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It’s counter-intuitive, but when I’ve been playing a lot, I find that doing a few reps of upper-arm and shoulder exercises with some light weights after I’m done with a session helps get the blood flowing and reduces soreness later on:
1. Holding your arms out at your sides, shoulder height, move your arms in small forward circles several times. Stop and reverse. You can do this with or without weights.
2. Tricep curls
3. Arm lifts, both with the arms positioned in front of you and then at your sides. Never lift above shoulder height.
4. With your arms at shoulder-height and out at your sides, bend your elbows so that your hands land in front of your chest. Squeeze your shoulder blades together.
I purchased my 3-lb weights at Walmart, so they didn’t cost very much. You don’t need anything fancy for this.In “How the Body Works”, Suzanne Balderston recommends that you get a massaging shower head (perhaps not possible if you’re living in a dorm). She also suggests sitting against a wall with a tennis ball held between the wall and a sore spot on your back. Lean into the ball and move your back so that the ball moves around. Do this for several seconds, stop, and do it again.
Good luck! I hope you find something that works for you!
Hi Katie,
That’s a good suggestion, but here is zero chance of finding someone even in the twinstate area with a similar harp, much less one that is strung with fluorocarbon. 🙂 The woman at VT Strings was very detailed in her warnings about not bringing the strings up to pitch too quickly, and pulling them away from the bridge pin during the initial wind so that they don’t fray; I’m not so sure they’ll be the right fit for me. But I ordered the four shortest strings in the fluorocarbon range on my harp, and with shipping it’s only a $26 experiment.I’ve waited two years to restring my harp, but I was ready to change them out at about 18 months. Though fluorocarbon may last longer, it’s so expensive that it would have to last a *lot* longer to justify the price. I’ll primarily be making the decision based on feel and tone. And apparently I’m going to be paying close attention to what happens when I try to install the strings!
Thanks for posting about this, Kay. That’s probably the least-expensive workshop weekend I’ve seen yet! I’m talking to my husband to see if we can swing it…. it would help my conscience and my case if anyone could tell me about some computer-, gaming-, or amusement park-type things he could do in the area while I’m in classes?
Hi Tacye – I’m asking about fluorocarbon because VT Strings doesn’t carry gut. I’m happy with the company – they’ve always been responsive, informative, and quick to ship, with reasonable shipping costs – and I’d like to continue my relationship with them. I’m still quite pleased with the sound of my harp, even strung with nylon; I just thought I might try to make it better. Your suggestion to order a couple of fluorocarbon strings is a very good one! I think I’ll go do that. right now.
By the way, I also play a Heartland (Sylvan), and I am very please with it, too. You’re lucky to have a carbon fiber model. I’m keeping my eye on the Infinity!
I had this problem last year! It’s a T6 star bit. You can find it at Home Depot or Lowe’s — I got one that was part of a set of interchangeable star bits with a single handle. Mostly because I didn’t know what to use either, and wanted to make sure I had the right one. 🙂
(https://harpcolumn.com/forums/amateur-harpists/posts/42097)Loon — I saw your post just as the Christmas frenzy began. I’m sorry I forgot to respond. That is a good idea, and one that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own! Thank you. 🙂 I don’t think it will be necessary to retune my harp, because it looks like the flautist is going to arrange the piece with input from me regarding the harp part, but as a lever harper I don’t typically think in terms of enharmonics and your suggestion really got me thinking.
Kreig — thank you for your thoughtful response, as well! I like your first and third suggestions and will try them out. The second one might not work for this particular piece, but is an approach I will likely revisit in the future.
All of these suggestions have been thoughtful and very helpful. Thanks so much everyone!
Yes, you can teach yourself! People who play lever harp for their own enjoyment often do this. The trick is to get a good instruction book or two with clear pictures and REALLY pay VERY close attention to your technique, at all times. Don’t allow yourself to get lazy. Your attention to detail at the beginning will pay off hugely later on!
All harp-players tune their own instruments. I imagine we all change our own strings too — they have been known to break at inconvenient times, though fortunately this hasn’t happened to me yet! — and you can find instructional resources for that online. You can also regulate your own levers, though it will take some time and patience. I’m collecting the tools I need to do that right now, in fact. . . I’m not looking forward to actually doing it, but I *am* looking forward to flipping my Eb lever and getting an actual E natural. 🙂
With a desire to care for your instrument and a little ingenuity, you should be able to handle common maintenance issues. Try to get your hands on David Kolacny’s booklet, “Trouble Shooting Your Lever Harp”. But really, if you get a decent harp and take reasonably good care of it (control humidity, protect it from bumps, don’t leave it in a car, etc.), you probably won’t run into much trouble.
As for “a good starter harp at a decent price with a good sound”. . . ;that’s an elusive thing, and there are plenty of opinions about it. From what I’ve seen, heard, and read, you’re pretty much going to get what you pay for. Stick with the harp-makers who have been around long enough to have earned good reputations (you’ll find their names all over these forums), and when you find a few harps you’re seriously interested in, contact the builders directly about your shipping circumstances.
Good luck with your search! Let us know how it goes. 🙂
My understanding of the copyright laws is that it’s okay to make a copy for personal use. Which makes sense, because some of the books I have — mostly vocal books, I guess — are ridiculously difficult to keep open. In fact, as a vocalist, I was trained to photocopy my music and arrange it in a particular manner for the accompanist, bring the original to each audition to prove I have it, then put the book back in my bag. (I had it memorized, of course, so I wasn’t using the book and the copy at the same time.)
For my harp pieces, I make photocopies and keep them in a binder for the sake of practicing., because it’s easier for me to keep my focus if all I’m doing from one piece to the next is turning a page. (Keep in mind that I’m not working on major scores at a level where I’d want to keep my notes for many years.) Though I do memorize most of my pieces in the course of learning them, I’ve found the collection of hole-punched photocopies to be invaluable in organizing my music for performances later on, whether the pieces are still memorized or not. Everything is right there so that I can make very easy decisions about keys, styles, and tempi; I have the option of using the music if I don’t have it memorized anymore; and I always bring just one binder to every performance. — which does not hurt my image as a reliable and organized musician. As a system, it works well. As long as it isn’t illegal, I recommend it. 🙂
Whoops, sorry, I spent some time looking for it and forgot the last part of your post while doing so. 🙂 Thank you!
Jennifer – good to know. 🙂 Yes, I love the way the harp rings, and I’ve considered suggesting that I play quarters instead of eights, or something like that.
Tacye – that worked! You’re right, I don’t like the guitar-ish sound, but it gives me another option to present to the flautist. 🙂
Many thanks to both of you!
Thanks, Patricia, that sounds great! I just contacted Robinson’s; perhaps if they don’t have the article, they may know the date of publication so that I can get it from the FHJ. 🙂
Harpo Speaks, Pulling Strings: The Legacy of Melville A. Clark (I grew up in a suburb of the city where he started his symphony orchestra), Trouble Shooting your Lever Harp, rubber-tipped pliers and a brass hammer for regulating my levers, and several pieces of sheet music. I actually have enough Christmas gigs that I think I’ll be able to give my harp a gift for Christmas too: a new set of strings with lever gut to replace the mid-range nylon. <3
