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Thank you Diana. How incredibly exciting to be ordering something you’ve wanted for so long! Do you know how long the wait will be? In my experience, that just helps to build up the excitement. Yiou will keep us informed on the progress, won’t you?
Just throwing in an opinion from a lever harp player here. Because of some pretty major back problems I have always had to make weight and moveability a number one concern when choosing instruments. That, and the fact of living in a smallish house, made pedal harps a definite no-no for me.
Now, I’m still fairly new to harps anyway but I am really keen to eventually take on as many different styles of playing as possible and I’ve heard some lovely clasical music played on the lever harp. As far as I can see, the only real limitiation is the number of strings and they can vary enormously depending on the harp you choose. If size is a big problem for you I’d suggest taking a good look at some smaller harps before making a definite decision. To my mind, the versatility of the smaller harps is one of the majoy things that make them such wonderful instruments.
Btw, I’ve only been playing properly for a couple of years but I practise for a minimum of two hours every day (often quite a bit more) and I still haven’t developed callouses while playng two different instruments. Good luck with your choice – whatever you decide you are in for a wonderful time!
Oh boy, that is one beautiful-looking harp! I’ve always been a bit put off the look of a lot of pedal harps because I’m not a fan of all the gilding that used to be so ubiquitous but I’m very excited to see that a lot of the harps that are currently popular rely more for their good looks on gorgeous wood and beautiful carving. No prizes fir guessing how you’re spenind every spare minute at the moment, I guess.
I’m looking forward to seeing those pics Deb! I’ve just been away for a week and am looking forward to getting back to my practice and catching u[ with what’s been going on here on the forum. I’ll definitely be logging on on Wednesday to see if you’ve taken possession yet – Hope your new harp is everything you’ve dreamt of!
Isn’t it wonderful what childlike excitement we can all still feel with the delivery of a new harp! I can imagine how thrilling your weekend is going to be because I got my own new harp just a few weeks ago – it’s wonderful to experience that feeling of waking up in the morning and feeling so eager to get downstairs and start playing. I’m really looking forward to seeing those pics!
IMO you wouldn’t be human if you weren’t excited – or, at least, not the kind of human I would consider worth knowing. What wonderful parents you have! If they ever consider adopting a 56-year-old just drop me a line!
Will you be able to take the new harp back to college with you or are you going to have to look forward to coming back home to play it? I recently opened up a thread for the very purpose of ‘showing off our new harps’ – http://www.harpcolumn.com/forums/coffee-break/posts/62693 – as it seemed there were quite a few of us expecting new ‘babies’ around the same time, so you might like to come over there and post pics so all we new owners can drool together!
Also great news that you can now put off marriage for a few years 😉
I almost believe I’d be willing to sacrifice a few strings just to get a bit of sunshine here (UK), though the last couple of days have been lovely.. I’m glad to hear your harp and its stirngs are settling down now, that must have been incredibly frustrating.
Have to admit that at first I thought we were talking about airport runways and couldn’t help wondering how on earth you hoped to be heard over the sound of the planes. 🙁
I have to say I’ve never attended this kind of show in my life so this is not exactly an informed opinion but when I’ve seen clips on TV the accompanying music is invariably those cheesy songs praising female beauty (‘A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody’, ‘Music to Watch Girls By’ etc) so I’m guessing a flick through some kind of ‘popular songs of the 60s’ book might be a good start. I do apologise, though, if I’m basing my thoughts on an extremely old-fashioned view of these pageants.
Tracey – thank you for explaining that! Does it only apply with gut strings? (I ask because I’ve just been on my hands and knees examining my harp strings and can’t see anything that fits the anchor description – but then mine has synthetic strings so I wonder if that’s the reason?) I guess I’ve just been lucky so far with strings. My harpsicle is about 5-6 years old now (nylon strings) though she’s only been ‘heavily’ played for the past 2 years and I’ve never had to change a string yet. Could something untoward be causing your strings to break? 4 strings in a month sounds horrendous!
And thank you to everyone who still doesn’t mind answering my stupid questions. I learnt as a (mature) student that you only learn anything by not being embarrassed to ask, however dumb the question seems, but I’m sure that doesn’t make it any easier to take for the poor people who are always being questioned. I really do appreciate it.
