Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Carl’s harps are about the height of many semi grands, 72 inches. I might add he also has a lot of beautiful used petite harps for sale, many of which would probably fit your needs well too. I use ZipCar and have driven a variety of vehicles with my harp, and my 74″ concert grand is a very close fit in many (combined with my own 72″ height). Those extra two inches of a 72″ harp would make many vehicles a much better fit, and something like a Style 12, an 85P, a Camac Clio, or a Venus Seraphim would be a relative breeze.
One advantage of a semi grand over a petite harp is that if you later develop a desire to play more classical harp repertoire, the extra strings would be useful. Most semis have 46, which will do the job for most repertoire written (you can retune the low D to a C if you really need it). The extra string of a concert grand isn’t a major consideration for most amateur playing. In addition, many semis have the same soundbox and soundboard dimensions but are just a little shorter. Some are intentionally a bit narrower to make them a little easier to move around and fit into spaces, as well as lighter. Personally, if my budget were unlimited, I’d own a petite harp of 42-44 strings for church and chamber music, plus most rehearsals if the range allows, and save the concert grand for wind ensemble concerts. I’d also own my own vehicle and a parking space, but that’s another story.
I was recently thinking that I like how all playing questions are now together by topic and not by the harpist’s status as a professional or an amateur. I prefer the current arrangement, though I can see the other view.
I’ll see if I’m able to come up with some simple drawings and post them tonight from home. In the meantime, I’ll try to explain it more briefly and simply. Have you loaded the harp into a larger vehicle before? If so, the easiest way to load a harp into a Prius is the same, with the top of the column behind the driver’s seat and the base in the back on the passenger’s side.
That might not work for taller people (over 5’9” / 1.75m) who need more space to drive. Those people will need to put the harp in with the base behind the passenger’s seat (there will be no room for a passenger) and the crown in the back on the driver’s side. That is much harder because you have to lift the entire harp and put it in. It’s also hard to remove the harp. It’s much easier with someone to help lift the harp.
Gretchen’s advice is also good – a friend with a van or a minivan would make it much easier, especially with a harp with as much gold and carving as a Style 26.
The Prius V is the larger Prius, isn’t it? You’ll probably need to move the driver’s seat as far forward as you can while still being able to drive, then load it in the regular way, with the crown behind the driver’s seat and close to the door, and the base against the passenger’s side wall, so the neck is behind the passenger’s seat and the column a diagonal. The vertical clearance between the hatch door and the base will be very close and you might need to wiggle the harp a little this way and that to be able to close the door, or try to get an extra half inch somewhere by moving the seat up any more or trying to get the harp angles a little more.
If it’s still not enough and you can’t close the hatch, you’ll have to do what I did with my harp when I rented a Prius: move the passenger’s seat as far forward as it will go, flip the back of the seat forward, then load the harp in base first as far in as it will go, behind the front passenger’s seat. This requires a significant amount of physical exertion, and another person’s assistance loading and unloading helps tremendously. The harp will become very hard to slide in once it goes about halfway, and you’ll need to go around to the passenger door and pull it the rest of the way while lifting the base a bit. That’s very hard to do, and if one person raises the base up while another keeps pushing the harp in, it goes so much easier. Unloading is similarly difficult. The base is large and heavy and doesn’t slide easily without being raised. In addition, since the base is off the ground the whole time you can’t lean it in and have to lift the harp completely off the ground. Also, when unloading, getting the harp from horizontal back to vertical while holding its weight can be hard on the wrists. Be very careful, and again another person to help support the harp will be a huge aid.
A Prius is a very tight fit for a concert grand, especially if you’re either a tall woman or an average-sized man (I’m a somewhat tall man so it’s really close). If I ever get a second pedal harp it will be a petite one to make these types of problems much smaller.
I’ve known churches that treat volunteers poorly, such as by putting them on events without asking if they’re available (let alone want to play at it). Other events are similar. Often volunteers, musical and otherwise, can be taken for granted and treated a bit like indentured servants.
I only play harp at churches a few times a year and only if I really like the church (or its music director), since I have to rent a vehicle to move my harp. I’ve played in church more frequently on the flute (the irony, I know) and viola. But regardless, a bit of a backbone is necessary to say when a request isn’t feasible or reasonable. In your first case it’s perfectly reasonable to say that you need the time to practice the pieces and won’t be able to play with that short a notice. In the second, if that arises again, I’d suggest contacting the music minister (by phone so he or she can’t play the “didn’t see your email” game) and say that you need to follow-up, and that if you don’t hear back on the arrangements by a given date, you won’t be able to play the event but are happy to recommend some professional harpists he might contact (if there are no professional harpists in your area, then end the sentence at “won’t be able to play”. They’ll get their acts together or they won’t get you to play for them.
If you’re a good friend of the couple and wish to do this for them, hopefully they’ll be understanding when you say that you can’t do XYZ. Use your amateur status to your advantage and say “I won’t be able to learn that music in time, but here is what I already know and can play”. If they throw a fit, it won’t be the first time a self-obsessed bride or groom has hurt a friendship in an attack of My Special Day Syndrome. Ask 90% of women who were maid of honor at their best friend’s wedding. If you don’t know them and are just playing the wedding because you go to the church or want to get more experience, don’t. Weddings are too emotional and stressful for those involved. There is no constitutional right to live music at a wedding, so they can hire someone, find a friend or relative to take advantage of, or walk down the aisle to silence. It’s not your problem and it’s not worth it.
Monday I’ll get the part for Michael Daugherty’s Niagara Falls for a performance at the Maryland Music Educators Association annual conference in February.
Christmas-wise, I’m tag-teaming with the organist for a few carols for a Christmas Eve service, including “Whence That Goodly Fragrance”.
Longer term, I’ve started some work on Clare Grundman’s Nocturne for an informal competition in the spring, the winner of which plays a short piece in a concert in the band’s next season.
Yes, lots of harpists do. When playing hymns in church I generally take the hymn, break it down into chord symbols, then work out an accompaniment. But I can do some basic improvisation and I’m not even a very good harpist. I imagine thousands of harpists improvise around chord symbols quite easily and many gigging harpists do it regularly. I can only guess at the extensive experience playing the harp which formed this person’s opinion.
Thanks. I’ve been listening to a recording and the arpeggios at the beginning sound fairly straightforward. Some glissandos sound like they’re with fingernails or maybe an implement. Overall it sounds like a fun piece. and I look forward to our reading in a couple weeks.
At first I had some difficulty when the forums weren’t visually separated well. Now that the headings are formatted better it’s easier to navigate. It will take some people longer to adjust but I think with time most people will get along fine.
To play the grumpy skeptic, sound and playing are so subjective it would difficult to rate them much more objectively than one rates wine. I have very little faith in anybody’s opinion of a harp’s sound other than my own ears since it’s so dependent on opinion and taste. I think the main result would be harpmakers switching to gigantic soundboxes and boards since players like to assume bigger is always better in that regard. In addition, musicians believe pseudoscience and gobbledygook so easily they’d almost certainly infiltrate such ratings (“But they use magnetically synchronized fairy dust in their varnish!”). General physical dimensions, mostly height and weight, can be useful for buyers with transport or storage concerns, and those figures are readily available already.
Just enjoy the vacation and go to a museum or park. If you really want to be productive, spend a couple hours some morning at a coffee shop with some theory books to study, or marking pedal changes in a new piece. Is there anything you’re been meaning to arrange or tweak when you got around to it? Maybe listen to some new recordings or find a recital to attend.
The Peak is a great folding stand, especially because of the solid desk for rehearsal markings. It does have a slightly larger footprint than most folding stands. If you need something that either takes a few inches less room or folds very compactly to fit into a backpack etc., I find K&Ms much sturdier than most metal folding stands.
