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Thanks for the advice. Yes, this is way over my head. I will definitely look into talking to an accountant. I’m beginning to fear that my venture into business in order to keep my harp (since I became a stay at home mom and lost my income), is going to end up costing too much in taxes. I am currently barely making enough to make my payments, but that’s a lot in “income” if I can’t take into account all my profits going to keep the main asset of my business! *sigh*
I just stared trying Evernote to keep track of my gigs. I make a “notebook” for each gig and have notes inside about date, location, music, contacts, etc. It syncs between all of the devices I have Evernote installed, so I have access to it on multiple platforms. It even has the ability to handwrite notes. Since I usually handwrite things while talking with clients, I hope this feature will be useful. We’ll see how it goes!
For a calendar, my husband and I have linked our Google calendars so that we always know if one of us is busy. No paper.
I’ve recently been struggling with related problem. Up until this year, I have always had a full time job and just did harp work through word-of-mouth and wasn’t very busy. Now that I’m a stay at home mom, I’m actively pursuing work and getting it. Not super busy yet, but I want to have a good system in place to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. From keeping track of who hasn’t sent in their contact to what songs the bride wants and what they prefer I wear, there is a lot of information that each event needs that I don’t want to mess up.
A simple spreadsheet seems ungainly, I’d love a database or something that works on Android systems. If not, I’d love to hear how other busy freelance harpists keep it all together.
Could you be more specific? And are you sure it’s your harp and not your room? I had a lamp that vibrated on third octave D and I got so used to it that when I played elsewhere, I found myself surprised by the lack of vibration.
Also, how new are your bass wires? My harp reverberated too much when the bass wires were new. I skipped changing them because I like the sound better with them a little old.
Hanna, you’re doing better than me, then! I just have a list of pieces I’m working on (trying to get up wedding repertoire for freelancing while at home with baby). I’d love to know more about your system!
The only thing I wish I could do more is play for a long time. If I was hired for background music, I’m not sure what my stamina is!
Hi Balfour! We need some surrogate grandparents who live next door. That sounds wonderful!
OK. So, I’m really new at the mom thing, too. My girl is just over 6 months. Then first few months, I got nothing done. Then once they start sleeping a little longer, you can get them to bed around 7 or 8 and have a few hours. I don’t always use them for practice, but I try to.
Are you staying home or working? I can put the portable play yard next to the harp since she is now mobile and will get into trouble unless supervised. If she’s in the play yard, I can get about 20 minutes here and there before she gets bored.
Do you live with someone who can take the baby for a half hour once a day? You’ll be surprised how much you can get done when you plan a little ahead what you want to practice.
She takes longer naps now, so I can practice then, too. It’s not the same hour and a half of time I used to have, but it’s something…
Congrats!
What colors do you associate with C and F naturally? It will be interesting to see if playing the harp begins to change your association over time. Also, be aware that if you ever switch to a harp that takes gut strings, the F is often black!
I believe there was a thread once about coloring strings. It may be a difficult search, but I’m pretty sure Biagio commented so he may be back. If you wanted to try it, just get a B string and E string and color to your preference.
I have heard of some synesthesia associations that could be really horrible (like names have flavors – how could you be friends with someone who tastes like liver?) so I’m glad yours is more fun. 🙂
Hi Balfour and Carol Lynn!
Yes, we moved last week. My in-laws ended up coming out and helping us drive up, so my father-in-law took the harp. I lagged behind the caravan with the baby, so the only thing I could do was beg them to pretend there was a dog in the car that couldn’t come out.
I’ve gotten it unpacked in a safe place and it was even still pretty well in tune!
Thanks for thinking of us! Looking forward to our new Appalachian adventure!
Oh, and we probably won’t be able to stop in the shade as we’ll have to stop for about an hour every couple hours of driving to feed and let the baby (and dog) stretch. We could maybe turn on the Impreza and run the air conditioning then, though.
Thanks Balfour and Carol Lynn!
I had written a response to you and then the baby hit the phone and it all went away! Ha!
It’s nice to know someone has traveled like this in the region and have not had problems. We’ll also have a canoe strapped to the top of the Impreza which may offer some additional shade.
Looking forward to heading north!
Oops! I didn’t mean to give the impression that the harp shouldn’t be on the shoulder! Of course, everyone has their own comfort levels and I know some people play with more weight of the harp than others on their shoulder. I suppose I should rephrase and say it is possible to play with very little of the weight of the harp actually pressing down on you if your chair and body are in a position to accept the harp near its balance point.
If it was too heavy on her shoulder, then she wasn’t positioned correctly behind it. Of course, correct positioning takes a lot of trial and error. You may want to ask her teacher to allow her more time behind the CG and more time to figure out how to have it at the balance point instead of leaning on her. Then she may be in a better position for pedal harp shopping.
So, does SHE really want to change to a pedal harp? Is it the type of music that she wants to play, since she no longer is interested in ensemble work? I just ask because a pedal harp is not necessary to progress… it merely opens up more repertoire and ensemble work. If she doesn’t need one right now, perhaps it is best to put that money aside for a little while longer and have more options once she’s grown a little more.
Aside from that, here are my thoughts:
I would double check with L&H about their bounty program, as their website now lists the upgrade going from a lever harp to pedal, no longer mentions the Chicago 40… If you were going to bounty the Ogden, keep in mind it is a relatively easy harp to sell.
Camac harps have a 10 year warranty vs 3 for small L&H or Salvi. If buying used, double check with manufacturer if warranties are transferable, but I don’t believe they are.
Never buy a harp you haven’t tried. Even if you are allowed to return it, you may be hit with shipping and restocking fees. Make sure you love the harp before spending money on it. This will require both time and patience as well as the fortitude to move on a purchase when the opportunity presents itself.
Look into financing with your own bank – not just the harp retailers. I got a much better APR through a personal loan with my credit union than the instrument loans.
I wish you luck!
Depending on your timing (since this post is over a week old already), I would watch the weather. Some harp companies don’t ship during too hot or too cold weather to keep the harp safe.
Unfortunately, I don’t know the dimensions of the 2010, since they re-designed the vehicle since mine. Plus, you should be aware the dimensions alone don’t always tell you if you can get your harp in there. The 2008 Harpmobile review lists the cargo space (in my model, unfortunately) with the seats all the way back as 68 inches long and 37 inches wide.
The wheel wells may be slightly closer together in the 2010 than in mine, but your Prelude is also 5 inches narrower than my harp. I believe it was folks from the Virginia Harp Center who told me about the wheel wells when I was test loading my soon-to-be harp into my Prius. But, they also said they successfully loaded a Camac Concert Grand  in that model of Prius. Even if you have to tip the knee of the harp up a little to clear the wheel well, you should be fine. You may call the Virginia Harp Center and get feedback, as they have probably seen so many people load so many harps into so many vehicles!
I really wouldn’t worry too much about a Prelude since it is smaller in every dimension than a concert grand pedal. If you ever got a CG harp or even a semi-grand, I would advise more caution making sure you can drive in the position the seat needs to be in for the CG.
