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At home, the carpet is under my harp. It’s not a high pile in the harp room, so it works fine. On gigs, I use a harp couture drape in a soft green that folds up into it’s own attached pouch. It keeps me from going insane when the carpet or flooring is odd and I can’t see the strings.
Since you changed the font, the scrambled letters at the top of my pages are no longer scrambled….so thank you.
I’m wondering about all the harps at the VA Harp Center in Haddonfield. Hope they are all okay — and hope all the private owners of beautiful instruments were able to keep them safe. It’s easier to move a harp than a piano or a practice organ, and I always think about the huge instruments that are not easily raised. Hope no one had any heartbreak with their instruments.
Absolutely……and with the current cuts being made to many of the largest orchestras, even if you play an instrument other than the harp, you are going to really struggle for the most part. And when I got my music degree, I did a double major as a performance/ed major (not on harp) and was able to find a teaching job relatively easily. Even that is becoming next to impossible. I can’t imagine doing anything but music, but it’s really really a struggle.
Briggsie
I have an older Zoom H2. I know there is a newer model now, but it works fine for me and when I got it, it was the top model. It
I have 2 Adjustrite Chairs — one at each of my harps at home. They collapse for transport, aren’t very heavy and adjust however you need the height, and they are very comfortable for long practice sessions. Each leg adjusts.
http://www.amazon.com/ADJUSTRITE-Musicians-Chair-Vivo-USA/dp/B0016OIIX0
Briggsie
I have the CD, gifted to me by Anita Lescheid in Ontario — just across the river — where I went for a harp day at her house a few years back. She studied (along with my teacher Kerstin Allvin) with Liz Ilku who was one of the Angelaires and who played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for many years. She is still in the Detroit area. During the 2008 AHS Conference in Dearborn, MI, there was a special exhibit set up with a DVD playing of the Angelaires on the Ed Sullivan show and Liz came to the conference and went through the exhibit of all her memorabilia and the memorabilia of the Angelaires. The exhibit was very well done and interesting.
Briggsie
Great idea. When I was teaching school (the past 21 years — recently retired), I kept my Troubadour harp in my classroom. One girl studied with me and used it to practice on before or after school. I had no problems hanging out while she practiced. I ALWAYS had work to do anyway.
I’ve never done this either, Carl, but it’s very clever, and I’m going to try it.
Thank you.
Briggsie
My instructions for September: “I think for the month of September you should just play this very slowly.” HAHAHAHA…..seems to be a universal problem. I know personally when I know I have to play something for the public, I want to know that I can — at tempo — and isn’t that just the stupidest thing? LOL…..of COURSE you have to crawl before you can run.
Briggsie
Other way around for me, but I can tell you that now I am working on Britten’s Ceremony of Carols on the harp. In the choir practices at church where I am the accompanist, I was playing the accompaniment on the piano. I kept forgetting to play the accidentals in the key signature because I was used to just using the pedals for that. But I made the switch in enough time not to sound like an idiot. LOL….And once when I was teaching music in a middle school, I was playing for the choir and was all set and ready to start a piece, when I was doing the last minute check and almost “checked my pedals” which was pretty stupid too. HAHAHA……
I’m betting it depends on the harp which strings sound best. My Camac always had that rounded, bell-like sound with the Vanderbilt strings, but now that the board has pulled up some, it sounds much better with the Bow. Odd how that works. 🙂
Briggsie
The block cracked. The dealer said it was okay because they “treated” the car with some sort of radiator treatment. I drove it — taking it to the dealer for every check-up/oil change. I began to smell coolant. By that time the block had cracked and it was beyond just needing a new head gasket.
Your 15 and 16 are much smaller than my Camac. The Athena is a very tall harp.
