Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I don’t grind on scales, arpeggios and finger exercises. There are much nice things to play that help train technique at the same time.
It doesn’t matters where the harp stays, bright or dark.
Find out what helps you play best.If it’s too bright, and the brightness blends away the strings, such that you keep catching the wrong notes, then it’s not a good place, if it’s too dark, and you keep searching for the right strings, then it’s not a good place either. If it’s wooden room with parallel lines of the walls/floor to the harp strings, you might find too little contrast when the background lines blend into your harp strings, then that place is just not helpful. (now thinking about it, that’s probably why some harpists place their harps on carpets/mats…?)
Harps are quite robust, and if they do not last, it’s probably due to the make, or if it has been maltreated, e.g. standing in the rain, or spilled coffee on it etc. Strings are meant to be played on and it is normal that they do break from time to time.
You should be able to play the harp with those nails, as long as you take note of the shape of the hand, and have a strong technique.
If you get poor tone quality or unwanted noises from the nails hitting the strings when they are plucked, then you’re probably “clawing” the strings, rather than plucking them correctly.
I think the rhythm can be internalized.
Tapping is fairly easy, but when playing such 2 against 3 confuses my mind sometimes.For me it works best if I do it on the harp. The trick I used is to play 3 notes repeatedly on the right and 2 notes on the left, and keep changing my focus from RH or LF to make sure the rhythm is regular on each hand.
e.g. RH: 123 123 123 123 and LH: 12 12 12 12 just to get it going. The RH part could be changed to 213 213 213 213 or 321 321 321 321 or in scales or arpeggios etc…
I think once both hands learnt how to deal with the 2 against 3, playing different notes wouldn’t be an issue.
Thank you.
I just wasn’t sure if I should treat harp regulation as periodic maintenance or as troubleshooting service. Seems it can be both…
Many of the strings are not that old, as they do break every now and then, apart from the wire and larger gut strings. Good tip to think about changing them every several years though.
Glad to know there are other harpists who patch their strings. I just had one done, and waiting for it to give way, but if what carl says is true, it’s probably going to last longer than I would have thought.
Depends on the piece you play and what you want to achieve. The 4231 fingering can end up being very useful. So you’d want to be able to do it.
If you play pieces where you see such broken chord progressions in a repeated pattern, 4231 is the way to do it, as it has the advantage of placing all fingers in advance and you get to move chord by chord, which minimizes the risk of inaccuracies… especially if it’s to be played at a fast(er) tempo.
Have you considered Salvi Daphne as an alternative? It has all 47 strings, weighs a few pounds more, costs a little more, compared to the Clio.
I’m not a harp professional but I have used all of them. Not having the E would be limiting on the repertoire as the low E does not necessarily apear only in advanced music. I have come across simple music/arrangements that requires that low E note.
For me, it would have been extremely frustrating to start a piece and later finding myself to have that one missing note so I’d rather go for the full range.
If you will play primarily lever harp music on a pedal harp, it will be fine. If you’re going to switch to a pedal harp repertoire, you’ll miss them at some point of time.
Think of it not as savings made by leaving out 3 low strings which seem not to be used often. Rather it’s savings made by compromising the opportunity to play the full range of pedal harp repertoire.
My impression is that you can go for any new harp of Salvi or L&H. Which model to get probably depends on what you can afford.
Thanks for all your responses.
I was originally interested to learn how a harp is built, but based on what I read I probably should be asking if there’s going to be theory behind it or mostly just fixing up predesigned sets.
As there are only a few lever harps to chose from to build, I’m was wondering what makes sense, if at all, to a pedal harpist.
The only reason I can think of in owning 2 harps is to have one that is more portable. But if that’s going to come with 3-4 octaves, not sure how much of my current repertoire could be playable…
But appreciate the good tips. Will consider them before signing up for the workshop.
