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So glad to hear that everyone and the harp are safely moved! Hope to see you sometime in this wonderful “neck of the woods!”
I thought it would be fun to revive this old thread–any more suggestions of show-off pieces? One advantage of being retired is having much more time to really practice and learn new repertoire. After Christmas, I decided to relearn “La Source” by Hasselmans. What a project, to really learn this delightful piece and memorize it. There are some 70 pedal changes in the ten pages, with 17 of them on Page 6 alone! I memorized it quickly so that I could play it perfectly on the piano, but the pedal changes would “sneak up on me” when I played it on the harp. But now it is firmly back in my performing repertoire, to the delight of all my friends!
Hope all of you are enjoying this beautiful Sring! Best thoughts and harp hugs.
Balfour
Hi, Alyson,
Have you moved yet? We were just wondering how it all turned out–hopefully very well!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour and Carol Lynn
Thanks, Owen! My sweet wife wants to take a horse-drawn sleigh-ride in the snow next winter, so we may have to go to Vermont to attain that. If we do, we will certainly visit your distributor and check out the Teifi harps–our pleasure!
Best wishes to all of you,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)
Hi, Jackie!
I bet Kim Rowe will let you know the answer to this question! Good luck, and that is great that Amy is doing this project to help pay for her beautiful pedal harp.
Best wishes,
Balfour
Thanks, Emma! I never would have thought about the v instead of the f. By the way, how is your hand/wrist healing?
I hope I get a chance to see and play a Teifi harp sometime. It would have to be really great to equal my Dusty, though, since “Cherie” is the perfect match of harp to harpist! 🙂
Best wishes to all of you,
Balfour
Hello again, everyone! Well, I had time to take a look at the Teifi Harps site, and I am very impressed. The harps and sharping levers look very good, and I would love to see and play their harps and test the levers. Unfortunately, I am nowhere near Wales, so I will have to wait until a Teifi appears in North Carolina, USA! By the way, is Teifi pronounced TI-fee?
Harp Hugs and best wishes,
Balfour
Hi, Patricia! I, too, love the whole idea of the Douglas harp, but he only puts 34 strings on them, and not all the strings are affected by the sharping mechanism. I crave 36 strings, C to C, with sharping levers on every string. Otherwise, I would certainly be very interested in these harps with only 7-levers (or ditals). I can imagine playing “The Swan” by Saint-Saens, with all its accidentals, on one of these, like a single-action pedal harp! I can manage this beautiful piece on the lever harp, but JUST! At best, it is still awkward, but it is a cinch on the pedal harp. Oh, well……………
By the way, I also have no experience with the Una Salvi harp. I still prefer Dusty!
Best to you all,
Balfour
Thanks, Biagio, my friend! I have heard that one of the problems of changing to different levers is the plugging-up of the old screw-holes, since they are probably not going to match up with the new levers.
I wondered if trading to another harp would just be a better option, Jennifer? Someone else would love your Ravenna just as it is, and you could get the kind of levers you want on a new harp.
Best regards,
Balfour
Good, Biagio, about those new BFN bass strings! I love them on my Dusty FH36S. This Cherie harp is, like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way, ha, ha! I somehow missed this post–sorry!
Cheers,
Balfour
Biagio, so good to see your posts here! I knew you would know better than I what to do about changing those levers, as I have never tried to change harp levers to another kind before. Once I discovered the Camacs, I considered changing from Lovelands to Camacs on one of my other harps, but sold the harp instead. I had tweaked and fine-tuned the Lovelands for years on that harp so that they worked perfectly, and also I had done the same on my Ravenna, but the Camacs on my FH36S were still the best.
Jennifer, I will add that the levers seem to bother the person who is playing the harp much more than they do others listening to someone playing the harp. My wife, who is very particular about tuning and musical sounds, was not at all bothered by the sound of the Loveland levers engaged on the strings. To prove it to me, she had the sound-man at church record my harps with the Loveland levers and played it back for me. To my amazement, I could not hear the difference with the levers engaged, either!
Best wishes, everyone!
Balfour
Hi, Jennifer,
I owned a Ravenna 34 for years and enjoyed it very much, particularly as a gigging harp. (I am a professional harpist.) Now I own a beautiful Dusty FH36S in figured cherry, their top-of-the-line harp along with their Bubinga ones. My FH36S is nicely equipped with Camac levers, which I find to be far superior to the Lovelands which were on my Ravenna. Some folks still prefer the Lovelands, but not me! I do not know about the Teifi levers, and I do hope that someone with that experience contacts you here. I wish you all the best!
Harp hugs,
Balfour
Hi, Charles,
I practice the pedal harp in bedroom shoes, bare feet, or “whatever,” but then perform with regular leather organmaster shoes. (Just before a performance, I DO practice a lot in the organ shoes, since they do feel a bit different, particularly the higher heels!) I have never experienced the squeaking you mention. Have you tried the silicone spray yet? I have used it to stop every other kind of squeaking, so it should work.
Best wishes on solving this problem,
Balfour
Hi, Jackie,
So glad to see your post, and I owe you an e-mail! We are looking for a source on “There Is a Redeemer,” and will let you know if we find one. I know the key will not be a problem for Amy, since she is playing the pedal harp. Thanks, Charles, for your nice reply also!
More later,
Balfour
