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Also check out music published by Cindy Kleinstuber Blevins for her husband’s Blevins Mezzo 23. That harp is strung down to the F below middle C. 2 volumes of “Elegant Music for the Lovely Lap Harp” are some of my favorites.
What a mess! I don’t know what you could have done in this situation, but when I have a contract it specifies that I don’t play in temperatures
I do the same kind of playing (mostly improvisation) for a Tai Chi group that meets once a week. People find it very helpful.
Yes, it is best to leave the pedals in the “up” or “flat” position. This leaves the least amount of tension on the strings and on the instrument. For greatest accuracy, you should also be tuning with the pedals in this position, too.
— Alice in windy Wyoming
Since I collect my final payment for all weddings 30-days in advance of the event, I think Carl’s suggestion of a firm and clear STOP time in your contract would be easier to enforce than trying to collect an overtime payment or late fee on the day of the wedding.
Fascinating topic. I wish there was a standard. I’ve been playing second harp in a University orchestra behind the first violin section for the last 10 years and the faculty member who plays first harp always insists on sitting on the outside. I do my best to follow her….
I had 11 strings break in the first 8 months on a lever harp shipped from California to Wyoming. One of those was on stage just before a performance but the rest were sitting around my house. Then it settled down for a year and just broke 2 strings in the last month as the weather as been changing (much rain and heavy wet snow).
My pedal harp rarely breaks strings, and only once (a 2nd octave B) during a performance on a hot July day. I didn’t need that string and ignored the problem for the rest of that piece. Interestingly the pastor standing on the opposite side of the altar was quite unaware anything had happened while I quietly changed the string during the service.
Well, don’t consider the University of Wyoming. The harp instructor there is a Salzedo harpist with a Bachelor’s in Music Education from Wyoming.
Well, don’t consider the University of Wyoming. The harp instructor there is a Salzedo harpist with a Bachelor’s in Music Education from Wyoming.
Another idea to consider Gillian, is taking a break from the harp (as others have suggested) and focusing on the tension and stress issues. These have been a big problem for me and lessons in the Alexander Technique have made a world of difference in my harp playing and overall enjoyment in living.
Check out http://www.alexandertechnique.com/
There actually are several good books for flipping levers:
We met Tacye when she was still in school in England. A delightful person and charming tour guide for a couple of awestruck Americans in Cambridge.
Jan Jennings — love her books, her arrangements and her philosophies as a successful, gigging harpist.
I frequently did not use my first teacher’s fingerings because they really did not work for me. Her fingers were each an inch or more longer than mine (we compared hands one day at my request) and I could not play arpeggios the way she could because I simply could not reach the notes without hitting adjacent strings in the process. I worked on some of the same music with a second teacher whose hands are the same size as mine and the difference in fingering technique is truly amazing. I’m not saying that you are this kind of teacher, Mel, but just trying to shed some light from a student’s point of view for why we don’t always follow the teacher’s instructions. My first teacher always thought I could “stretch” given enough time and practice and never recognized hand size as a limitation.
