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Colorado Case. Best money I ever spent. It also protects the instrument from temperature and humidity changes, which in your case will be a big help. Then you just check your harp like luggage and it flies with you, and will often still be in tune when you arrive. Check with the harpmaker about detuning before flight; Triplett advised me against it for mine.
Hi Caitlyn,Are you warming up before you play with exercises like the Salzedo Conditioning Exercises or Deborah Friou’s Exercises, or simply scales and arpeggios?I can’t say enough good things about the Salzedo exercises. They really build hand strength and finger independence. It could be that you just need to be a little “warmer” when playing. If I don’t play warm, I sometimes experience stiffness and pain. A few other ideas:Are you keeping your wrist in a straight line with your hand or is it “popping up” when you play? Are you making sure to close each finger fully into your palm after playing the string? Are you lifting after playing each note or chord?Are you playing thumbs up, forearms facing the ceiling (whether the back of your hands face up or to the side, these two points are important).If there’s any way you can have a teacher or even another harpist check your hand position, it would be great – but another idea is to videotape yourself! My teacher has recommended this to me over the years and it really helps. Sometimes we just can’t see what we’re doing wrong from behind the harp
HannahGet the Iona Inspirations book by Tina Tourin. There are two songs at least that have a piano/pedal harp part and a therapy harp part. They’d definitely sound good together! There are several more that could be played this way. There’s nothing too advanced on either harp or piano and they all sound more complex than they are. A CD is also included!
I’d have to say lever harp, because it’s so great to be able to take it anywhere easily, even my larger one!
Wow! Enjoy Boston, what a fabulous city! Sounds like you’re really taking it all in.
I also recommend the Museum of Fine Arts, where there is an amazing collection of musical instruments, including some antique harps!
http://www.mfa.org/collections/musical-instruments
If you get the chance to hear Maeve Gilchrist, jump at it. She is Scottish/Irish originally from Edinburgh and she lives in Boston and performs around town. She is a fantastic harp player!
http://www.maevegilchristmusic.com/Maeve_Gilchrist/HOME.htmlMy cat will sit right next to the harp for as long as I will play for him and gaze up at me. It’s so sweet. He doesn’t care for the piano at all but just loves the harp!
Liesl, contact Vixen Harps or the Classical Harp Academy in Ottawa.
We don’t have a harp dealer in Montreal, so people here rent from them.
Prices including tax for a fully levered will be between $80 – $100.The Reverie is not like a harp, but a zither or psaltery. The 3, 4, 5 seem to refer to different octaves, but I never have figured out what the first octave would be. It seems like it would be the octave around middle C, but that would make the 5 octave very high indeed.
I just tune to the notes on my Reverie and don’t worry about it. It’s pretty intuitive in that the lower notes are towards the centre and the higher notes are on either side of the instrument.
However, if someone can explain the 2345 thing, I’ll be grateful. Sunita Staneslaw uses this system to refer to lever changes in her “Great French Composers” book and I’d like to be able to understand it rather than picking through the music to figure out which F she’s referring to.Christina Tourin’s books are good. I use them and Cindy’s book playing in yoga classes and people always have positive things to say.
Love the term spa music, Edella! I just put 2 and 2 together and realized you are also Stacey’s student…So I stopped by the angel boutique where I sometimes play, and the owner shows me a new greeting card she’s just gotten in.
Imagine my surprise to see the Mid-East Pixie harp on a Tree Free Greetings card!
A Mid East Angel
(Sorry I couldn’t manage to embed it in the message!)I’ve been thinking about getting a first wire harp myself. I really like the Limerick! but I’m wondering if I could sort out the technique differences on my own.
There are no wire harp teachers in my area. I have three years of weekly lever harp lessons behind me and am planning on at least two more. Could anyone tell me if I might be able to play simple things on a Limerick with my fingertips, like, A versions in Sylvia Woods’ books without wire harp lessons? (or maybe just watching Cynthia Cathcart’s Youtube lessons?)
Here’s a Limerick on Youtube the player built herself, to give you an idea of the sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGhEYBqIOG8My nails, cuticles and fingertips are all prone to drying, breaking and cracking, and what really helps me is Weleda Skin Food. In winter I use it before bedtime and put on cotton gloves. I think my tone on the harp sounds better since I discovered this stuff (though it may be a perception related to my fingertips being so much more comfortable!)
I bought a Colorado Case with the fiberglass reinforcement for my Christina and was pleased with my first trip from Montreal to South Carolina and back. The low C lever arm did break off after I got back home, but from what I have read on this forum, this is almost to be expected with the low C Camac lever on the Christina and probably nothing to do with the travel – what the Camac levers gain in noiselessness, they also gain in fragility. (And Triplett sent me a replacement with its little wrench at no charge!)
I was pretty impressed that despite significant temperature and humidity changes between the two places, the harp arrived in tune and stayed in tune!
It is more expensive than buying another, smaller travel harp, but I loved having my own harp and all its levers with me, and figured there will be other occasions that I’ll use it for sure!
If you get a Colorado case, do get the fiberglass reinforcement for sure!
