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Liam, Liam-
Just play with your fingerpads- I need someone on my side anyways. LOL Your steel strings will sound just as nice. It’s OK to experiment, right? You could just use the very tips of your fingers and use your crab hand position, that way when your nails grow out you won’t be compromising your preferred
Hi Phoebe-
I too have a harp student and I am new to teaching. My student is older and has similar issues. I actually use three instruction books, using music and exercises from each section as they apply. The books I use are Sylvia Woods Teach Yourself The Folk Harp, Pamela Bruner Play The Harp Beautifully 1&2, and Exercises for Speed & Agility by Deborah Friou.
I started with the basics- body and hand position. First question: does she need to rest this harp against her shoulder? I have a mid-size lever harp and although I tilt it back, I position it on an angle so that my knees grip and support the soundbox and my shoulder does not contact the harp. Having the harp angled slightly also enables me to see the strings better without having to crane my neck. There is an excellent article by Laurie Riley on proper body and hand position that I think might benefit you- email me and I’ll try and send it along to you.
Really the proper hand and body position is what I think you should start with. Good habits established are much easier to maintain than breaking bad habits- and this I know from my own personal (and painful) experience.
I haven’t installed levers on my Limerick yet, but I do plan on getting the C’s & F’s at least. I find that much of the Irish & Scottish songs are played
Maybe it would be better to ask what type of harp we all play and then go from there…
Here’s another thought to ponder- is there any other classification of instrument that has this duality? The only one that comes to mind for me is a fiddler versus a violinist. Reading what I have here from this thread it makes me wonder if there is a violin forum out there and if this question posed would cause the same type of reactions.
I’m just passing along what I was told by two harp designers that have been at this for 20+ years. This is their observations I am relying on. I just want everyone to be aware of this- I neither have the experience as either a designer or builder to make these statements about
If you look at the style of the Limerick, you will see the relatively straight neck. Some harp models, like pedal
Try paint markers for your strings- they seem to endure longer. Be careful with the wound strings though (if you have any)-the paint seeping into the grooves tends to deaden the sound.
Then to answer the question posed by Audrey one would simply say “I play both folk and pedal harp”-right? I don’t mean to be argumentative either, but this is a simple question to me, as I think it was intended from the beginning. Now it seems to have turned into a big can of worms (or harp-strings, if you will). LOL
I found the same thing with my Limerick (Taliesin). The steel strings came up to pitch after only a few tunings, while my
And I could be the devil’s advocate with my opinions on playing the strings with fingerpads….this could get spicy….LOL
Whoops, mistake-
When you go to http://www.harpkit.com click on “Sounds” in the left side menu. That will get you to the Limerick wire strung chord progression and song samples.
Yes Liam & Audrey you knew I was going to chime in sooner or later….
You can play a steel strung wire harp with fingerpads, using the same hand position as nylon. I have for over six months now, and Pamela Bruner does too. She has the same model harp.
Honestly, the only difference I have noticed with fingernails versus pads is the volume in the upper range. The steel strings have a lovely, huge, bell-like sustain to them. I have listened to the Cynthia Cathcart videos on YouTube and cannot tell a huge difference between the different strings.
