Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Thank you very much for your advise. Indeed the contact page of L&H only accepts text entry form instead of email. I’ll wait for their reply and see what happens. LAM
Thank you Gretchen! I just emailed L&H, but I am in Hong Kong. I probably need to ship her thousands of mile away and this cost not less than half of her price, I suppose. Regards, LAM
Thank you very much, Bernard! I understand that this harp comes with two year limited waranty by Lyon and Healty. However, she probably need to be shipped back to the States. I believe the cost is probably more than 50% of its price. I really am not sure this is the best thing to do. I emailed L&H and it seems there is no reply yet. I phone the local retailer but in my previous experience, there is usually no reply at all. There is very few harp technician in this 7 million population city. Thanks a lot for your help anyway! Regards, LAM
David, you are quite worried as a shoulder problem may affect your life as a musician. Indeed it seems you are not alone on this matters as shared by others here. Did you suffer a rotator cuff injury caused by repetitive over-activities? There could be many causes of pain such as Frozen shoulder, rotator cuff injury, degeneration and other causes.
The following chart from American Academy of Family Physicians may help you better communicate with your doctor:
http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/health-tools/search-by-symptom/shoulder-problems.htmlYour doctor may need to have more detailed assessment and order further tests such as X-ray and MRI to make a diagnosis and manage accordingly. Some condition may just need rest, ice and simple pain killers while others may need physical therapy. Surgery is only one of the many options. Your doctor may discuss the pros and cons of each options based on his or her assessment.
Here is some information from American Academy of Family Physicians which may help you understand more:
http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/prevention-wellness/exercise-fitness/injury-rehab/shoulder-pain.htmlRemember that information from the discussion does not replace the communication with your doctor. Remember that shoulder conditions are generally curable with appropriate diagnosis and management. Hope you get well soon.
Dear Tayce and Kreig,
You are my hero! This is truly eye opening. Certainly you are very knowledgeable about the harp.
The carbon fiber harps look gorgeous and so are the electric harps made of carbon fiber. 10 lb. weight for a Celtic harp of 38 strings is very attractive for travelling. Savarez was my favorite brand for classical guitar when I was a kid and I love the energetic sound of its super high tension strings for guitar especially for competitions. I stopped using the brand since the wired strings tend to shed the silver coat to my fingers causing stains after hours of playing. I am not aware they also make harp strings.
Maybe there should be a larger market for these innovations through marketing strategies and make the price tag more affordable.
I wonder how the traditional materials are’t superceded by newer materials and why the “mainstream” harps still looks so similar in the last 200 years? Maybe, as Tacye point out, most people still prefer wood and gut.
Thank you for your great tips, Alison! My teacher made the same comment about me and now I am working on many exercises to correct it and connect it. I also need to correct the joint movement and use more of the Flexor Digitorum muscles to move the knuckles rather than the Flexor Digitorum Superficialis to move the proximal interphalangeal joints as the YouTube video shows. Muscle memories are difficult to correct and I am trying hard!
The YouTube embedded video is lovely and I guess it is another style of playing that originate historically from Spanish culture (where the guitar is the “basic” instrument they love so much) and evolve to this harp style in Latin American harp, isn’t it? LAM
Dear Kay, You are truly a hero to share your true feelings of a traumatic experience. I am a physician and a lover of music. I saw many people who hide their true feelings and this end up with unresolved emotions that never die. Indeed it is absolutely okay and natural to make mistakes, which is NOT a failure, but the ONLY road to success. Success and failure are, indeed, pointing at the same direction: we too need to go through the weathering process as said by Sylvia. Performance anxiety exists in players of all levels and I heard stories of great masters like Arthur Rubinstein and Andres Segovia, who too have many similar experiences before they were great masters. All you need to do is to embrace that feeling and go forward. I am sure your team members are far more forgiving than you imagine. You may be catatrophizing the error. Playing in a band is great fun.
I just attended a conference after 16 hours of flight. I have learned only one thing: perfectionism is the worst obstacle towards success. Go and have fun and make some more mistakes!
I agree with you, Shelby. I guilded virtually anything as my hobby: woodwork, stone sculpture, plastic model, eggs etc. But I would never guild on my pedal harp. The natural elegance of wood and the warm tone of a Salvi is addictive. Congratulations for having such a gorgeous instrument! Please kindly post some sound clips on this thread. I really love to listen to her sound!
Dear Tony, compromised is everything and now I understand. Yes, I did a lot of compromise in many other things in life. I am interested in Latin harps and may be get one some day.
Dear Tracye, It took two weeks to grow and shape my nails to suitable shape and another two weeks to reach a small peak in playing with newly grown nails. I am most interested in how to get the compromised shape and length to make playing more efficiency. There seems to be a sweat point in playing both. I’ll continue experimenting.
Thank you for all the wise words! I feel very happy with my first post in this community and I hope to learn more from all of you.
I have just tried playing the guitar without nails and after a few hours of struggle, I managed to play some Sors or the classical period as it only requires to use thumb, index and middle fingers for virtually most classical period. For contemporary pieces, it is almost impossible to play the very fast passages involving the ring finger. That also does not sound very much like a classical guitar. I looked at the wire strung harps and it seems it need both hands with nails while I have only right hand nails. I already brought 2 harps in my first three months of playing and I don’t mind buying the third if it do solve the problem. Do I have other options before I buy a wire strung harp or a paraguan harp?
Dear Diana, thank you for your suggestion. Playing without nails seems to be a great idea for classical period and romantic period repertoire. I found it challenging for more comtemporily piece for the technical requirements and the sound. But I can try.
Dear Sherri, wire strung harp is beautiful and I always want to try. There is not many people playing it in my locality.
On the other hand, are there no people really play a pedal harp with nails?
