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Hi, Biagio!
I’m so glad you posted this information here for our Harp Column readers. I’m looking forward to hearing all about your current journey through building this special harp. I bet our friends at Musicmakers are excited about it, too. They have a video of the Cheyenne being played, and it sounds so beautiful. I assume that sound sample was recorded on one of their regular Cheyennes, with a laminated soundboard. I can’t wait to hear the improvement with a solid spruce soundboard!
Waiting with baited breath,
BalfourHi, Louie!
Sorry I forgot to address the “closer pedal” thing on your previous post! I do not have a problem going from a larger harp to a smaller one, I can adjust very quickly once I sit down to the harp. I wear organ shoes to play any pedal harp, and they are narrow enough to manuever the smallest-spaced pedals. The same thing goes for the string spacing, which is different on various brands of harps. For example, the Camacs have a different string spacing in the treble to aid the right hand playing in an otherwise cramped space. The strings are “fanned out” at the bottom near the soundboard, and are closer together at the top, much like the concave, radiating pedalboard of a pipe organ. This bothers some harpists when they first try a Camac, but I can tell you that I appreciated it and got used to it immediately. Hope this helps!
Best wishes,
BalfourGreat ideas, everyone! In addition, check out the late Dr. Carrol McLaughlin’s wonderful book POWER PERFORMANCE. It has some top-notch suggestions for dealing with stage-fright and improving your performance.
Harp Hugs,
BalfourHi, Louie,
I would recommend the 85P over any of the Chicago series if I were buying a 40-string pedal harp. I think L&H are still producing the 85’s, and I have never been impressed by the Chicago series. An additional one to consider is the Salvi Daphne 40. Many of my friends have these for gigging and really love them. My personal choice would be the 44-string Camac Clio, as I have a gorgeous 47-string Atlantide Prestige concert grand. You could not go wrong on the Camacs, in my professional opinion, but some harpists MUST have a L&H, of course!
I hope this helps.
Best wishes to you,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)That sounds wonderful, Molly! I think you made the best possible decision to purchase the Ravenna. Let us know how you like (love!) her when she arrives!
Best wishes to you,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)I agree with Biagio–Laurie is wonderful! Also, the more strings you can get, the better, up to 47 of course. I know Salvi came out with the Reus harp which has 49 strings, going down to the Low A of the piano, but you do not even have mechanisms on those extra strings, which makes A, B, C,& D without mechanism! Not for me, thank you very much!
Molly, the Ravenna is probably your best option, in my opinion. I was very pleased with mine for the time I owned her, until I got the FH36S, but I would certainly have kept the Ravenna had I not needed the money from the trade-in. You could play this fine little harp forever without getting tired of her, and she can accomodate the majority of the lever harp literature with her 34 strings. Hope this opinion helps!
Best wishes everyone,
BalfourGreat advice, harp friends! Also, do not leave the harp in a closed vehicle, without you being in the car, if it is too hot or cold inside the car, or outside. It is a good rule to say, “if the temperature is uncomfortable to me, then it is not good for the harp, either.” Just imagine that you are traveling with your child or pet, or elderly relative!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourHa, ha, Biagio, my friend! I just accidentally saw this post–wasn’t really looking, but so glad I did see it. Yes, for a harpist who tunes in the Key of C, like on the pedal harp, in C flat of course, the 5-octave range is very nice! I use all 36 strings regularly, especially playing by ear with my own arrangements. The 34 strings of the Ravenna are fairly complete for a Celtic harp, though. When I needed that High C, I would make a harmonic on the top C of the Ravenna which sounded that High C, so all was well unless I was doing a glissando all the way to the top C and was stopped short on the A, ha, ha! I am just too used to the 47 strings of the pedal harp, I guess, so it all depends upon which harp you are playing and what sort of music you like on that particular harp. Thanks for mentioning me, Biagio!
Cheers,
BalfourSaul, I do understand where you are coming from. However, I have always tried to make all kinds of music playable on the harp, and have helped many students and professionals realize their dream of playing their favorite pieces on whatever instrument they favor. From a “purest” standpoint, thinking of Clara Schumann and Frederic Chopin, the original intentions of the composer are preferred. They both have been quoted as saying, “play my composition as I wrote it, or do not bother to play it at all!”
The ENJOYMENT of music is top priority on my list!
Harp hugs and best wishes to you all,
BalfourRustle of Spring has been one of my favorite piano pieces since I learned it in the 7th grade from a very gifted teacher. It can indeed be played on the pedal harp with some adjustments. Just make nice diatonic scales out of the chromatic scales, and LISTEN to what you are doing. I play it “by ear” using the original score as a guide. It can be lush and beautiful on the harp, but you will definitely need a pedal harp, Howard. Levers can be flipped with some speed by your hands, but not nearly as nicely as pedals with your feet! Think of those organ pedals and “toe studs” and what they can do! Pedals on the harp are like “combination settings, or pistons” as opposed to hand pulling individual stops on the organ.
Harp Hugs,
BalfourThanks, Biagio! Please keep us updated on how your project is going once you get started. It sounds so exciting! I have never built a harp from a kit, but did a clavichord, hammer dulcimer, and a mountain (lap) dulcimer from very nice kits. My harpsichord and pipe organ I built from scratch, as you know–that is too long a project for me to do again at my age, ha, ha!
I just checked out the Cheyenne harp on MM’s website, and it looks wonderful! With your personal upgrades, your exacting workmanship and patience, it will be a truly professional quality instrument. I can’t wait to see photos and maybe hear a sound recording of it!
Cheers,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Biagio, I was just thinking about your Cheyenne kit–specifically “is he going to use a solid spruce soundboard on it?” Great, you are, according to the above post. I do hope Rick K. can provide it. If not, could Dave Thormahlen provide one? Also, you may want to consider the Camac levers, which MM can now provide. I cannot tell you how impressed I have been with mine, both from a mechanical standpoint, and being a professional harpist. Today, Oct. 25, is my Dusty’s fourth birthday, can you believe it? Yes, it was “Christmas in Oct., 2015” when I found my Cherie, the cherry FH36S. By the way, will your Cheyenne come in cherry?
Cherry is such a great “in between” wood for a harp. It has some of the brightness of maple and bubinga, but the warm tone of walnut, but more projecting. I never found a FH36 I wanted to buy until I experienced the tone of this cherry one–unequalled, in my opinion! By the way, Carol Lynn and I just went out to eat and celebrated Cherie’s birthday! Now I will fine tune this gorgeous harp and play her most of the rest of today!
Happy Harping everyone,
BalfourVictoria, harmonics are much more difficult to play up near the top of the harp, as all of us know. I have found that the situation can be helped by using just the edge of my right thumb nail to actually pluck the high string while “damping” with my index finger in the normal way to make a harmonic, usually makes the note louder and clearer. Try it out, and I hope it works well for you!
Best wishes,
Balfour
