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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.)
Carbon fiber means plastic, doesn’t it? Let’s call a spade a spade. Plastic instruments can sound surprisingly good, but they’re still plastic. A blend of wood and plastic would still be compromised, to me. I think this thread is a font of misinformation.
I just met a flutist named Concus, I bet you’re related, Sherry.
Thank you, that is helpful. Thank goodness it is not my own student. It seems a bit odd that it would be a control issue. Then again, I eat more to assert control, I guess, rather than eat what I should. The parents know, to some extent, but with a child who is an adult and away from home, what can they do?
If it were my student, I think I would say, take a year off, deal with it, and come back when it is working better and you still have a place. Maybe that wouldn’t work either.
I watched Karen Thielen give two wonderful master classes this weekend at the Harp Music Festival of Philadelphia. It’s not about method. When you put a hand on the harp, certain angles are required to accomplish certain things. If you are playing scales that go up, if your fingers are angled downward, you will have an easier time placing your fourth finger under your thumb and having more room in your hand makes it easier to place two and three. The more sidewards the fingers, the harder it is for them to make it work easily.
Having recently heard a comparison of several harps in the same space, the best 23s came out on tops, as well as a Salzedo, then the 85s, and last place to the Salvi, which was also so so so much harder to play on.
I’m about to perform, then what? I will be bored, probably, so maybe I should change my technique. What should I change it to?
I remember you now. The Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory is the closest, best summer program I know of that you might get to. You definitely need to study intensively in the summers. If you are up to the orchestral parts, you could try Chautauqua Institution. If your teacher is unavailable in the summer, then you might try Ellen Ritscher in Dallas for lessons just for over the summer. You will definitely want to go into graduate harp study for as long as possible, a diploma, then a masters, then professional studies or doctoral program.
It would help to know your age and where you study now. It almost always comes back to maintaining good hand position and keeping your fingers low, bringing them in without forcing, and replacing with as little movement as possible. Look at the photos in the method, and constantly compare your position to Miss Lawrence’s, since you are studying that. No matter how advanced you get, the issues remain position, finger action, efficiency of movement, lack of tension/stress. Oscillation is mainly for clean replacement until you are completely steady. What you may need for the control you desire is a lot more repetition. Re-read the instructions in the method: do each exercise AT LEAST ten times, and as Miss L. would say, that is ten times perfectly, a bad one doesn’t count, so you have to start over each time you make a mistake. Forget about the boredom of the same notes, it’s about noticing how what you feel changes, how after seven repetitions it begins to feel secure and your fingers move more easily and feel more supple. Repeat the exercises in more octaves. Make up variations on them. I don’t use the chord progression in LaRiviere, I use the same principles but use the chord progression in the Conditioning Exercises. Train your mind like a muscle to concentrate and be strong in focus. Follow each thought to its ultimate conclusion. If you can ever come to Philadelphia, you sound like someone I would enjoy working with.
Forget about taking time to get into the music. They will probably tell you to get started already. I tried doing that. You have to condense that into about five seconds. If you feel the music, you only need a moment to slip into it. What you need is to be secure enough to forget about yourself and focus on the music alone.
Ballet slippers have no heel and no leverage with that soft sole. A ballerina flat would make more sense, only it would be better to have a 1/2-inch or higher heel on it. Character shoes are sturdy, with a good shank, but not always made as well as they once were, and will not look good for long. I saw a harpist play in stilettos once, and she laid the heel down on the floor, and the sole was flexible enough for her to pedal everything. They also had clear plastic slip-on tops with dice cubes on them, which she bought on 42nd Street. It was pretty funny, but they looked good on stage and didn’t get in her way, unbelievably. It was quite a stunt.
A side question to this is, how much do you think you should have to pay for a regulation? I am used to paying under $300 for a house call, yet some regulators charge more, plus add on an extra huge surcharge for a house call. I don’t think I should have to pay extra. It’s a convenience if the harps are all brought to one place for the regulator, but I don’t think they should expect it to always be so. I’m sure there are many besides me who can’t or don’t want to do that.
