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I considered myself very fortunate to have had only three teachers and all were
tremendous from different perspectives.
The harp on Beatles “She’s leaving home” was played by Sheila Bromberg, the first female musician to appear on a beatles record. found: http://aristoteles.ciencias.uchile.cl/beatles/songs/slh.html and other sites.
The best books for beatles-songs concerning instrumentation, authorship etc. are: Ian McDonald: Revolution in the Head and Mark Lewinsohn: The Beatles Recording Sessions
Tacye, your “twinkle” example is interesting because that’s one of the first songs I learned to play on the harp.
I know of one Salzedo-trained harpist in England, at least, Catherine White. I don’t know where she is now, she used to be south of London. It would be interesting for you to order a copy of Lucile Lawrence’s videotape of the Salzedo Method, in which all the Preludes for Beginners are performed, and she demonstrates all of his special tone colors. It is quite remarkable. I would say that fluidity is my goal. It did take at least ten years to get it. You’re exactly right in your example. It could be phrased 1 12 23 34, or 22 22 234 and so on. When you’re advanced you have many more choices than the easiest fingering if you’re not lazy or rushed for time.
I came across that Primo harp cart on the internet too- but i tried to convert the money from euro to us dollar and it is redicioulsy expensive.
While in Illinois, a number of students were referred to me from harp dealers. I also put up a lot of posters and played some concerts, but I’m not certain how many students came from those sources. I also taught harp at a couple local colleges which helped.
I just moved to Minnesota and got my first harp student here through a local music store and may work through a second store. I have sent out resume’s and emails, but if you don’t meet in person, I suspect materials get thrown away and deleted. Referrals are the most effective way to get employment at a college or community music school which is a great target audience for students. Oftentimes the people who attend performances are more interested in buying a CD than learning the instrument, but the people who are buying instruments, or happen to have a harp, are the ones who are most likely to invest in lessons. Basically, harp dealers and well known institutions that offer music lessons are the most direct route to obtaining students, in my experience.
We, too, are on our 2nd Ford Taurus for harp transporting. The heaters work well in winter but the air conditioners are not famous for continuing to run.
Actually, a double or triple harp concerto could create a more satisfying balance with a full orchestra, since the harp requires special handling in a concerto setting. Usually for solo concertos, chamber orchestras and ensembles are preferable, or transparent scoring for full orchestra. I’ve heard and played in harp ensembles, but wonder how it would project and blend with orchestra – probably a rather thick, lush effect. Three harps may actually work better than two because of tuning and blending issues. A small group of mixed strings like harp, guitar and dulcimer would also make an effective grouping in a concerto. Are there recordings of double harp concertos? Certainly worth hearing!
In graduate school at public universities there are many “graduate teaching assistanceships” offered to foreign students. From my experience I would say that half or more of these are awarded to foreign students. The tuition is waved and the student is given a small monthly stipend. I lived on mine during those years. I don’t know what is available at the undergraduate level, perhaps not much, but certainly at the graduate level. So, if it doesn’t work out now, perhaps in a few years.
As I believe I have said before, Carl’s challenges, though perhaps not his intention, inspire me to some of my best writing, force me to coagulate my thoughts which will be of great use later on, and have prompted some very supportive responses. There’s nothing wrong with debating ideas. One of the problems of amalgamated playing is the lack of coherent ideas. The harp is not like other instruments. It is so challenging that a mere handful of harpists have ever had the vision to create something approaching a school of playing, and been able to encompass all the harp and its literature requires. We are all building on the knowledge of others. The more time you spend with a teacher, the more you learn. The more teachers you have the less you learn because you spend so much less time with each one. I know a harpist who studied with Lucile Lawrence and previously one of her protegees. She was polished, strong and brilliant, and went on to study a little with many other people. She didn’t noticably improve from any of them, and today still plays pretty much like she did when she finished her studies with Miss Lawrence.
Frankly, I think I would like to pose some tough questions to other harpists about the way they play and why they do it, but it is unfortunate if in this society that only gets one in trouble. We are supposed to have free speech and open debate about the core issues, not just pretend to be everyone’s friend and make nice. We should all talk more about our ethics, how we treat colleagues and fellow students, how we intend to get ahead and so on. We’ll all be better for it, I hope. But I think you are right, that it should be done without meanness.
At the International Folk Harp Society Harp Conference, I had the pleasure to hear Laurie Riley sing as well as Verleen shermer.
Bernard Andres has written a lot of music that works on lever harp and has interesting harmonies without a lot of lever changes. “Espices” vol. 1 and 2 are somewhat challenging and marvelous to play! One year when I played background music for a chocolate festival, I played “Vanilla” from this set – no one threw me out! 🙂
For Paraguayan harp with challenging rhythms (even 8 against 3) – Alfredo Orlando Oritz, for Scottish – Alison Kinnaird. “Nataliana” by Deborah Henson-Conant has faster passages with arpeggios and such and is completely playable on lever harp.
A little trick I learned when looking for music by composers I haven’t heard – or haven’t heard recently, is to look them up at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com and find a CD with sample tracks you can listen to. I have not heard of Einaudi, but found a CD of his at Barnes and Noble with “Le Onde” played on piano. This link should take you there, but if not, just type in his name and it will probably come up. It’s a great little trick to see if you like a composer’s music or not before buying a score 🙂
http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?userid=8T5R3bXBSf&EAN=828765508926&ITM=1I didn’t say becoming. Always was. And I’m sure it’ll work that if I lean my arms on the sounding board I’ll get tendonitis.
