Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Well I can’t post her name here but if I’ll let you know if she will look for you on Facebook. We are having a hard time scheduling her lessons because of her dad ‘s work schedule and her medical appointments. It has really just been a few months with a lot of missed lessons.
I think we have gender equality within the population of inconsiderate cell phone users. My violin partner whose phone went off during the wedding is male, the flute player on stage female. Another man in church took the phone call to tell the person calling that he couldn’t talk to him because he was in church… My last near head-on collision was with a man talking on his cell phone.
My city of Asheville is not very big. We have a branch of the University of North Carolina, but I don’t think they have a baseball program. I saw a picture of your brother on your Facebook page!
I think she uses a desktop computer but I don’t know all the details. I just got started with this little girl and then her family had to keep cancelling lessons. She has multiple problems also and she has to go see various specialists.
I’m glad you don’t have seizures! I used to work with children with cerebral palsy when I was a speech pathologist and I saw many with severe seizure disorders. The children I worked with could not speak and I was usually teaching them to use computers and devices to help them communicate. So from your videos it is nice to see you have excellent speech and you look like you really enjoy playing the harp! I’m sure your family and teacher are very proud of what you have accomplished Mia!
And here is the other YouTube story on Mia!
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=PENEQUyRNZ4&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPENEQUyRNZ4
So here’s one link I found for Mia. I’ll have to find the other one. I cannot see any affects from cerebral palsy in your hands. Do you have any limitations in fine motor skills?
Very impressive!My student has some kind of software with voice control that lets her use a computer. I’m not sure what it is. But I think like you, if she is determined to do something she will find a way to do it! I’ll see if she is on Facebook.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=t4uChWar6fE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dt4uChWar6fE
Thank you Mia! I’ll tell her you are the one who gave me the suggestion. She will appreciate it coming from you! Are there any videos of you playing your harp? Even though my student has no vision at all she likes to look for music on YouTube.
I had not bothered to look this up before because I knew there were many blind harpists historically. I remember reading that many visually impaired people were directed to that profession in O’Carolan’s day. This is from Deborah-Henson Conant’s Hair Raising Harp history. re: the Belfast harp meetings in the 1700s. Interview with historian Nancy Thym-Hochrein at the Historial Harp Archives in Germany.
NTH: Of the 10 harpers in Belfast, 6 were blind. O’Carolan was blind. Many of the Scottish harpers were also blind. Robert BruceArmstrong (The Irish and Highland Harps, 1904) writes “That the Irish Harp was an instrument of great power and sweetness cannont be doubted, and it is equally certain that it was an exceptionally difficult instrument to learn, particularly as the profession was almost entirely reserved for those of either sex who had lost their sight when young. To be proficient, it was necessary for the pupil to begin at the early age of ten or twelve.” Smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, were rampant in those days and many children went blind from the diseases. There was really no other way for them to make a living than to play an instrument.
The recorded message for my cell phone is “Do not leave a message here I don’t keep this thing on! Call me at home.”
And now that I’ve watched Christine’s video I see that she is doing exactly what I was talking about. Notice how seldom she reaches down to the bass notes. Most of her work is towards the top end of the harp with bass notes accentuating. You just can’t roll big chords like you would on an acoustic harp. Then later in the video she does some octaves and damps them quickly. It really takes some work to keep the sound clean like that. There is a point in the video where she plays a three note chord in her left hand if I recall. The notes are spread apart as much as possible.. Very nice sound and performance! Thanks for posting that link Bernhard!
I accidentally deleted my own post while trying to edit it!
I just sold my Silhouette. It really takes a different playing style as I suppose any solid body electric would. You have to really thin out your left hand/bass playing because those strings just continue to vibrate and the electronics keep it going forever! You can end up with a very muddy sound. Lots of damping needed, or just very minimal playing on the lower strings. It is still a lever harp so it remains difficult to play jazz etc. I will agree with previous statements that the sound will depend on what you play it through. I purchased an acoustic guitar effects box which gave me some nice options. But I just never developed a good playing style with it. I think these harps will be suited to contemporary music styles that do not require a lot of chromatics. But it was hard work for me. If I had the money to spend, an acoustic/electric pedal harp would be my choice. One with pick ups on every string. I would like to see the electronics progress to more than the 3 band EQ.
For the styles of music you mentioned you might be successful reading from lead sheets and arranging to suit the instrument. Use that guitarist’s knowledge of chord structure and develop your own style!
I get into more trouble when people try to help me. We all have those stories. One time a food and beverage director asked one of the waitstaff to help me by pushing from the bottom as I was pulling the harp up some stairs. He just shoved as hard as he could and knocked me over backwards. I will accept help on some stairways but only after I’m sure they will listen to me. For the most part I’m like Emma. no help.
Thanks Mia! I just now got around to reading your post. In fact I have been using an iPad app to record small pieces for my student. That way we can email it to her to help her practice. Much faster than using my computer and recording software. She has no usable vision at all but I am always amazed at what she can do. Probably like you, she is very good at playing by ear. She is also a singer so she’s had some quick success by being able to accompany her own singing with simple chords. I don’t get to see her too often because she has many medical appointments.
