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it is a cloth, but it’s glued in place with epoxy, and the epoxy completely saturates the fabric. So the epoxy has cured, it’s as brittle as glass. That quality is great for a neck, but not a soundboard.
Karen- I’m sure what you are saying is true. But there is also the issue of sound. Carbon fiber may be much more rigid(which is good for stability and strength) but that can cause problems with the sound. Poor attack, long resonance, etc.
Carbon fiber is not plastic, nor anything like plastic. It is long strands of a kind of thread and is incredibly strong. I use a layer of woven carbon fiber in the necks of both my new Swanson harps and in any replacement neck I make. It makes the neck much more rigid and stable without adding an ounce of extra weight. It is glued in place with epoxy. I would flatly refuse to make a neck without it. I can’t tell you anything about carbon fiber in soundboards because I don’t use it there. I still feel that for sound wood is best.
I think the biggest reason to take lessons for a few months is to change the thinking of the composer and get him/her to understand that it’s not the same as piano. I don’t think one has to be a virtuoso to understand some basic concepts about the harp. Ravel was a terrible pianist, but he wrote dazzling music for the piano. I think that the harp had a place of prominence in French music of Debussy’s and Ravel’s day and so they were quite aware of what the instrument could do. Both of them must have known Hasselmans and many of his extraordinary students, and that gave them a huge advantage. The problem today is that many composers don’t play any instrument. I suspect that many other instrumentalists(oboists, ‘cellists, etc.) have the same complaints about contemporary music as we do.
Tony- That’s great advice. I think, maybe in addition to taking some lessons, having a harpist play what you’ve written and tell you why it’s either unplayable or ineffective or both is a great education in how to write for the harp. I was just relieved that Danilo was aware that she had in fact written a piano part instead of a harp part. That’s what most composers do, without realizing it of course.
Danilo- Barvo to you for recognizing that what you wrote was in fact for piano and not harp. Most composers never get that.
There are other threads on this site about the issue of writing for the harp. There are some books out there that try to explain (quite well) how to write for the harp. But I still maintain that taking harp lessons for maybe 6 months will teach you much more about what works and sounds good on the harp than any amount of reading. You don’t have to become a virtuoso yourself. You just have to know how to play well enough to think like a harpist and not a pianist. Good luck.
Ken- I have a Mac. What do I do once the pictures are out of the camera and onto Iphoto on my computer?
I heard there’s a Salzedo based S & M theme restaurant down where I’m going. As you eat, the waiters come over and scream “Elbows Up!!!”.
I’m leaving for a short regulation trip this afternoon. As soon as I get back(probably Friday) I’ll try to put up some pictures of the ‘Wagner’ harp. But I’m warning all of you, computers never work for me. I have a computer guru who gets me out of trouble and even with him sitting next to me, most proceedures don’t work! But I’ll give it a shot…
If someone can explain how to put a picture up here I’ll try to do it. I’m a lower life form when it comes to computers.
Rosemary- A couple of times over the 20 or so years that I rented instruments to Camden I was short and had to rent my ‘good’ harp. The one I keep for myself. That’s the one you played. It was built in 1899 and I restored it 20 years ago. It’s still a wonderful instrument. And no everybody, it’s NOT for sale!
Good luck to you Vince. As far as the harp playing is concerned, I can’t tell you how important it is to have a really good teacher to work with. You can learn an awful lot of bad habits by working alone or working with a teacher who either can’t teach well or is not that good a player herself. But if you do have a really good teacher(who is a real pest about doing things correctly!) then the way you practice is extremely important. There is a little booklet by Jane Weidensaul called SCIENTIFIC PRACTICE which is excellent. I recommend it to my students. It will give you a lot of good ideas on how to practice effectively.
Molly- Maybe you should consider taking a course in music theory. That way, you’re studying the music without the harp being there. It would force you to focus on the printed page and analyse what is going on. A course in Solfege would be very helpful too, because you would be applying sylables to each of the notes and again, reading the music without the harp.
I don’t know what level you are playing at or what kind of music, but its very common for students to play everything by ear at the begining because the pieces are usually very simple and melodic. But as you get into harder repertoire, it isn’t as easy to play by ear, and you can end up learning a lot of wrong notes and incorrect rhythms.
Vince- As a teacher myself, I would need a lot of information about your current situation, what level you are playing at, what you’ve already worked on, how you have gone about learning technique, what your own teacher is like, etc. to make any kind of suggestion that would be useful to you.
Having said that, I can say that you can put in an enormous amount of time and effort and get nowhere because you are practicing inefficiently, practicing the wrong material for your level, or have a teacher who really doesn’t know how to move you forward. I’m always amazed at the number of students I encounter who have been with the same teacher for years and have not improved. They just sort of tread water. There are numerous things that you can do to improve, but simply putting a lot of time in is no guarantee of success.
