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Thank you everyone for your helpful comments. Any other advice is welcomed. Musitek has a trial download which I am going to try next week. I tried Musescore and found that too laborious. With that you have to write in every note. It was difficult to correct mistakes.
Sue, I quickly recognized that in transposing, the beginning to the song would be in the wrong octave. Thank you for pointing out you need to think about what happens when you transpose and the editing which may ensue. Andelin, I will check on the app. I do not have Finale or other music software. I will let everyone know what ultimately works (I hope something works!)
Oh, David, what a universe you live in. I missed hearing about your Christmas pageant with the tiger ready to swipe his paw on your back when the conductor gave the cue. I presume you did not play it this year? PS. Maybe this “potential” wedding should go by the wayside like the one in Mexico last year….as always, you liven up HC.
Andelin, if you have now figured out how to play a harmonic, I would suggest you work on just one string until you get a clear bell-like sound. Volume does not matter – go for clarity. Volume will come as you get better. Once a particular string becomes automatic, add a string or two. Then work on harmonics played on sharped strings. This is like riding a bicycle; once you learn, you never forget. Even though you may not see a lot of harmonics in your music, added harmonics with one or both hands together are great to give a little pizazz to the music or end a piece.
Your teacher may want to check out the music on http://www.folkharp.com. Much of the music at Melody’s is available as a PDF so you would not have to worry about shipping costs if what you select is available in PDF. I use this site a lot because it shows the first page or more of the music. You can try before you buy. Kathryn Cater has excellent student harp music. It is available there and on other harp music websites. BTW, Harp Connection also shows a sample page of music.
In the clips you posted, the harpist is first playing at the bottom of the soundboard using the fingertip, not the nail. Same with the second clip except the harpist is playing a little higher on the strings. Neither requires the string to be played with a fingernail, just the fingertip. Besides, your fingers nails should be so short that playing the string with your nail would require extra effort (no comments from the wire harpists:).
Your son looks exactly like mine at that age. What a wonderful performance. You have every reason to be a proud father. I hope the music interest will continue and you have years of playing duets together.
Donna, I live in Florida where it seems like everyone is bionic. My husband had his hip replaced, and we have a lot of friends who have had knee or hip replacements. If you can do the rehab exercises prior to surgery, that will help a lot with recovery. Ask about that. It will give you something positive to do while you wait. My husband was walking a mile in 10 days after his hip replacement – in part because he did not want to wear compression stockings in hot weather and because he started rehab in earnest prior to surgery. And, the post-surgery mantra from the joint replacement crowd is ‘slow but steady.’ My best to you on your surgery and may you be pain free.
The best way to learn harmonics is sit with someone who knows how to do them so you can figure out what you are doing right and wrong. I don’t know if there is a harpist or harp instructor nearby you but a lesson is the easiest way to learn. Small hands and fingers have nothing to do with harmonics. It is about correct placement, pressure on the string and timing the pluck. This comes from learning how to coordinate this movement and lots of practice to make it automatic. If you can do left hand harmonics, watch how you do that and then apply what you observe to your right hand.
Initially, you could go to youtube and watch the tutorials. If that does not help you figure this out, I would encourage you to have a lesson(s) in person or try a Skype lesson.
The harp part works really well. Congratulations on your harp scoring. I would love to hear this with viola or alto flute and harp. I am not knowledgable about singing and cannot comment on that. Thank you for sharing your music. Let us know if you publish it for sale.
Update: I restrung my other concert grand (Apollo) with Premier gut strings while my husband and son bonded Christmas day. Surprisingly, I was able to practice for 3 hours today before the harp needed a serious re-tuning. My other harp took about 10 days and constant tuning before the strings really settled in. I noticed no dramatic difference in sound as I did my other harp. The Premier strings sound more clear and the bass notes a bit cleaner sounding on my Apollo than with the Bow strings. Again, no strings broke when I put them on.
Premiere strings have been on my concert grand harp for almost a month.
Here’s the score:Premiere strings – 0 broken; Bow Brand strings on other harp – 3 broken
Sylvia,
I would play a gliss instead of the repeated 4 chords. You may also want to use some arpeggios in both hands to make the arrangement more harp-like instead of sounding like a piano. Nice playing and thanks for sharing!
I wrote about the Premiere a few days ago in the thread about fluorocarbon strings. After 3 years of frustration with Bow Brand, I tried the Premiere gut strings. I love them. Very clear, resonant sound. My harp has never sounded better. My guitar partner was awestruck by the new sound. He could not believe it was the same harp. For those who used the old Vanderbilt gut, these are very similar. I did find I needed to wipe them with a microfiber cloth a few times to get rid of the initial tacky feel. You do need to give the strings a bit more slack when putting them on – at least in the 3rd octave and esp. lower strings. They loosen up after going on the harp. It was a relief to feel like a string was not going to break on me. I’ve had these on about 2 weeks and no breakage.
I highly recommend them. Premiere is made by Camac for Virginia Harp Center. The Premiere costs a little bit more than Bow. But with all the Bow Brand strings, I’ve broken, I think I may come out ahead with Premiere. Time will tell. I suggest not mixing the Bow and Premiere strings.
And, as stated before, I am hoping Bow gets their problems resolved so harpists have string choices.
