Lever harp etudes?

[Angela Biggs]

In the wake of a major burnout in September 2014, I stopped playing my harp for several months. Early this year I debuted a couple of voice/harp songs at a local Good Friday service. Last summer I began playing in the lobby of the local hospital for a hour a month. I just do incredibly easy, sight-readable stuff; at least I touch my harp on a regular basis now, even if it isn’t often.

And then a couple of weeks ago I had the chance (/was expected) to play in a harp masterclass with a pedal harpist who came to town. I pulled out an old piece, and flubbed it even though I had practiced, but that wasn’t shocking because it’s just what happens when I play this instrument in public! Dr. Rupert gave me some pointers, and some encouragement, of which I have been sorely in need. I still don’t want to play out. At all.

But… I would like to pluck away at some of the new information I was given. In vocal music, an exercise is a (usually short) repeated pattern that is transposed into adjacent keys, while a vocalise is much closer to a song, but without words. When I think of harp exercises vs. harp etudes, I envision the exercise/vocalise relationship. Is that accurate?

I have the Friou book, but those are exercises. I saw that someone (Carl?) recently updated Bochsa’s etudes, but they’re for pedal harp, and I can’t tell from the samples how adaptable they would be. Can anyone recommend an etude book for lever harp? (I’m okay with lever flips.)

Thank you,
Angela

[Tacye]

What do you think of these Bochsa ones?

http://imslp.org/wiki/50_le%C3%A7ons_progressives_pour_la_harpe_%28Bochsa,_Nicholas_Charles%29

[Donna O]

Angela,
25 Easy Studies, Alfred Kastner. Out of print but edited by Kathy Bundock Moore. They are available at Kolacny music.com They are suitable for lever harp. Hope this helps.

[carl-swanson]

OMG Angela!!! I can’t believe you asked that question!! Why??? I was holding off on posting about this until they were ready. But I have just spent the last year on my second BIG project for Carl Fischer Music and it’s nearing completion now. The first BIG project was the new version of the Debussy Sonate pour flute, alto, et harp. But I digress.

After the Debussy project was done, my editor at CF asked me what else I had to publish. I presented 4 or 5 projects, and the one he just loved is the one we are completing now. It is the Bochsa Op. 318, 40 Easy Etudes. I told my editor that I loved those etudes and used them for teaching all the time. But as good as they are, there are shortcomings. 1) They, like many 19th century etudes for harp, are very right handed, with little for the left hand to do. 2) They tend to use a small area in the middle of the instrument and never go up into the treble or down into the bass. And 3),in virtually all of the original etudes, both hands are right next to each other all the time. So my proposal to my editor was to publish a new edition of the Bochsa Op. 318 and for each of the original etudes, write a companion Etude Variation that expands on the technical material of the original. And that is what we have done!

So why am I telling you all of this? Because about 2 months into the project I had a brilliant idea. I emailed my editor and told him that we were not reaching a large segment of the harp playing community: The lever harp people!! And I told him that we should do two editions: one for pedal harp, and the other for lever harp, which we’ve done.

The pedal harp version just came out and it’s FABULOUS. It has a spiral binding. All of the etudes, which are normally crammed onto one page each, are now spread over two pages, making them MUCH easier to read. All of the pedals are written in in HUGE letters that you can read from across the room. No other edition of these etudes has the pedals included. And there is an Etude Variation for each of the original etudes. If the original etude is primarily for the right hand, then the Etude Variation is for the left. When the original etude is more or less evenly divided between the two hands, the Etude Variation uses much more of the instrument, going up into the 2nd and 1st octaves, or down into the 5th and 6th octaves. I also have passages where the hands are playing 2 or 3 octaves apart.

I’m in the process of proofing the galleys for the lever harp version, and I’m hoping that will be in print by December. The lever harp version required some changes in order to be able to flip levers. But it is still the wonderful technical material of the original Bochsa. I don’t believe there is anything out there for lever harp like this, and I’m hoping the lever harp community really likes and uses it.

The book is called BOCHSA REVISITED, and is published by Carl Fischer Music. It contains 82 pages of music, and 12 pages of text that tell you effective ways to practice and describes the technical points of each etude. It will be available, if it isn’t already, at Lyon & Healy, Vanderbilt, Amazon, sheetmusicplus, Swansonharp.com(it’s there now), and other places as well. Here is the link to my web site where you can read all about it, and also download samples of 13 of the etudes and etude variations.

http://www.swansonharp.com/Boscha_Etudes/Boscha_Etudes.html

[Angela Biggs]

Thanks Tacye, that will be a good place to start! And thank you for the recommendation, Donna, I’ll look that up. 🙂

LOL Carl… I’m sorry for outing the secret? But Merry Christmas to me!! I’m very excited to hear that you’re already in process and I won’t have to wait a year. When it’s officially published, please post and let us know right away!

[carl-swanson]

Well, even though they are for pedal harp, do take a look at the samples. Actually, I think you can play all of the samples on lever harp, because the lever flips(which sometimes get complicated) occur later in each etude and etude variation.

[Donna O]

Carl, I am glad to hear you are publishing a lever harp version. I look forward to seeing it in December.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Yes, and some vocal exercises and vocalises also make good harp exercises, and vice-versa. However, the vocalises I use, by Panofka, are varied and wonderful, and most harp etudes are overly repetitive and dreary, if not dreadful (not all, but many). They don’t have as much variety as a vocalise, and they generally neglect developing the left hand. The Damase Preludes and Etudes are satisfying. The Grossi Etudes are vocal in style, so you might like them, they’re very Italian.

[Jerusha Amado]

I just ordered Carl’s new book through Amazon. I can’t wait for it to arrive!

[carl-swanson]

Jerusha- So nice to hear that you ordered it. I hope you like it. I just finished proofing the final galleys for the lever harp edition of this book. My editor at Carl Fischer Music said he thinks it might be ready for distribution around November 20. I’ll let everyone know here when it is out.

[Rachel]

Carl, I’m very excited about the lever harp edition. Have you considered submitting a copy to the Folk Harp Journal when it’s ready so that it can be reviewed in an upcoming issue? That would be a great way to get the word out to the lever harp community (in addition to the Yahoo harplist).

[carl-swanson]

Rachel- Cynthia Artish has already volunteered to review it. In fact, she’s seen the second galleys and loves it. You’ll have to fill me in on the Yahoo harplist. I’m a caveman when it comes to getting around online. If there is something that I could put up there then let me know, and also tell me how to do it! My main concern is just getting word out that the two volumes exist(Bochsa Revisited for pedal harp, and BR for lever harp). It does no good at all to have a major music publisher like Carl Fischer Music publish music for harp if it is just going to sit on the store shelf because no one knows its there.

I tried uploading the cover for the lever harp edition here but I can’t figure out how to do it. Oh well…

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

Damase has a lovely set of Ten Etudes for lever harp, to add to your collection.

[Rachel]

Hi Carl, if you let me know when the lever harp edition is available, I can post something on the Yahoo harplist for you. It’s an online forum. I choose not to have the e-mails delivered to my e-mail inbox, so I just read them online, but it does give you the option to receive them as a digest. You do have to join the group to post, but it’s not too hard to do that. However, like I said, I’d be happy to post something for you! I’ll watch for the edition when it comes out. Will Melody’s carry it? That’s a store that carries a lot of lever harp music!

[carl-swanson]

Rachel- Thank you so much for your interest in this.I will let you know as soon as I get some copies of the lever harp edition. I was planning on contacting Melody about this. If there are other places where the lever harp players buy their music, then let me know and I’ll contact them too. Strictly speaking, marketing is not my job at Carl Fischer Music. But it does no good to have them send an announcement out to their 1500 distributors if none of those places are where harpists buy their music. So I’ve unofficially given myself the job of helping get the word out on these harp publications, to the places where harpists shop. The pedal edition of Bochsa Revisited is already up on http://www.amazon.com and http://www.sheetmusicplus.com, as well as my own web site, http://www.swansonharp.com. It should be available at Lyon & Healy and Vanderbilt as well. In Europe, I believe it is available at Magasin de la Harpe in Paris and CAMAC too.

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