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Yes, I heard her play the Schubert Impromptus (you’re right, no. 2 and 3) a few weeks ago, and they were absolutely incredible. It’s amazing what she can do.
~Sam
Raising is taught for two reasons. 1) It trains you to get away from the strings so that you don’t buzz, and so that when you replace, you come into the strings with adequate room. Eventually, the amount you raise will shrink until raising is almost non-existent. 2) It psychologically fools the audience into thinking that the note just played is longer than it is, tenuto, or even crescendoing.
Aesthetic preference might be the reason why some harpists do it, but there are concrete reasons behind doing it.
~Sam
A grand petite is 44 strings and a semi grand is 46 strings.
I had to look it up myself since I couldn’t remember!
I have a petite harp which is only 40 strings, it’s all very confusing since they all SOUND the same. 😛
Hope I helped!
— Natalie
I’m a fellow high schooler, and I’m probably as confused as you on the subject of college. (Although I am taking courses at a community college near home)
But I’ve heard extremely mixed reviews on the difficulty of majoring in music. From my teacher it sounds like bloody hell, and from my cousin it sound like picking daises.
If you want to join the orchestra then it’s really important to major, as said previously, most symphonies won’t take you seriously without that paper.
But to me music isn’t about the paper or the performance experience, it’s about the MUSIC. Too often people forget this, they focus on precision and focus. I obviously don’t have a ‘professional’ attitude, but it’s too stressful for me.
It sounds like you’re serious, and if you’re willing to work the hours than go for it! You can start finding jobs as a ‘student harpist’, which will allow your customers to know you’re not pro. YET. haha!
Earn some money, and in the meantime practice. In no time you can have enough to pay for college. Try a community college instead of a big university, there’s very little difference aside from the size of the name and the price. Others will disagree but a class is a class is a class.
Look for scholarships and grants, you have to search hard and work hard to get them but it’ll be worth it!
I hope I helped in some way, others make it sound so discouraging. Anything can be done if you try, and the college won’t kick you out of the class. They’re there to help you learn, and surprisingly professors are kinder than they sound in the movies. 😉
Just don’t give up. I’ve flip flopped between the idea of majoring or not majoring in music just because some people scare me with the seriousness of it. But it’s not the end of the world! College is just one step in life, and if you screw up so what! Get back up and take another step. I’m saying this more to myself than you at this point. Haha!
I tend to babble so (hopefully) thanks for reading and I hope I encouraged you at least a little. Good luck!
— Natalie
Hi Abby,
In my opinion, the Pescetti would be fine. My only concern would be that the piece would probably be on the easier side of the repertoire – if you think you can prepare a more substantial work from the period by the audition date, I would do it. However, Pescetti is probably fine; I would imagine that the jurors at any school are thinking “Baroque or Classical” when they say “Classical.” I played the CPE Bach Sonata, which is also right on the border, and that was fine. You’re right, though, that the harp has a gap in its repertoire during the Classical period.As for a Romantic piece, I immediately think of Parish-Alvars. However, I think that if you used caution in picking a technically impressionist piece (Hasselmans, Renie, Tournier, Grandjany maybe, etc.) that would suffice.
The Hindemith is a good choice for a modern piece. You might also consider the Britten Suite (what I played).
Basically, the idea is to have three contrasting pieces, so if the styles contrast, then I wouldn’t worry about the years so much.
If you’re having doubts, why don’t you send the harp teacher an email and introduce yourself ahead of time?
~Sam
Are you holding the harp up with your shoulder or your knees? You haven’t specified what type of harp you use, but most types of harps (and this is more important the bigger the harp is) should be supported mostly by the knees. See if this helps.
~Sam
Although that is technically the rule, you’ll periodically find it ignored. I’ve never heard of anyone intentionally ignoring it, however, so I’d just assume it’s a misprint.
~Sam
Tony,
You might consider that this is an issue on your end. For me, not matter how much I zoom in, the text is completely readable as long as it is big enough to read. Generally, the way these pdf files work is so that the text is actually encoded as text, not an image. This means that it should never become fuzzy – it’s just like zooming way in on an MS Word document. My first guess would actually be that you may be having an issue with the way you’re viewing and/or downloading the file. Perhaps if you’re reading on a tablet like an iPad the pdf would function differently… On the other hand, I did notice that the image quality went up slightly, but I thought it was fine in the first issue.
~Sam
Jordan,
The thing that colleges definitely don’t want to hear is an “uncooked,” per se, audition. I would advise you to learn new music only if you are convinced that you will be able to play it very well by the time your audition comes around, and if you’re applying this year, it would probably be too late (at least for me it would be). You need to show the judges that you can play solidly, accurately, and musically, so a piece that you already feel comfortable with would probably be the best bet. However, your last question confuses me: I would assume that any harpist serious enough to go to grad school for the instrument would probably have been playing difficult enough repertoire for a good while. Is the issue that you simply don’t have any significant works ready at the moment?As for choosing pieces in general, you need to pick ones that will show the judges that you can play solidly, accurately, and musically, but will also speak to your personal strengths. It seems standard to have at least one show piece prepared, as the overall goal is to impress the judges in some respect, and show pieces tend to require exceptional technical skill, musicianship, or both.
You might also consider the speeds of the pieces, as the judges’ ears will become tired if you play three or four pieces at a dizzying clip. The same will happen with pieces that are too slow. It’s all a balancing act, but the most important criteria overall are that you feel comfortable playing the repertoire and that it accurately demonstrates your ability as a harpist.
Best,
~SamIt’s funny, Carl. I was looking at some old (VERY old) posts on the forum last night and happened upon a thread in which you told the same story! Funny how those coincidences happen, huh?
Anyway, I agree that it wouldn’t really be fair to create a method book out of the tidbits of information we have, no matter how comprehensive bits, and call it the Grandjany Method Book. However, I think a compilation of exercises, sayings, anecdotes from former students, etc. would be fascinating. There are quite a few of his former students still around (and many will still be a around for a good number of years) so I hope that if the project becomes formalized in any way, each and every one of them will back it up.
~Sam
Hi Sarah,
It’s hard to know exactly what you’re doing it without seeing it for ourselves, but I’ll give it a shot.I’m guessing that when you say that you strike two strings at once, you mean that you strike the string you meant to strike and then you also graze the string directly below it.
If that’s the case, your issue would come from either hand position or thumb folding technique, although the latter is rather straight forward in most techniques. That means it’s probably just your hand position.
I would suggest trying two things, either together or separate. One, try bringing your wrist a bit closer to the strings. This will force your hand to change position so that when you place your thumb on a string, the string will be almost parallel to your thumb. Don’t push your wrist in too much, it’s a rather subtle change in position. Two, and I personally think this is probably a better solution, place your fingers as you would normally, and then twist your wrist towards the harp (that is, counterclockwise for your right hand and clockwise for your left)a bit and see if that helps. The overall effect will be the same, but the first proposed solution is more just to make sure that you’re not playing with your hand to far away from the strings.
Hope that helps!
SamI think lack of knowledge causes people to look down on the folk harp. If going by looks a pedal harp is bigger and more intricately carved and it has all the metal plating. It must look more impressive to some.
But a lever harp can be made out of unique woods and finishes, I simply LOVE how they look!
It’s just a matter of opinion, I’m a pedal harpist and my dream is to save up for a Dusty FH36H.
— Natalie
