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Saul, you are thinking about the Laurel and Hardy movie “The Flying Deuces.” There is a clip on youtube. Go to youtube, type “Laurel Hardy bed harp.” Maybe someone can post the link.
Saul, the recent years of Bow Brand strings break. Period. Doesn’t matter about humidity, etc. etc. I can only hope they resolve the problems because there are so few harp string manufacturers – I had hoped so until my recent set of strings kept breaking. But, let’s move on. The Premiere strings have a fantastic sound. Very full, resonant and clear. My guitar partner was astounded by the sound difference quality when we rehearsed this week. I’ve now had a set on a whole week and no breakage. It took that long for them to fully settle in. I love the feel and the sound. Try them and you will get your nice fat strings with warm tone. PS/ I wiped my off a few times with a microfiber cloth after stringing because the string coating initially felt a bit tacky.
Saul, you must have lucky Bow Brand gut strings. They have been problem strings for every other harpist for the past three years. There is a thread about this.
I just restrung the first 20 strings of my Iris with Bow Brand and within a week, 6 broke. Meanwhile, the lower octave Bow Brand strings have been on back order for more than a month which is why my harp was only half re- strung. When the 2nd octave F randomly broke on my other recently restrung harp (and the same string broke during communion at a wedding Oct. 17), I just about went insane.
Serendipitously, I received an email from Virginia Harp Center about their new Premiere strings. I immediately ordered a set and made arrangements to get rid of all my Bow Brand strings. The new Premiere strings made by Camac for the US market are like the old Vanderbilt gut. The sound is clear and full. My harp sounds better than it ever has, and these strings are easier to play, too.
You may want to check http://www.sheetmusicplus.com, http://www.musicnotes.com for piano duets. These sites show the first page of the music so you can test the piece to see if it works.
Go to the harp vendors, such as http://www.folkharp.com and http://www.harpconnection.com, http://www.harpcenter.com which also show the first page of a piece. There will definitely be harp duets at your playing level. Again, you can give the music a try to see if the piano sound works with your harp.
PS/ Music Notes, Melody Folk Harp and Sylvia Woods’ Harp Center (websites above) have a lot of PDF downloads so you can start to practice right away. Sheet Music Plus is slow to mail, and I have not been successful in using their download system. Harp Connection and Harp Center mail music promptly.
Alison, that app is so cool! Thank you for posting the youtube clip. I’ve sent it to a lot of people. The website is http://www.staffpad.net.
William Mahan has a number of theme books for lever harp. The pieces are written as a suite. My favorite is “Colors of Italy.”
Barbara Semman’s “Gentle Spirit” is excellent. There are 8 pieces in that collection.
Anything by Barbara Brundage. Check out Classics on Request (3 volumes). Substantive music for lever harp, close to original scores in sound (and sometimes transcription). Works well on pedal harp, as well.
The Oct. 28, 2015 Wall St. Journal on page D1 has an article about music games for children to encourage composing.
Compose Yourself is an exploratory board game designed to expose children to composing. The game uses 60 cards with printed musical measures that you string together to make a piece. You then plug the number of the card into a website to hear what you composed. This would be a wonderful “reward” to end a lesson. Distributor is Think-Fun, Alexandria. Virginia.
A software program mentioned is Groovy Music. Children select a scenario which has its own sounds and instruments to create a tune. Others are Morton Subotnick’s Music Academy, O’Generator (ages 10-15 – tough age group to keep engaged) and Apple’s GarageBand.
Thank you for the suggestions. I have wool felt fabric used for piano blankets I can try. I will look online to see if there are harp mutes and call Lyon-Healy. I will try that along with the cello mutes, both together and separately. It was also suggested to move the mics further from the soundboard. The sound engineer has tubes and panels set up and will move them around. I guess this will be a process of add and subtract until the sound is right. Any other ideas certainly welcome. I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond.
That you, Livia. My problem is not playing; it is a technical recording issue. I am muffling notes but that is not quite enough. I am going to try using cello mutes to lessen the string vibrations. Has anyone tried this in a recording studio situation?
BTW, you may want to go to youtube to see if anyone recorded the piece you are learning. Then you could watch another harpist play (presuming he or she recorded his/her self). I presume you are taking lessons so just keep working with your teacher – it will come to you with time and practice.
I buy a big red bow at a craft store. You could easily get ribbon and make one, too. I secure the bow with a velcro strip at the top of the column. Of course you could simply tie the bow onto the harp. My harp is ebony so red really pops and I like the bow to just be in the front. The velcro I use is black which does not show on my harp. Velcro now comes in a tan color, too. I would suggest finding ribbon that works with your harp and the decor of the restaurant. You can also pin or glue a decoration in the middle of the bow. One year I clipped on a red sequin bird for extra pizzaz.
Another suggestion is to wrap garland on the column. You could add battery lights, too.
Josh, I love your Harp Tuesday videos. I watch and recommend them. I saw this on Youtube, but then I realized pedal changes on a harp is one thing that is not gender neutral:) You are amazing with those pedal changes!
Alyson,
Go to youtube and type in “harp pedals stephanie claussen.” Watch her pedal changes. She places herself in such a way that her feet do not need to move a lot. I would suggest that you work with your harp instructor to come up with pedal exercises you do with a metronome. Perhaps you could move Bb to B, then Eb to E and work your way around the pedals. Then start with the outside pedals, and work inward. Or, work on your left foot first, then move to the right foot. As you get more proficient, speed up the metronome. Again your instructor is the best judge of how to help you – this is just an idea for you to consider.
You are probably just becoming more aware of pedal changes because you are playing more advanced music. In time with practice, you will change pedals without even thinking about it.
