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Hey, Val, great picture! This must have been at The Harp Connection.
Have you made a final choice? Not easy, is it?
Oh so many aspects
to decide upon!Leigh
Well, my hubby and I have been running Noteworthy on the last five
computers we have had and only had occasional problems with it. We use
it to break down our choral music into parts (he’s bass, I’m alto) and
to learn hymn music for church. My son has used it to compose some
simple music and run on good speakers sounds good enough as
accompaniment in Church. It may not be a big fancy expensive program,
but it does what we need, and sounds like it should be fine for what
Jade needs, so why do you feel the need to badmouth it?
Sorry this picture is so small. It is from my website. I am all the way to the right and you really can’t make out my harp. All the other harps in this picture are Witcher 31 string student models.
Again, I am all the way to the right. I used this basket until it fell
apart. Now I use a plastic bucket that I made a cloth cover for and
also use it to carry my music, tuner, etc. We are all wearing matching
shirts (painted by me!) that have our logo, an angel playing a lap harp
on a blue and purple background. We are the Heavenly Harpers of
Houlton. Our teacher, Nancy Harris, is all the way to the left. She has
moved aeay, but we all still meet and play!Leigh
Ooookay… in other words, I’ll have my hubby do it!
The picture I
was thinking of isn’t on my website and I don’t know how to do all that
stuff! Thanks for the info, though, I’m sure he will know exactly what
you mean (he built my website).Leigh
Yup, I’m the one with the Eve. The strings are closer together than
they are on the larger Stoney End harps, which is good for my short
fingers, but might be too close for someone with bigger hands. I know
my husband complains about that when he gives it a try now and then.Ken, where are you located? I got my Eve at Song of the Sea in Bar
Harbor, Maine. Of course prices have gone up, but I got the package
deal – harp, Zen-On tuner (last time I saw one it cost $100.00), padded
case, extra set of strings and the Sylvia Woods’, Teach Yourself book
for less than the cost of just the harp in today’s prices.If you aren’t on the East coast, it may not be a cost effective alternative for you.
We had our first rehearsal after the holidays this morning and one of
our members is selling one of her Jay Witcher harps for $1500.00. I was
tempted, but it only has 26 strings (C to G). It does have a lovely
sound which is very even from bass to top. I don’t think she has a case
for it, it was wrapped in a blanket this morning.Cheers,
LeighThanks, Ken, I’ll have to check that one out! I have heard of using
sassafras, and I think some of the harps in the UK are sycamore, but I
haven’t heard either one in person. Most of the harps in our ensemble
are maple student harps made by Jay Witcher which sound great, are in
the price range and go from F to A, it is just that they are quite
heavy (harp and case together are 35 pounds). I know that the pedal
harpists on here are probably laughing out loud at that, but I broke my
back as a child and just can’t lift that much.Hi Ken,
I have a Stoney End Eve (22 strings) that I bought ten years ago. I
play in an ensemble here in northern Maine which meets weekly and plays
three to four concerts a year. I have only broken one string in ten
years and am just now thinking of changing some strings out because of
loss of sound quality. My teacher (who has three harps by Jay Witcher)
said that it had a sweet tone and great projection for its size.
Friends who have come to our concerts say that they can hear me over
the other harps in the group – all 12 of them! I have always liked its
tone, myself.I also have a friend who has the Lorraine model (in cherry) which is
about 20 years old. It is the first harp I ever played. It has an
incredibly rich sound for its size (I think), although he has had to do
repairs to theI used to have a cat who loved to listen to the harp. She would sit
next to me and look from me to the harp over and over until I got the
hint. When it was her time to go, I played the harp for her while she
was dying and my husband was caressing her. He let me know when she was
gone. It was the least we could do for her.Also, one time we were visiting friends and I brought the harp along.
We were sleeping on the living room floor next to the harp. I woke up
to hearing the strings being brushed very lightly, opened my eyes, and
by the light of a street lamp saw one of their cats tentatively
brushing a couple strings at a time and looking curiously at the harp.
No claws were out, it was just fascinated that it could make the sound.My husky/lab mix is afraid of the lap harp because I was playing
outside once and sat it down for a moment. The dog inched closer and
was sniffing at the harp when a gust of wind stirred the strings. She
fell over herself trying to back away because the harp played itself!Hi Barbara,
I’m stumped, now. If it only happened on one computer, I might say it
was an issue with the sound card, but it doesn’t sound like that is the
case. Sorry i can’t help you!Leigh
Jerusha,
Thank-you for sharing your experience!
I’m sure there are quite a few people whose parents felt (feel) that
learning a musical instrument is not as important as other things. In
my case, music was encouraged and nurtured to a point – trips to the
Symphony at least once a year, etc., but the “heirloom” instruments and
formal instruction was for the eldest child only. Our school system
provided two years of free ‘band instrument’ instruction in elementary
school, which is all the flute instruction I had, even though I
continued with it through high school.Because of this, I wanted my child to learn as many instruments as he
wished, only to have him be totally uninterested! Go figure!I’m not sure what larger harp I want yet, I would like to be able to
try different ones. So far the only ones I have had access to are my
friend’s Stoney End, a Dusty strings FH36S (too big), and a 31 string
Jay Witcher student harp (not too awful big, but heavy).I know I’m not really ‘built’ to play the harp (I’m short, round, have
short arms and fingers and an “ample” bosom!) I do love the sound,
though, and enjoy our group very much.Leigh
Hi Barbara,
I’m running XP with SP2 and got the Alfred demo from Sylvia Woods. It
works fine. Maybe they have an upgraded version? If so, and you have
bought it before, it seems that you should get some sort of discount on
the uprade. I have the book and it is a bit dry, but+++Every one should make some kind of music and to see so many people who
never did start no matter what the age is a wonderful thing.+++It has been my experience that the older people in our group (harp
ensemble – currently 13 members) who started harping later in life (I
got my harp at 40) have either been in choirs or choruses, or have
played another instrument. We have only two members who have never
played another instrument. Most have played piano and some have also
played organ. I have played flute, piccolo and guitar as well as having
sung in two different community choruses.For me, I wanted to learn the harp after attending a Boston Symphony
concert at age 6, but my parents wouldn’t let me. They also wouldn’t
let me take piano lessons even though we had a good piano and my older
sister took lessons. I ended up with the flute and in high school added
the piccolo, even though they weren’t my first choice. I was also not
allowed to take violin lessons – that was also reserved for my sister
since she was older and “destined” to inherit both my mother’s piano
and my father’s violin. To appease me somewhat, since I gravitated to
stringed instruments, my parent bought a cheap guitar at Sears for my
sister and I to share – but it was just to self teach, no lessons
allowed.Fast forward to my late twenties when a friend came to visit with his
29 string Stoney End. I fell in love! One of my parents reasons for not
letting me take harp lessons was that I was too small. Here was a harp
that I could reach all the strings on and even carry with no
difficulty. It was still only a dream, though, until I bought my little
22 string Eve in 1995. I am hoping to purchase a larger harp next
summer if I can save up enough money.
