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I agree with the advice about finding a teacher and renting at first.
You also should give some thought to what kind of music you want to play.
Another option, by the way, is the Allegro, which is midway between the two in price, and is the same size.
Audrey
In addition to playing up an octave and/or collapsing 1,5,8 chords into triads, you can try:
1) Playing an inversion of the chord (experiment to see which inversion works best)
2) Making it into a two-finger chord (experiment to see which two notes in the chord sound best with the melody)
3) Just playing a single harmonizing note in place of a chord.
4) Leave it out entirely
5) Experiment with a coupled hands technique in that spot (while coupled hands is primarily a wire harp approach, it can sometimes work well for lever harps as well)
Play around with various options…what works best for one tune might not work well with another.
All three of my harps have only 26 strings (3 1/2 octaves: C to G), and I really haven’t found it all that limiting.
It’s more expensive, as it’s made from hardwoods rather than laminates (and thus has a longer warranty as well), but the Ravenna has a brighter, fuller sound (in my opinion, of course…what makes a “good” tone is, of course, highly subjective).
Audrey
When you’re first learning (or when you’re getting a new harp), it can help to actually measure the string.
