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8 years old and playing the Handel Concerto?!? I didn’t learn that ’till I was almost 13. Boy am I jealous!!!
And while were on the subject of long science-orientated words, what about Hereditary-hemochromatosis? Or perhaps hectocranialcytoplasmiccenisis? Or phytophthora infestans? Isn’t science FUN?!!?
It is true that we live in a culture of hamburgers. What a hamburger is to fine cuisine, so is some “pop” music to fine art music. It is possible, though, for a great chef to serve a “hamburger” that is fine cuisine. It is common to either embrace or reject something on the basis of it being new. I used to teach an Asian music course and even though the classical music of Asia has stood the test of time, many westerners have trouble accepting it because it falls so far outside their experience. It is too new to them. There is an interesting balance created between artists who defend traditions and standards and artists who explore new areas and apply old standards to new art forms. It is never a perfect process, but there are different, important roles for people to play in the arts.
Hooray for Steve!
My friend Krysten Keches, who I found out is going to Tanglewood with me says that she thinks harpist get their own signle dorms. Yee-hah! (Not try to make fun of you James P…)
Gustavo Leone’s Red Quintet (for string quartet and harp) is a real cool piece.
You can purchase the piece directly from the composer.
Plato, schmato. I prefer Socrates myself. Just because new things come along, doesn’t mean they have to be embraced. I will never embrace hip-hop or rap “music.” The computer has introduced new possiblities, but it has lowered the quality of so much. I use it, but I don’t embrace it. It is hard to keep a balanced approach to new things. There’s nothing like the test of time. Unfortunately, in our commercial, popular culture, there is so much that was meant to fall away that will never go away, like pop songs of the 70s. I will be forced to hear them on muzak until I drop, ’cause it’s the “sound of my generation!” Uggh. Even though I like some of the songs, they were not made to last, and don’t hold up well. “Blinded by the Light” gives me a fright! Which reminds me, with all of the harp technicians running around these days, charging hundreds of dollars to change felts, strings, and regulate; does anyone realize that we used to do all of this ourselves for the most part? I’m not aware of any do-it-yourself guidebooks on the market anymore. Steven Fritzmann didn’t even know that Lyon $ Healy had printed one back when I started out. How about a new edition of your book, Carl Swanson?
Well, I must say, I’m quite proud! This is the first oobah-long post I’ve ever made in the three years I’ve bee posting here.
As of now, I’m going to keep my Salvi. I’ve also decided to NEVER leave my house with harp in tow for less than $400, which seems pretty fair to me, as i usually get $250. Obviously, that means that my main source of fundage will be lessons. I’m going to be music director (how exciting!)of next year’s school musical, so I’ll probably have a lot less time for gigs.
As for some of you here, your philosophies would rival with those of Plato!
Through the years I have noticed in the arts that standards and a sense of progress tends to be achieved through one of two paths. One is based on exclusiveness, on attempting to identify what is ideal and shunning all else. The other is based on an openness to embrace diversity and continually sort things out as they develop and evolve. I believe both can possess high principles, but in the first it is the application of the principle that is adhered to and in the second the principle is continually reapplied in each new context. The danger in the first is to accidentally shun something of great value, and the danger of the second is to embrace something that may not be worthy. Being only human, mistakes can be made in both approaches.
You should contact Dulcie Barlow in Brooklyn. She’s a very experienced teacher. I have given her several students. She lives near Flatbush.
Perhaps not everyone knows that I have been playing the harp for thirty-one years, and have worked my way up the hard way, and sought out the best teachers, the best music, and the best instruments. Why? Because I believe in ART and that the harp is at its best an art. Art does not recognize univeral equality. Art does not happen at the lowest common denominator. Yes, everyone who plays the harp plays the harp. They are only equal in terms of coincidence. There are levels of development, evolution, spirituality, and achievement in art. Art can happen anywhere,
It is human nature to reject what we do not understand, but it is important to catch ourselves and know that our own lack of comprehension of an artistic expression does not make it worthless. While most people focus on the familiar, the true artist is a leader opening peoples minds to new expressive capabilities. Without growth there is only stagnation, redundancy, and a lack of individual thought. The following are some quotes I posted a while back on a discussion about new music for harp, but it is important enough to post here. This is how the people in Beethoven’s day perceived his 9th symphony, which now is a standard by which much music is judged.
“We found Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to be precisely one hour and five minutes long; a fearful period indeed, which puts the muscles and lungs of the band, and the patience of the audience to a severe trial … . The symphony we could not make out; and here, as well as in other parts, the want of intelligible design is too apparent.” — The Harmonicon, London, 1825
“The whole orchestral part of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony I found very wearying indeed. Several times I had great difficulty in keeping awake … . It was a great relief when the choral part was arrived at, of which I had great expectations. It opened with eight bars of a common-place theme, very much like Yankee Doodle … . As for this part of the famous Symphony, I regret to say that it appeared to be made up of the strange, the ludicrous, the abrupt, the ferocious, and the screechy, with the slightest possible admixture, here and there, of an intelligible melody. As for following the words printed in the program, it was quite out of the question, and what all the noise was about, it was hard to form any idea. The general impression it left on me is that of a concert made up of Indian warwhoops and angry wildcats.” — A Providence, R.I., newspaper quoted in The Orchestra, London, 1868
“If the best critics and orchestras have failed to find the meaning of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, we may well be pardoned if we confess our inability to find any. The Adagio certainly possessed much beauty, but the other movements, particularly the last, appeared to be an incomprehensible union of strange harmonies. Beethoven was deaf when he wrote it.” –Boston Daily Atlas, 1853
