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While a pasted-on smile can easily look strained when things get difficult, one’s expression is a big part of your impact on the audience. One should practice with a mirror, and when you know a piece well enough to watch your face instead of your hands, it would be quite instructive. You should definitely smile through errors. It’s gracious and puts people at ease. I, personally, cannot stand a cold performer. Consider what you radiate.
There are many balance issues that must be addressed. Moreover, as a chamber concerto, the harp must project over all the instruments. So it should really be in front, with the instruments in a semi-circle behind, or a straight line. I prefer breaking up the strings because if they think as a quartet or section, they mass their sound, which drowns out everyone else. So I would try the flute and clarinet in the middle. It also depends which instrumentalist would lead that group. If the flutist is the dominant player, then that person should sit at the end. It also depends on the hall’s acoustics, so it is ideal to have someone listen in the seats and make adjustments. The instrumentalists could be in a circle, a line or a wedge, or a cluster.
What does not work is to have the harp facing sideways, behind the instruments, or in the middle but not forward. It is not a septet, as the others are fond of calling it. The harp has the solo passages, the cadenzas. It’s not a piece of chamber music in that sense. It is a concerto, it was written to show off the harp.
Not the flute, or strings, even if their parts are gorgeous. They should play rather delicately, as it is impressionist music. I heard a group play it on youtube like it was, well it was just loud. And Ravel should not sound loud.You can play Ravel’s Introduction et Allegro as a harp-and-piano duet, and Alice Giles did a wonderful recording with several interesting pieces on it. The Salzedo Sonata is a masterpiece, and the crowning jewel of that repertoire. It is very difficult, but not impossible, for the harp, anyway. It’s quite rewarding. I’m sure you’ll find more pieces in the catalogs. My program with piano was the Debussy Danses, the Salzedo Sonata, the Ravel, and the Berezowsky Concerto, with a few solos to open with.
With time and practice, you should be able to see more at one time, it’s how much you can take in and process. Eventually, you will be able to see a whole bar at one time, both hands.
I think it makes a lot of sense for you to look for smaller harps, particularly ones that are less tell. You want to be able to reach comfortably in all directions, and avoid long-term injury. You can play most music on a semi-grand harp. Even on a 44-string harp. The older harps had more smaller styles, too. You should try them out.
I would like to hear someone play the pieces for harp by Dean Roush. And the Sonate by Houdy, which used to be quite popular. I don’t think I’m ever going to commit to memorizing it.
I’ll just say you should have NO noticeable tension when playing the harp, ever. I would say that pivoting just transfers tension to the thumb.
I think I said this before, as she clearly stated the upper strings are NOT the issue! You can learn to reach an octave automatically where you can see the strings, so you can reach down from the one an octave above. With a lot of practice, this should become natural to you. I don’t know if it would help, but maybe a colored postit on the sounding board at the position of the string could guide you?
A good harp does not need frequent servicing. You can learn to change the pedal felts on your own. Even minor regulation. What area are you in? I would recommend, as money is an issue, a second-hand Lyon & Healy harp of a smaller size, like a 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, etc., if it is in good condition, as it will always be useful to have and have rental or resale value if needed. If you shoot for the moon and buy a full-size concert grand now it would be great, but then she may never have another harp besides it. Another option would be Venus, which has some very nice models. You will of course, have to change strings yourselves. Basic maintenance skills are a necessary part of being a harpist.
I didn’t know I would major in music until my sophomore year. It’s not easy to know sometimes. Can you ever imagine your life without playing your harp? Do you feel like you have the talent, the drive and the resources to make it your life? You can study music and go on to another profession in graduate school. But you can’t replace these years for studying music, ever. How much have you studied so far? How advanced are you? What level of school are you likely to get into? Have you played for any advanced teachers? What does your teacher think? You should aim as high as you can, maybe higher if you underestimate yourself. You should have the best teacher and school that is possible. If you just want to enjoy the harp, then pick a school with majors that allow you enough time for lessons and practice, ie. not a science or studio arts.
There were schools I might have attended, but I never even tried because I didn’t know what was possible. One can work one’s way up step-by-step, but it is much harder nowadays than it used to be. So better to commit to music now. Can you live with it or without it? Try reading the Harvard Dictionary of Music (all of it) and see how interesting it is. That will tell you something.So, here’s an idea for a flight of stairs. Get a few gym mats, the kind made of ground latex about an inch thick, and lay them down, or a lot of old quilts. Carry the harp, but know you can set it down on each step if needed, or when needed, and it won’t get damaged. That’s more or less how they moved my piano out.
