Jennifer is right you can learn on a smaller harp there are just some additional limitations to it. Most teachers recommend a harp of 30 strings or more for a first harp to learn on. It has a range that covers all the learners material out there and allows you to develop posture and playing technique without having to worry about balancing a harp. It’s also nice to have the larger range when practising arpeggios (you’ll do a LOT of them) and rolled chords (you’ll do a LOT of those too).
On a smaller harp you may have to simplify the left hand a bit because of your range and play music an octave higher than it is written. If you are already a practised musician then you’ll do this easily. If you are not it may just add enough frustration for you to pack in the harp completely. There is some music out there written specifically for small harps although not a lot of learners books are for those harps.
Having a portable harp seems like a lovely idea, you can easily imagine yourself driving to a nice park and practicing under a tree etc..And it seems lovely to also have an instrument that you can pack away in a cupboard if you want to. But honestly I have a harp that I rarely take out because of it’s size and weight and I don’t miss the portability at all. While its still an attractive idea for me to practice in a park I also know that the few times I’ve played outside I haven’t got much practice done because of the onlookers and constant questions. A nicer idea than it is in reality. Think carefully about how often you will actually travel with a harp. I think I take mine out less than twice a year.
Most floor harps, 32 strings and above fit easily into compact cars, across the back seat or in the hatch with the seats folded down. Because harps are mostly flat they fit quite easily into smaller spaces. For me personally the choice to make my learning experience easier or having portability, I would choose the easier learning experience every time.
The dreamweaver is a very compact floor harp and the same price as the serenity anyway. To my mind it is much better value for money because of the additional range and therefore larger repertoire it will give you access to. Having levers isn’t necessary in the very beginning stages most learner books are written in C and you can tune your harp to that manually. I had my first harp for a year before it became necessary to go to the expense of levers. C & F levers only will give you access to a great deal of the folk music out there.
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As it is, I wound up getting a Voyageur kit from Musicmaker’s and building a harp myself. I’m very satisfied with this harp as well as the wire-string Limerick I just finished building this past summer.
