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I wish I could send you a sound file of the piece I heard Saul. I can’t quite explain how the ornamentation was executed but the result was wonderful. I had never heard Gould play anything but Bach, and this was a completely different thing. Almost a hammering style. As I think of it, being quite a bit wider awake than last night, the piece I heard might not have lent itself so well because of the style of the ornaments.
Still, I had completely forgotten the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, and that would seem, from my harp-naive ear to be more likely for harp.
I wish I could recall the name of this piece. I’ve emailed the broadcaster who has the hour in which it was played. I’m sure I’ve heard it played by early winds, and I think one of the 20th century British composers (Holst?) used the melody in a modern orchestral arrangement.
One of those darn things that stays with your mind until you listen to it enough times to retire it a bit. Thanks so much for your comments!
Hi Cecelia- Chances are good you were never taught to read rhythms so please don’t put that on your habit list.
The thought didn’t even occur to me that carbon fiber would be used as any of the metal in a pedal harp. The other orchestral strings are made by substituting cf for the wood, and there’s plenty of controversy even about that. The first violinist (I think) of the Anchorage Symphony, a gentleman who has plenty to struggle with in terms of changes of everything climate wise, has done solo concerts on his Luis and Clark and praised the violin very highly.
There are at least two other companies who produce celli of cf, but neither has anything like the kind of support the L&C has garnered.
The instruments are very light and of course very sturdy.I wanted to mention a little point that you have already encountered here, and since I went through it just a few months ago, I think you should be aware.
After about 2 months of lever harp lessons I began to think that I was interested in the possibility of going to pedal.You have seen that a lot of beginners have that particular yen really early in the game, and that’s a wonderful goal for anyone who has been bit by the bug.
Instead, I began to become aware of some of the contemporary composer/players who are writing for lever, and I realized that there was so much wonderful music available for lever that I’d be more comfortable staying right where I was. For me, it’s a perfect decisiion.
The one point where there’s a decision to make is when you consider orchestral repetoire, which is really only doable on a pedal, unless you have an extra hand or two to flip faster.
Just another point to throw into the mix!
Please do not hold me responsible for un-hijacking in the other thread. It wasn’t my intention at all, and I was enjoying all comments, germain or otherwise.
Hi John- What color is your Serenade? Mine is blonde, very pretty, but I like the other colors also.
I’m here, born and bred, in Morris County, north central NJ.I had some early problems finding harp connections here, but now I have an excellent teacher, and I will be joining the local harp circle soon.
There are numerous cultural happenings in this area, but very little with harp except the usual orchestral performances, and I was surprised at that when I started looking because we’re only about an hour away from NYC.
Hi Becky- Don’t worry about being a newbie. There are lots of us here! It is really good to start by having a teacher. I used my teacher’s harp for about 6 weeks before I got mine. I think most of the experienced players here will tell you to get as many strings as you can. The Ravenna 34 is said to be very nice. Go to the Blevins site and check out their specials. There are some excellent bargains there in harps with 34
This is very interesting to me as a rank beginner. I resist memorizing because I think of it (for me) as the easier of ways to play- much harder for me to watch the music and not my fingers. I was always a poopy pianist and I felt it was partially because I was never taught real hand positions, therefore had to memorize everything I had to play (one summer I played America the Beautiful from dawn ’till whenever my sainted mother could extricate the keys from my fingers- good thing we lived on a farm, although the milk was sour for several weeks after I went back to school)
Anyway, my teacher is becoming frustrated with my rendition of Good King Wenceslaus, and I really do practice it. Daily. I apparently play too fast, and never really accurately. One of the books I bought has Mikrocosmos(s) in it. Maybe I’ll ask her if I can do some of those…..
Hi Rebecca- This story leaves me wanting to know more about your family. I hope now and then you’ll share more stories about them.
My dad was thrown out of the eighth grade because he stated some things that were historically accurate but unflattering
Very interesting point. As a small child and until HS I was a quick, very accurate memorizer. When I got to my junior year in HS I realized that I had to learn how to figure out the black things and squiggles and how they worked, so I did and became a very strong music reader, but simultaneously, began to lose my photographic memory for music.
Currently I am very “paper dependent” and am trying to spend part of every practice session improvising, in hopes of regaining that skill.
There was a time when I felt that I had pretty much balanced ear playing/singing and note playing/singing, but it’s not a balanced skill now. I ABSOLUTELY agree with KIM about teaching, but many if not most teachers in the US are not really comfortable teaching sight reading, so they don’t teach it. I was one, but after Kodaly I know what I was missing.
Yes, from the linguistic point of view, the errors are rather forced and pseudo-random. If I had the time I’d do an analysis. Or are the posts encoded? Is he really using his doggerel to send secret messages to someone or about someone on this board? The plot thickens……
I love your post! I’ve been having trouble with baby two hands together things like Silent Night and pieces from the beginning of Suzuki 1. They are nourishing, beets and squash, and necessary, like medicine, but after I practice them and do my best to play steadily and v-e-r-y slowly, I spend a few minutes improvising. When I do so, I can play Silent Night just fine. It’s great to know that someone else has experienced this.
I love working on Grossi and I understand the absolute necessity for the method book pieces, but most of all I just love to play my harp!
