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That is the problem with competitions. Rewarding technical ability over artistry is and has been destructive to classical music for a long time now. Performing is about artistry, not accomplishment, and if artistic talents don’t thrive in competitions, then we need a different format altogether.
I don’t see why you are doing a blog. I never presumed to have advice for others until I finished studies. Gathering information that is helpful would make sense, but documenting your process seems like attention gathering. I wouldn’t spend time on it. The fact that you play as musically as you do is a great asset, a great compliment to your teachers who instilled that in you. Technical security comes from, in my experience, a teacher who knows how to give it, who gives you tools, a comprehensive understanding and vision of what a fine technique is, how it works, what it does, an understanding of the harpistic medium, and many, many hours of repetition and most importantly, exercises. That’s why it takes five hours of daily practice for several years to get there. And likely more to prepare a big repertoire list. Israel contestants I knew of did more like seven hours a day. I hope you will become a well-known performer when you are ready, because I think you have much of what you need to do that.
Well it sounds to me like you are great friends, or could be, you just need to learn how to listen to or accomodate each other. Express your feelings and see what happens. After all, being opinionated is not a bad thing. You should learn how to handle other people’s opinions without feeling hurt.
There are many things worth commenting on there. The most important aspect of preparation, apart from practicing and memorizing, and developing a real interpretation would be practice performing a sufficient number of times. When that is not possible, there are a few additional ways I have devised to help make one’s performance indestructible:
Playing with many distractions going on
Playing in the dark
Playing with your eyes closed
Playing in odd clothing and shoes
Playing naked
Playing on videotape for scrutiny
Playing for sound recording
Playing pieces backwards
Developing a visual memory of each piece
As to why compete, I don’t know. It really distorts your life. Are the prizes worth it? Is losing worth it? It is good experience for performing and competing. It can also be destructive. My teacher always held it was best to simply perform recitals, preferably where one can get reviewed. Competitions do not seem to support artistry. Having something to say, something worth saying, in a compelling way is necessary to merit an audience’s interest. I think any jury would be relieved to hear greatly musical playing as opposed to yet another technical whirlwind. Get beyond the notes.
It is better to use the second harp to double the first harp when not playing very much than to forego it. It is not really up to the conductor, but the composer and the audience. Of course, the conductor and manager mind the budget, but a second harp adds more dimension to an orchestra than one more violin. But who listens to us?
Certainly not the Gliere. The Debussy Danses or the Ravel Introduction et Allegro certainly could have a spot, or the Faure Impromptu or several other pieces. The most likely would be the Ginastera Concerto. But no, ordinary people are still unacquainted with the harp, sad to say.
I don’t think the harp will have a great effect compared to taking vitamin D. It will be soothing, comforting and give you something interesting to do, all of which are good, but the only things I know of that affect SAD are bright light and vitamin D.
What is challenging also, is to play the harp with lots of color, to balance the loud piano playing. The notes overlap a lot, so getting the harp to really ring out fully is vital to success. Metaphor is playable, but what got me was the Moonlight cue, which was during a blackout, and you had to have your fingers placed before the blackout in order to begin.
The Basques are a distinct ethnic group with a unique language. I don’t know what their religion would be, but it would not be Jewish. Salzedo’s family were Spanish and Portuguese Jews who moved to southern France to escape the Inquisition. The families are Salzedo and Silva, both distinguished names with long histories. While he had a mystical identification with the number five, the origin is unknown to me. He certainly may have adopted Basque culture quite naturally from his nanny. Losing his mother so young had to have had quite an impact on his life. I think that using the 5/4 meter, however natural to him, was another way to be a distinctive, modern composer, as no other composer used it so frequently or so well. Salzedo is the only composer I have seen whose 5/4 cannot be divided into groups of 2 and 3. It is whole, like the prime number it is.
How extraordinary it is to be so close in life to a composer as to have first-hand information on how to play his music. Imagine how pianists hunger to have that on Chopin. I would like to know which European harpists have a sufficient background, aside from those who trained extensively here. For some reason, few Salzedo-trained harpists ever lived in Europe, except for the years Alice Giles spent in Germany, and two students of Lucile Lawrence I know of who live there.
Most, if not all, harpists play the ornaments as published, the appoggiaturas beginning before the beat. This is not correct to Spohr’s period. Music publishers in the 19th century are notorious for changing the ornaments or writing them incorrectly. The on-the-beat ornament is far more expressive, which is its purpose. The turns in the fast passages can be played 1232, which flows into the following notes without repeating the first note which you would be doing if you played 21231, and that doesn’t flow.
To practice ornaments, play a series of them slowly, many times and/or up and down the harp, then play them as part of the line. They must be very clear, very facile, and very melodic as well as rhythmic. The trills definitely must start on the upper auxiliary, in my opinion, and that way they finish rhythmically and lead right into the following melody. I mostly play them as 64th notes, is that hemi-demi-semi-quavers? I have yet to hear another harpist play this piece with “correct” ornamentation. It is not romantic music, it is very classical, just like a Mozart Fantaisie or earlier composers. Spohr was not a radical composer. I have done a lot of study of ornamentation.
