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Hi, Tess.
>Should I ask at places that already have a harpist to see if they need someone to fill in for vacations?
Not this, since the venue will probably just try to see if they can get you cheaper and ditch the current harpist if you’ll do it for less. If you’re interested in subbing, talk to the harpist, not the people from the venue.
These days it’s no easy thing to get a steady gig that pays enough to make it worthwhile, so you’ll need to be clever about marketing. Yes, you need business cards, a website, etc.
To find out what to charge, talk to the other harpists in the area to find out what the going rate is. They can also be a good source for sub work and for referrals for single gigs like weddings and parties.
Remember that now you’re going to be up against not merely persuading a venue that a harp would be nice music, but that live music is worth anything at all. Don’t get discouraged if it isn’t easy. Even back in the heyday of background harping, it could take a long time to turn up a good opportunity.
Good luck to you!
I wouldn’t undertake this myself, to tell you the truth–I’m not as brave as Tacye, so no way. I’d want someone who knows what they’re doing to do this, if it were my harp.
Truitt levers are made by Betty Truitt, and I really don’t know if they’ll work on your harp or not, but you can contact her here:
She does travel around doing regulations (or at least she used to), so you might want to find out if she’s coming your way any time soon. I’ve heard of her switching harps over to her levers on these trips, but it was a while ago.
I would go ahead and ask David Lynch first though. It might a good learning experience for him, if you can find a suitable replacement. Based on the design of the harps on his site, I’m guessing the universal lever would probably work.
One thing to keep in mind is that a set of levers is going to cost a bit, and you need to think about whether you love the harp enough to spend that much more money on it. If you do, then go for it.
If you do decide to go ahead, I’d get a sample lever first to play around with to be sure you’re going to like it better than the robinsons.
If you’re going to do it yourself (or if your maker will do it but has never used anything but Robinsons), and if they’ll fit, I think Truitts are probably the easiest of the popular lever brands to install.
Actually, if the maker is local, why not ask him if he can do it? Robinsons are sometimes used when other levers won’t fit (strings too close to the neck), but there may be other options like the Musicmakers universal lever that might work.
If you love the harp otherwise, it may be worth it to you to change them.
I know you said a local maker, but the name would help. There may be someone here who knows their work.
After all, the piano makers, Wurlitzer once they got started, they all used numbers. The use of model names just wasn’t something that was done much for serious instruments at that time.
>Perhaps the numbers appeal to men and the pictures to women
That’s possible, but then again, that catalog makes a big appeal to women, if you recall–all that about how if you buy your daughter a harp, she’ll have a job for life and so on. (I wasn’t arguing that there weren’t more men in symphonic roles, that’s true for sure–heck in my own early youth it was notorious that the worst male harpist on earth would get into certain very renowned orchestras before the best female harpist would get a consideration– but there are a pretty surprising number of female soloists in there, too.)
I think they just weren’t as obsessed with marketing subtleties as we’ve become and it wouldn’t have occurred to anyone back that if you made a good instrument people would buy something else because it had a fancy name.
Ditto to what Sam said, although I find cleartune also works well and is a bit faster since you don’t need to wait for the pattern to stabilize.
For anyone used to a match needle system, cleartune is easier if you don’t understand strobe patterns.
Just to clarify: not saying this is the case with all cars, not by any means, but it’s a risky experiment to find out by experience whether it’s okay with your particular car or not. Glad it works for you, Audrey, but I wouldn’t chance it.
Sorry, I’ve seen harps belonging to students that have suffered a lot from being hauled in trunks and I assure you they weren’t being lugged around in old junkers. Mostly pretty upscale vehicles, as a matter of fact.
The old rule still applies: would you transport a puppy that way? If not, not the harp, either.
