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The scene in the Matrix, in the resteraunt, where one of the characters is about to go over to the “dark side”, there is a harpist playing in the background. You just just get to see her hands and harp, but hear her in the background throughout. The movie was filmed in Sydney, the harpist is Verna Lee (a Sydney gal), and the resteraunt is the revolving (not revolting) resteraunt at the top of the Sydney tower.
There is also a harpist in a resteraunt scene in the 80’s Tony Danza movie, “She’s Out of Control” (which is dreadful) . The harpist though is quite good and very funny. Tony Danza wants an excuse to leave the room, so complains that the music (a harpist) is too loud and that he just has to leave. The harpist plays enthusiastically some bach like piece, as loudly as she can….I think her name was Jan Bina or something similar. Anyone know her?
Home Alone 2 (Lost in New York) there is this scean where Mcaluey Caukin and the Pigeon lady are up in the roof of a concert hall and Mcauley runs his fingers across the strings of a pedle harp tha tis stored up there as he is leaving the room… kind of cool to see a harp in a modern movie like that……
Carl,
Ever thought of a road trip to Tasmania??? I have lots of vegemite just waiting for your brekky…..It’s nice on toast…And we are near to quite
Hola Amanda Cecilia
He visto con mucho placer tu escrito referente a los arpistas paraguayos y te comento que estoy en Asuncion Paraguay y ejecuto el arpa desde los 12 a��os, y me gustar��a conocer alg��n dia tu pais Costa Rica en una gira con el arpa paraguaya.
Saludos y deseos de ��xitos en tus emprendimientos
Ahhh, but are they on their best behaviour when they know you are listening…do you have to resort to tricks, pretend to go to the shop, park the car in some secluded wood, run back across open fields, scaling walls and hacking through bramble bushes, and then gently (camoflague wear optional) sneaking up the the music room window and then pounce out at them with a “ahhh hahhh caught you raising!”
Sorry Carl, there was a serious point in there and then I just went a bit beserk…..
Hmmmm, I hope I’m not one of the opinionated and argumentative ones. But I suspect I may well be! It’s in the blood! You’ll have to let me know if I’m too naughty at times…..
I love other peoples opinions, they are so fascinating….it would be a very boring world if we were all identical and thought and
Yes, I was talking mainly about the first year as the hand establishes – that some wide fingering, or complex fingering may destablize the hand.
And I agree it’d be fab to spy your pupils daily. It’s actually funny, as I stayed with Jeanne Chalifoux for about a month having lessons, and on weekends when I was practising, she used to find it irrestisable not to come in and tell me how I was practising wrong! I remember really struggling with a passage of the Debussy Danses, and her sneaking down the stairs in an apron (she was cooking lunch at the time) and when I stopped saying in a
I find other harpists fingers absolutely fascinating…as sometimes orchestral parts, written with piano in mind in particular are like jigsaw puzzles and tongue twisters rolled into one! So I love to see how other harpists have approached these challenges.
And different styles of playing also – due to being positioned on the strings differently – do require different fingering. I find whenever I get a Grandjany work, for instance, his fingering never works for me and I have to entirely refinger the work. I suspect he has large hands, as well as flat knuckles, and so his fingering is not entirely suitable for me. But I do find it very interesting to see what this great master of the harp did himself – and I love his music especially his Rhapsodie.
I generally find that Salzedo fingerings, or those by Salzedo players tend to work better for me – as we raise (most of us anyway) – and this is incorporated in the fingering and phrasing of a passage. I find Yolanda Kondonassis’s fingerings mostly fantastic, and change very little even though I have tiny hands. The same with Salzedo’s markings, and Lawrence’s, there is little that I would deem necessary to change, other than the occassion really large span.
I have often thought that it is a real shame that there are not more editions of standard repertoire works with Salzedo markings, as you learn so much from what they do. Yolanda’s collection of tunes, is a god send for gigging harpists and students, and many french players I know love it too – and find her fingering ideas quite intriguing.
What you also have to consider with students, is that there hands are still taking shape and developing. The way you finger a passage for a beginner is very different from what you would play as an advanced player. I for instance avoid the pivot action that Saul described above for beginners, prefering more secure and straight forward shapes until their hand it nicely strong and stable. Also, I would have more linked passages and less jumps, and use 321 instead of 421 more often for beginners, and if there is a choice of 321 or 432 I’d use 321 usually for a beginners hand also – having the thumb anchored gives them greater stablity to keep a good
Just a personal question. Are you the Judy Winterton who lived in Sioux Falls,SD and moved to Minneapolis in the late 60’s?
Julie Johnson
