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Bill Taylor has recorded music from the ap Huw manuscript.
Well hearing a harp before you buy is *always* a good idea! I have a Dusty Strings FH26 which I think is excellent for it’s size. It’s a bit bigger than lap size; I usually put it on a small stand or sit it on the floor and sit myself on a small bench. It has nylon strings though. I’m not sure how much it weighs–I can check that for you…
Isn’t it just the difference between the British spelling ‘practise’ and the American ‘practice’? Neither is wrong. There are many differences like this. As an American living in England I encounter them every day.
If anyone in the Leeds area is going and could offer me a lift, let me know–I’d really appreciate it! Otherwise it’s the train for me and my harp…!
I’ve seen that book at the library–I may have even taken it out but obviously I haven’t read it thoroughly. I’ll have to take another look at it.
Thank you! I can’t figure out how to add a pic on my profile here….I could do something for Harpists for Peace…what day does it fall on?
One of my favorite Irish harpers is Michael Rooney. He doesn’t have a beard and he’s not burly, but he’s very masculine.
http://youtu.be/ZZmFhsy8QSUI wish I had started at 19, too! But it’s true, when we are first starting out it’s more about just wanting to play, and not about the method. I think I was very very lucky to have found a teacher that suited my learning style perfectly. From the very start I found I was playing much more complicated music by ear than I ever could have if I had been learning from written music.
There are some traditional teachers (not just harp but fiddle and other instruments) that use music, but with those teachers, at some point you’ve got to internalize the music and let the paper go. At least with trad Irish music. My teacher’s husband once said that playing Irish music while reading it is like reciting Shakespeare rather than becoming the character.
Well, I can’t help you with Salzedo vs French, but I can say that I took Irish harp lessons for 10 years and learned by ear. I also took numerous workshops over that period of time with Grainne Hambly, Janet Harbison, and Michael Rooney (and others) and they all teach by ear. I can read music and have used written music to help sometimes, but I do firmly believe that learning by ear is the best way (it;s also the traditional way) to learn traditional Irish music.
I play a Dusty Strings but I don’t find the square back to be a problem. However, I’ve never really played anything else for any length of time. Maybe the round back is easier to get your arms around (smoother, no edges).
Deb, I feel your pain! I find that once you really know a tune, even if you don’t play it for a while, it comes back much more quickly and easily when you go to refresh your memory on it. The more pieces in your repertoire the more you can’t play *everything* all the time at 100 percent perfection if you know what I mean!
I’ve been working (at my normal job) so much more lately and am having even less time to practice. I now have a goal to practice an hour every night after work, even if I’m tired. It’s the only way, really….
Jerusha I took lessons from Kathy DeAngelo (in NJ) for 10 years. I learned by ear and learned the theory little by little, as it applied to traditional Irish music, as we went along. Somewhere down the line I ‘got it’ and started coming up with my own left hands for pieces. There are certain things that work in Irish music and certain things that don’t. Sometimes I can look at a tune I already know that’s in the same key as a new one I’m working on and use that as a guide for chords, etc. Grainne Hambly once said to me in a workshop that the left hand is evident in the right hand or something to that effect. The melody gives you clues.
If you know what key something is in (or what mode) there are a limited (sometimes more and sometimes less limited) number of chords, etc. that will work.
I’m really proud of my arrangement for ‘Were You at the Rock?’. I learned it first on the fiddle from the playing of Brian Conway, one of my favorite fiddlers. I slavishly copied his ornamentation (cuts, rolls, double stops, etc.). Now 7 years later I’m applying all of that to the harp. Sometimes what works on the fiddle doesn’t work on the harp because of the nature of the mechanics of the instrument so you have to go with something similar. For example, doing a roll rather than a particular cut or vice-versa.. I also got ideas for the left hand from what Brian does on the fiddle. A double stop (playing a chord–two strings at once) on the fiddle becomes a chord on the harp.
Wow, that was a long reply!
Lots of tunes listed that I already play–we should all play together! The Butterfly, Chanter, Arran Boat Song, Carolan’s Concerto. I’ve come up with my own version of Stairway to Heaven but really don’t have the whole thing figured out yet.
New tunes I’ve been working on are the song ‘The Leaving of Liverpool’ because I decided I need more songs in my repertoire and the Irish slow air ‘An Raibh Tu ag an gCarraig?’ (‘Were You at the Rock?’). The song is quite easy, the slow air more challenging. I’m making up my own arrangements.
Also I’ve started working on the the traditional Cornish song ‘I Love My Love’. And also trying to keep all my tunes under my fingers (which is no easy task!)
