Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I also agree with Gregg and Bill. A harpist needs to be ambidextrous just like a keyboard player. When you position the harp on your right shoulder, you can view the strings from the lowest notes (bass) to the highest notes (treble), just like you can see the keys on a piano, organ, or electric keyboard. The bass is toward your left and the treble toward your right. I think you would severely handicap yourself if you tried to learn any other way. Good luck with all of this.
Balfour
Lily, these photos are gorgeous, almost like being there! We have had very little snow here this season, but in some Winters past, we have had a lot.
We have been so happy to reply to your questions; it is never “torture,” ha, ha! It is wonderful that you now have Mademoiselle Melanie to play, look at, and enjoy. We call our beautiful black grand piano Madame Yamaha, ha, ha!
Happy harp playing on your new harp, and best wishes. Thanks so much for the pictures!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Hi Lily,
Thanks for your nice reply above. Carol Lynn and I just had an invigorating walk in the cold here, 24 degrees F, and I will try to post a photo of the beautiful sunrise we experienced! We do live in a gorgeous part of the country!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Alexandra, we were just at our local Subaru dealer’s car lot today, and I looked at a Crosstrek. It would be a miracle if you could fit a L&H 23 into that car! They are indeed very nice cars, and I think that a petite pedal harp would fit, but not a full-size concert grand.
Well, I went out of these forums, then came back, and lo! Lily’s post is back, on the first “page” of this thread, thank goodness! (this being the second “page.”)
Lily, I wanted to add that the little harp that my dad and I made when I was a boy was made of our native black walnut, here in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, in the southern United States. That was my dad’s favorite wood until we started building a harpsichord out of our beautiful native cherry wood! Then he favored cherry so much that he built a beautiful “grandfather’s clock” out of cherry! Much later, we used red oak for my tracker pipe organ. We have gorgeous woods here.
It is very special that Dusty’s birch comes from your country, Finland. We also have nice birch and maple here. In addition, we had spruce on hand to make the solid soundboard of that little harp when I was a boy. My dad loved working with wood!
Thanks for all your nice posts.
Harp Hugs,
BalfourLily, I totally agree with Charles! Your ear is indeed working! That nice post you addressed to me earlier appears to be missing, above–I wonder what happened to it? That has happened before, on these forums. Harp Column staff, please help!
What a sweet reply, Lily! We wish you much happiness with Mademoiselle Melanie, and my Ravenna was also very beautiful in black. I could take her to any venue and she looked great.
We have always named all of our musical instruments, and that made them more special to us.
I thought of the famous Christmas song, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” when you said that about a white harp, ha, ha!
By the way, your English is SO GOOD! We do not speak another language, because there are so many, ha, ha! We have studied Spanish and French, but do not have too much memory of them, unfortunately.
Thanks for all of your kind words.
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)A full-size concert grand will fit in a Subaru Forester and an Outback, but we have never tried the Crosstrek. It seems too small, in my humble opinion!
Lily, I agree with all that has been posted. Don’t cover the harp, and do humidify the whole room the harp is in. But check your humidity level first, before you try to change anything. You may not need to add humidity! Ideally, I keep my house between 40 and 60 percent humidity, and usually aim for 50%. Good luck!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourHello Lily,
I love your post! Yes, I for one, DO have a lot of affection and respect for my two harps! My other harp is a Dusty FH36S in figured cherry, “Cherie,” another gorgeous instrument. One of her best features is her Camac levers.
I played the piano first, though, as a child at 5 years old. My father and I soon after that constructed a small 29-string harp without levers, so it would only play diatonically in C or A minor. I learned to tune F sharps on it so I could play in G, especially since the lowest and highest strings were G’s. I had to wait until college to actually be able to play a pedal harp, and I was thrilled! Then I completed a Master’s degree in Organ Performance, and harp was placed on “the back burner,” ha, ha! It took some years before I could afford my own pedal harp, and now I am on my third one, the Camac Atlantide Prestige. Just so you know, a harp does not have to be permanent, as you grow in what you prefer. You do what you need to do, in order to build up your tolerance and finger callusses, and to maintain your harp, or harps. Most of us do not just own ONE harp, ha, ha!
So glad you are now on the HC forums. It is a joy to correspond with you!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn, my sweet wife!)Hello Lily!
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this entire thread. These are great posts from my friends Charles and Gregg, too! In addition to being a harpist, I love to bake, and my favorite flour to use for this is White Lily flour, ha, ha! It is very light and makes delicious cakes, cookies, biscuits, scones, rolls and breads. So I had to tell you that your name sounds delicious, and I love the idea of you having a white harp!
I enjoyed owning a nice Ravenna harp, mainly for gigging, over a period of about five years. I think it is the perfect harp for you to start out with, even though I do agree with Charles about you eventually desiring a pedal harp for what you want to play. Also, Gregg made the point that playing a L&H Prelude almost feels like playing a pedal harp, only without the convenience of the pedals.
My favorite pedal harp is a concert grand 47-string Atlantide Prestige, made by Camac (photo attached.) But I would also highly recommend their smaller Clio model with extended soundboard, which has 44 strings. When you get “good enough,” a journey to the Netherlands seems like a great idea!
Thanks everyone for a great thread! Wishing you the best of luck, Lily,
BalfourHarpy New Year to you, Fiona, and also to your Desi harp. So glad you two “found each other!”
We did indeed have a lovely Christmas, even though it got down to Zero degrees F on Christmas Eve, with no electric power for over ten hours! Burrrrr…………
Wishing you all the best for this new year,
Balfour and Carol LynnIt does sound like a Camac would be a great new harp for you, Sarafigal! If you want something very portable, their 44 string harps are nice, like the Clio and the more fancy Trianon. These models start on the Low F and go all the way up to the highest G of a regular concert pedal harp. I bet your L&H 22 is like that, but it starts on Low D. Camac also makes a Schola with 46 strings, although it is hard to find one here in the USA. If you go for the large 47 string concert grands, Camac has several models to choose from, and they are very sturdy harps, and “robust.” The shoulder end of the harp is a little lower and more comfortable than other brands, and the strings in the top are slanted to give the player an ergonomic advantage, which also gives the harpist an abundance of room in the top for the right hand. In the article, on p. 32, Jakez Francois talks about this ingenious design. I have gotten so attached to it that I almost cannot play any other concert grand but a Camac!
Thanks for your nice post!
Have a great day everyone,
BalfourThat sounds good, John! When you start working on the Clark harp, Biagio here is the expert on that subject!
We would love to hear your pedal harp played when you get the real harp strings on it. Maybe there is a harpist in your area who would enjoy doing the honors? I wish I lived closer–I would love to help you string it, regulate it, and enjoy playing it!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)
