Notes of a Harpist

Katie Buckley, Harpist with the Iceland Symphony

As part of the Nordic Cool 2013, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra performed in the Concert Hall of the Kennedy Center. The Washington Post gave a favorable review.

On Sunday, the harpist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Katie Buckley, gave a master class for my students. Her comments were insightful and very kind. We enjoyed hearing all about the culture and life in Iceland!

The master class program:

Amy Lim:                  Rossini Sonata

An-Ya Olson:           Gershwin Prelude #2

Helen Lim:                Corelli Giga

Kai-Lan Olson:        Glière Impromptu

Elise Kolle:                Bach-Grandjany #6

Kelsi Gray:                Grandjany Fantasie--introduction, theme, and first variation (four pages)

Francesca Savoia:  Prokofiev Prelude in C

The students played beautifully and I was proud of each of them!

 

Photo taken following the Master Class

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday evening Katie Buckley and percussionist Frank Aarnink, together forming "Duo Harpverk" performed a collection of contemporary works of Iceland composers on the Millennium Stage. Here is a link to their performance.

Duo Harpverk

"Nordic Cool 2013" at the Kennedy Center: The NSO Performs a Concert of Music from Finland

February 19 - March 17--the Kennedy Center celebrates "Nordic Cool 2013" with programs and artwork featuring the cultures of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. At night the image of the Northern Lights is projected onto the building, creating an aura of excitement about the festival before one even enters the Kennedy Center!

Last week the NSO presented a program of music from Finland featuring works by Lindberg, Sibelius and Saariaho. There were two harps in "Orion" by Saariaho. 

The harps parts were not difficult technically, in fact almost sight-readable. But it required a great deal of mental and physical stamina to get through it! There were many complex rhythms throughout the piece. I found the second movement challenging.

It opens with a tremolo in the bass wires which lasts for about three minutes. I am short (5'2") and had to stretch my arms, straining my shoulders and neck, for that passage. I took ibuprofin before and after each performance, but am still feeling the consequences. Note to any composer reading this: please avoid this sort of writing for the harp!

Excerpt from "Orion" by Sariaaho. This figure continues without break for over 40 measures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This passage was also problematic. It is very audible, but impossible to stretch a seven-note glissando over the entire measure at this tempo. My solution was to play random slow glisses (not measured, but as slow as possible) for the duration of each measure indicated. At the same time the first harp is doing rapid swirl glissandos over a larger range of the harp. 

 

 

 

 

Here is a recording of the second movement of "Orion."

 

2013 Mid Atlantic Harp Festival and Competition

This past Saturday, February 23, the D.C. Chapter of the American Harp Society hosted a regional harp festival with concerts, workshops, and a competition. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, but several of my students did and said they had a wonderful time and learned a lot. 

There were two divisions to the competition: Emerging Artist and Young Artist. An-Ya Olson placed first in the Emerging Artist Division, playing the required "Gigue" by Bernard Andrès, and "Quest-Reunion" by Gary Schocker as her choice piece. Emma Rood, who won the Emerging Artist Division in 2012, competed at the Young Artist level, placing third. She played the required "Giga" by Corelli, and Sonatina #5 by Naderman as her choice piece. 

The following day the two girls had their lessons back-to-back and so I took this impromptu photograph. They are each 12 years old and in the 7th grade. I'm very proud of them!

 

Emma Rood and An-Ya Olson

 

Working with My Students Through YouTube While on Tour

While traveling with the NSO on their 2013 European tour I worried about my students continued progress. Knowing that distance learning is under experimentation in all fields, not just music, I considered Skype lessons, but decided this would be too complicated with coordinating schedules and limitations on technology. In the end I decided to require my college students to post a video of their lesson materials on YouTube about half-way through the tour. I encouraged my younger students to do the same, but did not require it.

There were some technical challenges: some of the students had trouble posting their videos to YouTube, and I didn’t always have a reliable internet connection. But I did receive videos from all of my college students and many of the younger ones. I studied the videos and emailed a detailed critique to each student.

Benefits:

1. Those students who did prepare the video had put in much more practice time than those who had not. Just the exercise of making the video required multiple takes (they wanted to send me their best playing).

2. The students are now much more at ease with the technology and have told me how much easier it will be to post to YouTube the next time I am out of town for several weeks.

3. Between the video and the following lesson many of the students had made more progress than I had anticipated. This was true especially of the middle school students (ages 11-14). I am not sure why, but I think it is a combination of the formality of the notes in an email (rather than my simply saying the same thing verbally in a lesson); the chance to view the video repeatedly (I usually referenced the video by time-stamp so they could see that yes, the thumb needed to be higher in that passage); and the involvement of the parents, who normally don’t sit in on the lessons but probably watched the video and read my comments.

Limitations:

1. I think this sort of instruction is valuable as an adjunct to regular lessons, but should not replace the lessons. Because of the well-established student/teacher relationships, the students understood my comments clearly, but my written comments might not have been as helpful to them without that relationship.

2. There are limitations to the information which can be communicated through a video. While I could evaluate basic hand position, I could not identify and correct for tension as I can when the student is in my studio. I could critique basic sound quality and phrasing, but not the nuances.

I think the experiment was very successful and I intend to repeat the process the next time I am traveling for more than a week or so! 

Back home from the NSO European Tour 2013

I had a marvelous time with the NSO touring in Spain and Germany. The concerts were very well attended and enthusiastically received, as noted by the Washington Post.

Best thing about the tour: the opportunity to play a masterpiece (Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra) with one of the finest orchestras in the world, under the marvelous conductor, Christophe Eschenbach. 

Most notable element of the tour: the acoustic was superb in every hall, but different--it was really fascinating to hear the music in a slightly different way in each performance venue.

Toughest part of the tour: keeping my fingers in shape! For the most part we didn't arrive at the hall until 30-40 minutes prior to a service, and half of that time was spent tuning. To maintain dexterity I made good use of the Salzedo Conditioning Exercises, as well as those of Marilyn Costello and Marie-Claire Jamet. But I was very envious of other musicians who were able to practice in their hotel rooms!

To roll or not to roll...that is the question! Fourth movement of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra

When I first studied the Bartok, with Marjorie Tyre, I was told not to roll chords in 20th Century music unless indicated. So I have never rolled the chords in the fourth movement of the Bartok. However, many of the orchestral study books instruct harpists to roll those chords, and of course it sounds very lush and beautiful when played that way. 

However, Bartok's music is so angular and full of accents that it feels wrong to me, and unstylistic. I suppose I am "old school," as it seems most harpists do indeed roll the chords. I should add that no conductor has ever asked me to roll the chords, including Eschenbach, the music director of the National Symphony, who is a bit of a micro-manager. The same is true of Leonard Slatkin and Ivan Fischer. We played the chords unbroken and received no comment from the conductor.

I asked Dotian Levalier, principal harpist of the National Symphony Orchestra for 44 years, for her comments. She told me she first played the work under Dorati, who was a colleague of Bartok. Dorati told her there should not be the slightest break in the chords, and we assume that was Bartok's request. 

I am attaching an audio file I found of Dorati conducting the London Philharmonic and, indeed, the chords are unbroken. 

Download 1-04 Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116

Performance considerations for the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra--second harp part

I have played the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra many times over the course of my harp career, both first and second harp, under many conductors. I'm going to limit my comments to the second harp part, and to how I am playing it for this series of performances with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach.

In the first movement the second harp has a two-measure group of gushing chords with the indication that they are to be played near the board with a wooden or metal rod. In the past I have used spoons, using the bowl of the spoon so as not to damage the harp strings. Other harpists have used coins (which I have never tried) or just fingernails. Maestro Eschenbach did not like the sound of the spoons and asked me to use rods. I borrowed some from the percussion section and, yes, they are chewing up my strings, but the sound is terrific! 

In the second movement I use the fingering indicated in Sarah Bullen's Principal Harp. The important thing is that the chords are articulated and accented. The glissandi are simply splashes. 

The third movement presents no particular challenges, except to be flexible with the sixteenth note passage, as the conductor does it differently each time. Maestro Eschenbach requested that the last two eighth notes of that passage be sharply accented. This is one case where it is fine to have a harsh sound on the harp.

I will defer my comments on the fourth movement to another post, but will say that I use the enharmonics indicated by Sarah Bullen in her book.

The last movement is the most difficult. In an audition situation one has to play the first harp part as written, but I have never performed it that way. For the first passage we use the Salzedo edit, which has been handed down in handwritten form from our teachers (Marjorie Tyre and Marilyn Costello). Beatrice Schroeder Rose printed it in her book The Harp in the Orchestra. The first harp plays the right hand of the original first harp part and the left hand of the original second harp part. The second harp plays the alternate hands. This keeps the passage even and steady, which is hard to do when the second harp plays the offbeats. Maestro Eschenbach requested that we play the passage forte though it is indicated to be played piano. He also conducts it the fastest I've ever done it, about 152 a quarter note. 

In the final passage in the last movement, we split the part differently from the original so that the hands aren't so close together. This allows for much more comfort in playing, but does not make the part much easier. The different split can be found in Test Pieces for Orchestral Auditions. Fortunately Maestro Eschenbach is taking this passage at the more standard 138 a quarter note. 

The Bartok is one of my favorite orchestral works and I'm very excited to be touring Spain and Germany with the NSO performing this great masterpiece!

NSO European Tour 2013

Several people have asked me what happened to my blog--why have I quit posting! There are always plenty of things to share, but unfortunately limited time to do so. However I have resolved to post more frequently.

Next week the NSO leaves on a tour of Spain, Germany, France, and Oman. I will be on the tour for the first two weeks, for concerts in two cities in Spain and four cities in Germany. The repertoire for me is the Concerto for Orchestra by Bartok. This work is not being performed in Paris or Oman, so I will leave the tour from Germany.

Tonight is our last concert before the tour and so we are packing our instrument and wardrobe trunks. The orchestra departs on Tuesday. My husband, Michael Blakeslee, will be traveling with me. I promise to post frequently from Europe!

Elise Kolle performs on the Millennium Stage

Last night Elise Kolle, age 17, performed on the Millennium Stage with flutist Olivia Staton. Elise and Olivia are participants in the NSO Youth Fellowship Program, a full scholarship program providing lessons, chamber music coaching, and master classes and lectures. They performed the Boccherini and Donizetti Sonatas for flute and harp and I was very proud of them!

The performance can be watched on line here. Their performance begins at 20:00, but the first piece, "Lucy and the Count," a string quintet by Deak is also very good!

Quote of the Day: Simone Weil

 

“One does not play Bach without having done scales. But neither does one play a scale merely for the sake of the scale.”
-Simone Weil