Minimum Temperature for Playing Outside

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This topic has 46 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 5 months ago by Sylvia.

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July 7, 2011 at 2:21 pm #70221

Sidney Dharmavaram
Participant

I was just asked to play at an outdoor wedding September 10th.

July 7, 2011 at 2:29 pm #70222

Jerusha Amado
Participant

I need to know this answer too, as I’ve been asked to play background music as guests arrive for an outdoor nighttime wedding in January.

July 7, 2011 at 2:38 pm #70223

Sam Karlinski
Participant

I believe that anything above about 20 degrees F should be fine. Below that, the finish will crack, but cold won’t really hurt the harp. I don’t remember where I got that information – it was either from an informed poster here on a different thread or from a maintenance workshop. Anyway, It’s the heat that kills, because the glue melts at dangerously low temps.

~Sam

July 7, 2011 at 3:02 pm #70224

catherine-rogers
Member

My experience has been that those heaters are too hot if you’re standing right beside them, no help at all otherwise, and the heat of course goes straight up. If you’re in a tent and dressed warmly, maybe. It all depends on your personal comfort level. How well do you play with cold hands? I have a limit on when I’ll play outdoors based on our local climate (April through October only) and sometimes even that doesn’t help. Listen to your gut reaction. Will you worry about it and regret saying yes?

July 7, 2011 at 7:56 pm #70225

jennifer-buehler
Member

Like Catherine, I find a greater consideration is whether or not my fingers will work.

July 7, 2011 at 8:19 pm #70226

Jessica A
Participant

20° F. is 12 degrees below freezing.

July 9, 2011 at 11:48 pm #70227

Sidney Dharmavaram
Participant

Where I’m located, it could easily be 50 degrees in September.

July 10, 2011 at 2:48 am #70228

jennifer-buehler
Member

Most harpists who play outside permanantly include those considerations in their contracts.

July 10, 2011 at 3:16 am #70229

Sidney Dharmavaram
Participant

That’s my intention…to permanently include those considerations in my contract.

July 17, 2011 at 2:08 am #70230

David Ice
Member

I’ve found that at temps below 60F it becomes VERY painful to play…the strings are like knives cutting into your fingers.

July 17, 2011 at 3:02 am #70231

Jerusha Amado
Participant

David,

What you’re saying worries me.

July 17, 2011 at 11:48 am #70232

jennifer-buehler
Member

I think I may have played at temps as low as 40 (or they felt that low LOL) and my fingers could barely move.

July 17, 2011 at 12:07 pm #70233

carl-swanson
Participant

I think that an outdoor heater could do more harm than good. The heat is going to be very uneven, with the side of the harp towards the heater being too hot and the side away being very cold. So that’s not a solution. If it’s 40 or 50 degrees out, it won’t hurt the harp to get that cold or colder. The problem is if you bring a very cold instrument back into a warm room, you may get condensation forming all over the instrument: inside the action and body and god knows where else. As far as playing a pedal harp outdoors is concerned, there is probably a lot of dirt and dust just normally being blown around. And a beach is worse. Do you really want sand blown up into the action? I think I would write into the contract that for any beach wedding pedal harp is not an option. You will only use a lever harp.

July 17, 2011 at 2:33 pm #70234

Jerusha Amado
Participant

Hi Jennifer,

I agree with you.

July 21, 2011 at 5:59 am #70235

Jerusha Amado
Participant

Jennifer,

Good news!
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