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Harp hurting collar bone

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Home Forums Forum Archives Amateur Harpists Harp hurting collar bone

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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    Posts
  • #161222
    unknown-user
    Participant

    I’m not the primary harpist, but I’m working through my daughter’s first harp book in order to be somewhat familiar with the most basic fundamentals of what she’s doing.

    #161223
    sherry-lenox
    Participant

    My guess is that your daughter is shorter than you are so that the harp is balancing differntly on her shoulder than on yours. Try putting something under the harp to prop it up a bit, and see if that makes it more comfortable. If your daughter is shorter, I think the stool may also be too short.

    I’m relatively short but most of my height is in my trunk (short legs). I need my harp to be higher in order to sit comfortably. My Thormahlen Serenade has taller legs, and I play my teacher’s Prelude, a lot taller, when I take my lesson. Both feel weightless. The only harp I struggle with is my teacher’s concert grand pedal harp, which just feels too big for me to balance properly.

    #161224
    catherine-rogers
    Participant

    The harp should not be resting on your collar bone but on your shoulder. Next time you see your daughter’s teacher, ask her to show you how you should be sitting.

    #161225
    unknown-user
    Participant

    Thanks!

    #161226
    Karen Johns
    Participant

    Try gripping the harp with your knees and finding the balancing point so that it does not rest on your shoulder. Angle the harp slightly so you can see the strings without craning your neck. And make sure your shoulder does not “rise” to meet the harp. You can cause yourself all sorts of back and neck problems resting the weight of the harp on your shoulder. Hope this helps. :-)

    Karen

    #161227
    unknown-user
    Participant

    Thank you, Karen!

    #161228

    Sit at the harp. Lean the harp back to the point where it almost balances on it’s own when you let go. (Don’t really let go….just for a hot second.) When you have the harp at that point, put yourself at the harp. The harp has found it’s balance point, and you won’t take

    #161229
    Karen Johns
    Participant

    You’re absolutely right, Briggsie- I used the wrong word there. I position the harp so it more or less “rests” slightly on my legs- my right knee is angled towards the back of the soundbox while my left is more towards the front. I don’t really grip it at all. Thanks for the gentle correction….:-)

    Karen

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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