[Jodi Ann Tolman]

I have some that may interest you. Particularly my “Away in a Manger & Silent Night Medley” which is simple yet beautiful. Sample lines of music and full videos are shown:

https://www.musicbyjodiann.com/p/christmas-harp-arrangement.html

-Jodi Ann Tolman

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Hi John,

Yes! I did purchase a Thormahlen Serenade more than 4 years ago now. I absolutely love it and couldn’t be happier! Its tension is definitely lighter than concert gut, but that’s been good for me. The Serenade’s sound is so warm and beautiful and much richer than other nylon-strung harps. And the dynamic range on it is huge! I can easily play very loudly without much effort and the harp just projects so well. I do have the taller feet on it which has been helpful. If you’d like to hear how it sounds, you can visit my YouTube channel. My videos might also give you an idea of how the harp “fits” me since I’m 5’8″. https://www.youtube.com/jodianntolman

I can’t comment on the folk gut strings. I don’t have experience with them.

Good luck with your decision.
Jodi

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Hi Olivia,

Thank you so much for your kind compliments! I actually used to be a portrait photographer, so I have a lot of photography equipment and experience. The room where I record my harp videos is naturally bright, but I do shoot towards a large window that you can see behind me in my videos, so I use two photography lights on light stands with white umbrella diffusers, just to fill in some shadows with light. Those lights also allow me to record videos on darker, rainy days–they simulate a soft natural light. But you don’t have to have fancy lights to make good videos. Just record yourself so that you are facing a window (without direct sunlight) and you should get some nice soft natural light.

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

This is the one I have been using for more than two years now and I really like it: https://www.bluedesigns.com/products/yeti/

I set it to the cardiod pattern. You can hear how it sounds on my videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jodianntolman

I put the microphone on a stand directly in front of my harp, angled to face the soundboard. I tested out lots of different locations for the mic but found this one to give the best sound and balance.

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Just an update… I’ve found a MUCH better way to show bracketing. The way I described above can work fine, but it doesn’t allow for notes rising or falling that would need a slanted bracket line. So here’s how to do a more versatile bracket.

1. Under “Lines” select the plain, straight line.

2. Drag the straight line over the first note you want to bracket to “attach” the line.

3. Double click on the line and drag one of the boxes on the ends of the line to move it up or down to create the amount of slant that you want.

4. Right click on the line and select “line properties”, then check the boxes to put a hook on each end of the line.

5. Drag and resize the line to be whatever length and slant you’d like!

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

So I’ve been playing more with brackets and this is what I’ve come up with.  I use the “first ending” bracket and then double click it and drag to make it the length I want.  Then right click on it to edit line properties and I decrease the size of the hooks and delete the “1.”

I hope this makes sense.  I’ve attached a picture of a sample.

Then to add fingerings, I use the fingerings  given in the palettes menu just to drag and drop the appropriate number onto the note I want.

Hope this helps!

 

-Jodi

• This reply was modified 9 years, 6 months ago by Jodi Ann Tolman.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 6 months ago by Jodi Ann Tolman.

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[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Hi Jennifer,

I’ve actually been playing around with adding lever changes and searched google, and here’s how I finally discovered how to do it…

1. Select the rest in the bass clef where you want the lever change indicated

2. In the top menu bar, click Add > Text > Staff Text

3. In the options bar that then comes up at the bottom of the screen, click on the far left icon with the alpha symbol. It says “insert special characters”. (Or you can hit F2.)

4. Click on the “Musical Symbols” tab

5. Scroll down the list on the left to “Shape Note Noteheads” to find the diamond shape.  (There is also a bigger diamond in the list called “Slash Noteheads” that you can use if you like them bigger–I’m still trying to decide which will end up looking best on printed paper. The smaller one looks more normal, but the larger one is very easy to see.)

6. Click and drag the diamond onto your bass clef where you want it.

7. Repeat the same process above to add the natural sign, sharp, or flat in front of your diamond.  (Those accidental symbols are under the “Common Symbols” tab.

Happy composing!

-Jodi

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Thank you for the suggestions. These songs sound lovely!

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

This is all very helpful, information, Christy-Lyn.  Thank you very much! I’m aware of Sheet Music Plus, but I didn’t know that it worked as you described.  That could be highly beneficial. Thank you so much for passing this info along!

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Thank you for all this information.  It’s very helpful.

Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me what it costs to get permission to arrange a non-public domain song and be able to sell it?  I wonder if it wouldn’t be worth the cost if I’d never sell enough copies to recoup the amount paid to get permission.  But I have no idea what the cost of that would be.

If it’s too expensive and unreasonable for me, I’m happy to stick with public domain songs for now–mostly hymns.  But what is the best way to actually go about selling those songs? Selling PDFs would be obviously the simplest route. So is it best to create my own website? (But then driving traffic there is difficult.) Somehow find a publisher? (What is involved with that?) Or will places like Melody’s or other online music sellers sell my music for me? And what kinds of fees are associated with that? In other words, even if I’m sticking with arrangements from public domain, what’s the best way to get my music “out there”?

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Thanks, Balfour.  I really enjoy Brook’s music.  I’ll have to check out those other pieces.

Gretchen, I’ve heard talk of Little Fountain but I’ve never learned it.  I’ll have to go take a look at it.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Hi Jennifer!

I’m not familiar with Joyce Rice at all.  I’ll have to take a look at her music.  Thanks for the suggestion!

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Thank you very much for your insights!  I actually ordered Essence of the Swan, Music of Friends Vol. 1 and a few other songs by Angi Bemiss today (Rachel’s Song, Sweet Dreams, Hymne, and You Raise Me Up).  It sounds like these arrangements might not be challenging enough for me to use for lesson material, but it sounds like I will very much enjoy playing them for fun!  I’m excited to try them out. Thanks!

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Thanks for these suggestions, Gretchen!  I’ll go take a look at them.  I like that it’s easy to find sound clips of Voltz’s music!

I’ve spent hours looking at harp music at those two websites, and I have a long list of songs I might be interested in. I guess I just feel like it’s such a gamble to order some pieces that I can’t find recordings to on YouTube.  It’s just hard for me to trust my judgement of pieces with only seeing a few lines of the piece and not being able to hear it first.  I think I’m just a nervous music purchaser when I can’t tell exactly what I’m getting!  😉

The other problem is that there are SO many pieces I’m potentially interested in, it’s hard to narrow them down since I can’t possibly buy ALL of them! 🙂  So it’s helpful to hear what’s popular with other people. Thanks for your suggestions!

[Jodi Ann Tolman]

Oh, good to know! I wasn’t aware of that option. I’ll have to play with it and see how Musescore handles imported PDFs. Thanks for the tip!

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