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I would just contact Valerie Von Pechy Whitcup and ask her:
> My fear is that I will get annoyed with the string tension of the crescendo, also because my teacher teaches on harps with pedal tension.
Sorry, don’t follow this. Why would it annoy you?
Personally, I would say that if you feel you need convincing, you still haven’t found the right harp for you. When you find it, you won’t need anyone to talk yo into it.
Catherine, I posted pictures of the clutch on the stand and of the inside and a complete list of what goes in mine:
Hi, Elizabeth. Yes, you can just scan the pages and make PDFs out of them, although I suppose there may be legal issues with doing so. (Any of my classical stuff, feel free.) My cheapie canon scanner, for example, comes with a utility that will let you scan the pages and then it combines them into one pdf when you’re done. The forScore help files have suggestions for good settings to use when scanning for iPad.
It’s much better to have a properly made pdf, though. You know how fuzzy a scanned pdf can be? If the PDf is properly made from finale in the first place it’s going to be a lot cleaner looking. I’ve actually found that for some of the music I have (a lot of unpublished stuff that I did in MusicTime back before I got finale so I can’t open the originals anymore), I preferred to go to the trouble of using Finale’s Smartscore (a sort of OCR program for music), making the corrections, and then being able to have the layout optimized for the iPad. I like much bigger noteheads on the iPad than I would want in print, for instance.
Hi, Rachel. Thanks for asking. Well, yes and no. I’m not doing any new stuff as other than download, but not because of the ipad, just because it’s becoming too difficult to get decent stock and a halfway decent print job these days. For now, the stuff that’s published on paper will continue to be available that way, but I did publish five new pieces last year that are only available by download.
After all, if you have the pdf you can print it out, too. You don’t have to have an ipad to use it.
No, there isn’t room in there for strings. That’s one advantage to gigging mostly on a lever harp–the case has a string pocket so I don’t have to worry about a string bag. The main other thing I can’t fit is the cable for connecting the pickup to the amp. (Even in my pedal harp days I left tools in the car, since they’re a just-in-case, and if you need them there’s going to be a pause anyway.) Oh, and the foot pedal for page turning. It would fit, but not with all the other stuff that lives in there. The clutch is pretty tight. I’d like it a lot better if the zipper had even half an inch more selvage, but I’ve adapted.
It’s too bad transport covers don’t have a pocket, really. I’ve often wondered why they don’t, although I see that the covers that Enchanted Harp sells do include one for their pedal covers, too.
Well, to be fair, my Clair de lune isn’t really any easier than the original–just has the necessary changes to accommodate the levers. The Victor Coeur pedal harp transcription would be pretty much equivalent in difficulty to my lever version, I think.
It’s understandable that you’d think that, but really life is simpler if you do it the other way around. Good luck to you!
I don’t use Sib (prefer Finale) but can’t you also get a student discount on the full version, Sherry, as an enrolled student? If not through your local bookstore, at one of the online educational superstores or right from Sibelius?
What does your teacher say? You do have a teacher, don’t you? If not, start there, since most teachers have harps to rent to their beginning students.
Yes, that’s a good point, Tacye. For a number of reasons you’re more likely to find a playable old harp in the UK than in the US.
If you are buying this harp because you think you are getting a deal, please think again. Antique harps will almost always require a lot of expensive restoration (as in thousands of dollars). It’s not going to be just an inexpensive way to get a working pedal harp, as too many people seem to think, and restoring harps is a highly specialized business. I’ve seen way too many people over the years who bought an old dead harp at what they thought was a “very reasonable price”, paid a couple more to some guitar/piano repairman who hadn’t a clue, and wound up with nothing after spending a LOT of money, all told.
If you want it because you want it as an antique, that’s one thing, or because you want an instrument to restore for period performance, but as a general rule you can get into a student-grade used modern harp for less total outlay, especially in this economy. (And for a lot less time. The people who do this kind of work are mostly booked up far in advance, and the work itself takes time, too.)
If this is an informed desire for a historical instrument, then get someone who knows to look it over, but otherwise if you just want a harp to play, I really wouldn’t, unless money is no object.
