Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for March, 2010

Luddite electronics

Posted in Home Front, Learning Curve, tagged , , , , , , on March 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

No point in blogging my harp student experience without actually posting progress so to that end we installed a pickup on the pedal harp for recording.  This anxiety-inducing endeavor was the product of several days spacing out in front of the computer comparing prices (in other words– not practicing) because once I decided to spend too much I had to find the most discounted “too much” around.  Ended up buying a Schatten Design CH-3 Artistic Celtic and Pedal Harp pickup for 159.95 + 14.00 shipping.   

The manufacturer is located in Canada and the pickup is handmade so it’s actually kind of pretty. Looks like two whirly maple seeds connected by a brass stalk.  I recommend the vendor Blue Star Music in SoCal both for their pricing and niceness.  The fact that they’re located about 20 miles from me has nothing to do with it because they don’t have a store front.  Just really helpful people.  

Figuring out how to attach the pickup wasn’t difficult at all and that’s really saying something because as an unrepentant directional dyslexic anything involving diagrams and printed instructions can get out of hand pretty quick.  As it turns out, a clever 8 year old can managed this installation and would probably do better than my husband and I because small hands move more easily in a soundbox.

The wings of the main element need to straddle the string strip about a third of the way up which isn’t possible on the Aurora because of the bowed shape of the soundboard.   We had to go a little higher.   Supposedly the putty included with the kit is removable so we used it instead of the tape strips which are also included.

The other placement issue was where to put the preamp/battery unit so it would be reachable with an output cord.  The kit comes with a velcro anchor but I was afraid that any kind of force would tear it right off the base.  Nothing more annoying than when velcro mates so fiercely it pulls away from the item it’s meant to be attaching and clings only to itself. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Turns out the velcro stickum is totally reliable and there’s  no problem removing the preamp so connecting the output cord is a non-issue.  I can pull the whole thing out of the bottom sound hole, attach/detach the cord or change the battery and velcro it back inside.  No rattle– extremely secure, don’t need to find an 8 year old with tiny hands.   

 

So I got my first taste of electrified harpifying this afternoon while my husband fiddled with buttons and dials on his old Carvin SX-200 to strange effect.  Can’t say I’m much of a threat to Keith Richards but it was fun to play through an old rock amplifier.  Next step will be to see what an acoustic harp pickup can really do…

Read Full Post »

Unusual technique sightings

Posted in Listening to..., World at Large, tagged , , , , , , , on March 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Recently Hugo Chavez started a radio show that is introduced by some kind of harp flourish after which he launches into variations on a theme of beneficent cuckoodom.  Accompanying the article is this photograph showing Chavez with a harp that would be an unremarkable piece of self promotion except that the harp is backward.  Which got me to thinking about how not to undermine good intentions by looking like a nutcase unusual harp techniques.  For example Harpo Marx used his 5th finger which no teacher would ever suggest and Michael Cuming from Visions of a Nomad plays his harp backward when he’s also playing harmonica.  Harp and harp, get it?   He wouldn’t be able to wear the harmonica neck brace if the soundbox were against his shoulder as well.  Josh Layne uses his foot across the pedals rocking heel to toe for quick changes which I’ve never seen before.  George Flores has completely remade his relationship to the harp after a motorcycle accident that almost killed him (but not his bad boy spirit).  Diana of Reigning Harps has created a gallery of backward harps in art which reminds me of when I was a kid and tried to draw them.  Somewhere there are lumpy crayoned mermaids holding lutelike harpish objects backwards, forward and sideways bearing my signature.  Immortalized on three-lined paper.  If you’ve seen any unusual harp techniques (self-taught, adaptive or otherwise) please leave a comment.  If you’re a harpist why don’t you post on Gliiss.com where I’ve left the same query.

Read Full Post »

Performance anxiety… and no—not that kind!

Posted in Performance Anxiety, tagged , , , , , , on March 14, 2010| 2 Comments »

One of the most fascinating intervals during a  placebo-controlled clinical trial is the days or weeks between baseline (no intervention) and treatment onset because almost everyone improves regardless of which group they’ve been assigned to.  There is something about simply committing to a protocol and believing the pill/activity/program will work that results in measurable change for the better.  And from an outcome point of view does it really matter how you get there if you like the destination?   Sometimes.

Musicians and actors have been using propranolol (beta blocker with a good safety record) to manage performance anxiety for years with reported success.  Although data may be inconclusive (off-label use makes clinical trials an unnecessary expense for big pharma) why not go ahead and take it if you feel better when you do?  For a success story read Carl Swanson’s 2001 Harp Column article about his experience managing stage fright under the supervision of a physician.  We know it works well enough that two Korean shooters were banned from Olympic competition for using propranolol to reduce hand tremors and kill butterflies.

However, Steve Silberman wrote a fun piece for Wired (24-Aug-2009) that offers another way to look how at drugs work.   It’s not that easy for pharmaceutical companies to prove statistical significance in drug studies because of positive placebo response.  So on the one hand you could say a drug is effective because it works 10% more often in people taking the active compound.  However you could equally well argue that only 10% fewer people respond to placebo than the drug.  Hmmmmm.   Makes the risk benefit calculation much trickier than marketing will ever let on.  How much are you willing to spend for a 10% chance over placebo?  And what side effects are you willing to put up with based on those odds?

In the balance it seems as though professional musicians who are debilitated by physical symptoms like shaky cold hands, rapid heartbeat, breathlessness and sweating (but feel confident of their command of the repertoire) do well with beta blockers.  When performance anxiety arises from self-consciousness, shyness or lack of preparation they will be less effective.   Believing that beta blockers work increases the likelihood that they will.   So before you give propranolol a try consider that beta blockers are associated with nuisance issues such as gastro-intestinal problems (try that onstage), diminished or absent sexual performance with regular use and rare deadly events such as bronchospasm and anaphylactic shock.  Someone’s got to be the outlier, right?  Best to take propranolol on a test run when you’re not alone and nothing is at stake before assuming it will provide poise and calm during a performance.

Read Full Post »

Why is improvisation so daunting for some of us?

Posted in Learning Curve, tagged , , , , , , on March 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

 

I  played piano for years like a good technician—proficient sure—but lacking soul and texture.  Notes made it onto the keyboard but I couldn’t do anything without printed music to map the way.  Harp has been something of an improvement because, since I don’t have the skill to shift my eyes from strings to page and back at anything other than glacial pace, I’ve had to memorize.  Who’d a thought…  It would be nice to believe that I’m at least doing some of that brain training for an aging mind stuff.  However, this month my new (most excellent) harp teacher says it’s time to detach from the printed page.  I’ve got a dandy book by Susan Raimond called Making Music for Folk Harp that comes with a CD option for play along.  In the first few pages she shows you a number of standard left hand patterns and then follows that with super simple melodies to work with.  The only downside to super simple is that I’ve already played a number of the pieces with complete sheet music so it’s a little odd to try and un-remember what I know.  The CD ensures that you get it sound wise and provides something to play with so you don’t go nuts running melodies through your head because you can’t (would rather be caught dead than) sing aloud.  Even though it’s wierd to be playing from beginner books again  it’s clearly a necessity because without all those (comforting) extra notes I’m forced to come up with something, anything, to fill in the empty spaces.  (And yes I know that it’s the space between the notes that makes music etc etc.)  What’s craziest of all is that there’s no one listening to me– no cackling audience shaming me into submission– nothing that should be as inhibiting as it feels.

Read Full Post »

Not just a dowdy drawing room instrument…

Posted in Favorite Harpists, tagged , , , , , , on March 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Photograph by Jesse Chehak

 

 The first time I heard Joanna Newsom was a real double take moment.  As in WTF?  That lasted about 3 minutes ( which would be the length of a more conventional song but hers go on and on giving you plenty of time to change your first impression).  Before the full 12 minutes had passed I was enchanted.  Completely seduced  by a singer-songwriter who doesn’t sound anything like what you expect to hear from a harpist.  Unless you’ve also been listening to Deborah Henson-Conant,  Park Stickney,  Edmar Castenada, and any number of other innovators who defy stereotype and happen to send me soaring.   Of course I don’t know where we all got the idea that harpists only belong in churches, weddings and orchestras but it sticks.  All you have to do is hear someone’s story about the bride who only wants a fancy gold harp (or a pretty female harpist with wavy butt length hair) to get a feel for the look and matching sound.  In a NYTimes article called The Changling, Jody Rosen (music critic for Slate) writes that Joanna Newsom has  “virilized the harp, bringing a funky pulse to a dowdy drawing-room instrument” which seems like a bit of a stretch.  However I’ve totally caved to the Joanna Newsom neo Pre-Raphaelite  thing and can’t get her songs out of my head.  And that’s what it’s all about right?

Read Full Post »

Strings Attached

Posted in Home Front, tagged , , , , on March 7, 2010| 4 Comments »

When my almost husband asked me whether I wanted a ring or a harp there was only one answer… both!  With heavy emphasis on the harp part.  After all, everyone knows that a harp is just a naked piano, right?  Nope.  After playing the same measure eleventy times I can say with certainty that keyboarding is easier for this wannabe tunesmith.  So yes, we’re married now and the ring is elegant… and no the harpifying is not.  He forgives me for endless (aimless) practice and I forgive him for being such a splendid guitarist.  I imagine it must be a little like teaching someone you know how to drive only it’s music theory and my learners permit expired long ago. Fortunately for my husband I may not be able to parallel park  but I can read music and I ‘m a willing student.  Clearly we’re in for it! A lifetime of dueling strings… For better or worse.

Read Full Post »