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I’m pulling for you, Mae! And I’m so thankful that you’re posting all these steps, because I seriously might follow your example in the future and build my own double strung. 🙂
I bought a “wedding and love songs” fake book that is kind of handy, and I also have the Sylvia Woods wedding book. I haven’t used them much because I don’t play many weddings, but they seem to cover the basics.
I don’t think there’s a way to undo the discoloration, but you can prevent it in the future. I wipe down the wire strings after I play, using a guitar string cleaning cloth. It seems to help!
Angela,
I’m so sorry you feel like this. I know how it is, too; I’ve gone through some rough patches with the harp myself. There were a few different times where I didn’t open the case for a month or more. It was just too exhausting to even think about playing. These were usually after I had been working up to playing in public or at least for someone else (going to friends’ homes with the harp was a thing they enjoyed where I used to live–mostly older neighbors who needed some company). Anyway, there would come a time when I was just like, “Enough already! I’m tired, I’m bored with these songs, I don’t want to work to learn something new, I need to remember that I’m other things besides ‘the harp lady'” etc. Eventually–sometimes after a couple weeks, sometimes much longer, I would sort of feel like it was time to get re-acquainted with my harp again. I have to ease back into it, just tinkering around, remembering why I started this harping thing in the first place (for my own enjoyment).I am also an artist (like visual arts, drawing and printmaking). When I was in college, my last semester before student teaching, I had two consecutive crappy critiques in my main emphasis studio class. That’s like failing a test. Anyway, I was in a place of utter burnout. I didn’t have any ideas that I thought were any good, I was tired of coming up mediocre, and I was angry at the non-studio classes I had at the time because the stress from those was creeping into my art and I couldn’t channel it into good work. My professor was really understanding, but also tough because I couldn’t afford to take a break or stop working. In that situation, the plan my professor and I came up with was to 1)get a smaller sketchbook (the big, blank pages in my current one were just too intimidating to face), 2)start drawing and writing about everything I saw everywhere I went, and 3)find material in that process that I could care about to make my art. It worked. I found a new direction for my work, and came out better than when I started.
All that’s to say that maybe you just need a break. Some time away from the harp to focus on other things and ease back into it at your own pace.
Or, maybe you need a “smaller sketchbook”–just playing for yourself or close friends, or just small audiences for a while. Or maybe you need to start playing every day but only certain things–favorite tunes, maybe, or only improvising, or only accompanying yourself singing, or whatever. If getting back into harping is a way you might get through the burnout, I suggest trying whatever it takes to make it feel fun again.I’ll be thinking of you as you’re in this season, and I hope you come through and find the joy in your harping again.
I’ve never seen or heard one of these harps in person, so I’m no help there, but I can say that stringing really isn’t so bad. It may take a couple tries at first to get the hang of it, but it’s not hard. Last year I built a Waring harp and it went really smoothly. That’s a cardboard soundbox harp with a wood frame, so it’s a big step down from an all-wood instrument as far as difficulty goes, but I did all of it except the clamping completely on my own. It even sounded good! Anyway, I bet you could build a harp if you want to. 🙂
Speaking of MusicMakers kits, I’m wondering if anyone here has made and/or played a wire-strung Limerick. I’ve got my eye on that one for the future… 🙂
You might want to check out Stoney End lap harps. They are small and sturdy. More expensive than a harpsicle, of course, but great quality and still more affordable than most other brands.
Basel,
What a relief to know you are alive! I am deeply saddened that you have had such terrible experiences, and continue to keep you in my prayers. The atrocities you have faced are not a punishment for anything you may have done. The world is full of evil people doing evil things without regard for innocent bystanders. The world is also full of good people doing loving things for others, and I pray that these people find you and help you.
-AllisonMae–please do! I’ve been thinking about double strung for a long time and I like Stoney End, but would want to see one in action before I made a choice. 🙂
