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It’s not just a matter of position, but how you move in it. How do your fingers move? Do they close with force or ease? In a full arc or partial? How much tension is in your mind? It is hard to be relaxed when anxious. I have always had trouble with my thumbs due to repeated injuries from volleyball playing. It has taken many steps to improve their condition, but the threnar tissues will apparently always be sensitive. I recommend seeing a radiologist for an investigational ultrasound to literally see the actual condition of all your soft tissues. It could be caused by something unseen. Tennis elbow can be felt in one place, but caused by a pocket of inflammation higher up. Problems in your lower arm can be caused by the shoulder. And you are limited in what you can do with tendons in a state of inflammation. It can also be the lining around the tendons. Ultrasound is amazing in what it reveals, and that will indicate the best treatment. I can’t say anymore without seeing you. If that were possible, I would love to try to help.
The best teachers are still not always sensitive enough or experienced enough. The players who do not experience injuries may not know enough of them to help.
I see quite a few harpists play with their hands flat on the strings, fingers up, but instead of being relaxed, and closing their fingers down, they only pluck at the strings with the tips, leaving the other fingers tensed and pinching the back of the hand. I can’t imagine playing in that position and not causing injuries. Playing has to follow the natural pathways of the body to be effective. Playing notes with 2 or 3, and having the other fingers tensed up or curled up also looks like a cause of problems. Glissing with one finger only, the others clenched up is again a source of tension. Tension in the back of the hand is the worst thing.I believe it is possible to let your body tell you how to move in the way that will be better for it, if you listen to it, rather than forging ahead in the usual way. My teacher, Lucile Lawrence, always said that to change a habit, you had to do it in the new way at least 100 times, and going back to old music learned the old way will undo the change. So to change effectively, you must learn new music until you are very secure, and then re-learn very consciously your old music in the new way.
I think one can develop “overuse” injuries in any method, just by the sheer number of hours we play. Stretching is helpful, but most of all, strength building, I suspect. Lifting weights gives us an over-capacity that should protect us.
And etudes, yes Carl, etudes, can provide the time in which to develop better habits, provided you can find one that will give the right focus. I don’t know if I can do it, but we really do need a modern book of etudes that will cover all patterns and technical difficulties with equality in both hands. That will be quite a feat, especially to make them concert-worthy. I have a few, but certainly not all needed. If I ever got an assistant, we could revise a lot of the Bochsa etudes to work both hands. If someone wants to volunteer to do the copying, I will be happy to work with them.Tendonitis is an inflammation. Rest and anti-inflammatory medications or treatments are the first step. Then, correction of playing begins. When an injury occurs because of the way you move or don’t move, then you must change how you move. If you move too little, you must move more. If you move in a way that is not helpful or is harmful, then you must find the way that is helpful.
It does not take much effort to play the harp when you move in a proper way and have enough strength. Younger players in particular like tension because they can feel it and know what they are doing. To play naturally and effortlessly can be confusing because it is less defined what you are doing. At least until you learn to distinguish that.
So, there is much that can be done to reduce effort tension, and that will improve your tone quality. And that is a foundation of my teaching.
That is a great idea, only wouldn’t you need many of them? How do you get the threaded rod? Does one come with the wheel chocks? I have several ideas for useful solutions, if someone wants to manufacture them. I have the same problems, living in a second-floor walk-up apartment. I would love for someone mechanical to contact me to manufacture some products for this common problem.
Lyra Music had it when I bought it, unless someone gave it to me, and they are usually the source for unusual pieces.
That link is no longer valid. When using sibelius, under plug-ins, other, insert harp pedaling, will automatically create a pedal diagram in the wrong place, but you can drag it where you want it.
That is a very thoughtful list, Patricia. I have tried to work on a workshop or course for composers, but it is a huge task, and they don’t come asking for it until the last minute.I seem to remember you playing the Spanish Dance no. 2 from La Vida Breve by Da Falla extremely well. Unless you are someone other than who I am thinking of.
Eight minutes covers most major solo works for harp! Salzedo showpieces up to that length include: Recessional (on my youtube channel)
Scintillation, Ballade, Variations with the short ending (yecch), a group of Short Stories, Liszt Paraphrase, Christmas Paraphrases, the Preludes, Etudes, off the top of my head. He has a lot of great short pieces too, several of which are on my channel. Harpmusic by Saul Davis Zlatkovski.
Other showy pieces on my list would be the Faure Impromptu,
my favorite short piece is the Prokofiev Prelude, and then there is Danza de la Pastora by Halffter, a killer.
One should always have an encore or two ready to play anytime, because people will ask. And criticize if it’s not perfect.
I like the Saint-Saens Fantaisie, currently, because it includes lots of rests, and is a good introduction to the sound of the harp.The larger wheels are not large enough to help that much, and it is very hard on the back to be above it, lifting the harp up each step. You are better off laying a rug over the steps, taking it off the dolly, and hauling it up. With a rug down, if you stop to put the base down and rest, it won’t be hurt. And you’ll avoid damaging the point.
What will hurt is if you suddenly bring it back up to pitch all at once. You have to do that gradually.
Lyon & Healy, from what I recently heard, has two spacings in use, the normal one dating back fifty years or so, and a narrower one recently adopted, so you have to check carefully. If they no longer have the templates they need to make wide-spaced harps, that is terrible, because harpists who can easily reach a tenth need wide spacing in the sixth and seventh octave so the strings don’t hit each other.
Many people would envy being able to be in beautiful Greece, even if it is presently a poor place. There are professional harpists there, of course, like Theodor Matoulas and Maria Bildea, to name just two. You have been through trauma, no doubt, but you must take a positive attitude and you will get ahead, and if not, at least you will feel better.
That was published by UME, which is part of Music Sales Group, so you should be able to buy it from Vanderbilt, or Musicroom.com, or Sheetmusicplus or one of those big dealers.
I did find the Moreno-Buendia through interlibrary loan. I was surprised to find it is not a difficult part. I finally got the Montsalvatge Variations at a great cost from Spain, to find the piece was not worth the trouble.
Meanwhile, I have been composing much music in the Spanish genre, which I hope to publish in the coming year.A change in color is due to use, I think, reaction to your oils, but tarnish on silver strings is black, and green on copper strings. If the sound hasn’t changed, don’t worry. And change strings once a year.
