Points out of ten!

Hi,

I've started the league table for my practice progress! Every piece will be given a score out of ten every week from now until the competition....the contest starts around April 10th.
Here is my very makeshift table of scores, ranging this week from a paltry couple of 1 out of 10s, to a rather confident 10 out of 10 for Thomas Hewitt Jones's recording-ready 'Shades of Grief'.

The lowest score this week is 1/10...I have only just started work on Reminiscences of Tranquillity by Yinam Leef and The Crown of Ariadne by Schafer. Here are a couple of pics of what my percussion set-up looks like so far!

Left table - the CD player is to play my pre-recorded backing track for the Labyrinth Dance. I recorded the backing track ('Recorded Harp' rather than 'Live Harp' in Schafer's score) last year, when I hadn't really had a chance to get to grips with the percussion set up at all! I had to hire a set of crotales (large, heavy, circular antique cymbals - thick ones that are 'ting-ed' with a beater, not crashed together!) mounted on a special stand. They cost about £300 to hire for a couple of days...to buy them would cost well over £1000 so I am making do with my son's glockenspiel and a few chime bars for now. However, for the pre-recording, it HAD to be the real thing and they do sound magical!

This is a really bad view of just a few of the things that are on the right hand side of the harp....including said glockenspiel! Also, my electric tuner, lots of pencils in a pot and several different triangle beaters. So far, I have discovered that one triagle or finger cymbal has as many different tones and personalities as you have triangle beaters/wooden sticks/fingers to 'ting' it with!

So, off I go for some rest. In my next post I hope to share with you some progress about Ariadne's Dance - coordinating the 7/8 and 6/8 alternate bars of the feet tapping away (with their ankle bells attached) in one repeated rhythm, while the fingers of both hands do other complex rhythms is NOT easy!

I am now going to bed to seek some inspiration for Dance of the Night Insects...in my dreams only, NOT in my bed, I hope!!!

Ellie

Progress with Gaudeamus Programme

Hi! Progress has been made :)

I have been working on my Gaudeamus programme a lot recently - pretty much any spare moment. Squeeeezing in minutes between students, getting in that last half hour before 10.30pm (this is the moment when I relieve my neighbours of the cacophony of sounds that are my current practice line-up!)

I'm looking forward to recording Thomas Hewitt Jones's 'Shades of Grief' with Tommy, in London, in about a week. We've had a couple of sessions pencilled in before now, but poor Tommy has had a virus. I admit that I was grateful when we had to postpone the first session, as I still had some way to go before a recording session would have gone smoothly! Then, when we had to put it back for the second time, I was really raring to go, so I was a little disappointed. However, after a few days not playing that piece, it has really settled and I'm about to get to work on it again today, feeling much fresher :)

I've made a bit of a practise schedule and so far have two run-through type performances of my competition programme to look forward to. First of all on Tuesday 22nd March at 4.15pm I am going to perform at my old school, Stamford High School. Then, on Thursday 31st March at 7.30pm I shall perform in public at Oakham Chapel.

I am looking forward to another trip to the Netherlands in February to study with Erika Waardenburg again. Also, a lesson with Hugh Webb in England, pianist Di Xiao and another lesson with Ernestine in the Netherlands if I can manage it....so much to look forward to - so much inspiration! Yes, THIS is why I subject myself to competitions!

So, off I go to the harp - I plan on putting up some photos soon of my percussion layout for The Crown of Ariadne by Schafer, as I find it really fascinating. Also, GREAT news - I have been accepted onto the masterclass with Judy Loman and the composer himself, R.M. Schafer, in Vancouver this July. This will be an absolute once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am so grateful to have been accepted. I am going to meet Judy, one of my harp idols, and receive the composer's own input on his wonderful music. Lucky me :)

Thanks again to Wingate Scholarship for the opportunity and the motivation!

Ellie

Lesson with Ernestine Stoop in December

Hi again,

I've not been blogging due to my poor old PC giving up on me. Its computer brain was overheating to about 150 degrees...having now started learning and practising the repertoire for the Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition (I'm happy to say I have been accepted to compete)....I know how my computer must have been feeling!

However, thanks to a greatly inspiring lesson in Amsterdam with Ernestine Stoop, shortly before Christmas, I have got the confidence and enthusiasm to move forward with this challenging programme.

Ernestine helped me with Tratti by Ig Henneman, completely bringing the rhythm and the style of the music to life as well as sharing many practical solutions with me for the technical challenges. We also looked at Mirror by Edward Mebius, which does indeed sound a little bit Shostakovich-esque in places, only endearing it more to me! I'd recommend this piece to any harpist looking for a short, emotional and sincere piece that is brand new but fondly remembers the 20th century!

The way the composer makes the harp sound remind the listener of an actual mirror, is striking - little shards of light, sparking off here and there. Unusually for the harp, many repeated notes used deliberately by Mebius create a drier, clearer sound, more like the piano in places. The structure of the piece makes the music reflect back on itself, and the nature of the music is as introspective as Tratti is exuberant and outgoing.

I look forward to having another lesson with Ernestine: She's a truly warm person, a great harpist and teacher, and her incredible passion and fearless approach to new music really sets me alight! Inspiring stuff...oh, and grrrrrrrreat coffee too!


Thanks for reading!


Eleanor