String Pedagogy Notebook

[A.Leung]

For those interested in really getting to know what strings are capable of this web site is great.:
http://www.uvm.edu/~mhopkins/string/pedagogy/lhadv/01.html

[nickysnd]

No disrespect meant, but what useful things have you learned from those clips? I have watched them all and they are all awful from many points of view. From them, one can only learn how strings instruments are NOT to be played.

To learn properly what an instrument is capable of (that is, without spending years to learn it), you need to get in touch with a player. Next would be to attend recitals and take front row seats. Next, YouTube, search for solo violin (or other instrument of interest). My point is, instrumental techniques are to be learned only from a real musical context, while looking at the player while he or she is playing real music, like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_1hS5LeBm0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9ZVuV8Py24&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NaVpv9jsTo&feature=related

[peter5992]

Thanks for sharing this Allan - very interesting.

When I write in Sibelius I always make a deliberate effort to write something that can be played without too much effort by real live musicians, even though I primarily use virtual libraries.

Having an understanding of the real instruments and what they do is essential in my opinion. Yes, I agree with Nickysnd that there is nothing like the real thing - and inter alia for that reason I go to the SF symphony and opera - but sometimes we do not have the time or opportunity to explore instruments indepth level, and online resources are always great.

To return the favor, I'd like to share a tip on how to write for harp which my friends on Sibelius gave me:

http://www.harpspectrum.org/harpworks/composing_for_harp/composing_for_harp.shtml

(The harp is widely misunderstood and hard to write for - the physical considerations are quite phenomenal - advice I got was that if I ever seriously got to write for harp, I would do well to indeed sit down with a harpist.)

[A.Leung]

Thats great Peter. Loved the section on Harp building and "the sacred Harpist Notation Guide".

[nickysnd]

http://www.harpspectrum.org/harpworks/composing_for_harp/composing_for_harp.shtml
Cool link, thanks! As a coincidence, on that web site, scrolling down on this page: http://www.harpspectrum.org/links/compositions.shtml there are my publishers: http://www.fatrockink.com/ and, on their web site, my piece for a harp, flute and viola: http://www.fatrockink.com/076-2112.html :) (I wouldn't have missed such an opportunity for self promotion, I have won an international composition contest with that piece.)

The harp is widely misunderstood and hard to write for - the physical considerations are quite phenomenal - advice I got was that if I ever seriously got to write for harp, I would do well to indeed sit down with a harpist.
That is very true. The harp might be the hardest instrument to understand if you don't actually play it. It is not only completely unique (an instrument with no "relatives"), but its playing technicalities are really arcane. Some truly idiomatic and effective writing for harp you can find in Debussy. Also, Carlos Salzedo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2c8blX0xmE (very cool pedalling at ~1min., you don't see it, only hear the effect)

[peter5992]

Ah ... harp lovers ... I am in good company!

Here is the hyperlink to the thread on the Sibelius where I raised the issue about harp notation - lots of excellent tips in there:

http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/helpcenter/chat/chat.pl?com=thread&start=395170&groupid=3&words=harp%20player*&name=

[nikolas]

I wouldn't have missed such an opportunity for self promotion, I have won an international composition contest with that piece.
Congratulations! :)

And Peter, Alan, Nicky, excellent links and topics. Very enlightening indeed! :)

[Andrew Sigler]

...sorry, wrong thread...