Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
My peeves would be people who think a harp solo recital would be boring, people who don’t go, even though they love the harp, and most of all, the harpists who don’t go.
I think we need to develop an association of harp lovers, not harpists, of people who will go to harp events for the love of it. Like a fan club. Considering that it is the favorite instrument of most people, I don’t understand why they don’t go.
I think it would, as lutes tend to have a very soft, intimate sound, and don’t project the way a guitar can. I have heard a guitar drown out a harp, but not a lute.
When it isn’t me, which is most of the time, it is Salzedo, followed by Faure, Hindemith, Debussy, Ravel, and I have a new favorite, the Canadian composer, Milton Barnes. His harp music is first-rate.
I don’t know, but playing through lighting changes and a blackout is plenty disconcerting in itself! In playing the original production of The Fantasticks in New York, there was a blackout just before the Moonlight cue, and you have to remember to place the notes before the blackout, or you are in trouble starting to play. And one memorable time, I forgot that there was a blackout coming. Quite a little scandal ensued.
Carlos Salzedo did magical things with folk music, and Dewey Owens is my next favorite, especially his Irish tunes.
Eligible to be listed, yes, but that doesn’t mean they get listed, there is not enough space for all that are released. American String Teacher publishes a few reviews twice a year. That’s nowhere near the amount that gets published, though.
P.S., that this video even exists is a miracle. It was the only surviving portion of a tape among many that were destroyed while in storage, so I was told.
Carl, your criticism is so unwarranted, it is hard to believe. If you don’t like Mr. Layne’s teaching, you can create your own video showing us your expertise. I have probably seen hundreds of harpists play in the position he describes, so I don’t know where you have been all these years. And given the amount of dreck posted on YouTube, we should be grateful.
If you or others don’t care to play that way, so what? Drawing a clear distinction between different types of playing is a natural way of teaching, and it is necessary when you are teaching a student to play with their arm elevated because, without strength or understanding of the concept, most students will let their elbow drop. And playing with the elbow completely down does tend to cause it to “flop around” when you are moving very actively. Salzedo’s technique developed as a progression from traditional French playing, as he was
I could see Steven Sametz’s Angelus being played a lot.
I was thinking about this today, and whether there is a sufficient need for a harp publication that is solely a review of music.
