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You might try a tiny dab of “Superglue” under the eyelet – but remove the string first! FYI if you get too much in there it can block up the hole but acetone or nail polish remover dissolves the stuff.
Bridge pins are separate components for Truitts, which just supplies the lever; and I don’t know what your Blevins harp may have. Some bridge pins do have hex heads – I use those from Dusty Strings which are 5/32. Some others, such as pins supplied by Musicmakers, actually take a Phillips screw driver. And some are not threaded at all – you just push or pull them. Better just wait until you get the harp, or ask the current owner.
Since Truitt levers flip up (out) the string tension holds them in place – in fact, when I am installing new ones I don’t even place the screws until it is in position. So yes, move it up or down, flip and check the tuner, when it is correct, tighten away.
As for that bridge pin: for any lever if it is only slightly “off” moving the pin a scush in or out may be all that is necessary. Most pins are threaded now, so turning it to the right movies it in, to the left moves it out.
BiagioI concur with you, Wil, in a preference for Camac levers over Lovelands. The latter have been the “work horse lever” for many years and there is nothing inherently wrong with them but….they must be regulated (adjusted) more often than some others – Camacs and Truitts being my personal preferences.
So yes, indeed, try out all those harps at the VHC and be assured that whatever you decide you will have a wonderful journey.
I can’t resist a couple of stories regarding the importance of a teacher.
First my own: I was having fun making instruments but never interested in playing them until making a harp for the first time. I had an excellent teacher but she passed away after only a year…I was then on my own and stuck pretty much in one place until moving to the Puget Sound region (which is alive with harpers). I started lessons with Laurie Riley, first via Skype, then in person and progress was rapid, thank goodness.
Second, Laurie herself: Laurie was an excellent professional musician already before taking up the harp and in her own words, “thought the harp would be easy. How wrong I was! After a few years I managed to take lessons and it took some time to correct all the bad habits I developed on my own.”
Don’t let that discourage you (there were really only two books available in her day and one was in Italian) , but just to emphasize that all the exposure you can get from other player, even if only in a harp circle, will pay off greatly.
Best wishes,
BiagioHmmm…well, here are my thoughts for what they’re worth:
First – there are “teach yourself” books and DVDs as well as what you can find on-line but you must study them assiduously and it will be a slower process without a teacher’s guidance especially at the early stages.
Learning harp technique is absolutely vital and it is not intuitive. Since none seem to be within a reasonable distance, in my experience, having been in the same boat, personal lessons online are almost as good and there are excellent teachers available that way. As for books etc, I suggest the following brief list:
On Playing the Harp by Yolanda Kondonassis
Music Theory and Arranging for the Lever Harp by Sylvia Woods
Play the Harp Beautifully by Pamela Bruner
The Harper’s Manual by Laurie Riley
Troubleshooting Your Lever Harp by David Kolacny
Harp Tuesdays – online series by Josh LayneSecond – the harp. I don’t think under the circumstances that you should be worrying about gut vs. nylon, concert tension vs. “folk” tension at this point, so buy a less expensive harp with the thought that you may sell it down the road, or keep it as a second harp later on.
With this in mind I suggest the Ravenna. There is a larger second hand market for that, if you sell it later, than the Boulevard and it costs less than the Ogden. Don’t assume by the price that the Ravenna is an inferior instrument – the price reflects the manufacturing labor and Dusty created these designs expressly for people looking for low cost but high quality. There are some professionals that even use the Ravenna as their touring instrument; others who rely on it for student rentals.
Full disclosure: I am a harp maker – or was before retiring – and live practically within spitting distance of Dusty Strings as well as four other top notch harp makers.
Best wishes and happy harping,
BiagioLike a child with a loose baby tooth I kept prodding on this, so I asked a few Irish music scholars. Here’s the concensus:
“We don’t know, but it is not consistent in style with his other compositions, nor is it any known tune by him. It could be a later ‘imitation’ for copyright or similar reasons, written as a tribute, or a modern composition intended to suggest his style. If Betty Paret cannot be reached it may be the latter (by her).”
Incidentally, I noticed after looking again that Josh flipped the F lever – logical since most of O’ Carolan’s were probably in the key of Gmaj or Emin.
Hi ho,
BiagioThanks Wil, you reminded me of a couple more thoughts:
-WRT the Ravenna (or others) and gut…They don’t indicate on the website where the gut strings begin but I’d bet that is somewhere below the first octave, where they would not seem appreciably thinner than nylon. Many concert tension harps have nylon too in the highest register.
-A second harp – most (in fact all) whom I know have at least two harps: for different venues, for travel, and so on. It might be a reasonable idea to buy your first with economics in mind over impressive (and expensive) tone. Many teachers will say that mastering technique takes perhaps five years – during that time you could be saving for the next one.
Re gut vs nylon in general: three things determine tension and tone for any given note: vibrating length, mass, and material hardness. Disregarding the latter and holding length fixed (i.e.you will not be changing the range – although that can also be done) one is left with mass or density. Gut is higher density than nylon – briefly stated, a nylon string would be about 11% larger diameter for the same tension. Not that big a difference when you get down into the mid range (0.045 gut vs 0.050 nylon for example).
Best wishes,
BiagioIt is good that you have “done your homework” and narrowed your choices. IMHO too many beginners get bogged down when they ask about that first harp because we who reply are so enthusiastic – they soon have a greatly expanded list to consider!! I could easily think of half a dozen more to mention but will try a different tack by asking a few leading questions or thoughts.
1) Have you located a teacher and discussed the question with him or her? If not, please do so before committing your funds. They may have student rentals which leads me to
2) Have you considered renting a harp before buying one? Some have rent-to-own plans, others offer a discount if you decide to “grade up.”
3) Where are you located? I assume in the US – if so are you fairly near a harp dealer? In addition to basic technique you will have to learn how to maintain your harp and a dealer can be very helpful with this.
4) While technique for a moderate tension harp may be the same aa a concert tension instrument, playing one in the beginning may not develop the strength (and callouses) needed later on if you go on the pedal tension and gut.
5) WRT to the Ravenna, you can put gut strings on it or any other nylon strung harp (see Dusty’s comparison chart) if you like the gut sound. If the maker does not offer gut, a string maker such as Vermont Strings can do an analysis to ensure you do not exceed the harps designed tension.
6) Re: economics – do you have basic wood working skills and tools? Some of the best and least expensive harps come as kits – particularly Musicmakers’ Voyageur, Jolie, and Cheyenne (OK, I was not going to add any names but financials are another question). These harps are somewhat higher tension than most other lever harps, though not “concert tension.” Yes, you can put gut on them too.
Best wishes and enjoy the journey,
BiagioThank you Josh!
I don’t know about you guys but I am coming to the conclusion that someone composed this from elements of O’ Carolan’s known works and just gave it the name. That’s not an uncommon occurrence with these old tunes and perhaps a scholar such as Cathcart would know. Oh well, we tried. It is certainly good to know something about the provenance but I’m tapped out.
Biagio
I’m interested to know now too, it is indeed a beautiful haunting melody. I do detect elements of Carolan’s Dream – which was not composed by him either but is at least contemporaneous.
Maybe someone was just having fun or it is a tribute. It happens.
Fun! I guess that if Josh cannot say for sure, someone would have to as Betty.
A (possible) light bulb moment, Evolene: this may be one of the ten “unnamed” tunes found in the O’ Carolan Collection; if you are up for sorting through them, here is a link to the Collection at the Old Music Project:
http://www.oldmusicproject.com/occ/tunes.html
According to the Wiki reference posted by Paul, it is the first of those ten.
Biagio
Trying to nail down these old tunes by name can be as troubling as identifying a tree species by common name (when is a maple not a maple? when it’s called a sycamore in the US). There are by the Session count 37 names for the (actual) O’ Carolan tune – and who can tell how many that share elements?
I guess the best way to solve this question would be to ask Josh or Betty – we can only guess (I guess). One thing’s for sure – the original tune did not have accidentals a la Josh (Turlough O’ Carolan played a wire harp).
I wrote to Josh, we’ll see what he can tell us. If not…Betty!
Biagio
Since I don’t have Betty Parret’s score Wil, I on’t know what to say except that the tune has many versions played at different tempos and with different ornaments. Here’s another – faster than by Josh and more/different ornaments.
Again, to answer the Op’s question, I’d suggest starting with the 27+/- version on The Session.
Hope that helps!
Biagio
Also known as Carolan’s Welcome, there are many arrangements. Here are several on The Session:
https://thesession.org/tunes/1055Yes, it is an O’Carolan composition. As with all of his, we only know of the tune, not the full arrangement.
I would also happily endorse the Harps of Lorien Sasha. That is available either finished (from the maker or from the Harp Connection) or in kit form.
