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Since you already got paid, why don’t you tell them you will re-record it, and they can play the recording when they walk the aisle.
I don’t recomment it. It doesn’t protect the neck, which is the vulnerable part of the harp. One time I moved my harp that way, and I had a terrible time tuning it after. I believe the bouncing and jiggling causes the neck to torque. I would only do it if the harp was fully braced or in a case or frame. If you can brace it securely with padding to the side of the van, that is okay. And the cover is not enough padding by itself.
The issue is who did the restoration work and the quality of their work, as well as the quality of the original instrument.
I played on an exceedingly dead square-back 30 while in school. The corners were awkward, and I could not use my knees to support it, so all the weight was on my shoulder. There were good ones, too, of course.
There are slight differences between models, but sometimes it is just the quality of the wood. I would recommend getting a natural finish instrument, not ebony. And if they will give you a glossy finish rather than matte, even if a special order, it is worth it.Placing is the cure for buzzing. Even finger action is the source of evenness. Take lessons more often. Talk to your teacher first and foremost. It is unfair to your teacher to go to all sorts of strangers for advice.
You can alternate fingers. You can use the 3d finger in much the same way as the second. Increasing the oil helps support the skin, so use something lanolin based like bag balm, just wash clean before playing. Don’t apply a lot of pressure with the fingers yet when playing. Your skin will get used to this. But stop if it reddens, you don’t want to get a blister.
One excellent teacher would be Faye Seeman in Chicago, and have you considered Danis Kelly in Milwaukee? Or Joan Holland in Michigan? I would be happy to meet with you when I am in Minneapolis.
Lyon & Healy once published a guide to the Troubador Harp that had an excellent graded repertoire list. I wish I could locate my copy. They should republish it.
Dear Sylvia, it maybe that the person you studied with didn’t understand the method or communicated it poorly, because it should not be awkward or strange. It is natural and clearly conceived. It is relaxed.
I think that it is interesting that in Salzedo’s Tiny Tales, in the first piece he wrote for beginners, there is NO placing. Rather than allow a student to develop a false sense of security from placing and holding or grabbing onto strings, he has the student become comfortable with the air and with finding strings. What a great idea. I tell students, there is NO security in playing the harp, ever, and the sooner you become comfortable with that, the better off you are.
Raising comes from the shoulder and especially the muscles under the shoulderblade, so the lower arm and biceps and hand can indeed relax while raising. And relaxation helps the harp to resonate more, and removing the hand and arm from the vicinity of the string just played allows the soundwaves to escape and project more easily, and the continuous movement from playing to raising does indeed help sustain the note played. The sound and tone are definitely influenced by what you do after playing. I wonder what Bochsa had in mind when he wrote “vibrato” by a chord…
Raising has indeed been adopted internationally by concert harpists, only mostly with the left hand, while the right hand doesn’t quite know what to do except hang around doing nothing, which really says a lot to the audience. Imagine a pianist who only moved their left arm in the air and the right hand never left the keyboard.
I understand that in early 19th century methods, perhaps it is Cousineau, he instructs the harpist to have the right arm NOT touch the harp. Perhaps Salzedo only rediscovered an existing tradition.
The Salzedo Method written by Lucile Lawrence comes from his teaching in the decades in which they worked (and lived) together, not later. The use of wrist does differ slightly between students of Miss Lawrence and Miss Chalifoux. Chalifoux emphasized wrist movement when coming off the string. Miss Lawrence used it but not as much, except when trilling, or playing octaves, and such.
The point of teaching is to help the student improve. Not teaching them something that would be helpful is doing the student a disservice. It is better, in my mind, to completely represent a particular esthetic approach to the harp than to mix and muddle. As one grows, one naturally develops beyond what one is taught.
Adults can be difficult to teach, as some are impervious to improvement.
And Carl, next time you are in Philadelphia, I will be happy to spend some time with you showing you how it is all really meant to work. It sounds like you have gotten the wrong impression, is all.There are some harpists in Europe who can probably help you. Claudia Valsi is in Freiburg, Germany; Judit Kadar in Berlin, Catherine White in London, to name a few. Floraleda Sacchi in Italy had some studies with Alice Chalifoux.
By the way, his name is Grandjany, and it is NOT pronouned Grand-ja-nay. It is Grand-ja-nee. I think if we study 19th century harp methods, we will find some of the same differences occurring then. Conflicts between schools of playing are an inherently French tradition! The French harp tradition has a few schools of playing, but the piano tradition has many! Just imagine that.
I have played it both ways. I see the logic of assuming Glinka was writing the sounding pitches and adding the characterization of sons harmoniques, rather than using a harpist’s notation of sons harmoniques. Another solution is to play the earlier version of the piece which does not have that variation at all.
