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Spanish Masters of the 16th and 17th Century (Zabaleta) from Vanderbilt Music Co. for $6.95. Three great pieces.
No, I’m going on the basis of the materials it’s made of. I did have an old blue one dry cleaned and regretted it. My transport cover did get very wet in a downpour; the outside was soaked but kept the harp inside nice and dry. I would imagine it’s like washing a sleeping bag or a garment with shoulder pads. You must be gentle and help it keep its shape. Do you think the inner lining would shrink if wet?
Lyon & Healy has (or had) a polish specifically for harps that cleans and polishes. You apply some to a damp cloth, wipe it on, let it dry, then polish with a dry cloth. You get best results with a real cotton cloth like an old dish cloth or cotton diaper.
As for the covers, if it’s a (relatively modern) transport cover, you could try washing it in cold or warm water on delicate cycle in a large commercial washer; probably take a long time for it to air-dry; hang it inside-out somewhere because the lining is absorbent but the outside is water-repellent and dries quicker.
If it’s the old, old blue cover (they called it mole-skin; looked like suede), don’t dry clean it because the padding around the neck will wad up and you’ll never get it straight again. Believe me, I tried. I wouldn’t dry clean any of the covers because the heat in the process will damage the foam padding that all the covers have inside.
My experience has been that those heaters are too hot if you’re standing right beside them, no help at all otherwise, and the heat of course goes straight up. If you’re in a tent and dressed warmly, maybe. It all depends on your personal comfort level. How well do you play with cold hands? I have a limit on when I’ll play outdoors based on our local climate (April through October only) and sometimes even that doesn’t help. Listen to your gut reaction. Will you worry about it and regret saying yes?
I got musicians’ ear plugs for orchestra but have also used them for other jobs. I have even worn them when attending a show or concert that was amplified, as they’re always too loud. You can also use just one on occasion, depending on your needs.
Get them from a store that sells and tests for hearing aids. They should have a brochure specifically about ear plugs for musicians. Mine came with a choice of filters, 15 or 25 decibel. Get the higher number. They will be custom fitted to your ear canal, which means they make a mold of your ear and send it off to be made.
I think mine were about $125. Totally worth it. You can hear the conductor speaking and all the music, but it cuts the intensity so it’s no longer painful to sit near the piccolo or the percussion or brass.Have you checked the books (classical and popular) by Barbara Brundage and Ray Pool? Also by Louise Trotter. Depends on your student’s taste in music. Maybe she’d like Matt Mayberry’s arrangement of “Clocks” by Coldplay. It’s available from Vanderbilt for either lever harp or pedal harp, so be sure to get the right one.
Your harp will be fine. Just cover it to keep the dust off. If you have pets or small children in the house, park it in a corner where it can’t be knocked over. Enjoy your camp!
I read that, too, but if the harp is properly regulated (including the pedal rods or cables), it shouldn’t make any difference to the harp. After all, the pedal mechanism is made to be fully used. If the action is “tight,” sometimes it feels more difficult to put the pedals in sharp than natural. Sometimes with older harps you have to find a happy medium (when adjusting the pedal rods) between preventing overmotion and being able to get the pedal into sharp.
You can use a Camac Clio for a lot of orchestral work but sometimes you will definitely need the lower notes that you only get on a concert grand, which is why I still have my 23. Although I love the Clio and highly recommend it, if you know you’re going to play orchestral repertoire, consider a used Chicago or 85CG. They can be had for much less than $30K. Whatever you get, be sure it has an extended soundboard.
As for the regulation, you can regulate your own harp (whatever the brand) if you’re properly trained and if you have the patience. However, there are so many “traveling harp techs” now who are very good that it’s hardly worth the trouble to do it yourself. The difference with Camacs is you don’t have to change the pedal felts or pedal slot felts because there aren’t any. Also it’s very easy to adjust the pedal rods because they’re not rods, they’re cables which are accessible without removing the base.
Just visited the harp exhibit this Wednesday. It was really wonderful with 12 harps on display as well as many Erard and Pleyel pianos. There were books of letters written by Pierre Erard and Sebastian Erard and those ledgers with the serial numbers of Erard harps. There was a box of Pierre’s harp tools. I only wish I could have gotten a catalog of the exhibit, but there were none available that day. Thanks for the pdf!
If you can get there, the museum admission is free. It’s on a little side street in Nice in a lovely old palais. Be aware the harps are on the second and third floor and, as far as I could tell, there was no elevator, only the stairs.
Personally I’d send it via truck shipping company like the harp companies do. If you don’t have a trunk, you can buy a shipping carton from the harp company. Or you may know someone with a trunk who’d like to get rid of it and will let you use it if you’ll dispose of it later or ship it back. If you have to drive your own car to your new home, take the harp in the car with you. I’d trust movers with my china but not my harp.
Limited to one, I’d choose pedal so I could play orchestral and more chromatic pieces, but I keep my lever harp for other purposes and am glad to have both. Sometimes simpler is better.
Yes, at 24 lbs. it weighs twice what the Peavy does. But it has twice the wattage, too. In some situations the Peavy doesn’t put out enough volume to project over ambient noise. I don’t usually carry it; I put it on a little luggage cart along with my bench and music bag (which I wish I could reduce as cleverly as Barbara has!). The only time I lift it is when putting it in the car and hoisting it up on the speaker pole. I try to think of that as good exercise, but if a guy offers, I let him do it!
