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That reminds me of one of the more amusing sides of life at Tanglewood. We were all housed on one campus, Berkshire Christian College. Miss Lawrence and the other faculty were housed in a motel-like building adjacent to our dormitory. Our dorm had, literally, plywood walls with shag carpeting on them, which meant you could hear virtually everything that went on next door, which was sometimes embarassing at night.
I think you can emphasize individual finger strength and independence through exercises, and then you won’t need to favor one fingering over the other after the first couple of years. The biggest challenge is getting them to do productive practice. Ideally, they would practice under your supervision each day. Maybe I should offer daily lessons for $10!
Having tried it for about a week now, I have been progressively lessening the amount of stretch, so that it is about 10 cents maximum in the bass, which makes the harp sound terrific, and only about 5 in the first octave, and maybe 10 on the 0 octave only. The reason we tend to go by the tuner, is that there is no authority to correct the ear’s desire to go sharp, sharp, sharp. This also affects our regulation. There is a spot in each direction in which the overtones line up
After two days of using stretch tuning, I can certainly say it is a success. The harp rings differently, but the pitches seem to last much longer and the bass is much stronger and more powerful. I can provide a chart of how much I am raising and lowering the pitches.
Not everyone knows this technique: When a chord has a fifth on the bottom between 4 and 3, don’t place the 2 and 1; play 4 and as you play 3, pivot toward your thumb and then place 2 and 1, or place one at a time, or jump up.
Well that explains how Harpo’s strings could be so loose, they weren’t even tuned up. That is also how musical numbers were filmed, the singing was prerecorded, and the stars would lip-synch to the vocals, whoever was doing the singing.
That is an excellent point, and there are other aspects of muscle fiber too, whether it is flexible and stretchable or tight, and it can vary from muscle to muscle. When I was dancing I could sit and open my legs out to the side to a very wide angle, but I could not really stretch hamstrings; I could only do splits by stretching the front of the other hip.
I agree as for Zabaleta’s playing, it was very fast and rather light. Not a great tone quality. As for your speed limits, it has a lot to do with practice
I’m certain you are remembering that incorrectly, you should have re-viewed it first before casting any aspersions on it.
People always make their own choices, to be sure. I disagree about whether fingerings only suit certain hands. We all have the same basic equipment. I think the rest is a matter of technical ability and practice methods. My hands are not the same size as Salzedo’s, but given enough time, his fingerings always work. They convey a certain phrasing, but even so, I am able to find my own using them. Same for Miss Lawrence’s fingerings: they may seem awkward at first, but it is always to bring out certain notes that otherwise are lost, or to delineate a phrasing, an articulation or to show which notes belong together. She was very taken with the coming off the strings, not only to aspirate, but to have a fresh attack on the next note, which refreshes the dynamic, the phrase, everything. That is the beauty of having multiple editions of the same works, so we can learn from different artist’s approaches.
I believe it is a rental only item now. It should be in library somewhere. I don’t know anyone local who has a copy.
Lucile Lawrence firmly stated that the hands should never go past the harp’s neck. Slightly in the first octave is unavoidable, but it should never be like an athlete or v for victory. That is not esthetic, that is tasteless.
Not to break up the mystery too much, but there is an appointed leader for each piece, usually the concertmaster, I think, and he sets the tempi and the interpretation, so I think they are really conducted, in essence, but in concert you see them render the prepared interpretation, so it is pat already, rather than spontaneous. That is what I have read about their method of work. In the ’80s their harpist was Heidi Lehwalder.
Now Carl, the key to your conundrum is, you were at Camden when Alice Chalifoux was teaching. She started teaching the low-thumb position to some or many of her students as an expedience to closing faster. Her students, some of them,
It was my understanding that the tuners were already tempered, and that octaves that sound good to us are actually going to veer far too sharp in the top, if I let myself do that, they get sharper and sharper. When I do stretch, it is only the last three strings at top or bottom. From what Mr. Schmidt is describing it sounds as though his harp would be in another key. Can you tell us exactly how many cents you are raising and lowering the pitches by? I would like to try your tuning.
I am old enough to remember when there were only the rare strobotuners, and no portables and we all had to tune by ear, so there is no excuse in my book for not learning to do it. It may just be taking longer than you would think. It took many years for my ears to start remembering pitch. Don’t give up on it just because it doesn’t seem to have been there. Crutches are made to be used as needed, but they remain crutches. And when Peak Oil comes, we’ll have to be ready to go “off the grid” and power free!
