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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.
There are definitely chords that are possible and chords that are not. The orchestra parts by Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Debussy are generally fine examples. If you keep in touch with me, I can let you know when my course on composing for harp is finished.
It was on the Nonesuch label, and is not in print. It will probably come out on cd in several years. It is called Scintillation, The Music of Carlos Salzedo. It is truly phenomenal. It will never be equalled. Her incredible recording with the Orpheus Trio is fortunately available on Vanguard Classics.
By the way, it was Heidi who basically introduced the Ginastera Concerto to the world, performing it with virtually every major and minor orchestra in North America for years. It was performed more often than any other work by Ginastera in 1985. Every orchestral harpist played it, I think, or just about.
If you could get the message out, somehow, that they need to start at age 12, not later, that might help. If it’s any consolation, harp students here are often the same.
Yes, music stores are a logical place. There are very few around Philadelphia, some in the suburbs. The main ones closed. As far as I know, I am on a referral list nearby, but have never been called.
There are also teachers who specialize in exposure rather than teaching. Giving frequent performing opportunities, being a promoter-personality type seems to help. Then there are teachers who are part of a “feeder network” to a famous teacher. So those are two examples, one of network placement, and one of personality type. If one is shy, contemplative, or self-deprecating, to name a few characteristics, you are likely to have a harder time than someone who is extroverted, outgoing, ebullient, at least initially. Then, there are the personality types of students and parents and how that enters into the interaction, not to mention community expectations, and above all else, location, location, location.
A teacher told me, in this area, a parent cannot drive their child more than perhaps ten miles to a lesson because traffic is so bad, it would take an hour to go further. So that certainly has an impact. Philadelphia probably has fewer freeways than any other city, basically two, and one peripheral, where other cities usually have twice that, it seems.
And how much does luck play into it, or how nicely your studio or house is decorated, things like that?
Even having the perfect student who should be able to draw in others may not always work.
In some cases, success does breed success, but not consistently, I suspect.
To me, You Tube is a problem in that there is not much context given. While you may be told where a performance took place, it is up to you to figure out if this is a student or professional or amateur, or phony, and of what degree of accomplishment. That’s not always apparent. Particularly when people post instructional clips, regardless of their ability to instruct or demonstrate. No explanations are required, so how can one really know, except by instinct?
There are also larger cultural issues. When I was young, I was exposed to a lot of flamenco performers, most of whom were not Spanish Gypsies. In order to become accepted, legitimate performers within the Flamenco community, they had to abandon themselves to it, give up their culture and persona, and absorb the Flamenco culture and develop a new persona within it, and if talented, they found a new voice authentically part of that culture. Japanese people were adept at this, apparently because of characteristics in Japanese culture. Also being an American, but of a different culture, I was aware of the difference. And being an American classical musician, working in European culture with American extensions, I was very aware of the need to be as authentic as possible in terms of national styles in Europe. If one’s standards do not include some sense of cultural authenticity, some absorption ability, then what is worth saying?
Music is not self-expression, as so many seem to think. And it takes twenty years or more to understand much of it. So, I would like to say, if your standard is that you feel you are expressing yourself, and that you are brilliant enough to think that at the age of 21, you have it all in hand, you need to aim higher. (Higher does not mean a more-famous position, it means a higher level of thinking, consciousness, spirituality.) Or, better yet, assume that you don’t know enough, because, in truth, you never will. There is always so much more to learn. Anyone who is thinking they know what they need to know is misguided, I would say. I know I don’t know enough and never will. The more you know, the less you know, because the more you realize you haven’t yet learned, if you know what I mean. Hard music eventually becomes sort of easy, but simple is always hardest.
Many players and orchestras are now adept at many international styles, to a degree anyway, but many are not or are not willing or able to adopt a new culture. This results in flavorless performances that focus on physical feats and mental acrobatics, it seems. The internet actually makes stylistic resources much more at hand, and should facilitate styles.
For instance, this site http://mtcn.free.fr/mtcn-traditional-music-midi-farandole.php
Yes, and I went to concerts as often as possible, especially in New York. The school would often get free tickets. By my last year, no students were going any more, and we stopped getting ticket offers. There was a real cultural change around 1983. That generation, like Alex P. Keaton, seemed to only care about making money, even as musicians. Not art. Many of my generation lived for art, art for art’s sake, a non-commerical attitude. So, attending concerts on a weekly basis would be part of my having, or developing a sense of standards.
Don’t you hate when that happens? I sometimes remember to copy them first in case that will happen.
To start things off, for me, I think my standards developed in at least two different ways. One was for classical music in general or popular, based on recordings of the great artists of the present and past, and seeing them on television or in concert. When I was young, such dynamos as Horowitz, Rubinstein, Casals, Menuhin were still performing. The connections to 19th century traditions were vivid and strong. People consciously sought those roots, authenticity, and to study in Europe. There was not a lot of tolerance for modern interpretations that were indifferent to tradition. That started to change in the 1970s.
My standards in terms of harp gradually rose, I would have to say. I was not exposed to any live harp music, only Harpo Marx on film, and I could see the harpist playing in the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, but I could not hear enough of her, just the occasional solos. My first harp recordings were Annie Challan and Nicanor Zabaleta’s five-record set on Everest. I gradually added to that. He was the most active artist. Then Susann McDonald, Lily Laskine, many obscure-to-me European harpists. I could listen to a scratchy copy of a Salzedo lp at the public library, which I did a lot of times. My benchmarks were those folks, but mostly the great pianists and singers, and then I met Miss Lawrence, and found a new horizon of listening to the harp, and a new range of repertoire. Mostly, I have always held harpists to a standard the same as a pianist. But I have always looked for benchmarks and made comparisons and contrasts.
Today, there are some great musicians. I think most would agree that Claudio Abbado is one of them. Among pianists, I find Howard Shelley to be outstanding. There are some singers who stand out, but I am not up enough on them to know any that could be definitive. The ones often touted as such, are not to me, like Upshaw or Dessay. My favorite performing harpists would include Alice Giles, Judy Loman, Erica Goodman, Gretchen van Hoesen, the Salzedo duo, Sara Cutler, Jennifer Hoult, Grace Wong, Elizabeth Richter, not sure how many others. The best harpists I remember were Lynne Palmer, Heidi Lehwalder and Cynthia Otis. Zabaleta often had fascinating repertoire, but often played too fast and messy
Four hours is way too long for a lesson! Guided practice is another thing. One hour twice a week is plenty, and it could be shorter. I think you are wearing them out.
I would first try Blue Emu Oil and see if that helps. Injections of cortisone can help if in the right places. My doctor uses ultrasound to guide the needle for injections. Most don’t do that. Acupuncture should help the circulation. Unfortunately, we do get ailments that just interfere with playing.
There is a company in LA that will make a case for you, and it should be a very safe design to use. I think they made one for Marcia Dickstein. It isolates the harp in foam, like a double-bass case does.
Heidi Lehwalder’s producers were nominated and won a Grammy for recording her solo Salzedo lp (I was there when it was recorded), which was essentially a win for her. It was a bestselling recording, too. I think it was the next year, the same producers won again for recording Nancy Allen. Pierre Boulez, the Cleveland Orchestra, Alice Chalifoux shared a Grammy for the Debussy Album that included the Danses on it, though she wasn’t named as winner. Sara Ericsson’s all-Salzedo recording was recently nominated. I think there was another discussion of this, and some harpists may have been nominated in the past, or in popular music. The Grammy people do not seem to keep an archive of nominees.
