Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Just a follow-up to this–
The concert/workshop was awesome! Maeve played several tunes, sang some songs, gave tips and tricks for different techniques, etc, answered lots of questions from everyone who tuned in. I actually learned a lot in the hour, and it was really enjoyable.
Added bonus: this may become a regular thing! Several people asked for more, and Maeve said that it might be possible to do this monthly or something along those lines.
Anyway, it was a great way to spend an hour today!Hi,
I think it’s a great idea to hire a harp and get some lessons. That will help you know better what you want in your own instrument. Thinking about what kind of music you want to play will help, also. You don’t need levers to start out, but if you can afford them and think you will want them in the future, go ahead and get some.I’m not familiar with the Adventurer or the Morwenna Rose harps, but they seem like good starters. I hope someone else has better input for you along those lines. Welcome to harping!
-AllisonI have a few Suzanne Guldimann books that are lovely. “The Three Ravens” is my favorite of hers.
The first book I bought to use with my 22-string harp was “Celtic Music for Folk Harp” by Laurie Riley and Leslie McMichael. Most of the tunes can be played on that c-c range, and the others are pretty easily rearranged to fit.I just want to say (again?) that I really love the conversation going on here, and I’m learning a lot!
Mae- I hope you get all the strings sounding good soon! I can’t wait till you can play it and give us some sound samples (do you think you will do that once it settles in?) 🙂
I’m still intrigued by the different string setup, AND will be receiving my own double brittany ITW in a couple months! (Thanks to a rather extravagant and unexpected Christmas gift–thank you, Grandma!) I’m not 100% sure if I will do the lower range (leaning towards it for now), or just go with what it already has, but I’m extremely excited and will post about it in a separate thread when the time comes.
Thanks, everyone, for all the good info!
Haha, yeah–my hands are really small, and the first time I watched his videos I was totally jealous of how far he can reach… 🙂 That being said, though, I can reach much farther (well, more-notes-farther) on the harp than I can on piano, so I’m glad about that! 🙂
I think the mother should have asked your permission before doing video recording, and should respect your wishes for audio recording instead. Also, it seems a little sneaky/dishonest/disrespectful for her to record without permission in order to probably give it to a friend as “free lessons”… It is not weird for you to want control over what media you are in and where it may end up. I hope any future lessons with this person go well.
I record myself with an iPad. I prop it on my music stand and use the front camera so I can see exactly what is on screen.
Here are a few videos of other people that I like:
Fiachra has long fingers, and so it is usually easy to see what he is doing.
This is Savourna Stevenson, and you can see her hands pretty well during the video.
This one may not be quite what you want, since it does pan away from the hands with some frequency, but Maeve Gilchrist is one of my most favorite harpists ever, and this is my very favorite YouTube video right now. 😉
I hope at least some of that is helpful.
Good points, Biagio. My levers are marked, and I bet if they weren’t it would be hard to get the right one mid-tune. 🙂
I think Truitts are easier to see, for sure, and they sound better than Lovelands. It’s not that I wouldn’t use Lovelands on a small harp, especially since they cost less, but I prefer Truitts.
This doesn’t exactly fit with the actual question (I don’t actually work outside the home right now), but here is my experience with trying work out when to practice.
I’m pretty scattered with my “real” practice at this stage of life. I’ve got young children and I mostly stay home with them, so it’s not like I’m out of the house 8+ hours per day, but I am still very busy and don’t have enough time to devote to regular, uninterrupted practice. What I do is try to practice during nap time (if/when that even happens…) or once my “reinforcements” come home (that would be my husband). 😉
I do a monthly performance at a local nursing home and play in church once in a while, so when I have one of those events coming up, I keep the harp out where it is easily accessible and try grabbing an extra 5 mins here and there. That actually helps me to learn to play through distractions! Like, little hands grabbing at the harp, climbing on my chair, or just asking a hundred questions a minute… It is so much more stressful than performing that it makes the performing seem easy. 😉 Along with that, I get more strict on carving out chunks of practice, but that sometimes can mean getting only 22 mins at a time while I put on a cartoon to distract my kids. This is only a last resort though, and I can’t let the tv babysit them often enough for it to be a regular practice thing.
I tell myself that once they are in school I will have more time. Though I’ll very likely be going back to work at that point, so I may be in the same boat I’m in now but with even less time…Angela- Cindy Kleinstuber Blevins has some duet books, and the samples look really simple. Of course, the pieces may get more complicated after 3 lines, I don’t actually know. 🙂
This one may suit you: Bedside Lap Harp Compendium by Cindy Blevins. It’s made for 26 strings, all in C (and minor/modes) with no levers. I don’t own it, but I’ve heard it’s good.
