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I’m too new to the harp to know any secrets. But I encourage all harpists to visit a harp manufacturer and tour the factory. As a musician, health care worker, and engineer, it was fascinating. I learned a great deal and want to learn more. Did you know that holding an extensively-carved harp can take longer than 6 months to accomplish?
I did some investigating. Retail price for a set of Premiere gut strings from A5-G00 appears to be about 1/3 more expensive than for Bow Brand and about twice as expensive as Burgundy by Bow. I have not compared quality or sound, but I know others have. John, Columbus, Ohio.
All of these tips and suggestions are awesome! I’ve been a musician since I was 8 years old, in one way or another. Learning harp has it’s unique challenges. But the approach to practicing is somewhat transferrable.
Two sources of ideas for you might be Yolanda Kondonassis’ book On Playing the Harp has great exercises and practice approaches, and Fionnuala Gill’s mindfulness website has great insights about how to use mindfulness to achieve success in playing the harp.
As a teacher (of nursing), I am interested in pedagogy. As an incipient harpist, I found Jo-Ying Angela Huang’s master’s thesis, Effective harp pedagogy – A Study of Techniques, Physical and Mental, to be a font of interesting information to explore further about practice techniques and methodologies specific to harp. It can be downloaded from New Zealand’s University of Canterbury’s website.
Hope this is helpful. John
I have only come to playing the harp in my mid-50s. So my harp names are a bit cliche, but meaningful to me. I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, home of the world-acclaimed Cleveland Orchestra. I played several instruments through high school — an A-100 Hammond Organ, flute in concert band, baritone horn in marching band, and viola in orchestra — and then was a music major in college, flute as my principle instrument.
During my formative years, Alice Chalifoux was the principal harpist of the Cleveland Orchestra. I did not play harp at that time but that was one of my desiderata. Seeing the harp ensembles on television during the holiday seasons was mesmerizing. So, my first harp, a one-of-a-kind Celtic lever harp is named Alice.
As a flutist, I came to love hearing Jean Pierre Rampal recordings. He was my guru. My flute teacher introduced me to him at one of his recitals. Rampal often recorded with Lily Laskine, as did Marcel Moyse, another flutist. Mdme. Laskine was inspirational on these recordings. So, I named my L&H Chicago CGX Lily.
I’ve never named a pet; they usually come pre-named. I have never named my car or any of my other instruments. It seems silly to refer to inanimate objects by human names. But harps are very much alive. The wooden structure breathes. It spontaneously speaks. It resonates with my laughter. So, naming a harp sounds somehow right, at least to my ear.
