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I don’t own an electric harp, but Glenn Hill makes custom electric, acoustic, midi, and laser harps, if you were interested in going that route. (Someday I want him to build me a double-strung harp.)
http://www.mountainglenharps.com/That’s great advice for all of us, Elizabeth and Andee! A couple years ago I came to the point where I knew it didn’t matter *what* I played as long as I *played*. I still have to remind myself of that before I play, but it isn’t crippling or anything anymore. 🙂
…I guess my problem is with other people who say You’ve been having lessons for a long time time now – let’s hear you play” and seem to expect something wonderful…”
AMEN, Lyn!!! I feel like I spent the first couple years of my harping trying to lower everyone’s expectations of me and my playing all the time! I felt like I needed to say, “Well I’m not very good, please ignore my mistakes, I’ve only known this one for a little while, I haven’t had lessons, I don’t play classical pieces, somebody else could play it better, ” etc. I know they meant well, but I felt so much pressure to be “great” when I knew I wasn’t.
I think a lot of it was that they were enchanted by the instrument itself and didn’t mind that I was plucking out these rudimentary little melodies. It was enough for them to hear me play at all, and it didn’t have to be complex. Even though I’ve gained confidence since then, I still have to remind myself of that each time I play for someone else! I think it is a gift both to and from the harper to play for someone who wants to hear. 🙂Anne Roos also does Skype lessons.
http://www.celticharpmusic.com/I’ve been playing for about 5 years now, though with some interruptions like several others have mentioned (when I was pregnant with my first child, my harp actually triggered morning sickness! It was very strange and kind of sad…). I think I started to think of myself as a real harper once I could play smoothly and come up with variations on the tunes. It was also a confidence thing for me. Once I discovered I could play for others musically and without stopping, and effectively cover mistakes (well, most of the time…) I felt like I had finally “arrived.” That being said, it depends on to whom I compare myself how much I feel like a beginner at any given moment. I love to watch/listen to musicians with lots of experience because I am reminded of how much farther there is to go. It makes me feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of the harp world, but I think that’s good because it inspires me to keep working.
I get to play for a banquet in our local events center next week (background music) and I’m very excited. 🙂 It will be my biggest “audience” yet! (I know, background music isn’t the same as a concert, so maybe its not really an *audience* but I’m glad about that fact, and looking forward to the event!)
I would check out Blevins harps. They have a LOT of lap harp models, varying weights and sizes. I don’t own one myself, but I have only heard great things about them! I know they will play any harp over the phone for you, and they also have sound clips of each harp on their site.
*edit– sorry, I just realized you specified gut strings. Blevins uses nylon.
I don’t know anything about harp repair, but I do know that we do not all share the same sentiments here. Good luck with your project, I hope you are successful!
I agree with Angela. It’s really inconsistent what YouTube makes you remove. I have a couple videos of myself playing folk tunes–that I arranged–on my harp. 2 of them are fine, but apparently PART of one of them matches something copyrighted. I did not have to remove it, but I had to “acknowledge copyrighted material” even though it really is a public domain tune, I was playing it, and it was not copied from someone’s recorded version (that I know of. It doesn’t tell you what you’ve copied, just that at a certain time in your video there is copyrighted material). So, for now, I guess I just keep doing what I’m doing, and hope I don’t get any strikes on my account for copyright violations. Folk tunes–and anything else–in the public domain and privately arranged should be safe, in my opinion. But, I don’t get to make those rules… 🙂
Lyn,
Yeah… I know we’ll be getting there for the long dark of winter. But, hopefully we can cope with that, and be all right! (I figure with the use of our sun lamps–we call them ‘happy-lights’ –and trying to be active during the couple lighter hours of the day we can make it through. Iowa winters are BITTER cold, and pretty dark for about 3-4 months, so we’re maybe halfway there?) I’m very excited for the Edinburgh harp festival–it will be the first harp festival I get to attend, which makes it that much cooler to me! And, I think it’s funny that, though I’ve wanted to attend several festivals/conferences in the States, I have to go across an ocean to make it work to finally get to one… 🙂I don’t live in the UK yet, but will be moving to St. Andrews, Scotland from Iowa, USA in the fall! I’m very excited about this, and so is my family. We will only be living there for a year, but I’m looking forward to a new adventure, and to playing the celtic harp in its “homeland.” 😉
I don’t teach harp, but I do sometimes use my iPad to take videos of myself playing. It helps me see and hear what I’m doing, and especially helps me remember not to scowl when I’m concentrating on a difficult part! I don’t want to look angry when I’m actually doing something I love, particularly when playing in public… 🙂
I may just do that, Tony! I’m already adding to/changing a few parts of the arrangement, so it wouldn’t be that much more work. Also, I love Led Zeppelin, and it’s weird to have a huge chunk of the song missing (even though it is already quite different than the original just by playing on harp).
Oh yeah, it is very lightweight! I was playing at the hospital the other day, and an elderly gentleman stopped to chat. He was intrigued that it was not made of wood, and asked to lift it… And heaved it up in the air because it was much lighter than he expected. It was a fun conversation!
I would definitely go for a double strung lap-harp. I like the idea of doubling notes and crossing over, and also being able to play both hands of larger-range arrangements on a small harp. I’m not really interested in cross-strung, because I really like not having to think about adding accidentals while playing tunes. Piano was my first instrument, and I still like to play it, but I like the way a harp works with not having to think about key signature once the levers are set. 🙂
Deb,
I only have one right now, and I’m glad about it. When I got it, I still had my lap harp that I learned on. However, once my Delight came out of the box, I barely touched the other one ever again! I sold it a few months later and haven’t missed having two. Of course, for me the reason I thought I would keep the little one was for portability, but since the Delight is so portable anyway, I really didn’t need it.All that being said, I do hope to get a small double-strung harp someday! I feel like that might be different enough that I would be good about playing both, and having different uses for each one. We’ll see if I’m right or not when the time comes… 😉
