AHJ, Vol. 5 No. 3, Summer 1976

eing ordered. I asked him to please make a sample and
send it to me but I never heard from him. The next Summer
when I returned he had moved away-gone out of
business. I have never been able to locate him so my
tote-bag was not realized. But really, someone should
carry out the idea, as I still think it is great. So don't go
on stage in evening clothes with a bag like this. You
must carry strings with you for if a string should break
you can't run off-stage for your equipment.
Another point in preparedness is keeping your harp
in very fine condition. Mr. Christiansen conducts wonderful
workshops all over the country helping us to give
more attention to the care of our harps. I heartily recommend
that any of you who have the opportunity to
attend one of these should do so, because it teaches you
a reverence for your instrument which a lot of us don't
have. When you realize what a precious thing you possess
and how hard it would be to replace, your care of
it will become an extremely important part of your life.
Be sure you don't have noisy pedaling. This can be
aided by having good pedal felts on your harp. Last
night we all knew how many pedals were being changed
but there was not one pedal sound in the entire concert.
It was just miraculous--truly a stupendous exhibition
of beautiful pedaling.
Among other things that we try to emphasize is to be
a part of the music-listen to it-don't allow yourself
to be distracted. Remember you are a musician in the
orchestra, and in being that, forget that you are a
harpist.
S. M.: I want to say something about protecting your
harp. At one time, we had three or four players in the
symphony who were "bull-in-a-china-shop" types.
When they wanted to leave the stage at rehearsals, they
would come dashing by the harp in a rush to get out.
I finally learned to turn the harp around so they would
approach it from the back; then they couldn't fly into
the sounding board with a brief case, a clarinet box,
or a contrabassoon. I also moved my music stand aside
so it wouldn't fall into the harp if someone ran into it.
In spite of my precautions, on a very crowded stage
one of the 'cellists stepped on the A pedal and split the
brass. He apologized with, "The world is my china
shop!" It was nice of him to say so. My message to you
is: Don't just walk away from your harp and trust to
luck.
Now we are going back to letter "C." This is about
CONDUCTORS and your responsibility to your conductor.
Again, we can't be prima donnas. With orchestra
parts, just play as the conductor asks, even if you
don't like his interpretation. I was interested in reading
Phia Berghout's words in the Journal, " . .. the harpist
must be in the first grade with each conductor, for they
all have their own ideas ... "
When we were planning this workshop, Marjorie
and I thought a great deal about conductors. We hoped
we might get some ideas which we could pass on to you.
We wrote to eighteen conductors but received only a
small number of replies since many of them were on
tour in or out of the United States.
16
Parts of the letter from Robert Irving, charming English
conductor of the New York City Ballet, are worth
reading: " ... I am sorry not to have answered your
letter before, asking for a conductor's comments for
your harp conference. We have been preparing for our
great Ravel orgy here, now launched: but also I could
not really find any 'mots' for you of any special validity
or interest. But here are just one or two small thoughts:
(1) 'Most usual, I'm sure! All harpists, while growing
up, should retain some concern for OTHER harpists
and not deface the music with their own mnemonics
and hieroglyphics!' " I'm sure Mr. Irving has had harpists
come to him with, "How do you expect me to play
that, when the pages are full of holes and are stuck together
with Scotch tape?" I have encountered such
ballet books with pages which I had to pry apart. We
learned from Salzedo in the '30s not to use Scotch tape
on music. While it may be all right for awhile, eventually
it yellows and develops gooey edges which stick
together. At rehearsals, I have rubbed face powder
between the pages, then I have sprinkled them with
flour or talcum when I got home so they wouldn't stick
again when the book was closed.
VOICE FROM AUDIENCE: "May I interrupt?
3M here in St. Paul has developed a 'million year tape'
for manuscripts .. . And you are right. The Toscanini
library at one time used the old tape on those precious
scores and they found out about this--and this new
tape was developed for manuscripts and music."
S. M.: I have heard of the new tape and I have used
it, but some of the old parts are still making the rounds.
Aren't you proud that 3M is right here and is so progressive
along these lines?
Back to Robert Irving's letter: (2) "I would like to
see more emphasis on sight-reading in the training of
young harpists, who seem to me too often deficient in
this respect." I think most teachers discover that sometimes
their highly gifted students--those who can play
by ear or who memorize quickly-hardly recognize
what they are playing if they see it on the page. This
can be very devastating if these young people are in an
orchestra and they haven't really learned to read music.
Constant practice in sight-reading is recommended for
all harpists, regardless of how talented they may be.
Mr. Irving's next comment interests us very much:
(3) "I find that the newest harps, though doubtless superior
mechanically, are often poor tonally in comparison
with the older (heavier!) instruments: please
don't all rush out and buy them before checking on this
aspect." Marjorie and I were puzzled by this statement
at first. After we thought awhile, we concluded that,
with harp prices what they are and with delivery of the
larger harps delayed as it has been for some years, more
and more people have been buying the smaller harps
and using them in the pit when the ballet came to town.
Mr. Irving's remark helps prove one important point:
It is highly desirable to use the best possible instrument
because it enhances your playing.
I was genuinely pleased to hear from Maurice Peress,
AMERICAN HARP JOURNAL