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Having owned and played many different brands of harps, I now prefer the wooden dowels that Camac uses. It is easier for me to tie the Camac knot around the little dowel, which is very secure. I have never had one slip, as in other styles of knots/anchors. The dowels do not try to pull up into the string holes like other anchors, either. I even used these dowels when I restrung my Dusty FH36S, and the tone is actually better, especially in the treble notes. The wooden dowel seats firmly against the bottom of the soundboard strip, and does not buzz or cause other problems, if done neatly and correctly. The Camac website has excellent videos about installing strings this way.
Cheers,
BalfourCarl, I see both of your recent posts here. Thank you! My wife and I were thinking back to when we taught a great variety of students, on piano, harp, organ, and voice. If there was a selection in a method book or any book that a student or parent objected to, usually on religious grounds, they did not have to do that piece. The same is true here–they DO NOT have to do Golliwogg’s Cakewalk! On the other hand, if this piece has to be omitted from The Children’s Corner, it COMPELS EVERYONE to not be able to do it, at least from your new edition. Is this fair? I think not–we can make our own judgements and decisions as adults.
You can also tell Fischer that many people will not want to purchase an INCOMPLETE collection! Do they want to make money on this? The whole suite needs to be there!
Best wishes,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Carl, please keep us updated about this. I would like to purchase your new harp edition, if the entire suite is included. It is one of my favorite works by Debussy. By using my piano edition, I have played these pieces over the years on harp, but it is a challenge. I look forward to seeing how you worked around all the chromatic changes! All of your editions are pure genius, of course!
Thanks, Philippa. It is good to see your post, and I hope all is well with you. I assume you also have enjoyed and performed The Children’s Corner on piano, as I have! Have you ever done them on harp?
Best wishes,
BalfourElsewhere on these forums, there is a video of a Camac Harps concert featuring Sylvain Blassel playing a beautiful, straight soundboard new Egerie. I believe Gregg Bailey posted the link. Sylvain chose that particular harp model because of the repertoire he played, in which he needed less sustain and less resonance from the bass strings. It is an amazing performance, as are all of Sylvain’s! For general purposes, however, most harpists would indeed prefer the extended soundboard, for all of the reasons we know.
Best wishes in your new pedal harp adventure,
Balfour
P. S. My first concert grand pedal harp, many years ago, was an 85CGEX. It was very nice, but could not come near my current Atlantide Prestige!The EX larger soundboard area does make a great difference to the overall tone of the harp. L&H gets the credit for inventing the extended soundboard, and it made a great impact on the harp world. Harpists at that time remarked on how full the tone of the bass was with the extended soundboard. If you intend to mostly play this harp without amplification, then I would strongly recommend the larger soundboard. If you can try out the harps in person, then you could compare the straight soundboard to the extended and see what you think. I hope this helps.
Brian Noel is also a professional harpist, and he may agree about the extended soundboard. Most of us do prefer that, I think.
Cheers,
BalfourI don’t know where you are located, but since you are talking about a L&H, you do have other options available in the same general price range. I just checked the prices of the L&Hs and other brands at the Virginia Harp Center, USA. The Chicago CGEX is $18,500, a Salvi Daphne 47EX is $19,900, a Salvi Daphne 47SE is $16,500, a Salvi Arion 47SG is $18,900, and a Camac Egerie EX is $18,900. Since I am a Camac fan and own an Atlantide Prestige, I would look at the Egerie. The sound, resonance and projection of Camac harps are much more suitable than the other brands of harps, for weddings/funerals, etc. that you asked about. If it were just between the Chicago and the Salvi’s, I would pick a Salvi.
This is, of course, my humble opinion, and other folks here would certainly have the right to disagree, but I am a professional harpist and I know from experience about these different brands of harps. I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
BalfourI am sorry that you almost got scammed. Please do not place any blame on Harp Column, and I do hope you will feel free to post things here again. Since you were selling the harp box, does that mean that you recently got a new harp? How exciting, and congratulations if you did!
Best wishes,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Part 2, ha, ha! There must be a difference of opinion about the spelling of the title of this piece. In the Alfred edition, 1984, edited by Margery Halford, it is spelled “Golliwogg’s Cake Walk.” It is movement (or piece) number VI, and above the piece is this explanation: “The Golliwogg is a little doll whose popularity, Schmitz says, was ‘assured in Europe by his simultaneous appearance with newly imported and sought after minstrel groups.’ The cake walk is a lively dance.”
I hope this helps.
BalfourI think your explanation is very good, Carl. I agree that this piece is probably the most popular one of this entire suite, so by all means, it should not be left out. When I first learned to play The Children’s Corner on piano, many years ago, “Golliwog’s Cakewalk” was my favorite, as were the ragtime pieces by Scott Joplin. I do hope your publisher will be open-minded enough about this to include Golliwog. I personally would not buy an edition which did not include all the pieces that Debussy wrote for this beautiful suite. I would feel cheated!
Best wishes,
BalfourThanks, Gregg–I just saw your post here. Also, in the little Effie videos, Christy, notice that she stands up to play the harp. I am sure your daughter will be able to reach the harp strings of whatever harp you decide to get. I have seen little children play full-size concert grands, like my Atlantide!
Good luck in this harp adventure,
BalfourHi Lauran,
Have you ever tried out a Dusty Boulevard? They are the pedal-harp tension version of Dusty’s collection. I imagine that the Boulevard is about as different from our FH36S’s as your L&H is. The Boulevard is of course a very nice harp, if you like that more mellow tone.
Wishing you a great day,
Balfour
