Music To Grow By: Repertoire Refreshers - PHH 102

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Welcome to the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast. I'm Ann Sullivan, a harpist on a mission to empower every harpist to experience more harp happiness. Over my decades long harp journey, I've had lots of successes and more than a few failures. And I know firsthand what it's like to feel that playing the harp the way you want may not be possible for you. Now I play and teach all over the world, and I know what most harpists are never taught the secrets to gaining the skills and confidence you need to play the harp with beauty, freedom and joy. That's what the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast is all about. Showing you simple steps to help you play the music you want the way you want. If you're an experienced harpist looking for that next level, or a harp newbie anxious to avoid the pitfalls, or a harpist who just wants more fulfillment and a little encouragement, you're in the right place, my friend. So let's get started. Welcome to the show. If you're like me, and I'll bet you are, you have a lot of music you want to play someday. My music used to be in piles next to my music stand until the piles got so untidy that I filed everything in boxes. And every time I dive into one of those boxes to retrieve a piece I need to work on, I find a hidden treasure. A piece I bought long ago that I forgot about. It's like getting an early Christmas present, a new piece all ready for me to start. It takes all my willpower to also take out the piece I was looking for in the first place. If you love investigating new music too, then today's podcast episode is the one you've been waiting for. I have some pieces to player that might fill a gap in your gig repertoire or intrigue you, or maybe even inspire you to try music you might not have thought was exactly your style. There's something here for everyone. Whether you're a lever harpist or a pedal harpist. The pieces are at mostly an intermediate level, but that's a pretty wide ranging level. And you will notice that some are definitely more challenging than others. But that's why I titled this show Music to Grow by, because a little bit of a stretch, either technically or musically, or maybe both, is really good for us. Some of the pieces are longtime favorites of mine. A few are relatively new discoveries. I love all of them, and my hope is that one of these may become a favorite of yours too. Now, because most of us decide to play a new piece of music or try a new piece of music because we've heard it. I will be playing the pieces that I'm talking about today. So I will be playing those for you and I'll tell you a little bit about them and a little bit about what to expect. Also, you will find in the Show Notes for this episode a listing of all the pieces I'm playing. There are five of them. A listing of all of those pieces with links to where you can get the music so you, you don't have to go looking for them on your own. They're all in the show Notes. Now, if you can't find the show notes, let me give you some easy ideas. First of all, lots of podcast apps will show you the show notes if you actually look for them. But you can always come over to harpmastery.com click on podcast, you'll see this episode and you can read the show notes there. As I said, all the links to the music are there. They're all on different sites in different places. But that way you don't have to go go hunting for anything. So the music list is there for you. Because I know that you're going to want to get one of these at least, and I guarantee that at least one and probably two or more of these pieces are ones that you've never heard before or never heard of. So I there's going to be something fun for you here. I do want to remind those of you who are not in our My Heart Mastery membership community that we have left the membership doors open through today. Now, today being Monday, May 1, 2023, that's the day that this episode is going live and our membership community is open for you to join through today. We close it first thing tomorrow morning, as in Tuesday morning. So if you are listening to this on the day that it goes live and you haven't joined our community, please go check it out and see if you're interested. We would love to have you. We the best group of harpists anywhere. I think the most generous, warm people that I have ever had the privilege to work with. So there's a link once again in the Show Notes that you can use to join us at My Heart Mastery. And I certainly hope you do. But I know that you're eager to hear some of these pieces and I'm eager to talk about them and let you hear them. So let's get on with that part of our show. I am absolutely certain that you are familiar with music written by the composer of the first piece. I want to share with you our Composer is harpist Marcel Granjni. What I find interesting about Granjni, we think of him, or at least I do, as a contemporary harpist. But you need to remember that he was actually born in 1891. So he. His lifespan is just really incredible when you think about what his time on earth encompassed. And of course, all the just, you know, amazing things that he accomplished with it, both as a harpist and as a composer. He studied harp starting at age 8 with Henriette Rainier, and at 11, he started attending the Paris Conservatory, where he studied with Alphonse Hasselman. So already before the, you know, before he's 12, he's already come in contact with two of the leading lights in the harp world and studied with them. So that gives you an idea of his background. He actually appeared on his first solo public recital at age 17, and he appeared in a concert with Maurice Revelle in Paris in 1913. Once again, this is just an incredible story. He moved to the United states in the 1930s, was head of the harp department at the Juilliard School in New York for, oh, gosh, 40, 40 years, just about until his death in 1975, for sure. He was.

The founding voice energy behind the formation of the American Harp Society. He was. Was acting at the behest of Pierre Jamet, who Grande met at the first international harp contest in Israel in 1959. And Grani took this project under his wing and he put together a committee of leading harpists. And that's how the American Harp Society was born. So this is not only an extremely accomplished harpist who was, you know, was just in the thick of things in the French harp world, and then, of course, coming to the United States and everything that he did here in this country, not just as a performer, also as a composer and as a person, an advocate of the harp and in his formation of the Harp Society. So there's just so much there. And the piece we're talking about today is one of my favorite small compositions of his. I mean, he wrote amazing things. The Rhapsody is just an astounding work, and he's got so much wonderful music. But the piece I'm going to share with you today is one of his smaller compositions, and it actually was one of a set of three pieces he wrote for piano. But I've only ever known it as a harp piece, and that is Pastorale. Now, you may know this piece. It's just a lovely, haunting little piece. It's not hard to play from a technical standpoint. And he wrote it for Harp without pedals, or at least transferred it from the piano to harp without pedals. So it's totally accessible whether you're playing a pedal harp or a lever harp. So no accidental changes in the piece at all. But what does change in this piece is the meter. It is mostly in 5, 8, with portions of it in 6, 8 and some other meters as well. So it's a great exercise in counting and in figuring out how to convey the idea of the music without getting all bound up in the technical details of it. As I said, it's not hard to play, but it's just a really interesting piece to study. The two big sections, the beginning section, which more or less repeats at the end, are very interesting in the way he uses the 5, 8. Now, if you're not used to working in meters of 5, let me explain this to you. So when you're playing a piece in 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, right.

It generally divides itself into two parts. If you think about a measure of four beats, 1, 2, 3, four, we have that main beat on one, and then there's sort of that medium strong beat on three, right? So it's got 1, 2, 3, 4. So that measure is sort of subdivided into two parts, isn't it? Well, five works the same way, except that those parts aren't even. So a measure of five, we describe it this way. It's usually divided into either three, two, meaning a section of three beats, and then a section of two beats, or the other way around, two, three, a section of two beats, and then a section of three beats. So that gives you a subsidiary accent in the measurement. So it's like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 1, 2, 3, 4,. 5 is 3 plus 2. 2 plus 3 would be 1, 2, 3, 4th, 5. 1, 2, three, four, five. And what grand did in the Pastorale is take these sort of bookend sections, you know, like you have in a lot of pieces, right, where the beginning stuff comes back at the end and the parts are quite similar, but he's turned around the accents so that one of those is in a three plus two idea feel and the other is in the two plus three idea. Makes it just a little bit different and makes it a lot of fun to work through and to play. But it's a beautiful piece and it's certainly worth just a little bit of working through some of those rhythmic intricacies to get this to work. So let me play this for you. Now, this is the grand Pastoral.

That was Pastoral by Marcel Granjni. I mentioned a moment ago that Granjni studied with Alphonse Hasselman at the Paris Conservatory, as did Henriette Rainier and Carlos Salzato and any other number of harpists who went on to become leading lights in the harp world. You might know Hasselman best from his many compositions that he wrote for the harp. Most of them, of course, are pedal harp oriented. That was what he was teaching and playing. But he did write a number of compositions that are playable even if they weren't intended for the lever harp. They're playable on lever harp. And his music is so beautiful and just, you know, strikes a. A different note that you may want to include some of his music in your own personal repertoire, whether you're a pedal harpist or not. So the piece I'm going to play for you now is from a collection of his that you may not be familiar with, even if you know some of his more often played compositions. And this collection is called Trois Petite Bluetooth. Three Little Bluets. Now, literally, a bluet is a little spark, but it translates into something like a trifle. These are little trifle pieces. Now, I wouldn't say that they're terrifically easy. The first two pieces in the set are very lovely, but would take a little bit of negotiating to make them work on lever harp. The third piece in the set is carillon, and that is totally negotiable for lever harp, that it's very simple to work out the couple of accidentals that are there. So it's definitely worth investigating whether you're playing lever or pedal harp. I love carillon because you can hear the bells and yet it doesn't work with the kinds of big chords that you might think. But you can just hear these bells. You could hear them in, you know, maybe all over Paris, if that's what you were imagining as you were listening to it or playing it. And there's a lot you can do with the dynamics in this piece, and I think that's what makes it really fun to play. So let me play that for you. Now this is carillon from Trois Petite Bluet by Hasselman.

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That was carillon by Alphonse Hasselman. Don't you love the way you can hear the bells in that and the way they fade into the distance? I just think it's a great piece. So much fun, so evocative. And you could use this for any kind of background music or you could play it at church. You can do this just about any, anywhere you wanted to play it or just play it for yourself.

Now those were two composers that you probably were familiar with. You might not know the music of Nancy Gustafson. Nancy Gustafson was a harpist and a really underrated composer, at least under recognized. The people who know her music really love it. She wrote a lot of compositions for, for Lever Harp or for students perhaps at a really nice intermediate level. And there's nothing babyish about her pieces. There's one that's a real favorite, Sparklers, that's a real favorite with people. But she, her sets, her music is in, is in sets in volumes and there's Songs without Words and there's a set called the Magic Road which has a lot of, a lot of very exotic sounding music in it. All very playable and great, great student pieces, but great little, you know, recital pieces or any kind of things like that. But the set I'm going to play a piece from today is the set called Pacific Sketches. And I just love this particular piece. This one is actually one of the more difficult ones in the set. There are three others. But this one is called Rippling Water and it certainly sounds that way. It sounds extremely contemporary. And I mean it is now. She died in 1966, I believe. So it's not perhaps as contemporary as it sounds, but, but it's just beautiful. And if you love playing arpeggios, this is a great piece to, to practice your arpeggios on. So this is Rippling Water by Nancy Gustafson from her set Pacific Sk.

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That was Rippling Water from Pacific Sketches by Nancy Gustafson. I adore that piece and I hope you like it too. I think it's just the, the. Oh, I don't know, it's got so many wonderful colors in it and it's just so, so harpy. I just love that, that piece. So the next one is from a new set of pieces, or at least it's very new to me. It's actually a set of student pieces written, almost written, probably written for children, but yeah, maybe we're old children at heart. The book is called on the Harps Strings and it's mostly a pretty elementary book. There are some harder pieces in it. There's a wonderful little set of variations that the composer calls Pokemon Variations that are really quite adorable and just very charming. And it has a lot of charming Two Sparrows, Dew Drops, Moonlight. And some of them are not totally simple, but they're all really, really interesting and pretty. Now the composer is Janina Garcia. She's a Polish composer and she's written Quite a bit as I had mentioned a moment ago, primarily for children. She's not necessarily just a harp composer. She. She was born in 1920, died in 2004 and she composed roughly 700 pieces for children and teenagers, mostly for piano. But this set of music for harp is just kind of, kind of amazing and it was edited.

So that it would be possible on the harp. I believe these were originally piano pieces or some of them but. But edited for the harp with terrific effects, glissando, things near the soundboard, xylophonic sounds. So there's really. There's just a lot in here and it's so interesting. And the piece I've chosen to play for you is, is a very simple piece. It's called A Memory. And I don't you. You get to decide what the memory is, but it's called a memory and it's the, the sound of it is just different. You know you can. It's not the. The same old sort of, sort of thing. There's just. It's very haunting and definitely gives you a little something to play even though it's very simple. And if you're looking for interesting music that, that is pretty simple. I would recommend the entire book. As I said, there are some that get a little bit more challenging, but you'll find a lot in there that will be inspiring and interesting for you. So let me play this piece called A Memory from the collection called on the Harps Strings by Janina Garcia.

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That was A Memory from the collection on the Harp's Strings. What did you think of that? Did you agree with me that it just has that slightly different sound to it? It's not exactly what you'd expect but yet it's very beautiful. And you will find that there are other pieces in that collection that are just as intriguing and beautiful. So I hope I introduced you to something new right there. Now let me turn back to something old. I hasten to clarify. The pieces are old. The arranger of these pieces is not so old. I had the opportunity to meet her when I was in Wales this past summer for the World Harp Congress. The arranger of these pieces is my near Hulen. She. She's one of Wales's most proficient, prolific and versatile harpists. She had the wonderful opportunity to study with the Welsh harpist Ann Griffiths when she was just a growing up harpist. She was the. She played for the orchestra of the National Opera of Wales.

She. She's. Anything there was to do with harp playing in Wales, she's done it so, but I had the opportunity to meet her and she's just a delight. She has arranged or composed so much music. I used one of her teaching books with my students for years, Teleni Wieren. But.

I encourage you to check out all of her publications because she's got volumes, I think she might be up to 10 now, of arrangements of classical pieces, arrangements for harp. And these are the kinds of things that are, you know, your most requested pieces. So if you do any kind of weddings or background music or church things, and you need the kind of music that is classical music that people know and request, she's got an arrangement of it and it's in a book somewhere. And I encourage you to take a look at those. You'll be able to Google her, her own site and her arrangements and look them up. Her name is Mynirhulin, and in case you can't spell that, I urge you once again to go to the show Notes. But I had such a great time talking with her and talking with her husband, who is a trombonist. So that was a lot of fun. We had a. Had a good time, and I got to plow through a lot of her music and see a lot of it when I was there in Wales, in Cardiff, for the World Harp Congress. But I chose a piece of hers that I absolutely loved, and I've played it on some recitals since then. She has often used it as an encore piece on her own recitals. And it's an arrangement of three Welsh jigs. Now, what I think is interesting about these Welsh jigs is that they're really different from Irish jigs. You would never confuse the two. They have all that slightly quirky charm and beauty that Welsh music has, but they're pretty darn peppy jigs. I think her word for them was vivacious. And so these three jigs are strung together in one piece. And the jigs in their English names are Lazy Robin, the Miller's Song, and A Fine Gentleman from Bala. So these were not pieces that I was familiar with, except that after I played them, I realized that one of them, the last one, was one that we had gotten an opportunity to. To dance to at the World Harp Congress with the Cayley Band that played. So I thought, oh, I know that tune. We've struggled on the dance floor with it. So there you are.

These pieces are totally playable on lever harp. You will just do them in. In a different key because she's written them for pedal harp in a lot of flats. But if you just Ignore the flats, you'll be fine. So all the markings are there for level lever harp as well. Now you don't have to play them at the super peppy tempo. You can play them at your own pace.

I would encourage you to do that because they are so much fun. Here, give them a listen. These are three Welsh jigs arranged by Meinjerhulen.

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Fun. Yes. I love those pieces. I think they're great. So those are some new suggestions, or at least my suggestions for what might be new pieces for you. Hopefully there's something in there that intrigues you enough to go check it out and track it down. Remember, the links to all of this music are in the show notes. They're all published in different places, available in different places. So you know, if you have a favorite store or something that I didn't link to, feel free. But these are the the easiest places I found to get a hold of this music. So all those links in the show notes for you if you decide to try one of these pieces. If there's one that just sparks your interest, I'd appreciate you letting me know. And you can always let me know that the way you can always reach me here at the podcast by using the email address podcastarpmastery.com and that'll be fun to know. So let me remind you one more time. We are now less than 24 hours from the closing of the My Heart Mastery membership doors. So if you would love to join us in that community, we would love to have you. You can go to heartmastery.com, check out our programs and you'll see My Heart Mastery there. Or just use the link in the show notes to sign up. But the membership doors will be closing again.

Tuesday morning, which would be tomorrow morning if you're listening to this episode on the day that it goes live. So don't waste time, do that now. Then you can order your music. Right. Next week on the show, I'm gonna be talking about control. The different ways that we exercise control in our playing, where we should seek to control, what we should decide not to control, and how to wrestle with that. Because sometimes letting go of control can be a little bit difficult. I know I've done it so. Or not done it, as the case may be. So I look forward to talking with you about that next week. In the meantime.

I will sign off, as always saying, remember, every day is a day you can add more harp happiness to the universe, to your world, and to your spirit. And all you have to do is play. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast. I release a new episode every Monday morning so you can hit your practice week running. Until then, remember to practice your Harp Happiness every day. See you next time.