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Donna, I have a friend whose cell phone message is similar to yours. It seems to work, too.
I do a lot of singing in churches. Specifically for funerals. It’s one of my worst fears, that my cell phone will go off during a funeral. The idea gives me actual chills. I leave my phone in the car if I’m having a bad morning, because it’s just the kind of thing that could act up and make my day even better.
Otherwise, when I wake up on the morning I’m singing at church, I turn the ringer off. When I put the phone in my bag, I check the ringer. When I walk out the door, I check the ringer. When I get to the church and settle in, I check the ringer. If my husband is with me, I ask him about *his* ringer. Twice. I frequently miss calls because I’m not as obsessive about turning the ringer back *on,* and forget about it for a few days. Oh well. People who know me know I don’t like talking on the phone anyway!
I simply cannot imagine bringing a phone on stage. Maybe if you were using it to tune? But I have a Windows phone, and I haven’t had any luck with those tuning apps.
Frank Voltz’s Silent Night. Eighteen months. I spent six months on it, tried to perform it, and fell *flat* on my face (although that failure, like most successes, was the result of cooperation), but I kept going and finally nailed it in time for last Christmas. I am determined to keep the song in my Christmas repertoire just to prove it can’t lick me! lol
Kay, you’re farther along than I am, and it’s really encouraging to hear that you’re still benefiting from those early pieces! That simple beauty is a huge selling point for getting people interested in playing the harp; it is so **rewarding**, even at the very start. I use that fact all the time to pitch the study of the instrument to non-musical people, but I tend to forget it when it comes to my own performing. Hence the struggle. 🙂
Re: hearing something that sounds impressive until you learn it: yes! But that’s because it sounds out of reach at first, and once it becomes something within your grasp, it’s less impressive. Most things are like that…. (sigh)
You’ll also find that as you learn more complicated music, the earlier stuff that you really fought for, and were so proud of, and sounded so beautiful and magical, starts to feel “too simple” to be performed in public. I really struggle with that. But if I only played the songs at the top of my current ability, my repertoire would always be just two songs long! lol
Lyn, a lever flips up (or rarely, down) to engage the string and raise the pitch. A blade rotates sideways. Since the invention of the modern lever back in the 70s, blades are most common on wire-strung harps.
For me, there was a distinct line between what I considered beginner and intermediate.
I found that I started thinking of myself differently when I was able to smoothly play the first full-length (3-minute) piece that had a lot of seven- and eight-fingered chords. That was about 1.75 years in, early last summer. Then I spent several months preparing for Christmas 2012, and somewhere during the course of the four to six preparatory performances and the three major ones, I realized I had hit a new level of confidence. Suddenly I found that I had reached a point where I was comfortable calling myself a harper and charging for a performance.One thing I noticed about hitting the intermediate level is that I found I could easily sightread early-beginner (lever) music, and just about sightread late-beginner music. Six months later, I’m just about sightreading some easier early-intermediate stuff. I think that’s going to be my marker from now on — my current level defined by my ability to read music at a lower level. When I can sightread music I’m now spending a few months on, I’ll consider myself “advanced.”
There is a “fair use” potion to copyright law. A recording of less than 30 seconds is considered fair use; however, that’s only useful if all you want to post is a sample. I don’t know how this applies to a “video synch” license. If your music is out of copyright, you’re free and clear. *But*, companies that reprint public domain music can copyright their layouts and “arrangements,” so you have to be very careful about that.
YouTube is a grey area. Some composers and companies are pretty easy-going about it. Nintendo, for example — [officially](http://www.nintendo.com/corp/faq.jsp#graphics) they never give anyone a mechanical license for any reason. On the other hand you’ll find harp arrangements of their video game music on YouTube, and nobody does anything about it.
Basically, there isn’t any clarity, and for right now there is literally no way to know what kind of cover is legal on YouTube and what isn’t. This [Wired article](http://www.wired.com/business/2012/05/opinion-baio-criminal-creativity/) from last May does a good job explaining the current situation.
Jill, that is a fantastic idea! I’m a big fan of flashcards; after students get past that, I start writing up my own “reading” exercises. The old piano books idea is fabulous. I have several of those already and they’re always available cheap. I’m going to use that. 🙂
I am not a concert harpist; I play lever harp music I like, and to please my own ear rather than satisfy the requirements of historical accuracy. So please take this with a grain of salt.
I will allow my hands to float where appropriate, but I prefer not to pull them all the way out from the harp unless I’m at the end of a piece or reach a very long pause. I like to keep my hands near the harp where they’re needed.
If I have a section I’d like to allow to ring, but some of the strings need to be played again soon, I “place” my fingers for the next section in the appropriate position — but *beside* the strings instead of on them. That way I can delay the damping effects, while remaining ready to move on. In rapid passages, that is simply not possible: placement is ongoing and will necessarily dampen strings.
What a fortunate girl. If she learns this skill at such a young age, she’ll never remember not being able to read music! 🙂 How long it takes really depends upon her internal motivation and the amount of work her parents are willing to do between lessons.
I have an adult student (retirement age) who is motivated enough to take lessons for free, but not motivated enough to come more than twice a month, and she skips November and December entirely. Harp for her is clearly interesting, but not a priority. We spent several months reviewing flashcards with a timer before she got to the point where she could pluck the correct string for each card with reasonable speed. I would expect a child with a plastic brain, weekly lesson, and musical reinforcement elsewhere in her life to come along faster than this woman, but there are so many variables and I don’t know your student.
Since your student is getting treble-clef training elsewhere, have you considered an intensive focus on bass clef in your lessons for a few weeks? Once you got past the flash cards, she could play in octaves (if she’s at the point where she’s using both hands simultaneously) while reading only the bass clef.
I am doing this *right now*! A lot depends on the demographics of your community, of course. My community is what is known as “underserved” in the arts, and “impoverished” economically. So far, I’ve taken my harp out to parks on a few perfect days in the summer, participated in the local talent show, and volunteered my playing at a large local crafts/arts fair to get people accustomed to the presence of the instrument; I’ve taught a community college class (advertised it in the papers, fliers around town, etc.); and right now I’m partnering with the local arts center to put on a one-hour hands-on group harp class to be presented sometime around the end of April. If I can generate enough interest, it may become a monthly or weekly event. I wasn’t satisfied with the results of the advertising for the community college course, so for this one I’m going to strap on one of my Harpsicles and go door to door with small fliers…. I’m terrified, but I *will* do what it takes….
The “local arts center” I’m talking about is a very small but exciting start-up (just five years old), and is an amazing partner in my efforts. It will pay me for teaching at an honest rate, but program participants pay the center only what they can afford. It’s run by passionate people, and it’s pretty awesome. If you have something like that locally, I would highly recommend that you find out who’s in charge, introduce yourself, and start a discussion about working together.
Re: increasing prices: In many places, in most places where musicians congregate, it would be difficult to increase fees — I agree. However, I am in an extraordinarily unusual situation. Of the 13,000 people in this city, there are exactly **two** trained musicians, and the other one is a flautist. I have already increased my prices for the vocal end of my business without any trouble, simply explaining that it was due to an increase in demand (which was true). I was the market-maker here, the first trained singer this city has seen in many, many years, so nobody batted an eye at the increase. At this point there’s essentially no call for harp music, so I’m not dealing with word-of-mouth; and as I build the harp market, prices will rise naturally.
Barbara, it’s interesting that you mentioned a two-hour minimum price as the price you quote for a wedding. I had a $200 fee in mind in case the event organizer came back and asked for my rate to play two hours, and I happened to quote that same two-hour price for a wedding just last week. Knowing how much trouble weddings are as a vocalist (and the one wedding I’ve played on harp — an absolute *nightmare*) that was the lowest point at which I could feel like I was being compensated fairly. But I think the bride is suffering from sticker shock, because I haven’t heard from her. 😉 It’s going to take some real doing to build this market!
I am encouraged to find that the fee- and time-structures I’ve had in the back of my mind are lining up so closely with what other harpists would expect to see.
Incidentally (and as I suspected), this event organizer was not willing to pay for my services. I’m okay with that. Playing for a solid hour without any compensation or business exposure would have been much more trouble than it was worth.
Thanks, Carl! That structure looks very much like I expected it to. I told the woman $125 for the first hour — but I’ve only been playing (a lever harp) for two years and that will be very easy to increase into the range you mentioned over the next couple of years. Long before anyone else would dream of joining me here. 🙂
