| Journal: American Harp Society conference, Day 3 |
| Thursday, 26 June 2008 | |
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Today was jam packed! I worked on the MHS eNewsletter for the most part of the morning and then went downstairs to hear the 13-year-old Charles Overton at a master class. I remember going to master classes and finding them extremely interesting. While Charles’ performance piqued my interest for a number of reasons, I was not all that thrilled with the concept of the event. I later remarked to Brandee that I would’ve been excited about staying if anyone were working on pieces that I myself was working on. But while they’re just learning the works, those notes mingle with my white blood cells. It’s just not the same joy for me anymore. So I ducked out of the master class to the showroom. Harps, harps, harps and more harps. Every company was in there with their model of harps, all different types of harps… It was harp paradise. Y’all, I’m in love with this Anywho, the 1:30pm concert held some great music and some boring stuff as well. Birds of Paradise adorned the corners of the stage. (stifled laughter) The concert opened with harpist Patricia Terry-Ross, violinist Velda Kelly and cellist Nadine Deleury performing a work composed for them by Erik Santos (1967- ) who was also in the audience. Naïades for harp, violin and cello (2006) is a two movement work: “Water” and “Floating Cloud in a Blue Sky.” If you know how a Theremin sounds, you’ll know what the violin in “Water” sounded like—a lyric soprano sitting on a power line. On two occasions, the violinist struck a triangle dangling from her stand, which was kinda cool. The cello part was highly uninspiring. If I hadn’t seen her sitting there, I wouldn’t know she was playing. This could’ve also been due to the poor acoustics in the large, high-ceiling room. Pat worked the heck out of her harp part which was all over the place. The high-powered, erratic rhythm of “Water” made way for the languid, sustained chords of “Floating.” All instruments were given their chance to shine, even the cellist who finally had a chance to make her voice heard. The mysterious chords were lush and wondrous. Nice finish. The next piece of interest was the Prelude for Piano by Gershwin arranged for two harps by Maurice Draughn. Performers were the arranger and Lydia Cleaver. While the composition did a fine job at covering all the bases, I couldn’t help but think about how boring Gershwin can be. I also thought about him sitting on the floors in Harlem jazz clubs soaking in the black sound and reworking their creativity into his compositions as something new for his constituents. Black flavor for a white audience. And that’s how lackluster I found the Prelude. When you institutionalize something that is spontaneous at its core, you’re bound to lose the essence of what makes it come to life. The Alice Claifoux Tribute Concert at 5:00pm made me consider the possibility of peer pressure in AHS. Did these harpists have to play everything as it was written or taught? Where were their personalities? The whole thing felt sterile. Where was the fun? I wonder if there was any pressure to perform according to law to show the others that they know the proper way to perform these pieces. I wonder if they took liberties or interjected their preferences elsewhere. I sat there listening to these pieces performed by robots for a while then took my leave. I later returned for Ann Hobson Pilot’s performance of the Debussy Danses. She played by memory, a requirement back in the day, and received a standing ovation. She is Ann Pilot. Studying under her was difficult to say the very least because she is, in a word, perfect. Like being the older, unmarried sister, I always felt inadequate in my feeble pursuit for Pilot perfection. Never attained it. Off to the nunnery. I forgot to mention that I attended an improvisation workshop. I went in thinking that they were going to help me with my jazz chords and glissandi. I sat there in the 101 class watching harpists do upper/lower neighbor notes over Canon in D. Not quite what I had in mind. I neglected to think that it was more Bach embellishments or some other ornamentation. I should've known better.  No. 1 : You seem to become more and more bitter as the conference goes on. Why is that? |
Salvi electroacoustic harp. (Well, this is not the exact harp, but similar.) Each string has a pick up. On many, you can adjust the treble, middle and bass registers independently. That is, oftentimes electroacoustic harps, named because you can either plug an amp into them or play them as a regular harp and both should sound good, sound tinny or guitar-like. We hate that. No longer are we only heard in concert halls. We want the same warmth as a standard harp that we can also play outside at a jazz festival or in a club with our hip hop group. That’s the versatility that many harpists need these days. | < Prev | Next > |
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