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I thought Diane said two weeks per piece. I wish I could learn that fast. I saw a Curtis student attempt to play the Britten Suite and proudly announce that she had learned it in a few weeks, and proceeded to play many notes in the wrong octave, many things that were reading errors. It was embarassing. That was several years ago, by the way, no one who was there within recent memory.
Work on placing cleanly, quickly and deliberately. You can press the finger back against the preceding string if it is not in use, or you can use knuckle to muffle it. Practice. If you’re near here, you are welcome to my studio in Philadelphia.
I know I would love a horse and buggy. That’s nasty to label the preservation of something already wonderful as whatever you said, just because you have gotten a bee in your bonnet. Look what wonderful things progress has done! When you get something right, don’t fix it! I would never play on nor want to play on an instrument that isn’t wood. Wood is a living, responsive element that a plastic can NEVER be. Wood changes and becomes a reflection of you. Not plastic. The idea of making music with an instrument is all about finger, string, wood, and nothing else at all. We don’t need louder instruments. We need quality of tone, beauty. Everything is already too loud. Plastic pianos may sound pretty good, but they are nonetheless inferior. Harps will doubtless or do prove the same. You could make a fiberglass harp, an epoxy harp, a resin harp, any number of things. How about a crystal harp, now that might have some strange qualities. Please. We have already had too much “invention” in the harp-making world. Each new one is worse than the one before. Louder doesn’t make trash better, just more vulgar.
I had an interesting experience performing in a large church recently. The harp notes sustained beautifully, and rang and rang without echo, and I found that the highest notes sustained so much longer that tuned accurately to a tuner that the notes actually flattened as they decayed, so I indeed had to stretch the pitch higher by as much as ten cents in order for it to sound in tune as it sustained.
Two weeks is an incredibly short time to learn a piece unless it is a Tiny Tale, and even then. Some people absorb slowly, but they may be learning it far better or deeper than someone who gets the notes and doesn’t let them sink in. Too fast learning is no good. Two months is a much more reasonable goal I think. It really seems like you have unreal expectations. First there are the notes to learn, the coordination of the hands, then the musicality and expression, the intent of the composer, and then trying to get it into memory, not to mention applying technical goals. There is a lot to take in. I have never learned anything that quickly. If the student had no other activities or obligations, and could practice 4-6 hours a day, then I would say it is somewhat realistic to expect learning in just two weeks.
Should people be monitoring without posting? Seems like espionage. It’s not nice to meet people for the first time and have them look at you funny, like they know all your secrets or something, which happened to me at the Harp Conference. People who read these forums should acknowledge their presence, not use it to gather background “dirt” on people. That said, businesses get the responses they generally deserve according to how they treat their customers. I should think the reverse is true, that they should be extra-nice to those who are posting complaints or problems, else they will compound their troubles. They need to know that we all talk to each other about what’s going on, with or without internet forums, and word-of-mouth is the strongest influence on harp-related purchases. Your tone is not very appreciative of any of that. It’s not like praising products gets us any benefits, either.
Well, John, we’ve heard a juicy story about the Salvi company, now how about one about Venus, and the others, too? They all have them, we know, all too well. And how about Salvi’s secret anti-Salzedo plot to subvert his influence here by importing his harps, taking over Lyon & Healy, making them put gut strings in the second octave instead of nylon, etc. How many conspired in that one? What’s next? They took over the strings, next…
Then there’s the Venus plot to knock off Lyon & Healy models, undercut their prices, steal away their clients, boy have they succeeded.
And what’s Aoyama been up to?
Oh, and Lyon & Healy is supposed to have started dealerships just to try to put potential competitors out of business (didn’t work).
(in jest)
(or is it?)
Glues are not necessarily plastic. Natural glues are derived from horse’s hooves and wonderful things like that. Moving toward the use of synthetics is not necessarily progress or improvement, but may be cheapening the cost of manufacture and the quality of the end result.
What makes harps so beautiful is that they are essentially organic: the interaction of wood and string with the addition of metal work, and physical forces. It is acoustic and not electric by nature, and this gives it purity and soul.
If carbon fiber is cloth, then it is also known as kevlar, no? I heard about experimentation with that.
Other instruments are made of plastics, and they can be convincing imitations, but they are that: imitations, not the real thing. They don’t have the ring and feel, and most importantly, the tone color.
The introduction of so many harps and so many beginners has destablized our entire community. While it has helped some prosper, it has also brought about a terrible lowering of or absence of any standards. Lyon & Healy made fantastic harps long ago, they have improved vastly over their low point in the 70s and 80s, but that doesn’t erase their initial excellence. The same might be said for Wurlitzer if you preferred their darker sound.
We should be insisting that harpmakers return to using shellac instead of lacquer finishes. We should be insisting on using the best wood. We should be seeking full round tone that rings freely, not dampened by weight or encased in plastic wrap. I don’t like the sound of 85s, they are pinched and vulgar, despite their ability to ring and project. The 100s are turning out much better. Yes, every part of the harp resonates to some degree, and that’s why it matters very much what the neck is made of, and what the column is carved like and finished with. The sound waves that hit the column are dispersed by it, but also reflected back into the harp for another flavoring, thereby seasoning it with that hint of gold.
This may seem like the age of endless alternatives, but a lot will turn out to be dead ends and a waste of an awful lot of time and energy, which ends up having been destructive. The internet is a lousy way to get news, yet by the time people fully wake up to that, newspapers will have been decimated.
The Philadelphia Inquirer is shrinking yet again, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has eliminated their only classical music reviewer. This kills concerts. We have no way of reaching a mass audience with reputation or reviews without newspapers. We have no major music magazines left. We have niche internet sites that give you fractions of shards of the total picture, they are no more comprehensive than a newspaper. They are less satisfying and harder to read. Now, it is nearly all we will be stuck with.
We need to exercise a lot more caution and listen to more experts rather than all rush to our own uninformed judgements. Everyone has a voice these days, and that doesn’t mean what they say is significant. And there is nothing wrong with being insignificant. If everyone is significant, no-one can learn. If everyone is special, no-one is special. Average people are necessary and important for being average. When they elevate themselves through promotion, it is destructive to the field.
That’s a lot of ground covered and I hope no-one’s feet are feeling stepped on. At least now we have more to argue about.
Yes, I have had my problems with Lyon and Healy, and in particular with their lousy shipping company, or rather, the local guys who pick up and deliver harps. I just saw one pick up a harp and bump it down every step. I told the harpist to be sure to file a claim right away, and then see if there was damage or not. If you do not file a claim within two weeks, you are screwed. As was I.
Yet, I would never buy anyone else’s harp. I long for the day when I can own a Salzedo, preferably an original, and a 3. I think the 24 is much nicer than the 26. Wurlitzers have a gloomy sound by comparison, I think. Beautiful carving and design, but too dark and heavy. Maybe if I had one that was rebuilt and strung as I like it would be fine.
No Salvis, Venuses, Camacs or Aoyamas for me, and I get bupkis from Lyon and Healy for saying so. (Nothing.)
