The Secret Rewrite Behind Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker

[@MarkWladika]

Thanks David, this was highly informative and entertaining. Don't hesitate talking about your own music, in fact we want more David David Bruuce!

[@Tantacrul]

Very nice video my man. Very entertaining and well paced!

[@laurajhball]

Wonderful to see Danielle Kuntz represented in this video. She is a true gift to composers aspiring to write for that magnificent instrument. Great video, David!

[@owenbloomfield1177]

Danielle is great!

[@emilrostad9720]

Christmas came early, another David Bruce video just dropped!

[@wiesorix]

Always interesting to hear about the imperfections in the music of famous composers. Way too often the old composers are pictured as gods who just wrote perfect music, so this video is very refreshing!

[@eporeon]

it's insane how good you are at making videos

[@Gusrikh1]

Exceptionally well presented. Educational as well.

[@hoangkimviet8545]

Tchaikovsky is the GOAT ballet composer.

[@marfaxa]

goat ballet sounds like a good time

[@cerronecomposer]

I teach this excerpt every semester in my notation class at mannes/the new school as a great example of collaboration between composers and performers!

[@danielleohallisey4218]

Loved the opportunity to hear your use of the harp in various ensembles! And I suppose I should add that you touched on all many mistakes in my own compositions EXCEPT the dreaded overuse of accidentals. Seems to be a specialty of mine! 😅

[@ryanwilk1642]

Believe or not, I’d actually known about this for some time - I first read about it in Sam Adler’s Study of Orchestration, where he says basically the same things that you do. That being said, I found it heaps entertaining. Keep making videos, Dave!

[@garyhoffman1]

This reminds me of Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” that was re-arranged by Rimsky-Korsakov. I was familiar with the ubiquitous and famous R-K version when my music history teacher played a recording of Mussorgsky’s original that reappeared in the ‘60’s. MUCH darker.

[@Aleph_Null_Audio]

As a percussionist, I've sat close to many a harpist, so I had heard about the "no pinky" and "finger torture" rules, but the other rules are new to me! "Avoid dense voicings in lower registers" seems to be good advice in general . P. S. "Pedal Panic" is also something that can afflict timpanists: I've seen parts that, to play as written, would require six or more drums and the ability to do the splits.

[@martinhaub6828]

Very interesting and timely: I've been playing Nutcracker for the last week and still have four shows to go and every those harp parts come around I'm in awe of how anyone can play them. Tchaikovsky used the harp the same way in Romeo & Juliet as well as the Manfred Symphony. Maybe it was naive, but sure is beautifully written for the instrument.

[@RileyMcGreevy]

After watching this I looked back at an unperformed orchestral piece I wrote over the summer that included a harp part. I made a few mistakes. While never having directly repeated notes, I for a lot of it had a pattern where they go back and forth between a note and then a new note. This is often in 16th notes and at some points it gets to be pretty fast tempos. I also have prolonged sections of writing a lot of notes in the low range, while using the previously mentioned pattern. I also have a few runs where they go one direct then and then go in the other direction leading to the same sort of problem without directly repeating the note. This would probably work better if I used the zigzagging glissando. I also have some big chords written all in one staff, but probably wound be ok if I split them up between the staves, to indicate that the hands should switch. Thanks for the informative video. Now I'll be able to write harp parts that the player will like, If I ever get them preformed.

[@strangeperson8015]

hello, I am currently in my second year of the conservatory with harp as my main instrument, and I can tell you that the problem concerning repeated notes is only really a problem if it's just one string you're playing with. Bisbigliando's (which are at least 2 notes played very fast after one another on repeat, usually in 32nd or even 64th note values) are much, much, much easier. If you can use two strings it's basically like a trill, really, in this way you can also do a single repeated notes if you take enharmonics into account (so then only a D-natural, G-natural and A-natural would be 'unplayable' depending on context) :) Considering the arpeggio's, it's actually quite common to play chords up and down repeatedly. Many pieces composed by harpists use it, and it's not very difficult. Again, the problem with repeating notes is only if we can't preplace it, and preplacing we try to place as many notes as possible at a time. It's actually more difficult to play a chord in both hands quickly 2 notes at a time, than 1 note at a time in a single, fluid movement (like at the start of the Tchaikovsky harp cadenza's). So basically, if you want a run with more than 4 fingers, only one note at a time is what realistically is going to be played. Another thing, if you write for harp, please, please, please don't write in the pedals, it's a nuisance to have to scratch them out if they aren't placed comfortably for the harpist. If you really would like to learn how to write for harp, I would suggest listening to music composed by harpists themselves. Albert Zabel (whom David mentioned in the video), John Thomas, François-Joseph Naderman (who wrote for single-action pedal harp), Marcel Tournier, Alphonse Hasselmans, and many more. There are also people like Sylvain Blassel, who like playing arrangements of piano works with some incredible pedalling. I think you can learn the most from how they handle the instrument.

[@OphatTaerattanachai]

"The Crescent Moon is a Dangerous Lunatic" from The North Wind was a Woman is one of my favorites from your album, North Wind was a Woman. It has a very good example of how to use the singer's voice in an unusual way as well. IV. from The Consolation of Rain in the same album is also awesome.

[@cometsmith]

The quality on this video was so good! I appreciate the lack of AI Visuals/art :)

[@hugobouma]

Look again…

[@EthicalEthicsEnteringEthically]

Yeah, he uses it all over :(

[@milim3dia965]

I love the structure of this video and the "flow"

[@andjamin]

A harpogynist would be a seizer of women. A hater of harps would be a misolyrist or misocitharist.

[@jayducharme]

Another great video! For the heck of it, I went back and looked at an early piece I wrote that extensively integrated a harp and to my surprise I ticked all the boxes. I think I was being really conservative with my writing for it. But at least it's theoretically playable.

[@Ryousake]

Wonderful video! Great use of Emily Hopkins lol

[@jejunemoon]

David, this was enormously helpful and entertaining! Thanks so much for your cogent and thorough exploration of harp technique and writing. Very useful in my own writing!

[@lzylvws]

I just performed the Waltz of the Flowers with my orchestra today!

[@sveinungnygaard1505]

Great video!

[@rayphenicie7344]

Mahler did well with the lower register of the harp; I think it was Symphony 4 but a Google search says Sym 2. He paired the low harp register with stratospheric strings and it's always struck me as the most spine-tingling, goose-bump moment in all of classical music. I guess I'll have to dust off Cubase and give the combo a whirl.

[@victotronics]

Fascinating.

[@noneyabid]

As a harpist, I feel SEEN!! One of the weirdest things about that cadenza is how out of character it is with the rest of the ballet (which, for the most part, lies very well under the fingers). To me, it's a big WTF!?! moment. It's like he momentarily forgot how to write for the harp. Dear composers, please don't be intimidated by the harp. Just reach out to a harpist and we will gladly offer assistance. If you don't know any, there are several Facebook groups you can join to post questions and a harem of harpists will leap in to assist...one of these groups is even moderated by the fabulous Danielle Kuntz (yes, the same one you just saw in the video). Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to go sit in the corner and await that David Bruce harp concerto. {hint, hint}

[@no1special1983]

David. Another mini movie. 🍿 The computer should make it possible for people writing for traditional instruments to make these playing anomalies a thing of the past. ESP only using four notes at a time. Much faster flourishes are possible. And fingerings don’t matter to a pc. But the seasons musicians usually aren’t also programming experts also.

[@traviswichtendahl5648]

Mistakes with harp writing? Saint-Saens would never! But on a serious note, as someone who studied violin as a kid, I always found Tchaikovsky's writing for _that_ instrument to be natural to play, even when "difficult." Obviously, composers had much better resources for writing for violin than harp. But even compared to his contemporaries, Tchaikovsky's violin writing feels nice to play.

[@carsonbarnesharp]

there is not a single composer in history who wrote well for the instrument except for harpists themselves, ravel and debussy were the closest to understanding the instrument but their orchestral works also have a lot of common rewrites

[@ryano.5149]

Wow, is this timely! I've only just begun working on an arrangement of "Waltz of the Flowers" for solo accordion for myself. The advice I was given was "Omit the harp bits. People will still get the idea." lol Still early in the process, so we'll see if I decide to take that advice or not! lol

[@RobberZhi]

Thanks!

[@anthonyscolaro1044]

While the dual-action pedal harp was not "new" in the 1890s, its melodic and technical capabilities had only begun to be explored and developed at the time Tchaikovsky was writing his ballets. It's not surprising that he had a dim view of the harp's potential. Harpist-composers like Alphonse Hasselmans and his students such as Henriette Renie, Marcel Tournier, Carlos Salzedo, Marcel Grandjany, and Lily Laskine, as well as others, went so much further with the harp than anyone during Tchaikovsky's time could have imagined!

[@felicity1877]

Well, this was interesting, but not a surprise actually. There are so many changes with ballet scores . Just like the pas d'action (13.V) in Swan Lake, the original ending of the piece is rarely heard in stage productions, but traditionally cut. Ballet music is such a complicated thing, and same music sometimes used for different situations. But interesting to learn this detail!

[@digital_matt]

i was worried about the chatgpt use at first, but you use it right

[@markwrede8878]

Due to its technicality, I don't pretend to write for harp, but use programmed riffs in the decorative way, acknowledging my lesser qualities. Thanks for the warning about consulting Swan Lake for its harp example. I always thought the four groupings were about quarters, eighths, sixteenths, and so on.

[@kleko]

Interesting topic, but using generative AI to translate instead of a translation tool is just sloppy. We can't verify that the LLm has not added or altered phrases so using the output makes the end point moot. Generating images for a bad joke is also a bad look. Too bad, because the rest of the video is really well done.

[@Tylervrooman]

Two videos three weeks apart!? Don't spoil us!

[@paulflute]

story of my life.. I play lots of weird and wonderful ethnic folk instruments with limited ranges and chromaticism.. Theatre composers often want the 'sounds' of them but seem universally incapable of understand that they are NOT pianos.. Despite several clearly written lists of EVERY note that is available the parts arrive with chromatic phrases out of the range.. Or at best they use all the hardest weakest end of the range notes in impossible dynamics.. p.s you forgot about lever harps which are a different answer that work well and still do..

[@zaneonmeinhart7952]

Was that a Flanders and Swann reference with the Hippo and mud glorious mud? 😅

[@alessandropalazzani]

Non dimentichiamo che il suono delicato dell'arpa viene facilmente coperto in situazioni orchestrali dense e dal volume importante. Quindi evitiamo di scrivere passaggi difficili in punti in cui non verranno mai uditi.

[@van_daddy_z]

Last year I paid someone on fiver to record a harp piece I had composed and I didn’t know any of these orchestration best practices for harp. The playing was rhythmically sloop despite several takes. Now I’m wondering if it was my fault for giving her something more difficult to play than I expected 🤦‍♂️

[@BsktImp]

I kid you not, David, honestly. The vid randomly buffered at 7:36! lol

[@ginemginem]

15:16 wouldn't a "harpogynist" be a person that harps on women?

[@DBruce]

Yeah sorry I am dumb

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

I guess xD I thought it was it weird he didn't just call it a "misoharpist" but figured it was a joke.

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

I like it. I come from Tchaikovsky's lineage. You speak in a similar way to YT pianist/teacher Paul Barton. Goodbye.

[@N-JKoordt]

Harpocalypse - oh the horror!! 😧

[@adaddinsane]

I really respect you David, but if you continue to use LLMs, I'll have to stop subscribing. Of course that won't hurt you but you should know better. Even ignoring the ethical consideration of ripping off creatives ("oh but we have to otherwise we couldn't do it") LLMs are so destructive to the environment this argument alone is sufficient for any decent person to go: Yeah, no. Just stop using them. (And the image generators are even worse.)

[@Physwe]

But I like the original phrases better :c

[@mentalitydesignvideo]

a mysoharpist, not a harpogynist!

[@CloneHat]

All this AI crap. Get me out of here!

[@alexr9564]

He literally just translated stuff

[@sashakindel3600]

I wish cross-strung harps were still common alongside double action pedal ones. Use the pedal harps for enharmonic effects and access to a wider variety of glissandos, and the cross-strung harps for high chromaticism.

[@HunterTheCat1812]

Did you really have to use ChatGPT? Really?

[@kjdude8765]

To translate a passage of Russian? What other option would you suggest?

[@jonadabtheunsightly]

Translation is actually one of the most suitable tasks you can assign to an LLM. They're actively worse at most of the things people ask them to do.

[@HunterTheCat1812]

@@kjdude8765 Do better at researching

[@adaddinsane]

I came here to say that - I bet the Harpocalypse was an LLM as well. These things are incredibly destructive to the environment, they are bad.

[@CalendulaF]

Harpogynist 😂

[@jonadabtheunsightly]

Obviously, that's someone who believes the harp is a women's instrument.

[@DiegoMartinez-wt8pn]

Indeed, it should have been the "misoharpist" or smt like that.

[@maxgregorycompositions6216]

Tchaik is overrated as a composer.