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Well Kay, I’ve been re-reading posts about many of the fine pedal harp makers, and I’ve run across several of your posts from the past, so I guess you may have chosen any of the harps you mentioned considering up until now.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t ease the suspense. Now I have to worry that you’ll be so into playing your new harp that you won’t want to take time away from it to get to your computer!
I have used the David Daniels v.3 many, many times since purchasing it, and I have just ordered v.4. If you are the sort of person who finds listening enriched by the addition of score reading, it is a perfect companion.
Hi Rod- Is there a list of arrangements and original pieces written by Bill Marx somewhere? I think the music I’ve heard of his has been underappreciated.
We should all probably tell our harps that being open to many different styles of music is a good thing, because the more types we listen to the more good things we hear, and that groaning isn’t really a very sophisticated response to a style of music that doesn’t immediately strike our fancy.
Not to mention the fact that
One of my favorites is “Black or White”- very definitely jazz but I wonder if it would work at a slower tempo than the original. It is a song with a definite message.
Christian I am SO impressed that you can trust yourself to using a song memorized in a week! What a gift….
I think a core of seasonal songs is a useful tool. If you have three or four seasonal/holiday songs for every six weeks to two months, that’s another 20-30 songs that people will like to hear, and you can rotate them and keep them fresh. I always do that when I teach classroom music. Also, people who frequent your venue will come to look forward to hearing them without them getting too predictable.
Tne Salvi Arion 44 has been discontinued, and the 47 string harp is pretty big. I wonder how the two differ from one another. They’re very pretty.
I played in summer groups for years on viola and various members of the clarinet family, and it was GREAT. I can still remember the joys of taking a big breath to start a phrase and realizing that you had sucked in some sort of bug. I had one terrific summer many years ago when I played in a summer wind ensemble directed by Keith Brion, who does the Sousa recreations. One of the pieces we played was “Lincolnshire Posy” by Percy Grainger, an all time favorite of mine, and the only time I ever got to play it.
Recalling those experiences gives me even more respect for sight reading harp music. I would always write in fingerings/position shifts in viola parts, and just the thought of having to make split second decisions about fingerings and pedal changes simultaneously is mind boggling.
I think there is a summer symphony somewhere in Essex County NJ, or was one recently. I never went to a rehearsal with them though, just read about it.
I just ran across this thread and since the subject came up at my Tuesday lesson, I thought I’d give it a bump.
My teacher has two harps, a Salvi and a huge nameless harp that isn’t presently in playing condition. We were talking about the differences in harps, and she mentioned that some of her students found her old harp easier to play (before it was broken) because the pedals were longer than the pedals on the Salvi. Although I hadn’t noticed it before she pointed it out, I did realize that along with the fact that the older harp is HUGE, the pedals are longer.
I have seen some posts regarding difficulties that people with bigger feet have playing the smaller 40-44 string harps because of the size of the pedals, and I was wondering if there are specific differences according to maker- for instance, does the Camac Clio also have a small or short pedal? Do the concert grands have longer or larger pedals?
“Petite Berceuse” was the first REAL GROWN UP piece I worked on, and I still find it amazing that so much beautiful sound could be put into a little piece that is so simple.
My teacher always points out that Hasselman’s music is totally harpistic.
My wedding band is flat and very narrow, so I can wear it when I play. It fits behind the pad on the palm side of my finger so it actually doesn’t ever touch a string.
It’s been on that finger for 31 years, so evidently there was some kind of harp Karma going on when I got it!
I practice on a Thormahlen Serenade with Camac levers and take lessons on a Prelude with Performance levers- I think they’re very similar, I like both, and I don’t notice one being easier to flip than the other.
Please don’t fear! You don’t have to know a lot of theory. All you need to do is end a phrase, play a V/7 chord followed by a I chord, and you’re done.
Trust me, no one who is listening will know that you didn’t play the processional exactly as it was written. It really and truly isn’t necessary to practice several different wrap up points.
