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Yayy! Got to love this kind of threads! I’ve been reading it and I’ll check the links as soon as I can on my laptop (I’m on my phone at this moment).
Well and answering the title’s question, right now I am learning Capricho Arabe by Francisco Tarrega on my ukulele, so that’s what I have on my music stand. It’s one of the hardest pieces I’ve ever attempted on uke, so I’m both motivated and a bit scared, lol! Before this one I had (also for uke, I don’t have a harp yet) a piece called To Zanarkland, from the video game Final Fantasy. I’m really thankful to all the people that arrange music for ukulele, it’s very helpful.
See you around 🙂I don’t usually meditate, but I really like to listen to relaxing and soothing music or nature sounds on the background before sleep, while reading or actually at this moment while I read some stuff on the net. It really makes me feel very calm. Especially the music by Peder B. Helland on youtube. I also like to play some relaxing music on my ukulele (I usually play that style more than the typical happy strummings you can usually listen on ukes). I also practise chi kung from time to time, it makes me relax and stretch my body, which feels very nice (I wonder why I don’t do it more often). If I feel very nervous I know some techniques, like tapping between your eyes, but I don’t do it since college. I guess I don’t feel that stressed in my daily life.
What about you, poetic harpist?Hi there! First of all, I don’t have a harp yet, I play the ukulele but I think this can be applied to any instrument. I am also in a similar situation. Music is a hobby to me, so no pressure. I wouldn’t worry about what other people may think about my practice habits, schedules or lack of, or if I take too long to learn easy things. Everyone has their own circumstances, so if something works for you, that’s perfect 🙂
Carol, when I see no progress and get frustrated, what works the best for me is to find really easy pieces or melodies that sound nice, chords or arpegios that sound good together, and just play them and fool around. A melody that is simple doesn’t mean it’s worse or less. So it doesn’t matter if it’s far below your actual level, if it sounds nice and it can make your frustration go away, I say go for it and enjoy. Also, if I’m learning a difficult one and only have let’s say half an hour to practice, I practice it for some minutes and the rest of the time I play things that I already know. That way it’s very difficult to get frustrated. If you spend all your time trying to play something that doesn’t sound good (yet) you can end the session with a bad sensation, at least that’s what happens to me.Wooow this is awesome! I know this thread has some time, but I usually read forums and stuff on my phone and I couldn’t see the images there until today, that I used my computer to see them. The set looks awesome, and your harp really adds value and warmness to the whole ambient. I’m sure if I watch the movie I’ll pay more attention to the harp than the characters, and say something like “Hey, look at that, look at that! I indirectly “know” the owner of that harp!” lol!
Oh, Talfryn, I’ve just seen we sent the reply at the same time, thank you very much for your message too! I’ll keep that in mind. Hmmm the luthiers festival in France sounds very nice, I’ll look it up and see if I could go. It’s still very far from where I live, but at least it’s next to Spain, so not impossible either 🙂
Hi again! Thanks for the extra explanations. Wil, I’ve been looking through the links you posted, thanks for that. After reading a bit I’ve seen that pedals is not what I’m looking for after all.
Evolène, thank you very much for the links and your advices. Unfortunately, I have no way to go to a harp show or harp store to test many of them and compare their sound. Where I live they just don’t exist, there’s no “harp culture” at all. There’s the Camac store 500km from home, but nothing else. The renting option sounds really good, that way I could really see if the kind of harp that I’m renting at that moment is for me, or if I miss something I don’t have with that harp (like, if I rent a big one maybe I miss portability, and if I rent a small one I could miss range). So yes, I’ll most likely try to do that before buying one.The X and double options sound very convenient if one wants to play chromatic! I’ll investigate these options too. By the way, I watched Laurie Riley’s videos, Omg, she’s amazing! And her explanations are just perfect. I should also make sure if the kind of music I want to play really requires double or cross strung harp. Maybe I’m just a bit overwhelmed thinking I won’t be able to change levers quickly but all it takes is practise and there aren’t as many changes as I imagine now. Coming from guitar and ukulele, the idea of “not being able to play ALL the notes” is something I’m not used to, but then again every instrument is limited in its own way (try to play a harp music on a ukulele, ha!) 🙂
I think from now on I know what I have to look up and consider. After this research I’ll probably open another thread asking for other specific things (I think it’s better that way because otherwise the title of this thread would have nothing to do with its content), but now I already have work to do ^_^ thank you very very much!
Hey thanks for your answers! The truth is that my intention is not playing a concert harp (so no concert tension or space between strings like a concert are needed). Thanks for letting me know the Children’s harp would be small for an adult, I thought it just had fewer strings and the rest was the same as the others.
As for what kind of music I’d like to play, I honestly like a lot of styles, from classical to modern, I also like songs from soundtracks like Disney, Ghibli, I like improvising, spanish music like soft flamenco… and I haven’t analysed deeply scores from all those styles but just hearing them I think they must be much more difficult with a lever harp, or need a lot of arrangements to make them work, as they have a lot of sudden changes, accidentals (please correct me if I’m wrong)… That’s why I was considering a single action pedal harp, for being not as expensive as concert ones and being smaller, which is a plus to me. Biagio, I read about the Joy harp and in fact that one was the one that made me think “maybe it would be a good idea to look for something similar in Europe”. And then I found Fischer harps and found that small one that would totally fit my budget -which is around 3000€-. But now that I see the options, I’m not so sure if I could afford any of them. So, do you guys think I could still play a wide range of styles in a celtic harp? Not saying every single piece I like, but being able to play different styles would make me more than happy. Wil, what you said about chromatic notes preset at a certain part of the harp makes a 33-36 strings harp very interesting (I guess it’s less doable on a 27 strings one). And I hadn’t thought of the balance difficulty of a small harp, so that makes me think. The light weight sounds tempting to me because I would be able to carry it to the woods and spend some time there playing when the weather allows it, but I’m not planning on travelling too far with it. Good thing I have plenty of time to decide and see all the pros and cons of each option 🙂
As for the strings, I said nylon was a good point because I saw replacing nylon strings is cheaper than fluorocarbon ones, but I honestly don’t know much about strings. I wouldn’t be confortable using gut strings, though, so I’d prefer the synthetic options. I didn’t know nylgut or silkgut even existed on harps (they do exist for ukuleles), and how you described the sound I think I’m very interested on them. Just to keep it in mind, would it be ok to replace nylon or fluorocarbon strings for nylgut strings? I read that a harp made to wear one kind of strings is better to stick to that kind of string. I can always ask the builder about the best replacements for the harp I’ll end up acquiring. But just in case I’d also like to know, do fluorocarbon strings sound brighter or warmer than the others? I tend to lean to warm tones more than bright (just a note, I chose my ukulele in mahogany rather than koa because of that, I also use nylgut). I’m not sure if this is relevant but anyway I’ll say it too: I also find myself leaning towards softer tension, not sure if “tension” is the best word, I mean less stiff strings, as my way to play instruments tend to be on the softer way, not too energic.
Biagio, you mentioned Rees levers are good too, I don’t have much information about them, do you have a personal preference? I’ll do my research about this too.
Thank you very much again, see you around!
AnnieOh! I had never thought of the way to teach a blind person to play such instrument like violin. Sylvia I know what you mean with being wired to string instruments, I tried playing the flute and my sister’s sax and I thought I was dying, lol! Definetelt not for me.
Wooow it’s beautiful!! Instantly subscribed! I’ve heard other songs you played and I’m amazed! I think the Old Turkish song and the Oriental melody are my favourites so far. Thanks for sharing!
Wow! I’ve loved reading your stories, you guys have a huge music background! I honestly think being able to play several instruments is so awesome! It doesn’t really matter if it’s not in a professional level. To me having fun with music is the most important, especially if music it’s a hobby and not your job. (Even there, having fun is still the most important, hehe).
Hearpe, I love classical guitar so much! I live in Spain and the guitar is really a symbol here. I’d like to learn someday, damn, too many instruments I’d like to learn!
Harpist123, those jam sessions sound so much fun! I’ve learned some bluesy improvisation in my uke, but I still have to understand well those scales… Damn, music theory is complicated! ^_^’Omg I love it!! It looks so gorgeous! And I think marking the A levers is a good idea, useful and colorful. I really like that blue tone, I use that tone for my nails from time to time, hehe!
First of all, sorry if I made grammar mistakes, my native language is Spanish.
I find this post very useful. I come from another forum for another hobby I have, (artist dolls and collectibles, nothing to do with music but anyway), the legitimacy there as well as here with harps is very important because artists and craftsmen are involved. What I mean is, if there are red flags about a seller, dealer or product, it’s important to let people know, especially for newbies, no matter what hobby or product we’re talking about. I don’t have any harp yet, and when I started doing my research I found Muzikkon, as I live in Europe and wanted to find a good harp maker/dealer. I immediately saw that site was a bit shady, maybe because I’m used to spot that thanks to my other hobby, but I didn’t really want to say anything here because I’m a total newbie myself, I don’t even have a harp and never seen one in real life.
What I saw on Muzikkon that made me think it’s not a good choice is that they use names that don’t correspond to the pictures, like the “heartlands” they have listed there. If you go to Heartland’s official site, they’re completely different. That’s a sign of dishonesty, no matter if the product itself turns out good. I don’t know, taking advantage of a well known name to sell similar products and using generic words that lead to confusion for those who are not very experienced seems dishonest to me and I won’t support that. Thanks Biagio for saying what needs to be said.Hi Jerusha! To be honest, I’m still doing research so it’s still soon to say which harp I’ll end up buying, but at this moment I’m leaning to small one (26-29 strings) because the light weight and portability sounds really good to me, as I said, it’s still soon 🙂
By the way, today I’ve changed the music on my stand, I’ve put Mozart’s Lacrimosa from when I played it on the violin with my town’s orchestra years ago. Not because I’m playing it again (I think I couldn’t do it if I tried, Omg that was crazy difficult!), but because it brings me good memories. And why not, a real sheet music looks better and more decorative than a draft in a notebook with lyrics full of arrows, crossed out chords, tab fragments… ^_^
