Some Advice Please

[Liam M]

Audrey,

For whatever reason, I was told for years that I was tone deaf. Then one day, my sister in law, who is quite an accomplished musician holding national honors and a national choir member told me, “You are not tone deaf, you are untrained” Since that day my interest in music has grown daily and my desire to sing and play has increased exponentially. Oh I know I will never be as polished as many who have grown up with music…. but I am very happy to now sing and … well let’s say, “Try to play”.

Thank you, my sister in law and every other musician who takes the time to encourage the rest of us. It means a lot.

[Audrey Nickel]

I think a lot of people don’t understand what tone deafness is, and that’s a big part of the problem.

[unknown-user]

That’s really quite interesting Liam and Audrey.

[Liam M]

Good luck to you Fiona and welcome to the world of Dancing Fingers.

[renate-kvalsvik]

Good luck with the harp. I really hope for your sake it’s a good one. The Paki I bought (my first harp) had a real problem with levers that didn’t work and a cracking soundboard, so I had to stop playing it after only half a year because I was afraid it would break down completely. It had a nice voice, though.
I strongly recommend the Pamela Bruner books and DVD. She is very thorough in explaining everything, and you can always pause the DVD and practise a piece she just showed you. Also, she repeats time and time again what is the right hand position, which is really, really important to learn from the very beginning, or you may have to start all over again. I played for a year with a bad hand position, and when I finally got a teacher she told me I had to start again. So I bought Pamela Bruner’s Play the Harp Beautifully, and I am improving fast, with the correct hand position. So I absolutely think you should buy it, if you have to teach yourself.

[unknown-user]

Well, I collected the harp this afternoon – and a lovely harp it is too!

I’m just going to tune it (having a digital piano helps).

[Audrey Nickel]

Congratulations!

If it hasn’t been tuned for a while, it may be a week or more before it consistently holds tune.

[unknown-user]

Hi Audrey.

[Audrey Nickel]

With a small harp like that, the best thing to do is not try to hold it in your lap, but rather find a stool, bench or hassock of the right height to set it on.

[Donna O]

Fiona,
I too started with a smaller harp and my husband made a stool for me.

[Audrey Nickel]

This may give you some idea as to the kind of height you want:

[unknown-user]

Thanks for that.

[Audrey Nickel]

He is a pretty boy, isn’t he?

[Tacye]

You might also want to try sitting in a chair with your ankles crossed and the harp held by your calves.

[unknown-user]

I did that last night for a while.

[Author]

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