Performance Review: What Would Salzedo Say?

[UNSW, 2009]

            On May 15, 2009, I had the pleasure of hearing Elizabeth play the harp. She performed a Sonata in C minor by Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812). As a harpist myself, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the sounds of one of my instruments resonating throughout the auditorium. More importantly, I was delighted that I was able to listen to an in-class performance really critically, and actually offer her some advice at the conclusion. (I find myself making the same kinds of comments for performances of instruments I am unfamiliar with; I’m afraid that often times my advice may not be as insightful as advice from someone who actually plays the instrument in question.) So frequently when people see and hear a harp performance, their only reactions pertain to how beautiful the instrument looks and sounds. They may comment on how difficult it must be to play the harp, a heavy instrument with seven pedals and so many strings. I felt pleased (and privileged) to be able to give both positive feedback and constructive criticism to the performer.

Unfortunately, the performance did not begin well. Within a few seconds, Elizabeth ceased playing altogether, apologizing to the audience while explaining that she was having pedaling difficulties and would have to begin again. The preparation process for a harp performance is imperative. The harp needs to be tuned (with an electronic tuner, not by ear), the bench needs to be adjusted properly, and the pedals need to be set in accordance to the opening measure of the piece prior to one’s entrance on stage. When the harpist sits down at the instrument, she should pull the harp back to her shoulders, and use her feet to double-check the pedals before placing her hands on the strings. Once this has occurred, only then may the harpist commence with the performance. This process only takes a few seconds, and these seconds could save the harpist from a musical disaster. For instance, every occurrence of (what should be) a B natural might instead be a B-flat (in which case a quick foot movement could result in loud, painful buzzing), or if opening a piece with large chords, the misplaced pedal could be hard to discern, resulting in a complete restarting of the work. This is what happened in Elizabeth’s case, and this could have been easily avoided had she double-checked her pedals previous to her performance.

I immediately noticed was that the work was memorized. This is admirable, not only because harpists tend to use scores more often than not (even in performance) but also because the pedaling was most likely complex. Memorization also allows the performer to have an open space where the music stand would normally be; Elizabeth should have cleared this space prior to the performance, as the view of her hands and the harp were partially obstructed to some members of the audience.

The most important and obvious issues that I noticed in Elizabeth’s performance were technical ones. If she follows the Salzedo Method School of playing the harp—which she says she does—her arms should never, ever be touching the board. This was not the case in her performance. I held myself back from lifting her arms up throughout the entire work. With her right wrist on the soundboard, Elizabeth is putting unnecessary pressure on her hand and is prone to what Salzedo calls “repetitive motion” injuries. It would be best for her to consult Salzedo and his (then) wife Lucile Lawrence’s book, Method for the Harp for detailed instructions on body placement in addition to useful exercises for mastering technique.

Not only were Elizabeth’s wrists on the board, but her follow though was less than ideal. When playing the harp, it is best to raise one’s arms up in air—parallel with the strings—and to close the fingers into the palm of one’s hand completely and in one motion (without curling the fingers or allowing them to creep gradually down the inside of the hand). This swift follow through will allow for a much higher quality of sound, as not only will the notes expand throughout the room (with the arms raised, the air is clear for sound waves to travel) but the strings will be struck with a fiercer intensity (closing the fingers entirely into the hand without curling results in a solid, controlled sound).

            The sonata itself was well executed. The melody was clear, and Elizabeth had a lovely balance between the left and right hands. However, if her wrists had been off the board, as Salzedo method demands, the arpeggios could have been faster and cleaner. There was a bit of buzzing in the left hand octaves, caused not from pedaling issues but from technical ones. If she had raised her left hands up after playing—instead of just lingering near the strings—and more carefully placed her fingers when playing the same or surrounding strings, buzzing would have easily been avoided. The passage of downward thirds had a strong sound quality; this is most likely because her thumb and second finger were placed far apart from each other (with her thumb being higher on the string than her second finger). Some of the fast runs in the right hand (scale-like passages) were sloppy, however. If her technique were mastered, the scales would absolutely be cleaner.  Salzedo exercises could mitigate this. Overall, the execution of the notes was precise and the work was obviously well practiced. However, due to my rigorous musical training with Jeanne Chalifoux—who studied with Carlos Salzedo himself—I found certain aspects of Elizabeth’s technique to be far below the ideal standards of a professional harpist.