Horribly Wrttten Harp Scores

[Shirley Meyer Blankenship]

Hello my composer friends!

About a year ago, I initiated The Harp Legacy Project after years of coping with harp scores that were either just very awkward or impossible to perform.  My mission is to assist composers in turning their harp pieces into viable and accessible works.  Currently on my website is a growing list of ":before and after" pages that illustrate the results of my work and which are also tutorial for those who wish to venture forth into this domain.  Of all the instruments, I believe the harp to be amongst the least understood by composers even after they read manuals.  The fact that composers continue to write nightmarish harp scores is increasingly prompting harpists to resort to rewriting much of their music, compose new manuals, make the subject a major topic at conventions and even write books for harpists instructing them how to edit the scores that they receive.  Below are two responses from other harpists pertaining to this topic:

Elizabeth Volpé-Bligh • Yes! There is a great book on this subject called The Harp In The Orchestra by Beatrice Schroeder Rose. I highly recommend it. It is a great reference book for teaching students to edit poorly-written parts. Conductors are generally aware of this problem and are delighted to have a harpist who is able to play their edited part well than to have someone thrashing through a thicket of impossible jumps, pedal changes, ten-note chords, etc.

My name is Myra Kovary. I am a free-lance harpist based in Ithaca, NY and have been gigging for over 30 years. For several years now, Dana Wilson, a composer and faculty member at Ithaca College, and I have been working on writing a manual for composers about writing for the harp. The text is almost finished and I would still like to add graphics and musical examples. I have run the text by several harpists (including Ruth and Sonja Inglefield and Ruth Papalia) and several composers and am getting very positive feedback about it. Just recently, I googled "composing for the harp" and came across your work. Our manual actually is written in the vein of what is posted on your website but is more extensive. I am at the point where I am thinking about how to get the word out to composers and thinking about where to post our article on the web. I'm pondering how to reach composers and not only harpists. It would be interesting to post it in such a way that composers could ask questions and make comments and that harpists could also engage in the discussion -- but I wouldn't want the harpists to give lousy advice so I'd have to find a way to maintain editorial control somehow. My goal is to develop a valuable resource for composers so we stop getting these horribly written parts!

I am currently editing Progeny of Memory, a 42 minute piece for cello and harp, by Matthew H. Fields.  For those of you who are interested in having your harp scores examined, I am offering free assessments of the issues I find after my examinations.  Just send a pdf, I will comment on your score and assess the fees required for me to work with you.  [e-mail]  Thank you for your interest!

Rands page 3 001.jpg

metaphysical waltz.pdf

Six legged harp picture 001.jpg

[Socrates Arvanitakis]

Thank you very much Shirley for taking the time and for your help and suggestions!

I feel already that I understand the harp (from the harpists point of you) a little better (just a tiny bit :-) ).

I will try to amend my score/pdf taking into account all your suggestions tonight and I'll see what I make and contac you again.

Thanks for providing your email.

[Shirley Meyer Blankenship]

See attachment
Socrates Arvanitakis said:

Thank you very much Shirley for taking the time and for your help and suggestions!

I feel already that I understand the harp (from the harpists point of you) a little better (just a tiny bit :-) ).

I will try to amend my score/pdf taking into account all your suggestions tonight and I'll see what I make and contac you again.

Thanks for providing your email.

Harpinar Revised October 19th Updated.pdf

[Mariza Costa-Cabral]

Hello Shirley,

Please consider making a stop at the Forum every once in a while.  It's nice to hear from you and your music.