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Good to see your posts, Lily and Gregg! I wanted to add that I play a lot in the Keys of D Major and B minor with two sharps, and I use that High B very much in B minor. The harp is such a “C Major” instrument, it is hard for me to think of it any other way until I raise the sharping levers, or use the pedals to get to a different key. When you sit down to a piano or organ, and see all the white keys, they ARE the Key of C, and it just all makes sense. “A” minor usually requires G#’s anyway (Harmonic minor) so I think C Major more than A minor on the white keys. Lily, those white keys are FOR YOU, ha, ha!
Best wishes, with hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Gregg, I could not have put that any better myself! Thanks so much for your post–that explains it all.
Gwen, the main thing is to keep playing your harp, whichever one you decide on. I grew up with a 29-string non-pedal harp (no levers, actually!) that my dad and I made before I was 8 years old. I played it off and on until I was able to play an actual pedal harp in college. Piano and organ were so important to me and my career, I neglected the harp after that. It didn’t help that harps were SO expensive! Eventually, I got back to the harp and I have never taken a break from it since then. It is my favorite of the three instruments I play! So, persevere and really enjoy learning the harp this time around. I am attaching a photo of my Cherie FH36S with the matching cherry stool that I made.
Harp Hugs to all of you,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Lily, here is a photo of my Dusty FH36S (Cherie) in front of my grand piano! I made the cherry stool myself to match the harp. Enjoy!
Lily, look on these forums for “DS FH36S vs. Ravenna 34” and read my post. Cherie is my favorite lever harp of all time!
I bet your skin cream contains some aloe vera, since that is THE healing plant of all time. It is even in the Bible! We grow the live plants here, and have some pure aloe vera gel in bottles for traveling!
Good night now,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Lily, you will love playing “O Mio Babbino Caro” on the harp. I play my version of it often by ear and by memory, and it sounds amazing on both of my harps, in several different keys. Enjoy it when it is safe for you to play again! We don’t want you to further injure your hands. Have you tried applying soothing Aloe Vera Gel to your hands? I do this every day for my arthritis and to help heal my harp calluses.
Harp Hugs to you and Gregg,
BalfourHello Gwen and Gregg!
Yes, I owned a very nice Ravenna 34 for about five years, and used her primarily as a gigging harp, since I am first and foremost a pedal harpist. I needed a small harp to keep from having to take the concert grand harp out all the time, ha, ha! I loved Ravenna and the only thing that made me trade her in was finding the FH36S “Cherie.” When I sat down and tried Cherie, I knew that I had found the lever harp of my dreams, and my sweet wife said, “do you love her enough to trade in Ravenna?” Of course I did, and that helped us pay for the new very expensive harp! I also want all the strings I can get, and the extra two at the top are essential for the way I play the harp, being used to 47 strings on my Camac Atlantide Prestige “Angelica.” (She is the pedal harp of my dreams, of course!) I was always “short-changed” by the Ravenna range only going up to high A, when I play in the Key of C so much and really crave that high C! Folks who tune in alternative tunings like E flat may not need higher than A flat at the top, but that is not me, ha, ha!
I hope this helps, and I know why Gregg said I needed to see this post!
Harp Hugs and have a great day,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Lily, sorry you had so much trouble posting, but thanks for persevering and getting it to work.
My gorgeous grand piano is satin black, and would go well with your Ravenna, but I have seen beautiful white pianos, too! How exciting to be getting a new piano! I know you will enjoy it as well as your harp.
Have a nice evening–it is 7:00 p.m. here, and we are now on Daylight Savings Time, so it is still very light. I have no idea what time of day it is for you, though.
More Hugs,
Balfour and Carol LynnI agree–standard gut and lighter gut would be my choice of terms, along with Gregg’s classical gut and folk gut! Actually the two are not too very different, being only about 3 string gauges different from each other. I had “lever gut” strings in the Baritone section of my Musicmakers’ Large Gothic 36 string harp, and that harp felt very much like a pedal harp in regard to tension. The main difference to me is that the lever gauge gut strings feel thinner to my fingers, which they are, but they still have plenty of tension.
I will “chime in about my Cherie,” ha, ha! She is my favorite lever harp of all time, a Dusty FH36S in figured cherry. She has a deep, warm but bright tone, unique to cherry. I never cared for this particular model in maple or bubinga–too bright! In walnut, the tone is also very pleasing to me, but the Cherry is perfection, in my humble opinion! If you desire a less-bright tone, you could get it strung in lever gut, like the Boulevard harp. On my scales, she weighs 26 lbs. with Camac levers. I find her to be very light, but I am still in good shape for lifting weights, ha, ha!
Hope this helps. You folks have a great day!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourI have the FH36S in cherry, and I simply could not do without the 36 strings. To me, the 34 strings would be inadequate for my style of playing. Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
BalfourLily, that white Daphne is so beautiful! We have a white Subaru Outback that we call “Snow Bird” and that car makes us think of you desiring a white harp! White is beautiful for a car AND a harp!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour and Carol LynnThanks for all your posts, Gregg! The video was very nice, and the white Salvi is beautiful!
Lily, I hope your hands are recovering nicely, too!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Lily, you are so sweet. You have already “given back” a lot to us and to these forums!
I made some scones yesterday and thought of you as I used that wonderful light White Lily flour!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)
