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Thanks, Tacye! I had never heard of that, so I went and looked it up last night… and it turns out my shoulder did not reset itself overnight, so hubby is at the drug store now. 🙂 IcyHot, Tylenol, and an ice pack aren’t even touching the pain anymore; I couldn’t find a rub-in version of acetaminophen online, so I’m just going to have to take the risk with the IB!
Good article. After reading this, I linked to the original article on Facebook and got a response from a man who owns a sound equipment business. Apparently they have the same problem — and they haul a lot more than even we do. 🙂
There are some lever harps made specifically for people who prefer the feel or sound of a pedal harp, or plan to move on to one someday. Look at the lever harp selection of major pedal harp manufacturers. Lyon and Healy is the first one that comes to mind; check out their Prelude.
You can run into trouble playing pedal harp music on lever harp when you get into chromatic (non-diatonic) music. A lot of Romantic-era stuff is out, and you pretty much can’t play Impressionistic music on a lever harp if you want to maintain the integrity of the piece. However — there’s all kind classical-ish music written specifically for lever harp, and lever harps do handle jazz and blues very well. Light jazz is often just as welcome as classical music at weddings, if not more so.
You could also look into single-action lever harps. [Arsalaan Fay](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK2NsuY-EQk) is the only one I could find online currently making them. Single-action lever harps still only have two pitches available per string, but by flipping a single lever on top of the neck you change all octaves of a given pitch at once (just like a single-action pedal harp. )
Lyn, unfortunately I understood her immediately. 🙂 I’ve personally had two serious (pre-harp) finger injuries due to onions. The round shape and smooth texture makes them slippery, and because they’re large, at some point you have to take the knife off the cutting board and free-slice. Leeks aren’t quite as slippery, plus they’re small enough that you can keep the tip of the knife on the board — preventing accidental slides down the side of the leek and into your finger.
Hahaha Kreig, you guys are cracking me up! I agree about the harp cover, I’d buy that. And mine is only a lever. 🙂
Thanks, folks. Haha Jimmy, the trouble is that if I bow out of *all* sports, I can’t do anything with my husband except watch TV! He doesn’t “music” beyond a little piano-by-ear. Pickleball is at least a whiffle ball and a small court; it carries a minimum potential for disaster. 🙂
Tacye, I’ve found all kinds of gloves, but none seem to have any protection for the thumb — except when I looked up fencing gloves per your suggestion! They at least have a double layer of leather (or faux-leather) over the thumb. I think I’ll give that a shot.
Sonya, I was very lucky that I didn’t lose any playing time. I was done for the day by the time I accompanied hubby to the gym, and my thumb was usable the next morning. Less than two weeks from now I have the following over the course of two days: two low-key one-hour performances, two workshops to teach, and a higher-pressure performance that involves two harping-while-singing songs I’m still in the process of memorizing. I canNOT afford a forced Time Out right now! lol
Sherri – nope, they’re lyre-back chairs, but apparently around here they’re called “harp” chairs! Every time I see one I’m tempted to email the seller and pontificate about the difference between a harp and a lyre, but… nah. 🙂
Yes, that annoys me. I can’t imagine how that happened, either.
I often browse Craigslist on the search term “harp,” and the items I encounter most frequently are harmonicas, chairs, and a brand of old microphone! Blergh. 🙂
Lyn, if you have some free time and enjoy puzzles, it can be fun and rewarding to arrange a piece of chromatic pedal harp music for lever harp. It’s also a fabulous exercise for your theory and aural skills. 🙂
I’m sorry, I don’t know of anything — but I’m curious — can you hear a lever harp with a four-part chorus?
David, the first thing you need to do is place a phone call to the person in charge, probably the Music Director. Take notes on your computer while on the phone with him, then email him with the details of your conversation and request an immediate confirmation. From then on, communicate only in writing. Send them an extremely specific contract, get a sizable deposit, and set a hard deadline for it.
