Dorian Llywelyn

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  • in reply to: Shipping a Pedal Harp #196496
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    My recommendation would be to call whoever is the nearest harp dealer to you on the West Coast and ask for their help.

    I shipped a Pilgrim Progress from Southern California to Northern California – got a Lyon Healy carton via harp.com. and then had Sylvia Woods company sort out the final packing and freighting for me.  Last year, Carolyn Sykes in Pasadena shipped a concert grand for me over to Europe in a Camac cardboard box – she handled all the paperwork wonderfully. . The harp arrived in perfect state in the box which had been fixed to a wooden pallet. Recently, I had Pilgrim Harps ship that concert grand back to me in the States. Again, they used a very soundly put-together cardboard Salvi box.  In all cases the harps arrived with no damage whatsoever.     And if that Pilgrim Progress has a ding on the column, and a carved scroll on the top of the column, I can give you details of its early history, since I got it new and owned it for 20 years!

    in reply to: antique harp database #71113
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    You might also want to check with the Antique Pedal Harps Yahoo group, which has extensive postings, and see if some people have listings.

    in reply to: Whatever happened to Mildred Dilling’s harps? #71941
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    Readers might be interested in this ad:

    http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/msg/2234545182.html

    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    You might also contact Budin – http://www.harpebudin.com/harpes/locations.php – to see if they have anything they can lend you for a short period.

    in reply to: Salzedo Harp Registry #149769
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    I believe there was one in Dale Barco’s workshop awaiting rebuilding. I’m not sure of the date of that harp, but it was certainly one of the Salzedo’s with wide spacing, especially in the middle octaves, and the wood was a deep honey color, which makes me think it would be around the right age. I am not sure what happened to all the harps there – in addition to some really interesting instruments he had in his workshop, Dale had a whole garage (which he he called ‘the morgue’) full of unplayable instruments. I seem to remember that he’d made arrangements for L&H to have the harps.

    in reply to: Gig seating with back support #150348
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    Thanks Paul – I really appreciate the recommendation.

    in reply to: PIlgrim Progress #74666
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    I very much concur with Tacye’s opinion. I owned a straight-soundboard Progress for almost twenty years, took it across Europe several times and shipped it over to the US. They are great little harps, and I was able to get by with most repertoire, with a little adjustment. Excellent for solo gigging such as weddings or receptions.

    My own opinion is that the Progress could probably get by in small ensembles, but that the sound is simply too small for big orchestras. When I started to play in rock and jazz-blues ensembles where I sometimes had to compete with a large battery of percussion and brass, the Progress – even amplified – was not loud enough. So I got a large Venus, which projects magnificently.

    The one thing I miss is the Pilgrim’s size and weight. I could pick it up and carry it on my shoulders. It was very comfortable to play, despite its size – the balance is really nice. The spacing’s easy for people with big fingers. The pedals are close together, but your feet soon learn to adapt. It’s very transportable – you can lay it across the back seat of a saloon car.

    There’s a youtube of a Progress on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlziV90H4yo – the sound is fairly typical – reminds me of the old Erards I grew up playing.

    in reply to: Youtube videos #104685
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    Thanks Sam. The Angelaires are playing an arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona’s Malagueña from his Suite Andalucía. There’s a performance of the original piano version on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuQQxZ7TXaY

    in reply to: Catholic Confirmation Service #152237
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    Hi Julianne

    I think I can reply to this, not only as a harpist, but also as a Roman Catholic priest….

    There are very few hard and fast rules about music in Catholic services – a lot of priests have their own view about this, so musicians can meet a whole range of responses from priests and people in charge of liturgies.

    One big principle is that the music is there to enhance the service, not dominate it. This means not drawing too much attention to the music (i.e. avoid flashy pieces), and also not holding up the sequence of events while you get to the end of a piece.

    A good church organist has to work her/his way around what’s going on around the altar. This means some improvisatory skills, being familiar with the sequence of events in the service, and keeping an eye and ear open for the relevant cues. You might like to find someone who plays regulary for Catholic Masses. A Confirmation Mass is basically the same as a Mass on a normal Sunday, but with a chunk of extra bits put in the middle after the homily, when the Bishop confirms the person being confirmed by laying his hand on her head and anointing their forehead with oil.

    Generally, things take a lot shorter than somne musicians realize, especially in small chapels like the one it sounds you are going to play in. And in a place like that, gentle, quiet is good, so a lever harp might well be the best choice.

    The best advice I can give you had already been given: check with the priest. We priests all tend to think we are the ultimate authorities on church music.

    Those of us who work in liturgical music know a whole series of jokes about church music and liturgists:

    What’s the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist?
    Answer: You can negotiate with a terrorist…

    What is a liturgist?
    A tribulation sent by God at times of absence of plague, to test the faith of the people.

    Good luck!

    in reply to: Pilgrim Harp on ebay #75284
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    Yep – I’d

    in reply to: Pilgrim Harp on ebay #75281
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    As of now, the ad has been taken down.

    in reply to: salvi angelica #72831
    Dorian Llywelyn
    Participant

    I played one a couple of times many years ago – they were in fact quite a lot

    smaller than the Salvi Orchestra,

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)