Question for any #harpist out there: how do you interpret slurs in a #harp part?
For example, if you see a melody or arpeggio spanning a few octaves in a bar or two, and it's obviously one single gesture, do you play it differently if it's under a slur than if it isn't? Which do you prefer to see?
I've noticed I'm not at all consistent about this in my scoring, which makes it look like I want different things when that's not necessarily so.
Different instruments have such different traditions for how to make sense of the same markings. I prefer to indicate the sound I'm looking for and let the players figure out how to produce it. Maybe because I'm a former #trombone player: no one is expected to know how exactly a trombonist produces a legato articulation, but when you ask for legato, we do it. For strings, it's more like each marking calls for a specific technique, and #composers are supposed to know them all.
There is a story of Igor Stravinsky chasing Leonard Bernstein through the halls backstage while beating him with the rolled-up score, screaming "WHERE DOES IT SAY ACCELERANDO?!!" 🤣
I don't know if that's in the movie, I haven't seen it yet! I'm told I should.
I haven't seen the movie either, but this reminded me of another Bernstein anecdote. His father, a practical-minded business man, was apparently not very supportive of his musical ambitions for a long time, but he came around eventually. When asked about it in an interview, Lenny's father said: "How was I supposed to know he was going to be Leonard Bernstein?"
For the record, one of his professors years ago asked how I coped with a trumpet demon like Kae and I said I just try to stay out of his way (still do 🤣) No surprise to me he's nominated for a jazz grammy at age 24! The Other Kids are prime papa-pride fuel too, but mastodon only allows me 500 chars!
@mcmullin@teledyn@composers If we’re doing Bernstein anecdotes (sorry, I can’t help w/your harp question) - one autumn, he & his family were staying in Westport, CT. When the Jewish High Holiday came, they went to my synagogue. They sat him in the 1st row. There were windows into the sanctuary that were 7 ft. off the ground. I was 4 or 5, but I remember adults coming in and jumping up to look in these high windows to see if they could see him.
@mcmullin@composers In Western music, it is a big mistake to think that "the composer knows everything about music." In fact, composers only have the knowledge of linguistics and informatics on "how to make people remember a lot of auditory information."
@kotaro@composers
I agree that the cult of the composer in western classical music is problematic. I depend on performers as collaborators, and want to empower them to make the music their own. I would rather benefit from performers’ expertise than try to tell them how to do every little thing.
In fairness though, composing isn’t just “making people remember” stuff—it’s imagining the stuff in the first place. (Same for improvising and other ways of creating music.)
@mcmullin I'm not a harpist, but on vibraphone I'd interpret the 'breath' of a slur as allowing sustain. On a harp I could imagine maybe letting palm-dampening follow the arch.
On the other hand, there are no real standard standards in music notation, regardless what Sibelius coders may think.
In conversation with a ballerina of the Royal Winnipeg, about the silly stick-figures choreographers use, I was told, "It's just a reminder!"
@teledyn
That's more or less how I think of it too, and I was actually thinking of vibraphone specifically as being similar in that slurs kinda suggest the right pedaling. Except a vibes player has a lot more latitude, and you can control pedaling to allow pitches to collect resonance more or less as well as just to stop them. A harp can stop individual strings, which is cool, or stop them all, but it's much harder to make subtle adjustments to resonance in the middle of a busy passage...
@teledyn@composers
When I write for vibes -- or piano -- I use pedal markings very sparingly, and only where I know I want something specific that isn't what someone would probably normally do. Then I include a note that says pedaling is up to the player, and not to take no pedal marks to mean no pedaling.
@mcmullin@composers you are a great deal more detailed than I've ever been! But then, others I've known (and sometimes argued with) are like Schoenberg on steroids notating every damn detail. Geez, THEY studied their instrument, THEY know what to do! And I really want to hear what THEY have to say!
I'm told, historically, arrangements emerged from section leaders crafting how their voices fit the whole. If that isn't true, it's really where I'd want to go anyway.
I tend to go to one extreme or the other, particularly with dynamics. Either multiple markings and hairpins in every bar, or else “p sempre” at the top of the page and nothing else.
Louis Armstrong was no stranger to notation, having played in professional orchestras in his early years. A fan once brought him a transcription of one of his solos, and Pops famously replied, "Ain't NOBODY could play THAT!"
@teledyn@composers
Similar story about Benny Goodman: when Bartok wrote Contrasts for him, he said it was too complex to play. And Bartok said but it's all made from licks I heard on your records...
Like Beethoven and Mozart before him, Louis Armstrong would often write out solos he liked, as he said, "if it's good, why not keep it?" But like those stick figures the ballet used, the scores in his hand I've seen were mere mnemonics. The Master knows what it REALLY says 😊
I think that's why I liked Glenn Gould so much. My contemporaries were divided — oh and then came Wendy Carlos! and dear Delia Derbyshire 😍
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