Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
“The point” is whatever she wants to make it. I started as an adult. I now teach workshops in a harp desert, teach students who just want to enjoy it, and occasionally perform. Tell her to go for it. For most people, music isn’t about success, it’s about enrichment. If you love the instrument, time spent with it is tremendously rewarding even if it doesn’t result in accolades.
If she finds she’s passionate about it, she’ll practice a lot; and if she learns how to practice well and has some basic talent, she can do something with that. The “standard” road of an early start, winning competitions, attending a conservatory, winning an orchestra position, etc. makes one type of life possible. But there are lots of different kinds of lives.
She won’t know where the harp will lead her until she picks it up and plays. Tell her to go for it!
I’m sorry I wasn’t clear. What I’m looking for is a relatively inexpensive standalone camcorder with a good microphone that will work for recitals. Relatively inexpensive as in under $300, the lower the better. I’m not in the market for a computer of any make, nor am I looking for a smartphone app.
Thanks, Gretchen! We’re a Windows household though, the iProducts in general are pretty far out of our price range. 🙂
I’d love to get a Heartland Infinity. It would be so useful. I’m married, and we have family in five different directions, none less than two hours away. My husband’s family’s “vacation” of choice always involves camping… plus all of the small children… I lose a lot of practice time in the summer because it’s too dangerous to take my harp with me. Then there’s the area we live in, where people have no experience with harps and aren’t willing to let my harp have what it needs. I’m specifically thinking of the time I tuned in a 43″-tall piano box. A carbon fiber harp would fix those problems. For a pedal harp, a Swanson La Scuola. I’ve never actually seen one, but the descriptions I’ve read sound just right.
Deidre, though you have been playing for many years, sometimes a seemingly unrelated issue in another part of your life can affect your playing. When we got our puppy almost three years ago, he pulled very hard on the leash and it took months of consistent training to get him to stop. Up until that time I practiced my harp for hours at a time without any trouble; after a couple months of walking puppy I could no longer use my left arm after practicing. And guess which side was taking the brunt of all that pulling? Unfortunately, I didn’t make the connection for a couple of years — and now my body is so accustomed to guarding my left shoulder that I’m taking Alexander lessons to learn how to undo (haha, well, non-do) the habits I’ve learned.
I hope you find the advice here helpful, and that you can get it worked out soon! 🙂
Hi A.G.,
In its current tuning, are the Cs red and the Fs blue? If so, that particular harp may have been built from D to D. In any case, your best bet is to call Stoney End and ask them. They know their own harps best: they may have records for the harp with your serial number, and if not, they’ll be able to tell you if what you’re asking to do is advisable.
Good luck!
AngelaHi Rachael,
Voices and harps have different sound properties; also, voices are much more variable than harps of a similar size. Harpers may hear distinct differences among 36-string lever harps, or among CGs, but really… laypeople don’t. This makes harps more uniformly suitable to therapy. (Yes, I understand that mellow harps are considered more desirable, but the listeners don’t have harps to compare, so the tone doesn’t necessarily have much effect on their conscious responses.) Voices also tend to garner stronger reactions, partly because they’re more present in our everyday lives. A person who only listens to pop is likely to have a strong negative reaction to an operatic voice, for example. A therapy recipient who hears a harp reacts as to something novel, so her perception comes from a much cleaner space and she gives the harper more control over her experience.
A voice would also require some serious training (which perhaps you have) in order to manage this successfully. Vibrato alone could make or break an experience for the listener: straight-tone can only be produced with excess tension, which is not a good way to make someone comfortable; on the other hand, a vibrato that is too slow or too fast makes people uneasy. And that’s just one element of vocal production.
It would certainly be more challenging to try harp therapy plus voice. You have access to at least one indicator of potential right now, though: how do people respond when you sing with your harp? Does a room full of people stop dead to listen? Do strangers (not family!) walk up to you and tell you that you made them think of angels? Or that you made them feel peaceful? Or that you made them feel comfortable, relaxed, etc? If people overall respond enthusiastically and positively when you sing with your harp, harp therapy with voice might be worth a shot.
Of course, even if straight-out therapy doesn’t work, there are always waiting rooms and public spaces; you could provide background music for people under strain without trying to directly influence them.
Please update when you decide whether to pursue this path! I’m interested to hear what decision you make and how you reach it. 🙂
Haha, yes, that’s another perk. I own like five Snarks; they’re cheap enough that I can send them off with rented harps and not worry about them — if they don’t come back, oh well. Let us know how you like it!
Sarah, this is such an interesting topic. I don’t plan to have children, but I’ve wondered about this — a puppy was more distraction than I was able to handle smoothly, and that process only lasts two years, not 18!
Is there enough room for baby at your belly while you’re playing? Have you considered using some kind of sling to hold her there so you can practice — or maybe on your back? With ear protection, of course, that might be a little much for tiny ears. 🙂
I look forward to reading the responses on this thread!
Congratulations, Jodi! You’ll find the nylon strings a little more slippery, but that can be a good thing. I’ve only played on gut a couple of times, and found it was harder to pluck — not just because of the tension, but because the gut felt “sticky.” Enjoy your new harp! I look forward to pics. 🙂
I like the Snark. With my 36-string harp, I usually tune most of the harp by ear, but the Snark gives me a good starting point for that middle tenth. On occasion I want to tune quickly, and then I do what HarpGlo said she does — switch it from Vibrate to Microphone for the upper octaves. Works like a charm.
No damage to the harp, so I would say let it go. I rarely let my students play my performance instrument; right now I teach with Harpsicles, and I’m always keeping my eye out for a larger beater harp. Watch ebay and your regional Craigslist closely. Every so often there are very old harps that are beat all to heck, but would serve just fine as a lesson instrument.
If the harp knocked over was one that wasn’t being used to teach, I’d say to remove extraneous instruments to another room during lessons, or set them in an out-of-the-way corner. I teach in my dining room, but my harps live in my office/harp-room. The only harp out is the Harpsicle the student is playing. When I do bring out my performance instrument, I treat it with reverence and caution the students to be very careful with it. They always oblige.
Harp insurance isn’t terribly expensive, and if you’re teaching you are probably making enough to cover the expense. It might be a good idea to look into that. Here’s the most recent discussion of insurance companies: http://www.harpcolumn.com/forums/coffee-break/posts/68187
As a voice teacher, Saul, I agree with you — it isn’t fair to the teacher.
But as a harper, I found this thread most illuminating. I don’t have a teacher because there simply aren’t any here, so this forum is my best resource. One of my goals this year is to attain a lickety-split, even arpeggio across the span of my instrument, so thanks for your question, Loon. 🙂
