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“Albinoni’s Adagio” in some sources is now attributed to the 20th-century musicologist and Albinoni biographer Remo Giazotto who claimed to have
Don’t forget, if you insure your harps, check into whether they will also insure your music. Some of the harpists impacted by Hurricane Katrina found out to their sorrow their music could have been covered too.
— Alice in windy Wyoming
For my purposes (informal recording, not for making CDs) I find the internal microphone quite adequate.
— Alice in windy Wyoming
The Rainbow of Sound program is described here: http://rainbowofsound.com/index.html
I like the Zoom Digital Recorders (H2 or H4). The microphone is built in and it runs on AA batteries for convenience in recording. Listen to the result with earphones or plug it into a stereo system. Mine records on a 8 GB SDHC card, so with a cardreader, I can also copy or play the sound files on my computer. The quality on mine is nice enough that I can use it for background music on YouTube videos of pictures.
— Alice in windy Wyoming
The International Harp Therapy Program link should be: http://harprealm.com/
For harp therapy, you will get answers to some of your questions by exploring the following Web sites:
- An overview of Therapeutic Musician Training Programs certified by the National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians: http://tinyurl.com/Therapeutic-Musician-Overview
- National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians: http://www.therapeuticmusician.com/
- Music for Healing and Transition Program: http://www.mhtp.org/
- International Harp Therapy Program: harprealm.com/
- Clinical Musician Home Study Course: http://www.harpforhealing.com
For music thanatology:
Knitting Supply stores also carry colored bands like this for use in marking stitches for about the same price but with a greater variety of colors. I use them for identifying a unusual lever I need to change in the middle of a piece.
— Alice in windy Wyoming
Our conductor always claimed there was only room for 1 harp in the pit, and never welcomed a second harpist.
— Alice in windy Wyoming
This is excessive. Contact either your harp store or Lyon and Healy directly.
I had 11 strings break on a new harp in a 5 month period and the manufacturer ended up changing the type (and tension) of the strings in the worst offending area. They were too close to their natural breaking point.
— Alice in windy Wyoming.
When you look at classified ads for used harps, there seem to be a disproportionate number for harps from various makers made of bubinga. Just my personal opinion, but I think people buy harps of this wood and then find out afterwards that they are VERY heavy instruments. If at all
Serena O’Meara (harp@omearamusic.com or http://www.omearamusic.com/) lives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and might know someone closer to Land O’Lakes.
— Alice in windy Wyoming
I agree with Kay. Send this harp back as soon as possible. The problems you are experiencing will probably be only the first of many with these “rosewood” harps.
A brand new harp may need regulating after 6 months or so as the wood and neck adjust to the tension of the strings, but it should not be required for a new harp right out of the box. It is highly unlikely you will ever be able to adjust the levers properly and drilling new holes is not the way regulating is done.
Try to find another harp player or teacher who would be willing to help you locate a more desirable instrument. There are many UK harpists on this Forum, the Yahoo HarpList and the Yahoo VirtualHarpCircle.
— Alice in windy Wyoming
I agree with you that I would also have declined the job.Continuing to accept gigs like this perpetrates the myth that music is free and comes out of the walls (or the sky!).
I think their budget needs to be revised, but I run against this all the time. “Oh, this is a fund-raiser for such a good cause!” or “Can’t you cut or eliminate your fee since we’re a non-profit.”
Tacye is correct that your levers need regulating by a harp technician. The symptoms you describe are very commonly experienced as a harp ages, especially in fairly new harps during the first year or so.
Being out-of-tune is very frustrating, but you can temporarily work around it by setting the levers for the tune you want to play. First tune all the strings that are in the open position (i.e., the levers are all down). Next pluck a string with the lever up and listen. Lower the lever and adjust the string with your tuning key up or down, as necessary. Raise the lever, pluck and listen again. Repeat this process until the string sounds in tune with the lever up.
Never tune the string with the lever up. The strings may catch and not slide properly (and hence not change pitch) and it is very hard (damaging) on strings to tune them when they are engaged by the lever.
Hope this helps and you can find a regulator soon, or you can buy Dave Kolacny’s book and figure out how to adjust the levers yourself.
Best wishes,
