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Thank you all for your feedback! I have since tuned my harp with the pedals in their flat position and made sure I knew what pitch to tune to for each and found a tuning chart which helped before I started. I also read your posts and left a message for my harp teacher who got back to me. It was a weekend when I got my harp into my house after a long drive through several mountain passes. Luckily the weather was warm and dry. This week there is snow in all the mountain passes! Nancy from Lyon and Healy who sold me the harp,also replied early on Monday so I am all set!
My harp is already holding its tune very well. I have been tuning at least once, sometimes several times a day and it is really settled down now that the humidity is constant after being at the coast, on the road and now in the dry interior. I keep the room humidified and monitor it ever few days. The harp is sounding beautiful as it was in Portland at the Harptacular Event in September. I was so excited to see it being played on stage by the young and talented Sasha Boldachev. I was in tears listening to how beautiful my Apollo sounded during his 2 hour long concert. He also played a Salvi Rainbow and Delta harp, but mine was the one I was in love with! I was so privileged to hear my harp played on stage by a harpist of his calibre.
I didn’t think it would fit in a mini van but I’ve never owned one so wasn’t sure if there were bigger ones out there I could rent. I am considering renting a cargo van to transport the harp home but before I considered that possibility I was looking for suggestions. It sounds like I may have to discard the carton and transport the harp on its own. The drive is about 5 hours over a mountain highway. I have transported my teachers concert grand in my previous car, a 2006 Toyota RAV. We now own a 2011 Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen and a 2015 Volkswagen Toureag. The Toureag is big enough I think for the harp on it’s own I hope.
I didn’t think it would fit in a mini van but I’ve never owned one so wasn’t sure if there were bigger ones out there I could rent. I am considering renting a cargo van to transport the harp home but before I considered that possibility I was looking for suggestions. It sounds like I may have to discard the carton and transport the harp on its own. The drive is about 5 hours over a mountain highway. I have transported my teachers concert grand in my previous car, a 2006 Toyota RAV. We now own a 2011 Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen and a 2015 Volkswagen Toureag. The Toureag is big enough I think for the harp on it’s own but if it is not, will still have to rent a vehicle. Thank you for your feedback. All comments welcome.
Harpist123 your story is a cautionary tale for me. Renting sounds like a good idea as that is what I did for a year before I decided to buy my own harp. I live in BC in Western Canada and wonder if there are pedal harps available to rent in this part of the world. I think it is a good idea. I think I need to be patient and not rush into my purchase of a pedal harp. I had a chance to play a LH 100 in Vancouver at the World Harp Congress 5 years ago and it is indeed one of the harps I am considering. It also sounds like I better do some gym work and not just play harp in my retirement years! You must be excited waiting for delivery of your new Triplett Eclipse! Thank you for your thoughts of things to consider before purchasing a new instrument.
Thank you for your suggestions. It is indeed a big decision and it is hard to know where to start. I was wondering if I should be looking at a concert grand. I plan on playing mainly at home and usually have someone to help move my Prelude and will make sure I buy a harp cart if I buy a pedal harp.
Take a look on Youtube and watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlLPLO90fSk shows Smetana’s Die Moldau being played and there are 2 pedal harps in the front of the orchestra with the string section. It is a beautiful performance and worth listening to and it is a delight to watch the conductor conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1990. I know next to nothing about symphonies and wonder if this is the usual practice in other orchestras.
Time for an update! I had the opportunity to try a Prelude (38 and 40 string) and my new Prelude40 is already waiting for me to pick up in Vancouver in the next few days.
I don’t think I have ever felt so excited about anything before. Playing the harp has become much like a spiritual journey for me. The hardest thing is to be patient and realize it will take many years of study to play at the level I want to. I have one year under my belt so can only just dream about how it will feel after many more years of practice. Right now I have to be content about playing beginner pieces well.
Thank you everyone, for all the feedback. I feel I can make an informed decision now.
My new Prelude40 is waiting in Vancouver for me to pickup and arrived much sooner than I expected. I am thrilled and think of nothing else but my harp right now!
My other concern is what is the shelf life of gut strings and how should I store my spare set?
Take a look on the Sylvia Wood site and they have a great video.
I can relate to what you are saying because it took me a couple of hours to tie a string the one and only time I did it. The video is a lot easier to follow and they show 2 ways to tie the string.
This has been great feedback. I am very excited right now because there is a harp at Lyon and Healy in the finishing stages that has my name on it! I ordered an Ebony finished Prelude40 so by the time it is finished in the next couple of weeks or so, I will have a much better idea about what I strings I need to order. I might just go for the complete string set while our Canadian dollar is high so I am not hit with a high exchange rate.
The shop I am dealing with is a L&H dealer, but harps are not one of their big product lines, as they sell everything from guitars to woodwinds so I am not sure if they are the best to get advice about strings from.
Thanks for the tips. I will add Salzedo’s Conditioning exercises to my list!
I am suffering from Harp Fever right now. I just got back from trying a Prelude 40 which it turns out is owned locally by another one of my teacher’s students. I got to play for over an hour and she also played after that so it was great fun.
The harp felt like it was meant for me and it even felt more comfortable for me to play than the one I play everyday. I am 6’tall and have big hands so the spacing felt really comfortable. I think I am ready to order my own, just want to see if there are still some other harps I can try. Will be able to try a Prelude (38) later this week so am looking forward to it.I ordered Friou’s Baroque Music; Milligan’s Medieval to Modern;
Sylvia Woods Andrew Lloyd Webber and My Heart Will Go On (Titanic theme); Kim Robertson’s Celtic Harp Solos and her Shady Grove book; and finally Pratt’s Danses pour La Dauphine. I want to experience different types of music so I can develop a broad range of music. I haven’t ever studied music seriously before and have a lot of ground to make up!I also at present am studying from Bruner’s Play the Harp Beautifully- book 2 as well as Friou’s Exercises for Agility and Speed.
I’ve been playing harp for a year and just placed my first order of music! I read all your comments with great interest and my order was based on all of your suggestions.
It is one thing to read a description and another to know appropriate the selections are for an early intermediate player.Thanks for sharing your experiences and I can’t wait for my order to come. It will be a big package!!!
Now my next step is to try a few more harps so I can buy my own. I am leaning towards the Prelude 40 even though I have been playing a Dusty Strings Ravenna 34 I have been renting from my teacher. My long term goal is to get a pedal harp as well as a Celtic harp. I have a posting under Harps and Accessories as well so any suggestions are welcome.
