Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Duets! Look for things that you can share, you taking the chromatic parts and students taking bass line, ostinato for harmony, etc.
Use only for dessert, after the meat part of lesson is done.
As a second alternative, select a small piece that they like and offer it as a challenge- if they can play a four measure phrase in their lesson, they can add four measures the next week.
Always be sure that what they are choosing is a very small part of lesson time and make it clear that choice time is strictly a privilege and not automatically a part of the lesson.
Hi Claudia- I bought a pedal harp from the L&H CPO page a year ago for just a little more than a good pedal style lever harp, and it is a gem. Even my teacher, who has a very large salvi thinks my harp is wonderful.
I actually prefer to buy musical instruments that were carefully used before I bought them.
One other consideration that occurred as I was getting to know a little more about harps in general was that it was extremely difficult when I began playing for me to see the strings, the music, and the levers all at once.
I went through all the suggestions for making the levers easier to see including painting the whole lever and stem with blue or red, putting colored elastic bands on them, and even putting tiny flags on them, but nothing helped.
It was also extremely difficult to see my music, so the combo was really frustrating. Finally one day I tried my teacher’s pedal harp, and although it was hardly an AHA moment, it did seem slightly easier for me to navigate than having to find the levers.
Since having bilateral cataract surgery, I can do either, and I do enjoy playing both lever and pedal. I practice pedal a lot more, mostly because of repertoire, but I truly love both.
Sometimes as musicians of a certain age we must make concessions and adjustments based on circumstances beyond our control. I make my decisions based on what will give me the most current and future musical satisfaction. In my case, that happens to be pedal first, lever second.
There’s another book by (Deborah?) Frou that I think has many more Baroque English pieces. I did a couple lesser known ones by Jeremiah Clarke and they were very nice and very simply written
Is it on YouTube? I love to see and hear the harp but I had a paper due this coming Monday, so no TV until it’s done!
A technical analysis of O’Carolan’s music in relation to a selection of more commonly known Baroque composers?
Laughing so hard I’m practically choking………imagining the Processional of the Perky Prancing Pallbearers.
If you are in the US and interested in a Ford, your dealer will be happy to let you try your harp in any car you are interested in.
We are a Flex family- the Flex holds my 85P with tons of room to spare, and I can’t imagine the Style 23 not fitting as well.
The big advantage we find with the Flex is that it is low, like a sedan, but boxy. Very easy to load, with a flat entry floor.
The mileage is about the same as the Explorer.
Again, the most important thing is to explain to your dealer what you need the room for, and do a trial before buying.
In my opinion this is the hardest thing for pianists, organists, harpists to remember.
I’ve worked frequently with amateur and some professional accompanists who unconsciously would take all kinds of rhythmic liberties when sight reading.
No matter how slow you have to set the metronome, you have to remember that the point of having it ticking away is so that you don’t miss a single beat.
But be aware that on their “special, special” day, the bride will be wanting to spend more on her dress and her cocktail weenies than on the quality of the music.
I find the lack of decorum, intelligence, and common sense in the average bride appalling. A high percentage of the brides I read about want present day popular music and cheap, in that order.
I don’t perform at weddings very often, but I have had a lot of social experience with brides and see this all the time.
A girl who will happily spend $5,000 on a dress because she deserves to look lovely on this one-and-only day will carp about paying $500 for a musician who has been in the business for twenty years, and take a cheaper one.
The important thing is to not allow your self respect and pride to take a nose dive because this happens. The pendulum will swing back, and today’s brides will look at their ultra expensive wedding movies in 20 years and think “Why did I choose that awful music for something so important?”.
I have never played an Ogden but I love the Thormahlen Serenade. The tension on mine is medium high and it has 36 strings.
I love mine because it has the most beautiful tone. If I haven’t played it for a while and come back to it, I wind up with a smile on my face because it sounds so nice.
I am an old beginner, but I taught music for part of my professional life so I do have an appreciation for good sound.
