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I tried using ballroom shoes with a Cuban heel, and while the height was okay, it only had a half-way shank, which meant no support for most of my foot, and the soft sole was not an advantage. I wear any kind of Oxford shoe as long as it doesn’t have a wale on the sides. Florsheim used to have a cap-toe Oxford that was just right. Most dress shoes have worked. You want a heel that is at least a half-inch, depending on your proportions, and firm sole with a metal shank will give you the best leverage on the pedal. For some reason, when I wear loafers, they tend to slip off the pedal with a bang, otherwise, they’d be fine. It’s sad that Capezio took over Organmasters, because they always lower the quality. I used to wear Taffy’s jazz oxfords and they were perfect. But Capezio does have all widths, I think, so look at their jazz Oxfords. If his width is more than EE it may be a problem, maybe pedal extenders would help as the width would be slightly wider then.
If you are the soloist, you should be the one establishing the tempo, you need to tell the conductor just what you need. En animant means, not so much animated, as it does “lit from within,” according to an expert I consulted. What Debussy indicated is a flexible tempo that rises and falls, but what Renie decided should be more conventional accelerando or immediate changes of tempo. Traditionally, harpists have been following her indications, though they sometimes make it more difficult. I have been making my own edition from the original and have found easier pedalings and fingerings as a result. Yes, 152 is extremely fast, and you have to remember that what composers here in their head is an ideal that omits the effort required to produce the notes. If I remember correctly, Salzedo’s tempo choice was either 104 or 120 for the second dance, I’d have to go look at it.
The most concise, economical and effective method book is the Lawrence/Salzedo Method, which has several pages of most-effective and simple exercises which will build your strength. After that, his Conditioning Exercises are superb for strengthening. The LaRiviere Exercises are exhaustive, literally, so are the Payr. I find others to be insufficient.
It sounds constrained to me, like the finish is too thick, so it is not letting the sound get out, a pinched quality. Whether it would open up in time, I can’t tell. I wouldn’t say it is a typical sound for a new harp.
When I do stretched tuning, I gradually work up to a five-cent increase at the top and bottom, also allowing for the pitches to flatten while playing. Miss Lawrence did not specify how much, but suggested taking pitch from a well-tuned piano (tuners were a brand-new item at that time). I didn’t like the stretch on the Peterson strobe, but I don’t like using their strobes at all, I find them misleading. I think it’s like cream, if you like it sweet, tune exactly to pitch, if you like sour cream, stretch the tuning. One advantage is that it extends the range of the harp and can give a bigger sound in the bass.
Carl, who makes your heavy-gauge wire strings for you? I use Bow Brand heavy-gauge gut strings, and they are superb. I used to use heavy-gauge nylon strings from Pirastro, but now they only have medium-gauge, which are hard to keep in tune.
If you are performing with a piano accompaniment, you have to tune to the piano.
Stretched tuning is like sour cream. If you prefer sweet cream, then tune to the tuner. But if you want your harp to sound larger and more complex, stretch. It does increase the range by, say, ten cents more at the top and bottom.
The problem with strobe tuners is that they may focus on the first overtone rather than the fundamental, and the first overtone, or harmonic, is not the same interval as an octave. I prefer Korg tuners because they either offer the slow, medium and fast response of the meter, or a clear dial so you can easily tune five cents more, as they have a mark for every five cents up to twenty cents.
The other reason for stretching the treble notes is, if you use nylon strings, they will flatten as you play.The quality of wood that was available was of the best possible, and the quality of workmanship was high as well. But it also depends on what you expect from a harp. Lyon & Healy has made many improvements over the years, and their harps are much more consistent now. The oldest harps also seem so great because there were periods of much-lower quality as in the 1960s.
The other pieces on the list may provide a clue. If they are mostly easy, it might be the one in Medieval to Modern, or it might be Le Garcon Volage, which he published in two different versions. Not having a complete title or information is a clue to the quality of the list, in my thinking. Especially when Bochsa wrote hundreds of rondos.
The pinkies are part of playing and the more conscious you are of that, the more control over them you should have. They help the 4th finger close and open, and control the relaxation of that part of the hand. If you close your fourth finger without closing your fifth, it immediately creates stress and tension.
What is sad is that no one seems to perform his bigger work for harp, not more difficult, but longer, called La Del Alba Seria, which is extremely beautiful and satisfying. As much fun as Apunte Baetico is, by Gombeau-Guerra, it, too, seems to have dropped off the map, and it is very technically accessible. Viejo Zortzico, on the other hand, can get rather tiresome after hearing it played for the 150th time.
The style 4 uses design elements of the venerable style 16, one of which is currently for sale on vaharpcenter.com.
If you sand your callouses, you will simply remove them. Oiling is what I find builds them up. But if you take a month off, and then plunge into major playing, you are likely to get some blisters afterward no matter what. If you don’t, you’re lucky, and use Nivea creme or Moisture balm every night to reinforce your callouses, and avoid soap on them. I believe Salzedo used to tour with a Clark Irish harp so he could practice on the train.
