use my Korg with it to verify the pitches, the dials were moving so much. Oddly, different tuners do produce a slightly different overall flavor. I doubt I will ever buy an Apple product in my life. I see my friends constantly go through conniptions with their devices, tablets, and constant problems. No way. Now, I mostly use my oldest, simplest Korg. I clip the pick-up onto the brass handle of the harp for the bass and middle, and clip it to the top end of the brass plate for the highest notes. So, I recommend the cheapest tuner you can get with a needle display. The Matrix metronome with the dial is still the best for practicing with. You can change tempos quickly and easily, and it is easy to hear, fairly sturdy. Digital metronomes require constant button pushing, and complex rhythms are more complex to set up than to practice. As for the sweetening of the Peterson, the stretch tuning settings were interesting to find out, but not worth the $150 price tag. I use my own stretching system, thank you. The ear works best.Sometimes you can set the harp down on the floor in order to reach the lowest strings more easily, or get up from your bench.
Changing chromatic scales to diatonic scales is not in character with the music. There are also tempo considerations. After spending a number of years mastering Salzedo’s brilliant transcription of Debussy’s Clair de Lune, and finally realizing some more fluid fingerings at the climactic moments, I decided, as beautiful as it is, it was not worth the amount of time it took to master it on the harp, compared to what it takes a pianist to learn it. For them it is an intermediate kind of solo, a little more difficult than Debussy’s Reverie, but for us it is a major endeavor! Therefore, when considering a piece for transcription, one must consider whether it will be worth amount of preparation required. I looked at Smetana’s die Moldau, and realized there was much gorgeous detail that could be played by a virtuoso, that Trnecek had glossed over with his endless arpeggios up and down. But after a while, I realized, given the length of the piece, it would just be too physically exhausting, plus it would wear out the ears of the listeners with too much detail. Transcriptions are as much an art as they are a skill.
Stravinsky taking the time to write a harp part perfectly? Hah! How many composers do that? I think the masters didn’t bother because they knew they could rely on professionals to do what was best, and they didn’t have time. Those who take the time may still not get it right. It’s what all orchestral musicians do, adapt, correct and fix.
When audibility is a problem, one then plays the harmonics with the left hand, and doubles them with the right hand one octave higher, to enrich the tone. It preserves the quality of the harmonics as long as they predominate the right hand, and the right hand makes them sound all the more lucid and liquid.
It’s always amusing to be accused of doing what others are already doing.
How generous of you, Carl, to admit that Salzedo had some useful innovations. But never presume to speak on my behalf or to know what I think, because you don’t.
His innovations were, in fact, widely accepted by many great musicians, and inspired a great many compositions, such as the Concerto by Ginastera, to name just one. The only reason Dewey Owens did not continue using Salzedo’s harmonics notation was, as he personally told me, because a certain teacher in the Midwest had stated there is a complete ban on any music using his harmonics for her and all of her students; so he didn’t want to give up the sales, or was pressured not to by his publisher, and that is why you may not find them notated so in his music. Not for any artistic reasons.
