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As far as the added weight of the additional mechanism – what about starting with a carbon fiber frame? It may also handle the additional tension better.
If you want a good range with very little weight, have you considered Heartland’s carbon fiber harps? You can get 36 strings with full levers for 42″ and 8 pounds.
It looks like it’s been a while since you played, and there’s plenty of music for lever harp now, at all levels — though staying in the 26-27 string range will definitely limit the selection of upper-level music. You mentioned that you sing with your piano; obviously your options are endless if you start writing your own songs with the harp.
Since you have musical experience and specifically prior experience on the harp, I wouldn’t recommend the Fullsicle, though the Harpsicle line are good little harps for the price and the company is really great. I use them for teaching and as rentals, but I don’t think it will be enough for you.
You may not need to cover your harp just because you have a cat in the house. My lever harp does just fine, and we have a cat plus a large dog. My situation may be different though; my harp lives in a small room where the animals don’t spend a lot of time. Just keep an eye on your cat around the harp for the first couple of weeks. You’ll be able to tell if she plans on making mischief.
To answer you question about the Harpsicle cases: Harpsicles are specifically built to supply a market for harps in the very low price-range. The covers are likely sold separately to keep the cost of the harps down (and a person with a sewing machine can easily turn an old sheet into a triangular sleeve, maybe with a little flap to cover the top, for nothing more than the cost of thread). Then there are many people who use these harps for pleasure only, never taking them out of the house, and so don’t need a case.
With voice, and harp, and every instrument I’ve ever played. 🙂 I think that’s totally normal. The better you get, the better your “off” days are.
I had a nightmare about that once, that my harp was designed to be dismantled in order to move it, and some in-house stage crew tried to put it back together at my destination and destroyed it.
(As an aside, I played French horn in high school and the only thing you dismantle is the mouthpiece – you pull it out of the horn, then pop the whole horn into its molded case. That’s still much more moveable than a harp, but it doesn’t actually come apart for transport. There are several slides you can pull off for cleaning.)
Hi Elizabeth,
I’m interested in this, but my first question is cost. I don’t see any information about fees/accommodations on your website. Please reply here when you make that information available.
Thank you,
AngelaLaura, I attended my husband’s contemporary church for a few years, though it is a very small one. They had the projector with the count-down to the service, and the powerpoint sermon, and the 20-minute rock concert before each service, etc. The people in charge of the music just weren’t interested in the harp. The sound techs acted like acoustic music was evil (I’m exaggerating, but it was pretty bad), and they also had very little patience for my harp’s needs; in fact, the leader of that tech team is the reason I have a page on my website dedicated to the ways in which a harp is different from a guitar!
Have you ever heard a harp played at your church? If not, don’t jump in with that. Contact the leader of the music ministry — the name and contact info should be on the website — and find a way to get involved that already exists, like singing backup, maybe volunteering with the tech team, or if the music groups have snacks help out there. Don’t do it in the context of, “I want to play the harp for the church, but if you only have this other stuff, okay, I guess I’ll do that.” Reach directly for a service position. After you’ve been there for a while and have developed some personal relationships, people will find out that you play the harp and you can let someone else with more seniority do the work to get you in. If they aren’t interested enough to do that, then it’s not going to be a good fit.
In my limited experience, megachurches like to be glitzy, so it’s possible that everything down to their vacation Bible studies must consist of produced, amplified music. BUT, if that’s not the case in your church, a small group of children is a good way to use your instrument acoustically. Try contacting the VBS coordinator. Teach about the psalms, David, and the ways in which his harp was a little different. Teach the Bible verses that mention the harp and music. Teach about the ram’s horn (an early trumpet!) and the walls of Jericho. You could get yourself a harpsicle and bring it along as a kid instrument. Maybe write a story about writing songs to God while herding sheep. The research you’ll need to do to teach a class like this will be good for you, too. For one thing it will help you stay in line with God’s plan for music in his churches. For another, most church-goers pay very little attention to music in the Bible. When you can speak with authority on the subject, they have a harder time writing you off as just another “egotistical performer.”
In any good music ministry, a person who walks in and asks to be put up front will be regarded with suspicion. There are very solid reasons for that, and, frankly, some pretty weak ones. If you seek instead a position of service away from the public eye, you’ll build relationships with people who will learn that you can be trusted, and they will eventually suggest you get involved in more public ways. You’ll also have a clear conscience and a true defense if, once you’re up front, someone accuses you of seeking it for the wrong reasons. Which will likely happen. And oh boy, it’s going to sting. It’s best to have a clear conscience when it comes.
There’s nothing quite like the enchantment (obsession?) that comes with a new harp. Congratulations, and ENJOY!! 😀
If you want to try aloe gel, you can make your own to get 100% natural ingredients. Add 1/2 tsp xanthan gum to 1 c. pure aloe juice or aloe water (aloe comes from the plant as a gel but quickly becomes a liquid; if you buy gel at the store it will always have additives).
Have you tried myrrh? I’ve heard it can be used to help your fingers, though I’ve only used it once, so I can’t tell you how effective it really is.
Fairport, you said you’re interested in learning the harp in order to accompany yourself. Since that’s the case, the levers on the harp you buy should be decided by the keys your voice likes. If you aren’t sure what those keys are, get a fully-levered harp so that you have all the available options. Or, if you have the funds, just get a fully levered harp anyway, because then you’re all set!
I agree with everyone else that renting in the beginning is a good choice. You don’t want to start out by accompanying yourself — you’ll be much better off learning the harp and then adding the singing later —
and you can learn all technique (except lever-throwing!) on an instrument without any levers. That may save you some money on the rental.When you eventually buy a harp, keep in mind that as a sing-and-player you’ll often want to keep your right hand playing above the pitches you’re singing, and your left hand below. This means that you’ll be best served by an instrument with at least 1.5 octaves below mid-C, especially if you have a low voice. You’ll probably find two octaves more satisfying; although I find I use the lowest C,D,E fairly rarely when I’m singing.
I would ask the parent to stop. I’m not personally comfortable being recorded, and what you’re describing sounds off.
My experience as a voice student is that taping an entire lesson is useless. I have never, never gone back to listen to an entire lesson on tape — and I’ve certainly never tried to find a specific point in the hour-long recording. Unless you’re teaching five-minute lessons, an entire lesson is too much information to efficiently “refer to in practice.”
Nowadays, if I’m having trouble with an ornament in a voice lesson, my teacher will sing it for me while I record with my phone — ten seconds or less. In my studio(s), I find that taking a picture of a new harper’s good hand position from over her shoulder (from her point of view) can really help her get it at home. I also have a voice student who needs help with pitch-matching, and the only way to improve that is to do it every day, so we have to record that part of her lesson.
My brother once came up here to take a voice lesson with me, and he recorded it. The knowledge I was being recorded noticeably changed my teaching, and I wasn’t happy with the changes.
So I’m with Gretchen — recording is for particular moments in the course of a lesson, when it will serve a specific purpose.
Tuned in Eb, I flip up D and G, thus getting rid of the seventh and third of the scale. This leaves me with Bb, C, D#/Eb, F, G#/Ab: whole step, 1 1/2 step, whole, whole, aka a pentatonic scale. When improvising, I usually feel the F as the “tonal center” of this tuning, though since there’s no leading tone, there isn’t really a tonal center…
Janis, yours produces the black-key piano version of the pentatonic scale, C# D# F# G# A#. Thanks for an alternate configuration — I look forward to finding out which note I head back to improvising in it. 🙂
Thanks for that explanation, Biagio! It makes sense. That’s something I’ve been wondering about for a long time. 🙂
Thank you for the recommendation, Tacye. I found a book of her duos on Harp Connection, but the preview looked like they were too advanced. When I say I’m looking for really easy, I mean really, really, really easy!
