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+++I don’t expose my students to things I think their parents might object to,+++
The problem in my mind is that there is no way to know what any particular parent will object to. Some things may be obvious, but perhaps the parent was of a particular religion and objected to seeing some object from another religion, or perhaps the parent has some odd notion about color and thinks that the color the walls are painted are not appropriate. People can find almost anything offensive if they are looking for a reason to be offended.
The question is, should a person expect someone will be offended by something like David? The general answer is no. David is a work of art. One of the most well known works of art in the world. An exact copy stands in the place the original stood in Florence, and around the world there are other copies publicly displayed. It is one of the most impressive pieces of sculpture ever created.
Could someone find it offensive? Sure. But should Esmeralda expect someone to find its presence in her studio offensive? No. There is absolutely no reason to consider David to be something that obviously would be offensive to a reasonable amount of people. That one nut case thinks it is offensive is in no way a reflection on Esmeralda.
In the scenario I feel most for the child who not only is being denied the opportunity to be taught by someone who is clearly incredibly dedicated to the harp, but is also going to be raised to see something like David as offensive. The parent has that right, certainly. But I can find no fault in Esmeralda for her choice in both art work and to not remove that art work in deference to one extremist nut job with overly puritanical sensibilities.
A studio is a place for creating art, and that it should be filled with other art that inspires is to be expected. To react to David as if it were a poster of a naked Chippendale’s dancer tacked to the wall is an extreme reaction and not one that anyone should expect or have to take extreme measures against.
Taking the parents concerns into consideration is one thing, but when they reach an absurd extreme the problem is clearly theirs.
I keep changing my mind. I probably won’t know for sure until I have the money in hand, go to try a bunch, and fall in love with one in particular.
Most likely, though, it will end up being either a Lyon and Healy or a Camac.
I currently have four harps. A Lyon and Healy Folk Harp, A Camac Baby Blue Electroharp, a Triplett wire strung lap harp and a 30 string, light gut strung Scottish lever harp by maker unknown.
I am currently saving my pennies for a Pedal harp. I used to rent one many years ago and am eager to get my feet on pedals again (not that
Playing and teaching are two different skills. A good player may not be a good teacher. A teaching position should be based on the individuals ability to teach and nothing else.
My teacher was both an orchestral harpist and a soloist. I don’t know if either was more advantageous in terms of teaching. What I do know is that she was a wonderful teacher, period.
She had patience, an ability to convey ideas clearly, and a method for transmitting the necessary information and skills that she clearly had refined and perfected over many years.
I know many musicians who play wonderfully, but I wouldn’t want to take a lesson from them if you paid me. They simply didn’t have the temperament or skills to teach despite their ability to play.
Saul,
Any comments I make about Salzedo are based on what I have read about him and what I have heard from people who knew him. Personally I don’t find anything wrong with his ego and as stated, I think having someone like him as the advocate of the harp was a good thing overall and I have the highest respect for him.
As for the various reasons he may have chosen to notate harmonics the way he did, you make some very valid points, but I still don’t care for it because while it may be nice for understanding the theory and structure of the music it does not lend itself to the actual playing of it. When harmonics are written where played I have no difficulty at all understanding the context in which they relate to the rest of the music, but when they are written where sounded I have to think twice to play them when sight reading.
It is a practical thing for me, and I am all for practicality. If the chord progressions are not clear then it is easy enough to include the cord symbols as well. In fact I typically prefer to have cord symbols indicated and often write them in myself when they are not. They are much easier to refer in my opinion when you need to see and grasp the structure of the harmony.
As for other instruments, I am not familiar with violin harmonics but guitar harmonics are written where played, and next to piano music guitar music is probably the second most prolific written music in the Western world. If consistency in notation were ever to come about I would think it would model itself after what are currently the most prolific forms of written music.
I think what it comes down to is that different people like things presented differently. Ultimately each of us is going to come across music that is not presented in the way we prefer and we will have to make changes to suite our preferences. But the reality doesn’t mean we can’t each dream that things would standardize to our individual preferred way, and that is really what we are doing here, just saying “If I were king of the musical world…” I wouldn’t take it too seriously.
Carl,
Yeah, Salzedo certainly did have a, shall we say, strong personality that comes through clear in most things he did. I don’t necessarily have an issue with that. I think that can do a lot for increasing the awareness of an instrument to have a very outgoing and strong personality championing it, and I think Salzedo did an overall good job on that front.
I just wish he had left the harmonics where they are played.
Yes, most people don’t realize that guitar music is not written where it is played, even most guitarists which tells you something about guitar players I think ;^)
In fact outside of the world of classical guitar it is amazing how many guitar players can’t even read music.
But for those who do I think the goal was to use the G Clef because it is so much more familiar, but not have to have large portions of the notation on ledger lines which defeats the purpose of using an easier to identify clef.
For guitar it works well. Guitar is relatively easy to transpose on and so guitarists who do understand written music and peculiarities of notated guitar music tend to have an easier time translating what is on the page to either a different octave or key on the guitar.
I don’t think so. I think that when he wrote or arranged for the harp that was is focus and he wasn’t particularly concerned with how it would translate to piano.
I think part of the reason it may have been that he was actually a phenomenal sight reader and perhaps just didn’t realize that for us mere mortals sight reading it written like that would be problematic.
Carl,
I am with you 100%. I hate when harmonics are written where they sound. And I hate having to go and fix sheet music with the actual playable enharmonic equivalents to the notes actually written on the page.
With harmonics I really don’t see any advantage at all to writing them where they sound. All it does it make it harder for your hand to figure out where to go when sight reading. I have never understood that practice.
The only exception is with guitar music. Guitar music is written an octave lower than it sounds, but it isn’t a problem since everything is written an octave down and otherwise you would be reading most of the music off ledger lines. A lot of guitarists don’t even consciously realize that what they are playing isn’t exactly what they see on the page.
But the harp is a different animal in that regard. Write it so I can take one look and know how to play it without having to figure out how it really should be.
Here be me and my Camac electroharp
Some better shots of the harp:
And me with my Lyon & Healy lever harp:
Saul,
Oh, I get you didn’t mean beginner player. When I said relative beginner I meant in regards to attempting a concerto. Even someone who has the technical ability to play the notes would still be a bit daft in my opinion to attack that one first off.
Wow, are there really teachers that would give Debussy’s Danses to a relative beginner? That’s just insane. Aside from the technical difficulty of playing it correctly it is just filled with such subtleties and nuances that I can’t see a beginner appreciating all that goes into it much less play it.
The Handel seems like a much better place to start. It really isn’t a very difficult piece and it is so familiar that even most beginners have heard enough different performers play it to start to notice the various differences in interpretations and performances to begin to appreciate what can be done with it.
Thomson’s Autumn? I never would have thought of that one but I think it is a good choice. Odd that it never came to mind. I love Virgil Thomson’s work.
+++It may be that the original problems Deborah had have been perminently worked out.+++
I believe that the electric Camac harp she originally used was a prototype. I believe that she may have a second generation version of that harp now and it probably did have a lot of updates. I recall once seeing her and noticing a dent in the fore-pillar of her electric which I didn’t see last time I saw her, so she either had the dent filled in and the finish touched up, or she is using a new harp.
I have the same harp in a later generation and did have a pickup go out once. When one pickup goes out on mine it does not have any effect on the others, and it can be changed without the need of soldering. There is kind of ball wrench that comes with it that can be used to remove the pickup and put in the new one. It takes about five minutes tops.
The problem with that is that virtually any motor will make noise. Putting a motor on an instrument is a tricky proposition since an acoustic instrument is designed to amplify and project sound.
So while I am sure mechanically it can be done, I doubt that the end result would be particularly usable.
But who knows, maybe someone has developed super quiet and stable mini electric motors that can do it.
