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I forgot to include the Art of Modulating, an important book for not only pedal study, but also wonderful non-pedal solos.
ABC of Harp Playing, Pathfinder Studies, Method for the Harp by Lucile Lawrence and Carlos Salzedo, plus Salzedo’s Tiny Tales and Sketches for Harpist Beginners, which have very nice easy pieces that are musically interesting. I like Betty Paret’s first book, too.
I think the best way to handle that is to have an official tuner who will check each harp between contestants. I know one contestant who lost an important competition because she took the time to re-tune before playing. That kind of thing may not go on anymore, but a contestant has enough on their mind, without having to worry about tuning as well. And that way, they aren’t judged for their tuning, which happened to me once, and it was a regulation issue, anyway.
Make it fun, and read up on child development. The ABC of Harp Playing is geared to very young students. I don’t see risk to the instrument.
There are two challenges: one is having a posture that works both for singing and playing, the other is that you have to be your own accompanist. I watched a video of a very accomplished harpist/singer, and her harp playing was competing with her singing for attention.
When pedal markings are between the staves, they obscure the dynamic, tempo and other expressive markings. Keeping them below the system gives them their own exclusive zone, as well as coordinating visually with the feet. Above the system is the most annoying place, I find.
I have a miniature score of it, from Editons Bizet. It is a very well-written piece that should be quite popular if the music were easily available. I’m surprised there are recordings of it. When you can’t get the music from a dealer or the publisher, then you can turn to music libraries and interlibrary loan.
I have Bow Brand heavy gauge gut strings on my harp. Since they switched from polyurethane coating to Spar (marine varnish), there is virtually no wear and tear, hardly any falseness, and it has been over two years! We all now know that Bow had temporary problems due to their gut supplier, and that was corrected some time ago.
Someone should compare the gauging with Pirastro gut, though I don’t know too many people who can afford those. Sheep gut does seem superior, and I don’t know why it has to be so much more expensive. There are many more sheep than cows, after all…
As for what Lyon & Healy “recommends” for stringing, for most of the 20th century, it was nylon strings in the first and second octaves, with a changeover to gut somewhere in the third octave depending on your harp, and taste. I cannot stand hearing gut strings in the second octave, and especially higher, because you lose so much volume and sustainability. The notes simply don’t last long enough. The lack of overtones contributes to the bass-heavy sound of harps. You need nylon strings to produce enough treble to balance the bass. And only nylon strings give you that “heavenly” quality of sounding like a choir of angels, which is why they were standard stringing. Overtones and aftertones, what rings after playing, are the essence of the sound of the harp. Not playing a string. A guitar can do that. Harps that don’t sustain at all don’t sound like harps.
What we need now are LESS-EXPENSIVE strings. The cost of maintaining a harp has become far too expensive.
