Category: Advanced music

Ep. 287 – Ceremony of Carols – figuring out better options!

I revisit Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols (my first ever Harp Tuesday episode) to share a few spots that I’ve updated over the years, finding better fingerings or other options.

As a bonus, I actually discover another change I want to make on camera – demonstrating the idea that it’s always worth looking for new solutions even in pieces you have played for decades!

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Ep. 281 – How to figure out pedal changes and fingerings featuring Schubert/Godefroid “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt”

I’m excited about doing a Harp Tuesday episode on the first of Godefroid’s five fantasies on Schubert songs (I already did one on the Serenade (https://www.harptuesday.com/ep207/ )

In preparation I needed to write in pedal changes and some fingerings and I thought I’d bring you along! I hope this episode gives you a sense of how you can do quite a bit away from the harp – although there is no substitute for actually trying it out, I know for sure I will change some of the fingering – stay tuned for the Harp Tuesday episode featuring it 🙂

If you want to play the piece yourself it is public domain and can be found at the Harp Archives: https://archive.org/details/colemlodiquepour01gode/page/2/mode/2up

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Ep. 275 – How I prepare a concert program

I’m getting ready to tour Australia and New Zealand – here’s a look at how I practice and prepare my concert program!

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Ep. 272 – How to play George Winston’s Carol of the Bells on lever harp

I love George Winston’s take on Carol of the Bells (the traditional Ukrainian song Shchedryk). In this episode I take a look at how to play it on lever harp!

Here’s a link to the sheet music I’m using (note that this is an affiliate link – I will get a small percentage if you purchase the music using the link.

As I mention in the episode, there are several options for Winston’s music, none of which seem to be completely free of errors. If you like his music you might pick up the “George Winston Piano Solos” book 1.

I just bought the Kindle version of the book a couple days ago to see whether it is any more accurate and it seems to be exactly the same as the version I used (mistakes and all). The Prelude, however, seems more accurate, and of course it includes a bunch of other music!

I filmed a music video on pedal harp:

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Ep. 266 – Practicing Chopin’s “Raindrop Prelude”

I’m working on Chopin’s Prelude No. 15 (Raindrop) and in this video I give a look at the process of refining how I play the first 4 bars. Recording oneself, listening back and making notes, recording again, listening again, recording again, listening again… is a very powerful technique to help polish a piece of music.

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Ep. 262 – How to play the introduction to Godefroid’s “Etude de Concert”

In this episode I look at the first page of Felix Godefroid’s Etude de Concert in E flat minor. Download the first page with my markings on it here. The full piece can be found at the harp archives here.

I talked a bit about this etude back in Harp Tuesday episode 65: https://www.harptuesday.com/ep-65-la-source-and-etude-de-concert/

And here’s an episode featuring an arrangement for lever harp of the main theme: https://www.harptuesday.com/ep197/

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Ep. 257 – An in-depth look at the first movement from Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11

In this episode I take an in-depth look at the first movement (theme and variations) from Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11, transcribed for harp by Alfred Kastner.

Here’s a music video of the first movement:

You can find a copy of Kastner’s arrangement at the harp archives (or IMSLP).

Sign up for my email newsletter to get a copy with my fingering and pedal markings – both as a PDF and as a forScore file (in case you use forScore, which then gives you the option of easily erasing any of my markings you don’t need).

IMSLP has various editions of the piano music, including the first edition – useful to compare and check. And many of the editions include suggestions on how to play the various ornaments and appoggiatura.

I did an episode years ago featuring a very easy arrangement of the first half of the theme from this Sonata, as well as an “into the archives” episode offering a first look at Kastner’s arrangement.

 

Ep. 251 – Memorizing Zabel’s “The Fountain” (La Source/Am Springbrunnen)

In this final episode of 2022 I attempt to memorize the main theme of Albert Zabel’s beautiful “Am Springbrunnen” (At the Fountain). Sheet music can be found at https://imslp.org/wiki/Am_Springbrunnen%2C_Op.24_(Zabel%2C_Albert)

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Ep. 239 – An in-depth look at Marcel Tournier’s Etude de Concert

French harpist and composer Marcel Tournier’s “Etude de Concert” (Au Matin/In the Morning) is a beautiful piece of music that’s also very satisfying to play!

In this episode I offer a few practical suggestions for playing it. Make sure to watch my performance of the Etude here.

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

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Ep. 237 – How to prepare an orchestral harp part , featuring “Capriccio Espagnol”.

These days we’re so lucky to have easy access to recordings and the full score when it comes to preparing many orchestral parts. In this video I show how I use these tools to help get ready to perform the harp part to Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnol”.

While this video is about learning a harp part, I think it’s relevant for any instrument, particularly those that have many bars of rest between playing… 🙂

I make use of this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY2Bt0TppKw which displays the score of “Capriccio Espagnol” as the music is playing – so handy! I also briefly play a small section of this recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rqwvMMxeA8

IMSLP.org is an amazing resource for public domain classical music, and you can find there both the harp part and the full orchestral score to “Capriccio Espagnol”, along with thousands of other pieces.

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

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Ep. 233 – Being open-minded: finding better solutions when playing music (featuring Jardin Mouillé)

I believe it always pays to keep an open mind – even when playing a piece of music you know extremely well. There’s always a chance there might be an even better way of doing something!

This happened recently to me in a short section from a piece on which I’m working (Jaques de la Presle’s “Jardin Mouillé”). In this episode I demonstrate both my new and old approaches, as well as talking more generally about the benefits of keeping an open mind and cultivating an ability to change the way you play something!

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

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Ep. 229 – Refining and shaping a piece of music (featuring Le Jardin Mouillé)

Recording yourself and listening back is such a powerful way to help polish and refine a piece. In this episode I look at a small section from Presle’s “Jardin Mouillé” that I want to try and improve.

I’ve done two other episodes on the process of learning Jardin Mouillé – https://www.harptuesday.com/ep217/

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible: https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

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Ep. 217 – Deliberate practice! Featuring “Le Jardin Mouillé”.

The idea of “deliberate practice” can be a very useful concept and tool. In this episode I share a few thoughts about it and then try to demonstrate deliberate practice in action as I tackle two sections from Jacques de la Presle’s beautiful “Le Jardin Mouillé”.

I did an earlier episode about practicing Le Jardin Mouillé: https://youtu.be/aO3GxeA4Mek and sheet music can be found at https://archive.org/details/lejardinmouill00lapr/page/n3/mode/2up

Support from my patrons helped make this video possible: https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

Ep. 210 – Practicing “Le Jardin Mouillé”

A chance to watch how I go about practicing a section from Presle’s beautiful “Le Jardin Mouillé”. I always think we need more options to watch people practice, rather than just seeing the finished product. Hope you find this interesting!

Sheet music can be found for free at the harp archives at https://archive.org/details/lejardinmouill00lapr/page/n3/mode/2up

Ep. 183 – Problem solving – a look at ‘Alla Turca Jazz’

Here’s a look at 6 spots in “Alla Turca Jazz” where I ended up changing my fingering or otherwise problem solving in order to play it better!

Ekaterina Afanasieva’s excellent arrangement of Fazil Say’s “Alla Turca Jazz” is an irresistible piece to play (based on the iconic last movement from Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11, K. 331).

The sheet music is available at https://en.schott-music.com/shop/alla-turca-jazz-no354991.html

Ep. 171 – From the archives – a look at Mozart’s Sonata No. 11 arr. for harp

I recently came across a transcription of Mozart’s Sonata No. 11 arranged for harp by a harpist called Alfred Kastner. He did an excellent job with it – join me as I take a look through the first movement in the 2nd in a series I’m calling “From the Archives” as I highlight sheet music from the harp archives.

If you’d like a copy of my current pedal and fingering markings (still a work in progress!) sign up for my email list and I’ll send you a copy (plus you get to stay up-to-date on what I’m doing).

Ep 132 Learning Labarre’s “Caprice”

My music video of “Caprice”

Slow Motion Monday video:

I fell in love with this song many years ago listening to a Zabaleta recording. Couldn’t find the sheet music at the time, but was thrilled to finally track it down a few years ago online at the harp archives

Labarre’s “Caprice” (as recorded by Zabaleta) is No. 7 from his “Grande étude pour la harpe : composée de huit caprices : op. 30”

All 8 etudes can be found here: https://archive.org/details/grandetudepour00laba

You can sign up to my email newsletter to get access to my fingerings and pedal markings – (existing subscribers can follow this link as well)

The Harp Archives are a tremendous resources: https://archive.org/details/byuinternationalharparchive

Ep 129 How to play fast – Salzedo’s Seguidilla

In this episode I take a look at Carlos Salzedo’s “Seguidilla” from his suite of eight dances. I give some tips on it in general, and then talk about playing fast and offer some ideas and ways to work on speed.

I also made a version of this episode which shows the sheet music onscreen as I talk about it, though the video quality is worse overall. You can watch it below:

Ep. 106-107 An in-depth look at Songs of Nymphs by Marjan Mozetich

A two part look at Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich’s beautiful harp solo “Songs of Nymphs“. Written for Erica Goodman in 1988 with the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council, Songs of Nymphs is made up of four songs, or movements:

Prelude
Reflection
Ritual
Freedom


I love playing this work, and recorded it in 2001 on my CD Masterworks for Harp

Here are videos from two of my performances of Songs of Nymphs:

You can buy the sheet music at https://www.musiccentre.ca/node/13668 Also check out http://www.mozetich.com/

Ep. 95 Looking at Prokofiev’s Prelude in C, Op12, No. 7

In this edition of Harp Tuesday I take a look at Prokofiev’s wonderful Prelude in C, Op. 12, No. 7.

I played this as part of a my livestream concert on August 2nd (2015).

IMSLP has the preludes, though depending on where you live they may or may not be public domain.

In 1997 I recorded the Prelude on my CD “An Afternoon of Harp Music“

Ep. 91 Experimenting with phrasing in Grandjany’s “Rhapsodie”

In this episode I look at a very small section from Marcel Grandjany’s composition “Rhapsodie” and talk about and play around with different ways of phrasing it.

In many ways what it boils down to is first figuring out how you want it to sound (in your head) and then working on being able to play it that way on your instrument…

Ep. 83-86 A look at Handel’s “Harp Concerto”

In these episodes I give an in-depth look at Handel’s Concerto for Harp, including Grandjany’s extended cadenza.

I learned and play the Grandjany edition, but you can find the original on IMSLP




One of the very first videos I ever uploaded on YouTube was the Grandjany Cadenza:

And here are two performances of the entire concerto:

Ep. 73 A look at Godefroid’s “La Danse des Sylphes”

In this episode of Harp Tuesday I take a quick look at the end of Felix Godefroid’s “La Danse des Sylphes”

A very fun piece to play 🙂

You can watch the last couple minutes in a video I just recorded:

Or a live performance of the entire piece from 2007:

I also recorded it in my 1997 CD “An Afternoon of Harp Music”

If you’re interested in learning the piece it appears to be available on archive.org

Ep. 3 John Rutter’s Dancing Day – part 2

A look at John Rutter’s Dancing Day – part 2

I was still working on the format of Harp Tuesday and was splitting everything into shorter videos. Also, sound balance is not great – you may find you need headphones while listening.




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Support from my patrons helps make continued Harp Tuesday episodes possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

Ep. 2 John Rutter’s Dancing Day

A look at John Rutter’s Dancing Day – part 1

I was still working on the format of Harp Tuesday and was splitting everything into shorter videos. Also, sound balance is not great – you may find you need headphones while listening.






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Support from my patrons helps make continued Harp Tuesday episodes possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne

Ep. 1 Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols

November 29, 2010 – Episode 1 – An in-depth look at Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. The first ever Harp Tuesday! I ended up re-uploading this after adjusting the audio levels – I’ve linked to that version, but you can still find the original on my YouTube channel.












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Support from my patrons helps make continued Harp Tuesday episodes possible – if you would like to help support future videos you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/joshlayne