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I’m curious about this statement. I have two harps made of walnut and neither one of them sounds “muddy” to my ears. Very rich in the bass, lots of sustain, and bright with a fair amount of attack in the upper octaves. Maybe this statement is in reference to the sustain?
And yes, if it is only finished in walnut, I can’t see where that would effect the sound. Maybe there is another factor in play here besides the wood.
Karen
Yup, just confirms what I already have thought before- having a piano background is a HUGE advantage when learning harp. You already have the bass clef learned, so sight reading is much easier, and you also have a strong background in chords, plus your hands are already used to going in different directions at the same time! I wish I would have taken piano, I know I would be a lot farther along than I am now.
Well, now that it’s the end of summer I have almost got ‘Summer Rain’ by Frank Voltz down! LOL Had a curve ball thrown at me though- wound up working a LOT more than I planned these past few months (like 50+ hours per week) so not much time left at the end of the day for the harp. At this rate I’ll have my Christmas music learned by Easter!
Karen
And you’ve only been playing since May?? That is astounding! How much do you practice, like 5+ hours a day? Really very good- perhaps you are a virtuoso in the making!
Karen
Barbara,
I just bought your arrangements of Claire De Lune & The Swan off of Sylvia Woods Harp Center website. Love the convenience of instant PDF files!
Looking forward to many wonderful hours practicing these…Karen
Two books I have came to mind: Sylvia Woods Music Theory and Arranging Techniques for Folk Harp and Deborah Friou’s Exercises for Agility and Speed. I also like Salzedo’s Conditioning Exercises.
Sylvia’s book is nice for figuring out left-hand patterns when all you have is a lead sheet with chords. She also explains how to figure out chords if you only have a melody line. She gives several examples of different patterns in different time signatures as well.
Karen
But what about your portability issue? Wouldn’t getting a pedal harp complicate this? Or even the Prelude- they weigh upwards of 40 lbs.
The total value of my three harps is around $13,000, but I would never trade them in for a used pedal harp. I’d feel confined to just one instrument, one voice. But that’s just me, and I’ve never been interested in pedal harps. I still feel that you may find you are a multi-harp person: at least one for performance and one for portability. At least this way you don’t have to make up your mind on just one!
Can you rent two at a time? Or buy one and rent another? Thoughts anybody?
Karen
Perhaps you should give a basic phone call to a basic harp instructor before you basically slam everyone on this forum for not being able to answer your basic question basically 3 hours after posting this. Just saying….
Karen
Well, I can’t speak for everyone here, but for myself I cross-under going up a scale, and cross-over going down. Anchoring the finger seems to be the best way to not lose your way.
Musicmaker’s sell blueprints for all models of their harps except the Voyageur. They also have a book on Harp Building written by the owner Jerry Brown for sale.
Karen
Renate,
Love all your harps and the songs you played on them! They all have very distinctive voices as well, but I have to say I like the Morley the best. Looks and sound, very nice harp, and the fact you learned Six Ribbons by ear is icing on the cake!
Would love the music to this haunting song, btw. Are you willing to share?Karen
My Dragonheart has an octave of gut strings, the next set above the bass wound wire (B-B). The rest are nylon. I could have requested more gut strings but I don’t trust them in the upper octaves after reading and seeing how easily they break. Plus the expense- no thank you! Not worth the supposed nicer sound (which I really haven’t noticed).
The Dragonheart pretty much has my full attention now!
I’m trying to acclimate myself to the different shape of the soundbox. Every harp is different and there will always be a “breaking in” period. At least that is what I keep telling myself to help with the guilt over neglecting the other two! The Voyageur also needs a new set of strings, it just
Not really. I’m dealing with medium-high (Dragonheart) to medium (Voyageur) to medium wire(Limerick). If I were going from low tension to high I think there would be more of an issue, but these tensions are fairly compatible, especially between the Limerick and Dragonheart. The wire makes my fingers a little more sore like the tighter upper strings of the Dragonheart. All three harps are super-responsive so I don’t feel like I have to pull more on one or the other.
