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Thank you Sherri, I knew you would have lots of good information! The harp was experiencing some torsion, and it was strung so that one string went from the first tuning peg, through the front of the soundboard, across to the next grommet, and then came back up to the next tuning peg. Is that normal for a wire harp? It certainly looked odd!
I gave the student the information about how we’d go about salvaging the harp and and the estimate of how much the strings would cost; in the end she preferred to rent one of my Harpsicles. In a way it’s a shame, because I would have loved to bring an old harp back to life — but this way is easier, at least. 🙂 I also would have liked a reason to look into wire harping, but for now it looks like that’s going to wait.
Thank you, ladies!
I’m interested to see a detailed explanation of this, too! I’ve heard it has something to do with the circle of fifths. Looking at it from that perspective, it seems like an attempt to distribute the pedaling somewhat evenly between RF and LF.
When the LH is doing too much to leave the strings long enough for a flip, but the RH is readily available, it makes sense to use the RH. The more complex the music, the more likely it is to happen. It’s easiest to do in the upper range of the harp.
No WAY!!! I’ve been wanting to learn how to play blues on harp ever since I first found her New Blues. Thanks for the heads-up!
Sherry, I searched FB under Heartland Harps and Starlight Harp, and didn’t find a page. What is the title?
That does make sense, and it’s very helpful! Thank you!
Just to clarify, most of the participants won’t be doing anything with the melody line of “Think of Me.” Is this still lot to do? This is the first workshop, but hopefully it’s going to become a series; I’ll have a much better idea of pacing by the time I pack up on Monday night. 🙂
Haha, Tayce, funny you mention that — my husband and were browsing house floor plans recently, and my primary requirement was a first-floor “study” or similar room for the harps. Many a plan was disqualified right off the bat because it didn’t have a harp room!
I second Barbara’s comment. When I bought my harp, it *just barely* squeezed into our VW Jetta (we almost didn’t get to take it home!). It involved a lot of twisting and turning, and I couldn’t do it myself; my husband even had to come with me every time I played. (Fortunately, that didn’t happen much before we sold that car.) I suppose I should have researched the size of the harp better, but I really, really wanted this specific one, and they’re such awkward shapes that it’s darn near impossible to figure out if a potentially tight fit is going to work, even when you know the measurements.
When we were shopping around for our current car, I absolutely did carry my harp to try out in each vehicle we seriously considered. We basically made our final choice based on the harp, overlooking such minor details as a slipping clutch and overall wimpy-ness. 🙂
I tried a few apps for Windows phones, but they didn’t work well, even with a pickup (and I don’t remember their names because they were short-lived). In the end I learned to tune by ear, and I bought a Snark SN-2 just to get my first pitch and double-check my first tenth. I’ve also found it very accurate and convenient for a quick and dirty tuning of my Harpsicles — especially when I have to tune all of them at once for a class or workshop. The SN-2 is small, it picks up the highest octave better than any other tuner or app I’ve tried so far, and as a bonus, it’s inexpensive. I’ve only had mine for six months though, so I can’t speak to its durability.
Deb, [Sherri Matthew](http://www.harpcolumn.com/users/sherri-matthew) plays wire harp. I’m not sure if she plays with pads, nails, or both.
Jimmy, that kind of policy makes me really nervous. I wear an insulin pump and sometimes have to turn on the back-light to check it while I’m in a movie theater. (Or it “alarms” — vibrates — and the light turns on automatically.) If someone jumped on me for my “cell phone” lighting up, I would get very, very upset.
I’d far rather see people receive mistakes with a sense of humor than have to report my chronic illness to management every time I go to the movies, or risk being publicly shamed!
On the other hand, people in all sorts of industries occasionally volunteer their expertise for reasons they deem worthy, even when it doesn’t result in a tax deduction. I got the impression Patricia (the OP) was simply talking about doing something kind.
I do occasionally volunteer, but the key there is that *I* volunteer. In my experience, when I’m invited to play for free at an event, it doesn’t work out well. It’s unfortunate, but people do have a tendency to equate value with price.
I occasionally play at the local parks on a beautiful day, and that’s very satisfying, I volunteer harp for my church four to six times per year, sometimes during Mass and sometimes for events like a children’s Advent fair. Seriously, THAT was fun! The organizers were cheerfully accommodating about my need to have the big harp blocked off so that kids couldn’t play with it unsupervised. I brought along an old pink Harpsicle to let children try (interested adults were invited to my performance instrument), and really had a blast. The adults in the room were also very appreciative of the music itself. It went quite well, and I will volunteer the harp again this year if my schedule allows.
As for charities, through a series of events I’ve come to understand that there is no market for that kind of humane harp work here, so I’ve even given up on pursuing harp therapy for now. My area is decidedly odd, though. I often feel like I’m through the looking glass.
