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Curious about pedal harp

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Home Forums Forum Archives Amateur Harpists Curious about pedal harp

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
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  • #158232
    Norah Calamy
    Member

    I’ve been playing lever harp for about 3 years now, and was curious as to when you ‘move up’ to pedal harp.

    Also, do some people start with pedal harp right away?

    #158233

    Norah, you ask about “moving up” but think of it more as perhaps moving over, whenever:

    #158234
    Norah Calamy
    Member

    Thanks, Patricia. Your suggestions and wise words were helpful! I’ll be giving the matter thought; the purchase won’t be for a while, for sure. 🙂

    #158235
    barbara-low
    Participant

    I started on a pedal harp right away. I practiced on the harps owned by the unversity until I was able to purchase my own two years later.

    Barbara

    #158236

    If you are asking, then I suspect you are ready.

    #158237
    tony-morosco
    Participant

    I started on lever because at first the music I wanted to play was best suited for lever, and it was more affordable.

    However I quickly developed a desire to play more chromatic music and so rented a pedal harp and started learning on that after about six months.

    However due to finances and a move I had to give up that pedal harp and for many, many years had just my lever harp, and there was never a shortage of music for the lever harp to challenge and interest me.

    However as finances got better I started to put aside money for a pedal harp because the music I really wanted to play I just couldn’t do on lever.

    I still play on my lever harp. Some music just works better on it, and you can’t beat it for portability. I always, the right tool for the right job and sometimes the right tool is a pedal harp and sometimes a lever harp.

    So there is no time limit or level of proficiency you need to reach on lever harp before a pedal harp becomes a viable option. If you want to play music that requires a pedal

    #158238
    Norah Calamy
    Member

    Thanks for all the replies. If any of you have started on lever harp, when did you make the switch? Did your instructor tell you when?

    #158239
    kay-lister
    Member

    Hi Norah,

    I started on lever harp (Thormahlen Swan)

    #158240
    barbara-brundage
    Participant

    Norah, there is no “when” except for when you want to.

    #158241
    kreig-kitts
    Member

    I intend to switch in a year or two. I don’t necessarily feel limited by solo repertoire at this point – I think there’s a lot of interesting, challenging music out there for lever harp. Sometimes it takes some digging or advice from others. Since the instrument is used so much for beginners, there are a lot of arrangements out there that don’t do much for me. Not that I’m super-advanced or anything, but I like beginner-intermediate music to still sound like thought-out compositions.

    I think my main reason for wanting to switch is for easier ensemble playing. I’d like to be more able to play chamber music without having to seek out pieces that have been arranged just for the harp. And I’m also eyeing some possible large ensemble playing of the harp at the community band/orchestra level.

    Oh, and I hate flipping levers. Hate hate hate hate hate flipping levers. I can barely stand flipping the levers to get my harp from E-flat to C when I warm up, and sometimes I play my Grossi exercises in E-flat just to avoid flipping (plus many of them sound pretty cool when you do that).

    #158242
    michael-rockowitz
    Participant

    Norah,
    I think I’ll place here the usual shameless plug for the cross-strung harp – way cheaper than the pedal harp, you’re less like to injure yourself transporting it, you won’t need a new vehicle, and you can play almost any music you can get your hands on (although you’ll have the limits of the range of the harp to contend with, depending on the size of the cross-strung you own).

    #158243
    Pat Eisenberger
    Participant

    I began on a lever harp, and at the urging of my teacher, moved to the pedal. When I stopped taking lessons and played only the music I enjoyed most, I found that I didn’t need pedals.

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