[daniele-di]

Excuse me Bella, where is this Festival in London? is there a website with more info? I would really like to go at another UK festival after the Edinburgh one

thank you

Daniele

[daniele-di]

I started at 24…

…and I`m still 24 😀

you can do it, if you really want it 🙂

[daniele-di]

you don`t need a video editing software 🙂
After you downloaded the video you can just slowing it down, for example in windows media player go in ” Enhancements” and then “Play speed settings”.

[daniele-di]

Well Lucy, 5 years have passed, I hope he already choose the harp he wanted, eheh 😀

[daniele-di]

I`m looking forward to it! especially because it will be my first time out with my harp 😀

I still have to get over the shyness of playing in front or near other people, and I`m just a beginner and that`s making things worse, but I`m practicing really hard so I will definitely go out with my harp during this spring!

Do you use particular precautions when out? like not letting the harp too much under the sun or things like that?

Thanks for your story Susan, that was fun, ahah…I think watching people`s reaction is one of the funniest part of being an harpist! 🙂

[daniele-di]

unfortunately I didn`t attended any workshop, I`ve really been all the day trying harps! and I felt a bit strange…I`ve never spent so much for something in my life until now, so I was really worried about my choice, I was always trying and retrying the same harps, going out to think, reviewing the papers with all the spec of the harps, listening to other players…but I`ve seen people buying harps without any worries, like they were buying a candy, I was so surprised! eheh

There was no FH36 in Koa at the dusty string stand, but the FH34 in KOA was the best of all the F34, so the FH36 must be amazing too! 🙂

[daniele-di]

Hello Adrian,

1) no, but usually orchestras play classical music, and you usually need a pedal harp to play that kind of music, but I`m not too informed because I`m not a fan of Orchestras 🙂
And usually people expect to see a big and shiny pedal harp in an orchestra!

2)Pedal harps are all “big” and they go from 40 to 47 strings, but if you need it to play in an orchestra, it does not make much sense to choose a 40string instead of a 47.
For example the smaller pedal harp from Lyon&Healy is the Chicago petite 40 string, but it`s still 28kg, Height 166cm and Width 89 cm, so it`s still quite big

If you want a big good lever harp you can try to take a look at the Salvi Ana, which is still quite big but smaller than the pedal ones.

But again…they are not really portable 🙁

[daniele-di]

Why not, Alessandra? (Italiana? 😀 )

The pedal harp is not the step after the lever harp, they are two different things.
If you want to focus on classical music and you are fascinated by the pedal harp, just go for it! 🙂

Daniele

[daniele-di]

That was awesome, I tried sooooooo many harps, and I`ve done the crazy thing to buy one! my first harp, I`m so excited.

By the way, I`d like to share mu thoughts about the event (and please bear with me because I`m not good at explaining the feelings an harp give):

1: Tacye is a very good harpist! 😀

2: Thoughts about the Hearthland harps:

I think the infinity or the legend may be good as a second harp…but not at that price.

I`m still absolutely NOT an expert, but the sound was sooo inferior to the wood one.

It was near all the Dusty Strings harp, and when someone was playing a wood one, the legend-infinity were not audible at all.

I didn`t liked the sound very much , and I was ashamed because I really wanted one of those harps.

I didn`t had any problem about the weight and stability, it fits to the ground pretty well.

In UK the infinity is priced 6000£…from my point of view is worth no more than £2000

3: Salvi harps

Well, the ladies were not really helpful, it seemed that they were just waiting for someone go there and say “I`ll buy one!” 😀

The Egan: It felt “perfect”, I mean, the sound was really really clear, rich, perfect resonance, nothing wrong but I prefer harps with more “personality”, with a more particular sound, and the Egan was just too perfect.

Livia: That was my preferred one! if you have a limited budget and you want a lever harp I suggest to try that one! I really liked it, beautiful sound

Donegal: That was also very good, but I couldn`t try it very well, because it was slightly out of tune (for two days, but as I said the ladies didn`t seems to care too much about the harps :/ )

Ana: beautiful! but it`s really big, it looks like a pedal harp!

One thing I didn`t liked in all of the Salvi harps were the last octave on top, I didnt asked but I think the strings were different? metal ones maybe? because they sounded kinda different…and I didn`t liked that

4: Starfish Design

I expected too much, I was a bit disappointed, but it was a disappointment like the one for the Egan, really good harps but I was searching for a different sound.

Well, at the same price I would have chosen the Egan instead the mamore.

5: Lyon&healy

I just tried the Troubadour VI; not bad but the strings were sooo hard, you really have to squeeze them hard to make the sound coming out, but the tension of the strings was really too much for me.

6: Mark Nottis

He have a new set of 36strings harp, I was not really attracted, but I heard some “pro” playing and it sounded pretty nice, but still not as good (for me) as the ones I mentioned before

7: Silver Spear

That was my personal surprise! I really liked the FINLAGGAN 34, please give it a try if some day you have the chance, and the man that was standing there was really helpful and kind

8: Frank Silvert & Telynau Telfi:

Well, their harps sounded really “different” from the others, I don`t know how to explain that, but I didn`t liked them too much

9: Dusty strings

Here`s the winner! eheh

The FH34 and FH36 are amazing!! the best harps I`ve ever heard, and I didn`t expected the different wood to make such a difference!there were various FH 34 and FH36 but made with different woods, and they sounded really different, but in the end the 36 sounded a lot better than the 34 for me.

If you really want to go for a 34, I strongly suggest the one in KOA wood (a wood from Hawaii, they said), sounded much better than the one in maple.

But the FH36 are astonishing, each one has a beautiful and particular sound, they had much more personality than the Salvi ones, the sound was soooo beautiful, I tried them for hours (really!) and thank god Morley harps was sooo helpful and kind to let me try everything and explain all sort of stuff.

In the end I was undecided betweeen the FH36 S in Bubinga or the FH36 S in Curly Maple… the difference in price was pretty high (like 1k), but in the end I went for the Bubinga one, the sound was much more resonating, also in the high and small strings.

So yeah, I will receive my harps in the next weeks, my first bought harp…I never spent so much in my entire 24 years of life 😀

Thank you for reading till the end 😛

Daniele

[daniele-di]

Well, I`m glad I went do Edinburgh to try one.
I think the infinity or the legend may be good as a second harp…but not at that price.

I`m still absolutely NOT an expert, but the sound was sooo inferior to the wood one.
It was near all the Dusty Strings harp, and when someone was playing a wood one, the legend-infinity were not audible at all.
I didn`t liked the sound very much , and I was ashamed because I really wanted one of those harps.

I didn`t had any problem about the weight and stability, it fits to the ground pretty well.

In UK the infinity is priced 6000£…from my point of view is worth no more than £2000

That`s just a beginner point of view

[daniele-di]

well, we`re almost there!

I will try the harps all the day 😀 and I`ll try to make some photos to share when I get back

[daniele-di]

Even if you are a professional harpist, I still suggest you to first rent a pedal harp for a few months.
The reason is that the “feeling” change really a lot ( it changed for me) when playing a pedal harp, you really feel the difference, and it may be really difficult to make the jump, especially if you really love lever harps.
And you may also find tiresome to change pedals instead of levers eheh 🙂

A part from that, I also heard good things about the Salvi Daphne

Daniele

[daniele-di]

I`m not super-knowledgeable, but in my small experience in the world of the harps I`ve understood that no one is giving you a good harp for an extremely cheap price 🙂

If it has no brand it may be one of those pakistan stuffs? and it also need restringing…

Well, trying it does not cost anything, so you could give it a go, but first play for a while your 34 string harp, at the beginning even the wrost harps may sounds nice 😛 (or at least it was for me!)

[daniele-di]

Thank you Sharon,

I will go for trying harps rather than classes and training, because I will not bring my harp.

I`ve already written email to most of the Exhibitors asking for their exhibition times, but I haven`t received any reply so far.

Can you confirm that during Saturday there will be lots of harp to try? or it`s best to go on Sunday?

Thank you

Daniele

[daniele-di]

Hi all,

after almost 2 years, has anyone a few more experiences to share ?
I`m really intrigued by the Infinity 36
I want an harp with a good sound to bring around without problems, put it on my back and cycle-ride around with it.
I like that it`s possible to play it with the straps or with the T-Bar, which it`s true does not seems really stable from the video! but maybe it can be fixed on the ground a bit better?

I noticed that now various manufacturers use carbon fiber to built their harps, a part from heartland and thomharp I`ve seen that also the Camac’s “DHC Blue Light” Body Harp is made in carbon fiber, and it was used by Deborah Henson-Conant *_*

Well, any experience to share? 🙂

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