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Just in case someone is interested, I found a harpist from Hong Kong that does adaptations for 12-string harp and they are surprisingly good! Her YouTube channel is called “Harp Channel HK”.
Here’s My heart will go on :
12 String Small Harp – Titanic My Heart Will Go OnAnd You raise me up
You raise me up / 12 string baby harpThere’s a lot more on there and I am seriously impressed, because she looks like she’s playing a toy!
Very sad news. I love is YouTube videos, he was very talented. He went through hardships…
Thank you for that input Biagio!
I know that some teachers recommend busking in order to get over shyness and stage fright. It’s great to know that people are fascinated and don’t care about the level of playing! 😉
(But as a shy person, isn’t it hard to have to speak to so many people?)Hi Christy and Biagio,
You make a really good point! I didn’t think of the room on the double-strung and the fact that Camac levers might not be doable.
I realise now that changing levers on a double-strung is more trouble than I thought. If I was absolutely dissatisfied with my Loveland levers, perhaps I would think about it, but as it is they work perfectly for my level of playing.
Great post with really informative input, everyone 🙂
Hey!
I know this is an old post, dating back to 2015. But I’m really interested to know if other people have taken their harp out busking, and what was their experience!
Any of the posters still around to tell us if they’ve tried it? What did you think?Since this weekend is the “Random Acts of Harping” weekend (or so I’ve heard), maybe people have tried something new.
Playing outside doesn’t have to be for money, but if it was, how did that change the experience?On a related note, are there members that play at Renaissance Faires or other medieval settings? How does that go? Do you specifically play medieval music or other things?
Hello Sidney, thank you for your input!
Indeed, apart for the holes on the strings where you have not added levers, your replacement looks great.
I think you make a good point when saying ” If you are happy with the voice of your harp, it’s is not like you want to or need to go buy another harp to have the levers you like.”
Indeed, better buy a new harp with $2000!
Thank you for your added explanation, Biagio, much clearer now
Hey everyone, thank you for your feedbacks!
Bottom line, that’s what I thought : there will be holes that need to be filled, and the overall work is not really worth it if the original levers do the job. Good to know!
@ Biagio, I’m not sure I understand this passage very well :
Often, especially if replacing Lovelands with Truitts, you just have to loosen the string, remove the old, retighten the string and slide the new lever in. Check the sharp pitch, mark new holes, drill and screw. If the old screw hole shows but does not block a new one, just fill it with a dab of wood paste. New finish if needed may be applied with a cotton swab.
Do you mean to say that in the particular case of replacing Loveland for Truitts, the positioning and the holes are similar enough?
@ Wil-Weten, thank you for your advice! I know that Camac levers are much more expensive in the US. I don’t intend to replace anything on my harp, but it’s good to see what might be doable if I change my mind.
Definitely don’t throw it in the garbage, it would be such a huge waste! (Although I have heard of someone who got her hands on a pedal harp this way…)
1) I’m sure someone would be willing to take it off your hands and have a try at repairing it. I know that before having enough money to start renting a harp, I would have done everything to have such an opportunity.
Unfortunatly, I live in Europe so it would cost more than the price of a few harps to do it in this case… But perhaps someone else will be willing too.2) If not, perhaps a music school would like the gift. They might have a student who would want to repair it, or use it as decoration.
3) Perhaps the parts can be recycled : if Aoyama in the US won’t do it, some amateur harp-makers might want to take a look…
4) Like Gretchen said, it can perhaps be recycled as decoration.
Here is a Buch of example of guitar recycling :
And piano :
The only reason I can’t find the same kind of DIY projects for the harp is because they are rare and expensive!
I hope you find a good use to this harp 🙂Hey George!
I find myself asking the same questions and being on the same progression path. So here are ressources that I personally found helpful in the last few month, to make myself try something new.
First, Josh Laynes‘ Fundamental exercises on the harp – chord progressions. Harp Tuesday ep. 122.
You probably already know this great harp teacher with a lot of wonderful videos.
This one kind of “unlocked” something for me : by understanding inverted chord and practicing them, this video really helped. I tried to replace my usual “C 1-5-8” (C-G-C) pattern with inverted chords and it can make very different things.Then, you can look at Tiffany Shaeffer‘s How to Add Left Hand Chords.
She has a lot of videos of traditional Celtic tunes such as O’Carolan tunes, and she only teaches the high-hand part, using the oral tradition. It is then up to you to creates the left hand, with no notation. This is great exercice to let go of the music score.Starting with “Lead Sheet” or “Fake books” helps : they only write down the right hand but give the general chord for the left hand, so that you don’t have to fumble around for ages. Knowing that the chord you should use is “C”, it is up to you to find the chord that fits best.
This video explains what you can do with that. I have found it a great help for letting go of what is “right” and focusing on what I want to create.
And O’Carolan is great because it has been adapted by so many people on so many instruments that you can draw inspiration from everyone for your own tune.Finally, if these free tutorials helped you, I found that the book Music Theory and Arranging Techniques by Sylvia Woods takes that to the next level.
Sylvia Wood – Harpcenter – Arranging Techniques
If you know how to read sheet music, this has 24 chapters of progression to try out different arranging patterns. There is about a hundred piece in there with tips on how to arrange them.
I personally bought it in pdf so I could have it immediately, and it’s great to read on a iPad or computer and print out (for your own use) one or two favorite tunes so that you can scribble an arrangement on paper.
I haven’t progressed much in this book because of a lack of time, and also because I’m quite bad at reading sheet music, I take a long time to decipher them. I would love a CD to go with it. But the tips and really useful anyhow!So here’s my advice for starters. Do tell me if it has helped you along as well!
I think that by starting with well-known tunes, it’s easier to move on with your own interpretation, and eventually compose simple tunes by yourself.
Good luck and keep us informed!Hey Alaina,
I’m a member of the forum Will-Weten pointed at as well.
You’re in luck, Normandy is one of the French region with the most harp teachers. How good is your French?You can contact the Maison de la Harpe, they’re supposed to have a list up to date. Maison de la Harpe – Dinan.
You can also check out this website, with a few caveat :
– The website is old (and it shows) and you need French to understand it
– I don’t know the association and the people in it, nor how up to date it is.
– I think the list only provides members that contribute to the association by paying rights : so many teachers might not be listed there.
Ecoles de musique avec harpe en France – Par école et professeursOtherwise there’s a lot of seminars (stage) around, definitely check out the Forum Harpistique.
Good luck!
Coming back to the topic, I realise that this question is not as simple as it seems.
As Carl said :
In that key, you have 3 flats available to you (B flat, E flat, and A flat). That’s as far in the flat direction you can go in this tuning
I’ve picked up a harp score with 5 flats : that means that I can’t have my harp tuned in E flat. I have to change, for example, the “D” into a “C sharp”. (Truth be told, I still haven’t figured if all out yet).
So yeah, that’s something to take into account with tuning : either change the harp score or re-tune the harp all the time!
