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That is an extremely impressive accomplishment Saul. Congratulations. I hope to have the opportunity some day to hear it performed.
I am so reluctant to even say because honestly of all the regular posters here I would truly love to meet all of you and I almost feel like naming one, or a few, would be insulting to the others. At the same time I understand the spirit of the question so I will compromise and break the one person rule as well.
I will say Carl and Saul. The reason being that I find that with all three
I really depends on how much you play.
Changing strings every year is necessary if you are a professional who practices 6 hours a day and then performs.
For the average hobbyist or someone just playing for their own pleasure who practices an hour or two a day you can get much more life out of your strings.
Personally I like the feel of new strings, but I actually don’t care for the sound. I think it takes a couple of months before strings start to sound good, where as on other instruments after a couple of months they typically need to be replaced.
I change strings when they start to sound bad and not based on any arbitrary time table. I can tell when I string needs to be replaced. Some strings get more play than others and need more frequent replacing. I think I probably only do a complete, all at once string replacement ever 4 years or so, give or take. Otherwise I replace individual strings as they need it.
I still play all but the glockenspiel. Not much call for it.
No, not a music major. I just have been playing one thing or another since I was seven.
Glad to see I’m not the only glockenspiel player. It was my first instrument in marching band. Then I played the fife and then took up the flute and tin whistle.
I also play piano and both electric and acoustic guitar.
OK, if they are using their own fingerings and it isn’t working right then you need to explain what is wrong. If they are getting uneven tone point that out, or if they end up with fingerings that makes it hard to move from phrase to phrase then point that out.
If it isn’t working then show then that it works better. If they still refuse to do it the way that works better then again I would ask them why they are doing it that way when it simply doesn’t sound good or work? Put them in the hot seat to defend why their way is better.
Ultimately if they don’t want to listen you either have to drop them as students, which you indicated isn’t really an option, or you can just accept that they aren’t going to listen and so aren’t going to play to their best potential. And tell them that. Just say, “you can do what you want, but if you play that way you are not going to sound good and you will not be playing the best that you can.”
From there they make their own decisions.
But honestly, I don’t get it. Why anyone would choose to play in a way that doesn’t work well is beyond me.
And I agree about the consistency. That should be stressed. Perhaps make a deal with them. Tell them you won’t nag them as much about their fingerings so long as they keep them consistent.
While I recognize that there are some instances where certain fingerings are just necessary I think that fingerings are a very personal thing. My take is that if you really can’t explain why a certain fingering is necessary in a certain situation then perhaps it isn’t so necessary for a student to stick to it.
If you can’t say clearly, “you need to use this fingering because…” and give a reason that amounts to more than “…because I say so.”, then perhaps you should take a moment and actually ask the student why they are using their own fingering rather than the one you are suggesting.
Ask yourself, does their fingering sound worse than yours? Does their fingering hinder their movement on the harp, make it harder or impossible to get to the next placement or in some way
Congratulations. I am sure you will have many, many years of fun exploring and learning this wonderful instrument.
Harp on.
“And I am quite thankful to see that others have been willing to challenge boundaries as well.”
Personally I think the only real use of such boundaries is it lets
These are all things your teacher will teach you.
Chords are combinations of three or more notes played together that have some kind of harmonic significance to each other. They dictate the underlying structure to a piece of music and often determine the feeling of movement and tension within a piece of music.
Scales are important to practice. Mostly at first you will be doing exercises to tech you proper position and how to maneuver around the harp and get the best tone out of your playing.
Let your teacher be your guide.
As for contemporary singers, check out Verlene Schermer, Electric Angel, Deborah Henson-Conant.
Do you know music theory? If not then that is the best place to start. To arrange effectively it is best to have an understanding of how music works.
There are several decent books. A good place to start is Sylvia Woods Music Theory and Arranging Techniques for the Folk Harp.
Also The Complete Idiots Guide to Arranging and Orchestration, despite the title, is a good book. In fact all the ‘Idiots Guides’ related to music are very good. The music theory one, the solos and improvisation one and several others are good resources.
If you have a knack you can simply ‘do it’. But for most of us there are techniques and concepts that help that have already been figured out and when learned can help greatly in putting ideas down.
I would also suggest checking if your local community college has any courses in theory or arranging. They are fairly common courses that many colleges offer.
Hi Athy,
Actually I already have a copy of your arrangement for two harps. You sent it to me a few years ago when I helped you with those harp diagrams. It is a lovely arrangement.
I would love to get a copy of your CD when it is out. I will send you an e-mail off list. It sounds like it will be a very interesting CD.
And don’t worry about your English. I can guarantee you it is much, much better than my Spanish.
“Or maybe it would be better (at least for me) to spend more time at my harp than on these silly forums arguing over apples vs. oranges and trying to figure out why certain people get uptight over simple questions…”
I wasn’t going to chime in anymore, but since I brought up the initial objection to the false duality being presented I can’t help but feel that was directed at me.
Yes, it was a simple question. Too simple in that it presented a fallacious dichotomy that many people don’t fit into. I wasn’t attempting to
