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This is very resourceful, Hearpe! Thanks for posting all the photos, too. Did you end up keeping the Eve 22, and will she fit on the taller stand?
Thanks everyone! This has become a fascinating forum. Andelin, you are too kind to me!
I do want to add that KNOWLEDGE about what you are doing “by ear” does indeed make it easier. When I was very young, I just played songs by ear without knowing what key I was in or how the chords were related to each other. My mother said that I played everything in C at first. Her favorite key, however, was F sharp, with most everything being on the Black Keys of our piano!
My mother’s family came from generations of musicians who played all the stringed instruments here in our NC mountains, mostly “by ear.” My great-grandfather taught shaped-note singing, Hearpe, with Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Si-Do. His singing school called themselves the “fa-so-la singers.”
When mother’s family got together to “jam,” they realized that mom was right–I had inherited the family talent, and I then had to know what KEY they were playing in so I could play along! Out of this developed my formal musical education. They wanted me to be “musically literate” so I could read and write music. And it was not easy, playing simple tunes by the music instead of the complicated ones I could play by ear!
I once had an adult piano student who played magnificently by ear but wanted to learn to read music. It took years, but she finally became good at it, so I know it is possible. Be patient, like Andelin said, work hard, and it should improve.
Hope we have been of some help, Clinton!
Best regards to all of you,
BalfourHi Clinton and Biagio,
I had not yet responded to this thread, because I do not know the answer to “how does one LEARN to play by ear?” You can either do it, or you can’t. I played by ear before I was five years old, started formal music lessons at five, worked very hard at music all my life, earning Bachelors and Masters degrees, proficient on three instruments, piano, harp, and organ, but it is my passion! You must have music in your soul, be able to sing tunes with perfect pitch, and transfer them by memory to an instrument. It always just “made sense” to me, and I have always been able to do it. However, I have to work very hard to memorize a classical piece note-perfect, like the Tournier I am currently learning. I can hear a tune on the radio or TV and play it instantly, and make up chords and variations to go along with it, but playing a beautiful piece by one of the masters note-perfect is much more challenging!
Biagio, thanks for all your tips. I think ear-training can be learned and improve over time, but I never had to work at that so I do not know about other people and their abilities–how long it would take. To each his own, I always say. My sister became a great mathematician and teacher, but math never appealed to me and was very difficult. The same goes for my sister and music. We each had very separate and different talents, and that is what makes the world go around, I guess!
Hope you all have a great day,
BalfourGretchen, you know that I just “play it by ear and add glissandos where I want to,” ha, ha! But seriously, “The Little Fountain” by Samuel Pratt is “showy” and I even make it more showy “by ear.” I am trying hard to play the Tournier pieces “straight,” and almost have all three memorized now, but it is so tempting to add embellishments by ear. The only way my early teachers could get me to “behave” was to promise that if I learned a piece by the notes, then they would let me be free to improvise on it after that! Hope there are other suggestions on “glissando pieces” out there.
Best thoughts,
BalfourEmma, that must have been HORRIBLE! I thought I had it bad at a recent library concert I played–the wooden floor, made of many narrow planks, rippled up and down where it had settled in the old building, undulating with the harp strings. I turned the harp every which way to minimize this effect, had someone adjust the lights, and was finally able to “tune it out,” no pun intended! But your photo of that place looks much worse than what I experienced.
Elinor, I think as long as the color of your rug is not white, red or black like the strings, it probably should be okay. Test it with different levels of light, also. My, what we harpists have to put up with, ha, ha!
Best wishes,
BalfourGood advice, Andelin and Biagio. I currently have just what I want in harps, too, like Laurie. Every time I think about possibly selling or trading one of them, I think “what would I do without Bella (or Eglantine or Ravenna)?” They have become like family to me, and I cannot part with them. Now of course, Carol Lynn still has to remind the harps that they are the “princesses” and that she is still the “queen,” ha, ha!
Best wishes to all of you,
BalfourHarperkat, have you ever played a Thormahlen Swan, 36 strings? My good friend, Angi Bemiss has one that I dearly love, and I have restrung it for her and kept it at my house on more than one occasion. It is a great harp, and very portable. Just thought about it and wanted to give you yet another option to consider!
Best wishes to all of you,
BalfourMy dear harp-friends–you gave me quite a chuckle, ha, ha!
Yes, I dearly love my Ravenna 34. I do have to use amplification to get the same volume out of her that I can get without amplification from my Large Gothic 36 by Music Makers. It is unfortunate that Jerry Brown no longer makes this large harp–she is very tall, 66″, and requires a higher stool for the player to sit on, like a pedal harp. But there are no legs to screw on, as Alyson suggested–all you have to do is take her out of the case, touch-up the tuning, and play!
Harperkat, I hope you find the harp of your dreams. It is very good advice to go to a harp festival, too, so you can actually try out and “test drive” all the different harps there.
My very best to all of you,
BalfourBiagio, I would even go so far to say that the lever harp is much more difficult than the pedal harp! Things that I can play with ease on the pedal harp, like The Swan by Saint-Saens, are very difficult on the lever harp because of having to change so many levers! Thanks to Carl, Susan, and Alyson, too, for their posts. Each harp is unique, and it depends on how YOU play it!
Best wishes to all,
BalfourPatricia, do you know if anyone has arranged or transcribed the Boellmann “Prayer” for solo harp, or harp and organ? (Please see my post earlier in this forum.) I played it in church yesterday and received many compliments! I just use the organ version for harp, but it has many accidentals to figure out, if you are just beginning to play this piece. A solo harp version all written out for the pedal harp would be great, if one exists!
Have a great day, all of you,
BalfourI own a Ravenna 34 and LOVE her! The only thing I would change about her is that I would have 36 strings, going all the way up to C, but I have gotten used to the range ending on A. Ravenna always travels with us on vacations and business trips, and I find that my fingers stay in good shape for playing the pedal harp by practicing on Ravenna. The string spacing is the same as my L&H pedal harp, and almost as firm, although they specify “medium” tension. I honestly cannot feel much difference in the higher strings, although the bass does feel not as firm. I wanted to try the Boulevard, but have not been fortunate enough to see one yet. So be sure to check out Ravenna and the Boulevard–they are so much harp for the money! Also, Ravenna fits across the back seat of almost any car, and comes with a stand so you don’t have to hold her in your lap.
Best regards,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)This is a good thread! I agree, it would be so nice to have one room dedicated to music. Our “harp room” has the pipe organ in it, a hammered dulcimer, two sewing machines, bobbin-lace pillow with stand, writing desk, and storage shelves for music, books, etc. Every room of this tiny house does triple duty, but we enjoy it, ha, ha!
Cheers everyone,
BalfourIf I could have it “my way,” I would start on Low A and go all the way to High C. This would be 38 strings, of course. I do use that High C a lot, especially to end a glissando in the Key of C. I miss it on my Ravenna, which only goes to A at the top, 34 strings. I have even played the harmonic on the highest C Ravenna has to get the sound of that High C in a piece.
I guess it also depends a lot on what “tuning” you use. I am a C-tuning lever harpist, since the pedal harp is tuned that way, so I need the Low C and the Highest C in the Key of C. If you tune in E flat, that would be much less important. I know some E flat-tuning lever harpists who do not go below the Low E flat when they play, so if that were the lowest note, the harp could go up to E flat for the highest note and be very useful (still 36 strings). My pedal harp has that nice High E, and I use it a lot, too. Just call me “Harpo” with all my glissandos, Biagio, ha, ha!
I did a concert at a retirement home last summer, and the nice woman who arranged it said to “play whatever you want as long as it includes LOTS of glissandos!” so I did not disappoint them, ha, ha!
Have a great day, all of you,
Balfour
