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Well, it’s here (at work). At 1pm, I have to go downstairs and:
- See how big the box is, and consequently how stupid I was to have it delivered to work instead of home,
- Unbox it and put it in its padded case, and
- Hope it will thereby fit in my fairly unremarkable sedan with the passenger seat all the way reclined.
It’s not a pedal harp, so it should be okay ultimately, but it may be an exciting time. I don’t want to put it into my car now, because it will have to sit in there from now until I go home; I’m cautiously optimistic that I should be able to get it into the car by myself. It’s not an Apollonia, for pete’s sake. The Dusty website says it weights a titch over 20lbs. I’ve lifted boxes of cat litter that were heavier.
I spent the entire weekend transcribing Italian tarantelle and quadriglie for folk harp, and even worked out “Vaga Luna” such that no mid-piece lever changes are required despite the accidental in the middle. Of course, they will all be well beyond me until I work my way painfully through the Sylvia Woods starter book and otherwise pay my dues. Not to mention that … well, as a non-harp player (yet!) they may be unplayable for far more basic reasons, mostly that I probably haven’t a clue WTH I’m doing. 🙂
I hope so! I’m actually a little concerned as well about quake-proofing it. I live in quake country, and I’m an apartment dweller, so driving an eyebolt into a ceiling beam isn’t an option nor strapping a wall stud. 🙁 It doesn’t weigh much, so there shouldn’t be a huge amount of mechanical strain involved in laying it on my bed on its side when I go to work, and I could probably put a blanket on the floor and put it on its side at night as well.
If there are any other harp owners who live in apartments in that situation, I’m curious as to how they may have dealt with this issue.
GAGH, this is going to be a painful couple of days. I feel like an 8 year old who has to wait for a trip to Disneyworld.
Thanks. 🙂 I dread tuning it. I’ve never had to worry about that before. I could get a viola on the dot, but that’s only 4 strings, untempered, and one can use harmonics to tweak it.
I downloaded a PDF set of directions on how to tune a harp, and I suppose I’ll see what happens when it gets here.
Would clear plastic be safe in an area with high humidity? I’m not saying it wouldn’t be; I actually don’t know.
I do very much feel the harp as an obligation; it was given to me for a specific purpose, and when I’ve tried to pull back on performing my concerns have been dismissed.
I’m concerned — who has been dismissing your concerns? If you want to pull back, you have every right to, IMO. Music is nice when shared, but I’ve been a pianist since I was small. I’m classically trained, and I compose and arrange … and I use a high-quality digital piano with headphones. I plan to sell or otherwise make available my sheet music at some point, but I write and play for ME. There’s nothing wrong with that.
You’re “meant” to play in the way that brings you joy. 🙂
This is going to sound like another cliche, but have you busked? Flopping in a performance, or with another musician, is not the sort of thing that can be easily dealt with by going into a room by yourself and practicing.
Are there ANY other local groups of musicians that you can work with to get used to performing and get used to the give and take of working with another musician? It seems that if you are having trouble performing live in front of people, and performing with another musician, that trying to solve it by going into a room by yourself and playing alone is not going to help. 🙁 I’d hate to see you put the harp down for want of not finding the right solution to a solvable problem.
Forgot to mention “Beyond the Notes,” Erica Sipes’ website. She’s a collaborative pianist and practice coach, and she’s got a REALLY great practical outlook, especially on the pragmatic survival-skill things like sight reading and how to really get pieces up to speed.
These are very charming stories — definitely keep a collection of them and of your own music. And don’t forget the best Irish harper and harp composer of them all, Turlough o’Carolan, couldn’t see either. I’m sure there’s a way to get your music written down.
Bulletproofmusician.com — a violinist, but he’s a professor of music performance or some such at Juilliard and VERY good. His blog is filled with tons of great articles on teaching and learning, and what students (and others) need to know about practice and performance, and especially the difference between the two.
You can always ask. 🙂
I think Christmas carols should be pretty lever-harp friendly. They are meant to be sung by untutored voices, so they don’t change key, and there aren’t many accidentals.
I think the story is charming — and maybe you can compose a short piece of harp music that you think is something like what Claddaugh must have played. Perhaps you could write a series of harp stories like this and publish them together with sheet music of the various songs and airs that people play in each of the stories.
I’ve gotten those e-mails as well, but they aren’t notifications, per se. The notifications that I’ve gotten in the past have alerted me to when people reply to specific threads that I’ve participated in before. Those, I’ve managed to unsub myself from.
The other e-mails (about Harpmobiles and whatnot) appear to just be generic e-mails letting all subscribers know about new content on the site.
I just want to make sure that everyone is using the word “notifications” the same way …
Adam, would you be able to add another review after you’ve had this one for a while, talking about maintenance, how well it holds tune, and how well it plays? I’m curious as to what you will think after having it for a while. I still want to get a harp and am leaning toward something like this, but have had to put those plans on a longer-term hold due to having to travel back home to take care of my mom who had some health challenges recently. She’s doing much better, but I need to recover a bit financially before I can go spending a couple BOATs on anything.
Nevertheless, a cross-strung is still among the front-runners when I am finally able to go shopping for real.
Have thought that Bellini’s “Vaga Luna” for piano and tenor would work VERY well on viola. Would be nice for your situation if the piano part can be moved onto the harp decently or with a little arranging. Score on IMSLP:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Vaga_luna_che_inargenti_%28Bellini,_Vincenzo%29
Drop the voice part down an octave for a viola; that’s where it would sit on a tenor voice.
