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You might also try Carolyn Sykes with Pacifc Harps, at http://pacificharps.com/harpsonline/harp-showroom. She is in LA too. while I didn’t have the opportunity to meet her, I had some very helpful and supportive email conversations with her while I was exploring, and liked her very much. I was looking primarily at used harps, but she may carry new harps too… worth a query.
I have a Camac Clio, and I love it. The sound is very clear and round, and almost reminds me of bells. I am very happy!
Does anybody besides me use a drum throne to sit on? I got one years ago for playing the Celtic harp, and find it works great for the pedal harp. I especially like the “Pork Pie Big Boy” drum throne, with the tractor seat. Very stable, ergonomic for good posture, and the seat is wide enough to support the movement of your hips when you change pedals. Mine is purple. spectacular.
I completely agree with Phil. When I bought my first harp from Sylvia Wood’s garage, she recommended that I not go with a lap harp, and I was so happy that I decided not to. that was over 20 years ago, and I recently sold that very harp to a student of mine who was trying to learn to play on a lap harp. Since moving to the larger harp, she has just taken off. The problem, as I see it, is that harp playing, especially in the beginning, is about learning patterns and hand shapes. With a small harp, basic bass shapes (chordal patterns) have to be inverted, due to the lack of range, which is much harder than learning the basic shape/pattern. If you can find the way to rent or purchase a 34-36 string harp, I highly recommend it. Good luck, and have fun!! there’s nothing like the harp.
Well Sid, I thought your playing was lovely, and that your recovery from the mistake was really well done. I keep thinking that the goal is to make friends with mistakes. That’s the only way I seem to be able to play through them! What a pretty piece!
The Cithara Nova harp is made by John Westling of Sandpiper Instruments. I heard a few years ago that he retired, and at that time was only making harps occasionally. I don’t know what the story is now. I have a Cithara Nova, and it is a beautiful instrument. It uses the composite Savarez strings, so it is very low tension, and has a very big, resonant, and bright sound. The bass on mine is particularly well articulated. A beautiful instrument. I have thought of selling mine from time to time, as I am moving into the pedal harp arena, and liking higher tension strings. I live in California, so not convenient to you. But if you would like to hear more, feel free to email me.
Ellen
elliebee3@comcast.netHi Onita! I don’t have an iPad, but I do use drop box as a place to put recordings of my music that I want to share with others. Sometimes recordings are just too big to email, and I have found dropbox very useful. If you have your recording on your computer, you just post it to dropbox, and then invite the people you want to view/listen to it. It is very simple, and up to a certain amount of memory, it is free. check it out.
I was taught that the very first thing to do when you have a buzz that is related to a particular string is to change the string. However, it sounds like you are noticing the buzz relating to different strings… but if you can isolate it, like Alison says, then change the string. It could also be the lever. I had to have a lever replaced with a stubborn buzz. The technician said sometimes they just go bad, or can have something loose in the cam mechanism. She replaced the cam first, and then the whole lever when that didn’t solve it. Good luck. I do appreciate how annoying this can be!!
I don’t know if this is helpful, but I had tennis elbow years ago, and the physical therapist was absolutely sure it was from my harp playing. My training has been completely celtic, so I don’t know a “method.” I worked with the physical therapist for many months, and I finally got better, without completely giving up my harp playing. I’ve been fine now for years. I did consider getting a cortisone shot, which was suggested to me, and if I were to do it again, I think i might go that route, because when successful, that can bring the inflammation right down, and you can move ahead. There are also braces you can wear on your fore-arm. I liked the “band-it” brand. You can get it at Amazon.com… just google “Band-IT elbow” and lots of things come up. This allows you to continue to use your hands, but keeps the tendon involved in tennis elbow quiet, so that it is resting and not getting more inflamed. I have played the harp with it on. Not my favorite thing to do, but you do get used to it, and for me, it was better than not playing at all. So those are the things that helped me. The Physical Therapist said he bet lots of harpists have had this problem, but you are the first I’ve heard of. Don’t give up, and don’t give up your harp. I hope you feel better soon.
By the way, I did get a lap sling, and it works great with my lap harp, a Triplett Zephyr (teeny-weeny), but it would easily accommodate a larger lap harp. I think it was only $35… can really solve the problem of holding lap harps, and the sling folds up and is completely portable.
Okay, don’t worry, the cats did get fed. Diana, don’t stop dreaming… you never know what might be possible. I wanted this for a long time, and here I am.
I know, I know. I get up and go play in the morning before I’ve even had my cup of tea or fed the cats (very bad!). Talk about obsessed! My fingers are a bit sore, due to the high tension and gut strings, but who cares? It sounds so very different from my beloved Dusty Strings. Very clear, and almost bell-like. I feel guilty, as I haven’t played my Dusty since this one came home on Tuesday, but I know I will. The Dusty is very special too. Anyway, I’m over the moon. thanks for listening!! By the way, I know there is a lot of discussion about harpmobiles on this website, but this harp fit in my old ’97 Saturn wagon (barely).
