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If you have had strong teachers who “imposed” their view of the music on you, the purpose should have been to show you, by example, how to interpret music well. Having finished study, it is then your choice how you interpret pieces and your sense of how to do so should be stronger. I don’t know why you would feel so lost. Perhaps it has something to do with your concept of interpretation? Our purpose, if serious performers, is to serve the composers vision to the best extent possible, which does mean disregarding immediate impulses of doing this or that with a particular note, and trying to get at the core of the phrase. Popular music is well suited for doing whatever you feel like with it, so just let yourself go. If you apply yourself to that, I would think you would find what you are missing. I don’t know who your teachers are, but I woudn’t necessarily blame them, or see them as negative. It’s a process, and it doesn’t end when lessons end, and lessons are themselves a process.
One can also place 432, and as you play 4, pivot to place 1. That way, if your hands are smaller, you are block placing with a modification. I also sometime place 431, but not the 2, though it may play one or two notes, in certain phrases, in other words, block placing 41, but omitting 2 or 3 until needed. Placing with exceptions. And then there is pretend placing, where your hand moves as though it is connecting from 4-1, say, but is just there waiting, not on the strings. You would use this if 1 has to play the same string as 4, or if you need to cross over 1234, 2 in a downward scale, or if the jump is too far to place, so you have to travel toward it, but thinking of it as placed.
A p.s., things haven’t changed enough, because in planning the Philadelphia harp conference, letters were received from certain people saying they would not attend if it were going to be an all-Salzedo conference, which it wasn’t, but I think they didn’t come anyway. That’s how I was told it, regardless of what actually happened, so to what extent it is factual, I can’t tell you.
Perhaps we should have a thread just for stupid harpist stereotypes. One that I resist about the Salzedo school is that the tone is harsh and percussive and only suitable for
I suggest you get a recording and a book of Scarlatti Sonatas and/or Bach two-part inventions, or even flute solos, so you can concentrate on listening and following with the score just one or two lines, until that is comfortable, and then more chordal music, perhaps the Chopin Preludes. Learning to be comfortable reading music as though you were
How about legato placing? Placing in sequence really sounds like something else, such as hand-over-hand placing, or in a predetermined pattern. But does it really need a special name?
I don’t know what you are describing, but Pirastro strings have a slighly scaly surface compared to other nylons, which I think is better, it gives you more grip.
You can wipe the wire strings with a cloth or a strong paper towel. The guts and nylons I clean by slightly dampening a cloth or towel with water and a tiny drop of Ivory dishwashing liquid, wiping the strings on both sides, making sure nothing drips onto the harp, and then immediately wiping them with a dry cloth or towel. This removes any accumulated oils. This would only work on coated and nylon strings, and not very often. Wash your hands before playing! You can also put some talc on your palm.
Your teacher gave you good advice. I chose Lyon & Healy because the only alternative then was Venus or Salvi. I chose a 23 because my teacher insisted on it as the standard harp. She wanted me to get a natural, as I should have, but I went for the walnut. She knew what she was talking about. The Lyon & Healy sound has always been the ultimate harp to me, because it has such rich and beautiful overtones, which help it project. It is beautifully rounded and pear-shaped, as any instrument should be. I had heard Erards and such on recordings and did not like the muddiness. My teacher was concerned that we would get the best value if we needed to re-sell it, and to get the best workmanship. It took a long time to get there, but I have not been disappointed in my harp, it has an ideal tone quality now, warm, rich, full bass, projective and bright, as Steven Fritzman put it, “like a harp from the 1940s”. It could be bigger in sound, but I am not playing orchestrally and don’t need it. But in 20 years, it may get there. At that time, the Salvis I had played were small and did not ring well. I had not tried Venus, but I didn’t care for their designs. This was in the late 70s, and there were many fewer models than there are today. What tells me if a harp is good is the quality of the harmonics, the responsiveness to touch, the evenness of tone in the whole range. A lot of harps used to come with register shifts, which were not good. Like a big bass, a nasal middle and a bright but small top. I almost wanted to send mine back, because it lacked any outstanding characteristics, but because it was completely even, I decided it was worth keeping. Back then,
Thanks, Carl. Yes, I have heard some tales about Conrad, and I believe he was asked to leave Curtis because he came to a rehearsal and either hadn’t tuned or talked back to the guest conductor, something like that, but I think they may still consider it graduation, as people used to stay as long as they could until finally they were told, ‘you’re done.’
I remember another guy whose mother and grandmother were both harpists, and they put a lot of expectations on him to be a big star, and he played very very well, but wasn’t, or wasn’t yet a star, and I think he quit the harp altogether soon after that.
I think men have often very high expectations that are easily let down by the lack of ready positions in the musical world for them. Miss Lawrence had one she was very excited about, but he was disappointed by the lack of opportunity for him. Maybe it has to do with the dynamic of male students-female teachers-that it’s too maternal, and the problem with a paternal teacher is when he is threatened by his students or too stingy with help, etc. Our biggest problem, all of us, is the lack of teaching positions and 2d harp positions in all the major orchestras, and we should try to do something about it. Everyone who wants to teach should be able to have plenty of students, with all the interest there is in the harp, these days, don’t you think?
Hello, your doctorate is showing. I think you were saying the same thing as giving them music too difficult if they are thinking they are so terrific. I think what is tricky is sensing whether it is true arrogance or petulance, or merely the normal egotism of adolescence (which does not end at 18). I have one practical solution, posting on the wall of the practice room a reminder or two: “Your teacher may be listening”, or “Your teacher may not be listening, but HE is”: I am trying to convince my sister to make them into calligraphy posters. If people actually want to order them, she could probably do it if there are at least 20 or so willing to purchase them. I have a lot of other axioms like that, but I can’t find them lately.
What is a tougher question I would like your opinion on is arrogant or otherwise difficult adult students and how to teach them.
