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Thanks! Actually, I went to their website (www.waltons.ie) and found that they do have some harps, although it looks like they’re limited to Camac harps and pakis… I’ve never tried a Camac, but I’m not touching the pakis. But I’ll drop by anyway, I like the look of the Korrigan.
Any other tips?Yes, full set of levers means that all of the strings have levers. You should listen to the sound clip and decide whether it’s the sound you want before buying, although I’m sure you’ve already done that. Maybe compare it with the sounds of other harps. I bought a harp almost a year ago, and have realised later that what I really want is a warmer, fuller sound. So even though I love my harp, I have to save up for a more expensive lever harp, which will take me a long time.
I’ve got a really good digital recorder for that, and it really does the job wonderfully. It’s an Edirol R-09HR, I really recommend it although it may be a little expensive.
Hi
You should maybe look into some music by O’Carolan (1670-1738), a very famous Irish harper and composer. There is a music book by Sylvia Woods: “40 O’Carolan Tunes For All Harps”, which has two arrangements of every song, one easy and one more advanced, and you can play them after each other to make a varied set. I love his tunes, you can do a search on Youtube and see what I mean.Thank you so much!
Luckily, I have now found a teacher, Sunniva Wettre, who is based in Oslo. I only have lessons once a month, but it’s better than nothing. I also purchased Pamela Bruner’s Play the Harp Beautifully, and it’s helped me a lot to learn to read music. So things are looking good 🙂Renate
Good luck with the harp. I really hope for your sake it’s a good one. The Paki I bought (my first harp) had a real problem with levers that didn’t work and a cracking soundboard, so I had to stop playing it after only half a year because I was afraid it would break down completely. It had a nice voice, though.
I strongly recommend the Pamela Bruner books and DVD. She is very thorough in explaining everything, and you can always pause the DVD and practise a piece she just showed you. Also, she repeats time and time again what is the right hand position, which is really, really important to learn from the very beginning, or you may have to start all over again. I played for a year with a bad hand position, and when I finally got a teacher she told me I had to start again. So I bought Pamela Bruner’s Play the Harp Beautifully, and I am improving fast, with the correct hand position. So I absolutely think you should buy it, if you have to teach yourself.My husband and I fortunately managed to fix it ourselves. It wasn’t difficult at all, we just followed Liam’s advice. Thanks a lot!
By the way, I just found myself a harp teacher, maybe even two, if I’m really lucky! So I’m just thrilled right now.The harp is a Hempson 34 and the levers are Elysian. They’re plastic and gold-coloured.
I get my husband to try and fix the lever for me, then. There are no luthiers in my area with experience with harps, since there are no harps at all to be bought in Norway, sadly. But I think I will have to buy some levers from Morley eventually anyway, because some of the ones I have make a buzzing sound whether engaged or disengaged. When I get my husband to put his hand on them as I play, the buzzing stops, so it has to be the levers…I’ll definitely try my best to watch it! I’m 1 hour after Ireland, but that’s only good, because that means I’ll be home from work by then.
I met the president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, once.
She, her husband and the king and queen of Norway (where I’m from) were visiting the University of Oslo, at which I study Irish (Gaelic), to look at an exhibition of Celtic Studies. Students of Irish and Celtic Civilization were allowed to attend as well, and there are not very many of us, so it felt very special.
First my professor in Irish held a speech, and then President McAleese held a speech, and ten two friends and I were interviewed on Irish television (RTÉ). Later we shook hands with the president, and she was very nice and asked us if we enjoyed learning Irish. I’ll never forget that experience.Thanks again for all the advice!
I will follow it as best as I can, and first thing in January I’m ordering Pamela Bruner’s dvd and books. I still hope I’ll be able to find a teacher, but it’s not looking good. I can’t for the life of me understand why there are so few harpists in Norway… It’s the most lovely instrument! Oh well…
