Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I’m running through all kinds of things, thinking about the future. Today I was in love with Deux Pieces by Robert Casadesus, and the Ballade by Damase for harp and strings.
http://www.pentacle-thebook.com
I’m waiting, too! It should be ready soon.
Oils are risky because they soak in, and can ooze out while playing, leading to greasy strings. Bag balm and the cream I mentioned are very absorbable.
Harp Connection has a truly great 23 for sale right now. They are calling it Bionic.
Wouldn’t it be better if you bit your nails? Biting the part you need is not helpful. You don’t need a break. The skin is always growing. You can use a lotion with urea to help shed the old skin. If the skin is bothering you because it is tight, the lotion may help. I prefer nivea soft now, or bag balm, but my skin is soft to begin with. Yours might be hard. You may be practicing too loud too much of the time. A Russian harpist I know did that and had hard surfaces to her callouses. You could sand most of them off, then rebuild them carefully, with no glissandi until they are strong.
Wire strings start to dull around six months.
I use my printed ASCAP and BMI catalogs. Unfortunately, their websites are not yet searchable by instrumentation.
I would like you to investigate all the manuscripts of Prokofiev to see just how many pieces he wrote for harp. Don Henry once hinted to me that there was another one yet unpublished, so he must have seen it somewhere.
You could write a thesis about the Concerto for Harp by Boris Tishchenko.
You could write a thesis about the Russian elements in the Concerto for Harp by Nicolai Berezowsky.
You could search for other historic harp music in the libraries. You could write about the symbolic role of the harp in Tchaikovsky’s ballets, operas and symphonic music.
You could write about the influence of the Party on the lives of harpists in the early 20th century, how they were affected by the Revolution, or the lives they lived under
Being positive is highly overrated. Especially after a bad experience, there is nothing like a well-placed barb. We all need
My harp’s name was revealed to me as I watched the phenomenal Erica Goodman perform upon it: Scintillation. Three people have performed Scintillation on my harp: Heidi Lehwalder, Erica Goodman, and me. Pretty good.
My cure is doing lots of LaRiviere-type exercises: every possible fingering pattern. It ends up toning and relaxing the fingers very much, so they are much more comfortable doing more. Any pattern you play in a piece, if you have done it thoroughly in an exercise, it is much easier to play.
Well, there are different types of hand-breakers, as you put it. For length, it would be Daquin’s Le Coucou. For athletics, it would be Salzedo’s Ballade or Recessional. For gymnastics, it would be Salzedo’s Variations. For endurance, it would be his “(Flight)”. For sheer speed, his Whirlwind. For performance, it would be the Pescetti Sonata or the Harmonious Blacksmith. For all of the above, it would be the Sonata by C.P.E. Bach. And then there is Halffter’s Danza de la Pastora, in a class by itself.
