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I don’t think anything that absorbs sound, like cotton, is good to put at the end of the string. They dull the sound of the harp. I also would not use glue, ever, because sometimes you have to re-tie or untie the knot. I think that is why we use that strange loop knot, because it can be undone and retied.
It is interesting that in some Verdi operas, the harp parts are only in one act, or are just one solo passage. He was merciful to us!
Kalmus only prints public domain music, as far as I know, so I am surprised if they are not all on imslp, but perhaps no one has wanted to upload them. We are not a high priority for nonharpists, as we know.
Yes, thank you, Carl. I have not done an investigation yet, but I suspect many of the corrections, if not all, are in the Salzedo edition. Only I think it may have been forgotten that they were corrections, not editions.
I suspect that Damase played the harp himself, as the patterns and notation definitely consistently fit one way of playing. And in a recent photo, a well-maintained looking harp was right behind him. His mother may have passed well before he wrote that piece, and everything else he has done for harp. Or else he learned how she played, what was comfortable and went from there, or as likely, how Lily Laskine played. I tried editing the Sonata, and found I could not alter much except using enharmonics and changing a few patterns, without disturbing the music. It is as it is, very strongly in character.
What I want to know is, was his mother Jewish? How did they, or he, survive the war?No, you should not dictate how to break up the chord, only say molto arpeggiato or use a very wide squiggle. But unless the chord has a fermata or takes up a measure, it should only be eight notes. A player will not want to have to jump one hand unless there is nothing in the next bar. You can also write out the notes as an arpeggio or as grace notes before the beat. If there is space to write in our fingering, it is much appreciated.
If you listen to Zabaleta, he did a few arpeggios. You can use the chord written. I would be interested in seeing what you did.
I just found a note to that effect, but didn’t realize that was one and the same. He used to call his service Boxcar. But know that, even though they are used to moving harps, it doesn’t mean they are gentle or pad them well in the van.
My advice to a composer is, never rely on software to compose, especially the playback. It will lead you to write unplayable music. Learn about the harp, listen to harp music, and use your ears, your intuition, and the knowledge you gain. Study harp scores. That is the best way to learn. The playback is completely misleading, being automated.
I had a green harp that belonged to the public schools. It was a Washburn, and it had been painted locker green, like pea soup, and they painted the sounding board brown, killing all the sound in the process. Only some pedals worked. Still I used it to practice.
ASTA has a competition with a harp category, that is a good place to get experience. There may be local ones for soloing with orchestras to look into.
