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Definitely not.
While I don’t think there is anything wrong with doing it barefoot once in a while if you don’t practice with shoes regularly you can end up having a hard time when you actually have to play with shoes on.
The inability to feel the pedals directly through the soles of shoes can be a problem if you are not used to it, and the fact that you can be a little sloppy with your foot position in bare feet because you can grip the pedal with
I use the color ones the same way. On my lever harp I put them on the lever, but on my pedal harp I put them on the backside of the tuning pegs so I can make sure I am on the right peg.
I also have white and yellow ones I use on my lever harp to mark the levers that need flipping in a piece when I am first learning it. Typically after a while I don’t need them anymore, but it actually makes learning new music with a lot of lever changes much faster.
Most of what I would say has already been said, but I will re-say it just for the hell of it.
First, you need to be able to look at both. Unless they are blind I don’t know any harpist who never looks at the strings. Yet you need to be able to look primarily at the music if you ever want to sight read.
The key is looking and placing ahead. You place ahead and then you look back to the music. Play the music you see. If possible place the fingers for the next phrase before playing the last note of what you already placed. With a little practice you will find that you can go quite a bit without having to lift off the strings and look at the harp.
When you do, either out of necessity or because musically it is necessary to come off the strings, then you look ahead again quickly and place your fingers ahead again.
And the other thing that was mentioned, know the music. Not just where the fingers go. Try to understand it. With practice you will learn what the different intervals feel like when you place your fingers on the correct strings, and you will be able to see the notes on the page and know what it should feel like when you play the intervals. The better you know the structure of the music, the intervals used for the melody and the chords the piece is built on the more you will know what to expect when you are placing your fingers to play.
Also part of knowing the music is knowing when to look at the strings in the first place. Just like knowing what chords are coming up, or knowing when it is time to press a pedal or flip a lever, you should know ahead of time when to look. It is as much a part of playing as lever or pedal changes. If necessary even mark it in the music somehow if you have to. I think part of the problem many people have with this is that they are trying to look back and forth haphazardly on the fly.
Just like working out fingerings in advance generally works out better than trying to use just any old fingering on the fly when playing, the same goes with looking back and forth between the strings. Try to figure out when it is most needed and the best timing for it and make it a part of the music just like every other action.
All this
Pretty much everything everyone has said so far plus:
A Metronome
Those little blue and red rubber rings that go on the levers to make them easier to identify the Cs and Fs (they can also be put on the ‘Tuning’ side of the tuning pins to make it easier to tell if you are putting your tuning key on the right pin).
A small note book to keep track of your your practice sessions as well as what music you are working on and what music you feel you know. You would be surprised at how often you forget to practice something you know if you don’t have a list to remind you of it.
Lots of harp CDs. Hearing other people who play well actually helps a lot.
Yes, his inventions changed recording. Most people don’t realize he invented the delay effect which is so commonly used now it is hard to find a recording that doesn’t use it.
The guy was way ahead of his time.
Honestly it doesn’t surprise me. Kids love the harp. Sometimes it seems that adults try not to even notice it as they don’t want to seem too interested in such a unique thing. They like to keep the air of everything seeming common place to them.
But kids don’t hide their interests and attention very well. The biggest issue I have when playing in public are the number of kids who want to touch the harp.
And boys no less than girls. At a young age they haven’t been indoctrinated with the insane notion that some instruments are for girls and others for boys yet.
Any way, it sounds like it will be a great experience, both for the kids and for you and your fellow harpists who are giving the lessons. Well done.
Baring extreme weather changes I never break strings. I have broken one string in the past 15 years.
So I would have to say No, it is not typical to break the same string every month. If you can’t find what is causing it then have a professional tech check it out. There must be something wrong with the harp.
Even if it were a weather issue I would not expect it to always be the same string.
I agree to an extent Saul. I was trying to contrast these harp programs with actual music therapy. Music therapy is a whole different thing and you can’t do it without education. Most people don’t even understand what it entails.
But my concern with these harp programs has always been three fold.
One is that I worry that people who simply want to volunteer to play for people in hospitals and retirement homes are suddenly going to be asked for their certifications and credentials.
the second goes to what you say about the guitar being just as useful. Don’t get me wrong, I love the harp more than any other instrument, but some of these programs seem to approach it as if the harp were some kind of magical instrument compared to others. All instruments have their unique properties, but this idea that the harp is somehow special and the almost magical thinking surrounding it leads me to think that “some” folks have delusions of being some kind of magical bard of ancient Celtic times or something.
The third is that “some” of these programs (and I don’t know enough about most of them them say how prevalent) incorporate some very non scientific ideas but present them as science. As was mentioned above one of these programs used to (it sounds like they no longer do this but I don’t know for certain) insist that people play with the harp on the left shoulder so it is over the heart. What scientific reason is there to alter the standard way most people play in order to play over the heart? What does this actually do and what evidence is there to justify such a thing? None. But know what. Ancient magical bards from Celtic lands used to play on the left.
I had a short and pointless debate with one of the founders of one of these programs once who tried to explain that all things are energy of different vibrational rates. That we have sound, and if we go up we have light and energy, and if we go up higher we have spiritual energy.
I tried to explain that light and sound are not just different vibrational rates of the same energy on a continuum but different orders of energy, one being kinetic energy and the other being electromagnetic energy. She completely ignored this. I also asked her to explain how she isolated, quantified and qualified “spiritual energy” and where she published the paper on it because I never seen anyone provide actual objective, material evidence of spiritual energy. She ignored that too.
But she insisted her program was based on accepted scientific principles.
Now certainly not all of these programs incorporate these kinds of thinking, and I certainly don’t claim to be familiar with them all. But from what I have seen some of them leave me rather sceptical concerning the scientific foundations of them, and makes me feel it important to, at the least, emphasise the difference between them and a licensed, board certified
Unfortunately the concept of a Diva has changed from someone who sings like a goddess to someone who thinks the world revolves around her.
Yes indeed. In the US the venue is responsible for dealing with the licencing and pay of royalties performed there, not the artist. Also when it comes to arrangements you only have to worry about performing an specific arrangement when it is not your own. If you perform someone else’s arrangement publicly you technically need permission or need to make arrangements through the publisher or their representative organization.
I actually have some books of harp arrangements that specify in the book that so long as it is not being recorded then anyone has permission to perform these arrangements publicly. After all, most people who publish arrangements know this is why people buy them… to perform them. So some arrangers make it clear that they don’t care.
Never had that problem. I actually got an apartment once because I mentioned to the landlord I played harp and he loved the idea of having a harpist in the building.
Currently my neighbors ask that I open the window in
As I understand it you only need permission if the piece will be performed in a public venue, recorded or published.
If this is to be performed at a closed private event permission (and royalties) are not required. If it were then every single wedding band in the country would be in violation, as would anyone who played from a fake book.
The thing to remember is that copyright law is intentionally vague, so often there are no clear answers within the written law itself. Only precedent in court cases. As far as I know there has never been a case where someone was found guilty of copyright violation for arranging a copyrighted piece of music for their own use or for performance in a private setting.
However if it is to be performed at a public event, that is any event open to the general public or any event for which an admission fee is charged, then you need permission and royalties must be paid, typically through one of the main music agencies that handle these things.
Saul,
The program she is looking at is specifically for harp. Guitar is good for music therapy, but many people confuse these harp therapy programs and music therapy programs. They are not the same thing.
I have a few friends who have degrees in music therapy. Music therapy is a degree and certification that requires getting a minimum
