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I hope I can remember everything I want to respond to. I just figured out how I can see both at the same time. I didn’t forget other women composers. I don’t give them special consideration. I don’t believe the argument that Dussek’s music was composed by his wife. It is musically dubious to me, and shouldn’t be taken as absolute fact when it is only theory. I didn’t include Renie, because I think of her as a harpist-composer, not a composer, though undoubtedly talented and gifted. Also, I just don’t care for most of her music. Actually, it’s not so much her music as it is her taste and personality. It comes across very strongly, and I don’t like how it feels. Some people know what I mean. It’s hard to put in words in a forum like this.
Anyways, I never heard of the earlier women than Dussek. I don’t know pieces by Pentland.Hi Carla,
I am just a beginner in harp, but I have been playing piano for 2 decades and have dealt with over 20 teachers… so guess I can share my feelings with you.
I have also met some very picky teachers too. There are so many reasons for the teachers to be so strict or picky, some are reasonable, while some are not relevant. When I was young, I could only tolerate that as I could not express my feelings clearly and persuaded my mother that the teacher wasn’t right for me. However when I got older, I started to pick my own teacher.
I have had lessons with a few of the best players in this area; they were all teaching piano in different universities. Technically speaking, all of them were just perfect, but not all of them know how to handle students, esp a very amateur one like me. Just like you, I got lots of commitments in school and extra curricular stuffs. When I was in colleage, I worked very hard on my studies in order to fight for a place in grad school as well. Therefore, it’s very unfair to me when my teacher expected me to practice 5 hours a day like her other students major in music — in fact I squeezed 3 hours for practice already, but my progress was not up to my teacher standard. Then it was just like a bottle neck. I got stuck with the same piece for 3 months. I could do perfectly at home, but I felt so scared to play in front of my teacher. When I got a little flaw, then I just felt like cry out and lead to all other mistakes, my whole piece just collapsed.
I felt very depressed and finally stopped my lessons. Few months later, I found another teacher. He’s also a prof in music dept, but he’s more open-minded as well. He understood my situation and never put too much pressure on me. I felt happy to learn from him, and it helped me to learn a lot.
I think no one is wrong between you and your teacher. Just like other relationships, sometimes two people may just can’t form a compatible match easily. If this situation prolongs, I guess you can really consider taking a short break or looking for another teacher.
among the important women composers for harp:
1744~1824 anne louise boyvin d’hardancourt brillon de jouy
1759~1838 maria cosway
1775~1847 sophia corri dussek
1875~1956 henriette reni��
1892~1983 germaine tailleferre
1912~1990 peggy glanville hicks
1912~2000 barbara pentland
+ numerous contemporary women composers for harp
among the important women composers for harp:
1744��1824�� anne louise boyvin d’hardancourt brillon de jouy
1759��1838�� maria cosway
1775��1847�� sophia corri dussek
1875��1956�� henriette reni��
1892��1983�� germaine tailleferre
1912��1990�� peggy glanville hicks
1912��2000�� barbara pentland
+ numerous contemporary women composers for harp
i’m glad that you remembered tailleferre and glanville hicks. however, you did forget the others.
and i’m assuming that you meant dussek’s spouse. but actually, some of the works which were attributed to him, were actually written by her!
do you practice with a metronome?
a metronome can be useful, in certain situations…
for tricky passages, i think it’s very important to play it VVVEEERRRYYY SSSLLLOOOWWWLLLYYY at first. find a tempo where you can get all of the notes, with the right rhythms, change positions comfortably, use the right technique, etc… it should be slow enough for you to pay attention to everything.
then, gradually increase the tempo. but don’t go too quickly! at each tempo, make sure you practice enough so that you know it in your sleep. if you find that you’re starting to make too many mistakes, that means you’re not ready to play it at that speed. so decrease the tempo and go from there.
The last I heard of Suzanne Handel was that she won an orchestra position in Adelaide, Australia, if I remember correctly. I do remember that my aunt and your uncle were neighbors in the same little building in New York City.
1. Pedal use
2. Correct production of unique tone colors such as harmonics
3. Fingering and the use of placing for phrase articulation
4. Our unique literature
5. Our unique soundscape and how to work with it.It is certainly possible. She studied with Lucy Lewis and Lucile Lawrence, played in the orchestras in San Antonio and Pittsburgh.
I strongly recommend the Chautauqua Institution summer program. The harpist plays in an excellent full-size orchestra with weekly concerts in the main amphitheater, has weekly lessons with Beth Schwartz, and a cabin in the woods for practicing all to yourself. I had a great summer there, and we toured to Ontario and Avery Fisher Hall!
Hello Emy how are you?. Found you in this side and read your question about your harp and the harpist in London. Hope you found one and that your are practising.
Regards
I want to add, yet again, that I am not trying to oppress creativity, or impose judgement. I care so much about the harp, and it kills me to see us still relegated to second-class status as a concert instrument. It is still in our hands to prove our place by playing artistically, and playing strong music. I believe this still to be true. I have long noticed a very open approach to repertoire, particularly among European harpists in general, that allows for too little emphasis on quality of composition. We cannot rewrite the past. We were neglected by so many great composers because that upstart, the piano. We can’t force our way in. If the music fits naturally, it will belong. It is better perhaps, to concentrate on the fine modern music composed in the last century when the harp really came to bloom, and encourage its creation today, by working with composers so their music will sound well on the harp and make sense, and be playable. We can be the dominant instrument of the future, the people are waiting for us. Let’s take the fore!
It is not necessary or advisable to learn to play the harp first. You wouldn’t learn enough without studying for years. But I do recommend coaching with a harpist and learning what works and what doesn’t. I also recommend listening to a lot of harp repertoire, and trying to get a feel for its essence and true voice. You’d be surprised how difficult simple pieces can be to do well, or perhaps you already know that. I am available for consultation.
Debussy Preludes? A few work well, like Bruyeres (possibly), La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin, and some for harp ensemble. Again, he is so piano-specific that it is hard to validate a transcription. His earlier pieces work much better, like the First Arabesque, Reverie, and so on. I’m not trying to be censorious, but the decision of what not to play when transcribing is as important or more so than what to play. Transcription is a craft unto itself. My personal rule of thumb is that a piece has to be at least as good transcribed and preferably better than the original. In transcribing, some new facet of the piece must be illuminated and something must be revealed of the nature of the harp as well. Harps require more open voicing and texture than keyboard instruments, and it speaks differently in rhythm and tempo as well. Pieces must sometimes be transposed to a new key. It helps if the piece has a universal music in it and is not specific to its original instrument. A Bach piece like the Air (G string) has that universal quality.
I don’t think of those as suitable composers for the harp, in general. Scarlatti is so idiomatic to the harpsichord, that even when the notes fit the harp perfectly, something is missing. Fortunately, he wrote so many that there are a handful that work pretty well. Mozart piano sonatas are rather unthinkable. They are too long, so piano-oriented and often too chromatic. Brahms is such a bad idea, even if someone is doing it. I can play Chopin on the harp, but it’s just not a good idea. Composers whose music do work well more often are Handel, some Telemann, Kirnberger, Pescetti, Galuppi and others, off the top of my head.
