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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.
Miss Lawrence certainly taught it for passages in thirds and such places where placing is impossible or buzzy, and she referred to it as being like “walking on eggshells”, but she didn’t use any special name for it other than placing one at a time.
I wanted to continue on this point. This kind of teaching may strike some as harsh or cruel, but it is ultimately deeply loving. It is aimed at getting to the deepest levels of the student, rather than skating along the surface, happy-go-lucky-like. It does not require abuse, but toughness. It can be done with great kindness, and a perceptive student will know that. Perhaps there is another way of reaching them through praise alone, but that doesn’t work with everyone, and which way to use may just depend on how that student is built. Music is a tough world, though, and we do need to be strong enough to deal with tough situations, as Carl describes. And I hope he was not including me in his list of male performers, which is probably not likely anyway. Is there a gender difference in those situations? An interesting question.
Thank you for those insights. Yes, I think that kind of arrogance is bad, and I think it has to do with ego and personality formation. That is where the old masters would simply break down the student’s resistance either by telling them how much they don’t know, or giving them something they can’t play and making them go all the way through it, like the first harp part to Symphonie Fantastique. Then, once the resistance is down, they would gently lead the student into improvement with information and a little praise, and earn their trust. It has to do with establishing authority and leadership, and the older the student, perhaps the harder it is. I don’t know that much of child psychology and development, but more can be found in that field. This response is based on observation and experience as a student, and a recent discussion with a friend who works with children in crisis. There are very specific ways to handle children who are “acting out”, and part of it has to do with establishing authority. We must also remember the “olden days” of the 1960s when teachers naturally maintained authority at all times, even when playing with children, it was always as a teacher, not a grown-up kid, so there was no awkward need to re-establish authority when called upon.
It is not so different in teaching interpretation either, the adolescent ego wants “self-expression” and thinks that is the purpose of art, and therefore might run rough-shod over the music, not understanding the need for a learning process in interpretation. Blending freedom and authoritarian teaching is probably difficult, but I would venture to say you can’t have one without the other and get very good results. Except for rare individuals, complete freedom will allow the student to display ignorance of the music, and complete authoritarianism may
Two good parts for technique building are Wagner’s Prelude to die Meistersinger, and Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien and Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture. Also, music from Lehar’s the Merry Widow, Gluck’s Orfeo, the Handel operas, Faure’s Pelleas et Melisande.
It’s Fleischer, and you get what you can with what you can pay. I’m thrilled someone is providing low-cost rentals.
