A love affair indeed! Rosey, I completely agree with you! I have a Mademoiselle and I adore it! I went through a terrible ordeal with the L&H Ogden and finally just got rid of it to upgrade to the Mademoiselle. I’ve had it for 4 years now and it continues to impress me. There was a time when I thought I would eventually want to move up to a pedal, but this harp has/does everything I need. It is truely a thing of beauty.

I do apologise for taking the conversation off in another direction but I just wondered how others feel about that idea of ‘upgrading’ to a pedal harp? I actually felt quite disturbed when I read Paul’s comment that his teacher wants him to ‘upgrade’ as, to me, they are two quite different animals, each with their own attractions. I once read (can’t remember where) that talking about using a lever harp as ‘gateway’ to a pedal harp is a bit like asking a violinist if they plan to upgrade to a cello and it seemed quite a good analogy to me. I know lots of people play both kinds of harp and that is another thing altogether but I do hate to hear the lever harp talked about as if it is the poor relation to the larger version. I’d just say to Paul that I know players of the lever harp who have a very good classical repertoire despite having fewer strings to play with – play whichever instrument you wish but please don’t assume that one is somehow inferior to the other, there are things you can do with a lever harp that you couldn’t do with a pedal harp.

I can’t wait to hear about your new ‘baby’ Paul – I hope you bring your Mademoiselle home with you and tell us all about her (and it’s a pleasure to ‘meet’ another mature learner).

I got my harp today in cherry. It’s settling in nicely, just wish i had more hours in the day to play