I played for a good half hour this afternoon. I could have finished at my usual 20 minutes but knew that as soon as I finished I'd have to do a small spot of grouting so this made me go on for a bit longer. Warm up exercises were based on all four fingers, up and down, round and round so much the same as yesterday really. I made a start on the Gymnopedie which is one of the orchestra pieces we will be performing at the concert on the 27 Feb. This did appear to be more straight-forward. There are two harp parts, one in C and one in D. The harp can only play in one diatonic key at a time. It is possible to change but the lever harpist must move all the relevant levers to change key. Each string has its own lever so if you are in C and want to move into D you have to move all the F and C levers to change those notes to F sharp and C sharp. That would be 10 strings. The pedal harp requires one pedal shift per note so you would only have to shift the F and C pedals to change key. Quite often a composer will write for two harps so that one harp plays in one key and the other will take over if it modulates. I am doing the harp in C part and I worked out I could play the Gymnopedie with just a little bit of preparation. Most of the part contains long notes but the harps do get a little of the melody at one point. After some preparation I pulled out a 'Favourite Classics' CD to see if Satie's little gem was on there. Indeed it was and in the same key so I set the CD going and played along. This was great fun and I felt part of a bigger team, even if it was just me and Aldo Ciccolini. Aldo was gracious to pretend not to notice that we weren't together at times so that boosted my confidence even more. I spotted the slow movement of the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto on the same CD so had a listen to that before doing my chores. Other than a few works by Ravel and Debussy this concerto is the only important repertoire that I know exists for the harp.
Imagine my delight when my next donation came in with a message featuring Mozart and his concerto! It was from Caroline and Charles, some very good friends. Caroline is herself an inspiration as she is no stranger to the challenge of taking up a new instrument. She is a flautist but had always had a dream to play the saxophone. While at college (I won't say when!) the saxophone was frowned upon and although she was interested in learning she was told not to bother as it wasn't a proper instrument. A few years ago she bought herself an alto and set about working towards grade 6. As extra motivation she asked for sponsorship to help raise money for the Palace Band, the woodwind ensemble we both work with. As a flautist many techniques were similar but she soon discovered there were also many differences, in particular the embouchure and stamina required to last for more than five minutes. However she worked hard and passed with distinction! Caroline particularly enjoys early music and has recently taken up the viol, even going on a weekend course very similar to the ones we run together. She now understands what the participants feel like and described the dread, anxiety and desperate desire to please the tutor, something that neither of us had realised our own participants might go through! Caroline spent the early days of her career playing as a flute and harp duo with Sioned Williams, now of course with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The pair of them gave many a rousing performance of the Mozart. Caroline's suggestion was that we do an arrangement at some stage accompanied by the Palace Band. Even if it was simplified beyond recognition (and that's not just my part…) I would have the honour of following in Sioned's footsteps. Fancy that! Buoyed by these amazing dreams I managed another 20 minutes for Caroline and Charles and recapped everything covered so far. The two exam pieces are coming along slowly and one of the orchestra pieces is manageable. The fourth finger is still dodgy and the inconsistent tone quality is one I need to address but otherwise all on schedule. Well it would be if I had a schedule. Maybe I'll do one tomorrow...
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