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Just read through the home page on the link above, and it looks like they have made a version for Windows 10. I’ll have to check it out!
Has anyone here used Staffpad for Surface, yet? I’ve watched a couple of videos for it, and of course it looks like the best thing ever. If it lives up to the promises, it could be a great tool. Only available for Surface, though, last time I looked. http://staffpad.net/
Does anyone know if the finish can be touched up by a luthier, if that is all it is? Or would that be a send it back to Chicago scenario?
This happened to me this last Christmas. I attend a large church (not a mega church–about 650 congregants) with a platform/stage large enough to hold an orchestra and choir, and was asked to play for a special service. I purposely located my harp as far away from the congregation as possible, completely upstage on a small platform just in front of the organ that resides center stage. An elderly gentleman, wanting to come talk to me afterwards, instead of walking around to the side of the platform, grabbed the harp column to help himself up the front of the platform! Luckily, I was standing at the harp and was able to grab the knee block and column before he and the harp went tumbling down to the ground. My heart still gets a little flutter thinking about it!
I can do it with my right hand a bit–I guess decades of playing the piano where the orientation of thumb low/pinky high is the same (made it really hard when I started the harp and had to flip that concept around!), but left hand not so much. These young women have certainly found and developed a niche for themselves. I have people who probably would never think of listening to harp music outside a hospice setting sending me their videos all the time. It’s all good! 🙂
Thank you for your quick reply! This harp is around 15 years old, and I am the second owner, but it was in practically showroom condition when I bought it a year ago. The previous owner did not play it very much, and it looks like it mostly sat around covered as the discs and plates are mirror bright. Ed Galchick did a regulation on it last summer and said it was like a brand new instrument. The previous owner moved from Los Angeles to the Puget Sound area by Seattle a few months before I got it. There are no buzzes, and the rib looks tight against the soundboard. I play pretty full and practice a lot, so I hope no buzz/lifting is a good indication that this is just cosmetic. Thank you for the info on the grain direction–I’ve wondered about that. I had read that the grain of soundboards was horizontal, and wondered at the structural integrity of the vertical grain that I was looking at, and why mine wasn’t horizontal. I didn’t realize I was looking at the veneer. Doh! (facepalm!) Looks like I need to do some more studying along with my practicing! I feel a little better now, and hope to have good news after “her” checkup.
Also, looks like I need to get Carl Swanson’s maintenance book… 🙂
The first two “starter” harps were not named but affectionately referred to as “my sweet little harp,” and “the princess,” or “la petite,” referring to my little Dusty Strings Ravenna 26, and later my L&H Prelude 40 with her crown. I finally came into a Salvi Diana. My mother always wanted to help me buy a CG when I felt I was ready to move to one, but she was suddenly taken away from me 2 years ago January, with pneumonia. A year later, to the day, I received an email that the owner of the Diana that I had tried to purchase before Thanksgiving, was finally, for sure ready to sell. It is a gorgeous instrument in showroom condition that feels like it was meant for me–a finer instrument than I ever thought I would have. It’s voice is heavenly and rich–like caramel and dark chocolate–Mom’s favorite. My mother left me a legacy that helped purchase it, and I couldn’t think but to name it in her honor. My mother was a blonde Norwegian with the somewhat curious maiden name of Bloom, and my beautiful blonde Italian harp is la Signora Fiore (Mrs. Flower [bloom]). Mom made it all possible–not only acquiring this harp, but my love of music, and all those piano, then voice lessons which turned into a modest opera career, that finally led to the harp. Thank you, Mom!
I liked the red, and thought it was stunning in the broadcast. Would I want a 6’3″ RED instrument in my living room–probably not, lol! I did see this green Salvi Minerva that is actually quite beautiful to me. It was featured on the cover of HC with Ben Creighton Griffiths. I’ve always liked the colors on some of the historical instruments, especially the blues and greens when embellished with gold.
http://www.bjcg.co.uk/pages/p7ssm_img_1/fullsize/2010_08_new_harp_fs.jpg
