Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I always have to practice it with the metronome. For it to be completely rhythmic, as it must be, you must practice it, four groups to each half-note. In addition to practicing it slowly, I would also practice it fast but in a slow tempo with space between each set. 2121
Yes, it took about 45 minutes for my toes to stop being numb when I got back to my dorm. Young people can be kind of dumb. Thankfully, Minnesotans know what frostbite is, so I managed to just avoid it.
As Miss Lawrence always said, it always goes back to position and action. If your fingertips are low on the strings and your thumb is high, then it is no great difficulty to cross over or under if you allow your lower arm to rotate as you do it. If you have your hand scrunched up, or don’t close your fingers all the way, then you will find it very difficult. But it is one of the hardest things we have to do.
For me, a tuner has to be a light, individual piece of equipment with an electric cord, and it should be very padded so if it falls on the harp it won’t ding it, or get damaged. I would like to have an oscilloscope function with the analysis of wave shape possible on them. I am used to having a needle show me the pitch. I need to know how many cents it is sharp or flat. I like Korg tuners for that. I don’t like strobe displays. I would be interested in helping you, but I am not putting a computer by my harp.
We also need to be able to regulate the pitch, is it a=440 or do we need it higher or lower? It is all the more useful if it is also a complex metronome, one less piece of equipment. I also like my Korg because it has temperament settings, not that I use them.
Dewey Owens has a nice book of pieces in twelve different pedal settings, but they have no pedal changes. Le Bon Petit Roi d’Yvetot by Grandjany is a good one because you get to use enharmonics. The Lawrence/Salzedo Method is excellent because the Preludes gradually introduce the use of pedals until one is very proficient.
That is really weird, I didn’t have that dream. I lived it.
Just kidding. I have had it many times. Since I moved to Philadelphia, it usually involves subbing with the Philadelphia Orchestra in some odd old building in the campus district, unknowing what will be played, and being given a square harp to play, or one with strings along the top that go sideways, and no pedals. I have also subbed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at old Carnegie Hall in a bathrobe, or at Radio City Music Hall.
I believe that the Royal Albert Hall does not require amplification, because the audience is sitting all around the orchestra, and the nature of its acoustics are such that all can hear. I have read many descriptions of concerts over the years there, and none mentioned any difficulty in hearing. Some halls are just that wonderful.
Great Britain is not that big of a place, I can’t believe there are no harp teachers within a two-hour journey of where you are. We all make a great effort to learn this instrument. I used to travel an hour-and-a-half in utterly bitter arctic cold, both ways, to have my harp lesson. I nearly lost my toes to frostbite, but I went anyway. (I’m actually not kidding. The winter of 1976-7 had from November to March temperatures no higher than 20 below zero Fahrenheit the entire time.)
I think that people who are hiring a musician (or any other service, for that matter) have a reasonable expectation that they are hiring an adult. Experience is not the only issue. I think it is a bit false if it is not disclosed that they are hiring a student, regardless of how much or how little experience. I do think, adamantly, that a student must charge significantly less than a professional, not to undercut them, but out of respect. A teenager who has been playing for years is still a teenager, and not self-supporting. It should be a very clear distinction to the client, if they have to be cheap, they have to know what they are getting. But it’s the same for basically amateur adults to work as “fully-fledged”
That’s where placement is so important. The harp must not have other instruments and bodies in front of it as they absorb the sound.
I don’t like the Gliere Concerto at all, but Gretchen Van Housen’s performance of it is compelling, and the Moreno-Buendia Suite is perhaps a masterpiece. Zabaleta was very good in the classical and Baroque concerti, and it hasn’t been on cd for some odd reason, but his recordings of the Saint-Saens, Tailleferre and Ginastera Concerti is wonderful. I really like Cambreling’s recording of the Milhaud Concerto. Laskine did wonders with the Pierne, Jolivet and some other concerti.
