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It can be hard at any age. I know older harpists who are losing work because contractors give a break to the young graduates and try them out, or use them to pay less.
Yes, I practice that same way, it is essential. It also helps to do the supple slide along the strings between the notes, that instantly relaxes the hand. When learning a chord or arpeggio where you place eight notes, it also helps to apply the principle of the first exercise in the Lawrence/Salzedo method, page 8, where you repeat each note you have placed eight times in slow motion; by the time you have done all of the notes, it will be in your muscle memory.
If you don’t like his arrangements, then I would just play something else. His fingerings and voicings are the essence of what he was after. I wondered the same thing and it took a while to find the sources. If you want something by Bach, the Chaconne by Dewey Owens is a masterpiece. There is also the Suite edited by Sioned Williams. I don’t think most Bach sounds well on the harp, it is too heavy and low in register.
I think Handel may have written it. I can’t think of anyone else who could have. The Pastorale, on the other hand, is from a Sonata by J. P. Meyer/Mayer. The copy it was edited from may have bound the unrelated pieces together in one volume, as it was customary for a harpist to have all their music bound together into one book. It was edited by Dewey Owens, and I think its purpose was to create an alternate edition to the Zingel. I have prepared my own realization of it, which I will get around to publishing one of these days. It is possible that there is no original to the work, just as we have none for the sonata by CPE Bach. The “experts” are not so expert when it comes to the harp, so I take their views with a lot of salt. If someone else wrote it, if it was Mayer, it was certainly in the style of Handel, and most effectively so. But the figurations are comparable to those used by Handel in writing for harp, so there are definite musical grounds for its attribution. Further, it doesn’t do us any good to question its origin, we need it as a piece by Handel, so let it be that.
Try Vera Stern, and I think Julia Shaw is in the area, too. Ask Andrew for recommendations. He does have adult pupils.
Of course, Sylvia. One of the reasons I was so happy to study with Lucile Lawrence was that she always emphasized beauty of tone. Not everyone got that message. Power and volume are an issue for orchestral players, but that’s not a stopping point. The looks are a means to an end, they help a beginner develop strength and control. It is not the ending point. I will also say, when using nylon strings, you have to keep your callouses smooth, I have to sand mine, or the tone does get a hard ping to it. I am certain that in Salzedo’s late recordings, that is part of the tone quality you hear, incredibly deep callouses.
If you are composing, then I would look at Salzedo’s cadenza for the Handel Concerto, the cadenza in the Villa Lobos Concerto (though it is extremely long), the Reinecke cadenzas for the Mozart Concerto, Salzedo’s cadenza for the Berezowsky Concerto, the Ginastera Concerto, the Harry Somers Suite… sometimes it’s easier to find bad examples. You need more than just arpeggios and chords or it may sound like an orchestra part. Ravel’s Introduction et Allegro probably has the single most influential cadenza of all.
Yes. But why do you want to do it? These are his personal arrangements. They are not meant to be scholarly. Are you just trying to identify the sources? I think the cover says that they are all from the violin partitas. Some movements are duplicated in other partitas, like for lute.
Yes, they should, but that doesn’t mean it will be the safest way. Perhaps you can ask for extra pay if you do it.
What may be happening is that when you close your fingers you are not completely relaxed and when you open your fingers again you are reaching and stretching against what you have just done with your hand. If you do not move your hand at all after playing, just being still can lead to tension, so you need to be very conscious about releasing all tension, and not letting any translate to the wrist. But you don’t say if it is your right or left hand, and there may be a big difference in what you are doing. Physical problems need physical solutions. Do let your body tell you what to do as well as what not to do. If it continues, you may need to make more changes. Is your wrist touching the soundboard lightly, or resting on it? Putting weight on the wrist is risky. You also have to work harder if you are playing very low on the strings. It’s not just a matter of the shape of your hand. Are you using any side-to-side or rotary movement of your hand-wrist-lower arm to assist in playing patterns? It may also be your practice habits. Every factor enters into it. But the back of the hand in particular acts up if you have tension between the thumb or second finger, and the third or fourth fingers and pinky. The way you are placing, or reaching for intervals may be the issue, and if you have unresolved tension from what you previously played, then reaching will be a strain. Try to play without effort and see what happens.
Ask one question, get many answers, that’s our tradition, and you will also find no matter what you do, someone will criticize it.
I see the Ford Flex as spacious and perhaps ideal, and VW has a very appealling mini-van, but I have my heart set on a second-hand Mercedes station wagon.
