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Kathy: That was our goal–to simply identify everyone as a “harpist.”
Alison: I’m not quite sure what to say about the layout, since we have people using many different browsers which are all rendering things slightly differently. I realize it’s different and may take some getting used to. We do appreciate the feedback and want to fix problems that are really getting in the way, so please keep letting us know what is/is not working. We are reading all your comments carefully.
Thanks everyone for the input!
Hi Emma: I’ve put two harps in a station wagon many times. I put the first one in the usual way, with the discs up. Then, VERY carefully, I put the second one in with the discs down, and pad heavily between the two so they are not bumping and the discs are protected. It’s not ideal, but I’ve been very careful and used a lot of padding and never had any problems. The much easier way would be to rent a minivan. Depending on the seating configuration you can usually stow or remove seats to have enough room to load two harps on their column so they don’t touch at all. You still need a lot of padding and ways to secure them so they stay upright and don’t bump each other. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the inside scoop Ashley! We’d love to hear more about your experiences—how about a blog?? I’m sure people would love to know more about you and how you got this gig! Have you done any other movie/tv work?
Hi all: thanks for your input. Our new structure was designed to be less intimidating, not more! The reasoning behind the new set up is that we didn’t want to make a distinction between lever and pedal, amateur and professional, because people might miss posts they could give helpful responses to. We felt topics like “How to Play” and “Repertoire” would apply to everyone, regardless of level or type of harp, and that way more people would see everything and contribute useful responses that would benefit more people.
@[[hugh-brock:User:Hugh Brock]] is not going to like me for letting this cat out of the bag, but on our “to-do” list is giving you the ability to create groups, which will all contain their own discussion forum. So if you want to start a group for amateur lever harpists that live in Antarctica and all own purple parakeets, go for it! I can’t say when we will have this feature up and running but it’s on our list, along with private messaging. Hopefully soon…
Keep the input coming! We’ve got more updates scheduled for the very near future…
—Kim
Hi Jessica: Glad this arrangement worked for you! I really like @[[the-christmas-harpist:Piece:The Christmas Harpist (Marzuki, Marilyn)]] collection, so I’ve added it to our library in case anyone else wants to reference this conversation!
I second all of Carl’s great suggestions! This is a tricky piece for so many reasons. Although I’ve played @[[a-ceremony-of-carols:Piece:A Ceremony of Carols (Britten, Benjamin)]] many times, each new performance with each new choir brings new challenges. With usually only one rehearsal, the choir often isn’t used to the sound of the harp and may have trouble keeping steady tempo and pitch. Absolutely know the vocal part, and write in vocal cues for the spots that are repetitive and easy to get lost (Spring Carol!). The best piece of advice is to just be prepared to be flexible, because each performance is going to be a little different.
Hi Elizabeth: just replying to let you know we are having problems again tagging pieces. @[[hugh-brock:User:Hugh Brock]] is on it and I’ll fix your tag as soon as possible!
My situation is the same as Carl’s. I tried progressives (are regular progressives different from “computer progressives”?) and couldn’t even play. Since I try NOT to move my head back and forth a lot, they did not work at all for me. I can’t believe I’m saying this on a public forum, but I just succumbed to …ahem….bifocals, complete with the line. So far they’ve been working for practice, and I’ll be trying them out with a conductor this week. I don’t really need anything to see the conductor, but I don’t like having to peer over my harp glasses so I’m hoping this will work.
In addition to all the great suggestions already mentioned, I’ve had good luck with Music for Three, which you can find here: [http://www.lastresortmusic.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=139_143](http://www.lastresortmusic.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=139_143). There are a bunch of different volumes, designed to work with 2 treble clef instruments, one bass clef instrument, and optional keyboard. By using the keyboard part, you can usually leave out one of the other parts, so it works for many combinations. It’s all transcriptions of classics, which would be suitable for any wedding/background gig. The keyboard parts can be tricky, but since they’re transcriptions I don’t mind leaving things out (or “improvising”) that don’t work on the harp.
The Christmas Music collections by Ernie Brock are really well done. They’re written for lever harp but work fine on pedal harp too.
Hi everyone! Just a reminder to tag names of pieces in posts like this: @[[ceremony-of-carols:Piece:Ceremony of Carols (Britten, Benjamin)]], that way your forum question will be attached to the piece and people can easily see it if they have the same question. To tag a piece, just type the @ symbol and then begin typing the name of the piece.
My preferred fingering is 1/3 2/4 on beats 1 and 2 and 5 and 6, and using the left hand for the bottom notes on beats 3 and 4.
Hi all! I believe forum transfer is at the top of @[[hugh-brock:User:Hugh Brock]]’s to-do list! I hesitate to give an actual date, but I know he’s working on it as I type this!
The Marzuki arrangement is still my favorite arrangement of this piece after 30 years. It can be played on lever or pedal harp and sounds great on either. For me, this piece is usually played at a midnight service on Christmas Eve, when I am tired, cold, playing in a dark environment, and everyone is listening intently. The last thing I want is to be stressing out about a difficult arrangement. So this one is it for me! It is interesting without being difficult, as are the other arrangements in the book.
