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haha!! i feel you on the minivan thing. i’m not quite to the ‘really trying to actually fit my harp into a car’ phase yet – but i am definitely lusting after several cars i *THINK* would make good harpmobiles. i actually want the smallest, lowest to the ground thing i can get that will easily fit the harp inside. matrix is on my list, only because of rave reviews i’ve seen here. i’m also into boxy, old volvo station wagons… and considering older subaru foresters (but they’re bigger than i want, considering it will be my everyday car too). my semi-realistic dream harpmobile is a vw passat station wagon…but i have no idea if there’s enough room back there for a harp. the more i lurk on them in public parking lots, the less i think i can make it fit… i rented a ford explorer to drive my harp somewhere once and hated it. the harp fit like a dream, but that car is so giant!! i hated driving it. it didn’t seem made for normal sized humans…like, i couldn’t rest my arm on the door while driving because of all the insane amounts of room they expect people want. i don’t know. i’m probably completely daft and unamerican for saying that. but i feel like i can’t be alone in all this. give me an ’80s, boxy, glittery, lavender mercedes wagon and let’s call it a day! best advice i’ve seen is to drive the car(s) you’re considering buying to your house and try to fit your harp inside and see how that goes.
it’s so funny – i have one cat that seems like he could care less about it, and the other one instantly appears and jumps on the baseboard whenever i start playing! he seems to leave it alone when i don’t play. when i first got the harp, i actually did think to cover it when i wasn’t playing to keep them away, but for some reason harp cover = fun exciting adventure to my cats… i figured the harp and the cats were safer if i left it uncovered.
Thoughts on why they’re not as popular as something like guitar or violin (although as you can see from this website alone, they are very popular!!)-
-I suppose availability/popularity could have something to do with the expense and expertise required to manufacture harps… The price tag is often a deterrent with anything new… “I want to play harp, but I don’t have $4000, so maybe I’ll try guitar for $100”
-Some of it also probably has to do with taste. For example, I hate the sound of bagpipes and I can’t take steel drums seriously, but there are enthusiasts and experts with most everything! People may associate harp with a certain type of music that they don’t feel passionate about, so they won’t care to see what else a harp could do.
-Portability also probably affects the availability/abundance of harps… Traveling with it is like traveling with a very special, very giant pet. It needs climate control, it needs lots of space, it often needs lots of gear (stool, dolly, music stand). I will have to get a new car if I buy a pedal harp… I can fit my lever harp in my husband’s car, but I can’t drive a stick! Hahaha! So many complications. Other instruments are just get up and go!
I think the reason you only need one in an orchestra (vs many violins) is just the way the music is written… it’s probably very difficult for harps to play in unison like violins can, and harps have a more percussive sound because they’re more plucked/strummed than violins where you’ve just got a flowing sound from the bow on the strings (however I LOVE when orchestra music calls for plucking of violins/violas/cellos…it’s sounds so cool). Aside from the generic argument that “that’s just the way music is composed/arranged”… Harps fall under the percussion umbrella – like the vibraphone or marimba. Usually only need one of them to get that cool effect. 🙂
This is really hilarious, because I have been asking myself the EXACT same question(s) (literally, exactly the same) over the last 6 months. I am 24 and just touched a harp for the first time January of this year. I am so in love. I have so much to share with you from my experience, but it’s nothing compared to some feedback you will get from the more experienced folks here —
1. ABSOLUTE BEGINNING – Identify the desire to play and figure out what you want to accomplish (which you’ve already gotten started on — Ave Maria!). This will help you decide which style harp to pursue. It seems good advice to start with a lever harp and work your way up to pedal harp… if you even want to learn pedal harp. If you don’t play any instruments at all, it may be good to start with piano for a year to get used to reading music and keeping time (although the same sheet music doesn’t necessarily work for both instruments).
2. GETTING A HARP – I started by googling harpists in my town. I emailed several with the same basic story “I’m an adult beginner at harp, I play other instruments and can read music but I have never played harp, blah blah” — I got some feedback from a couple of them and one happened to have a harp I could rent. She is also the principal harpist for the symphony in town and is a Lyon Healy dealer and guided me toward their rent to own program…
3. MY FIRST HARP – I am renting-to-own the Lyon Healy Troubadour VI — basically, the program works like you pay 6mo rent up front and at the end of 6mo buy the harp, trade it in and put whatever you’ve paid toward a pedal harp, or just send it back to Chicago. I love the harp, but I’m not sure I want to keep it forever because I ultimately want to learn to play pedal harp (it will be the best type of harp for the type of music I want to be able to play) and if I did have a lever harp, I’m not sure I want THIS lever harp…although it is a great sounding and beautiful harp – I just have some anxiety about whether it is THE ONE for me (which tells me it’s really not).
4. GENERAL ADVICE – Do plenty of research. Talk to as many people as you can. This website seems to be a great place to get feedback. You won’t know what you need/want right off, but you will need to find someone to take lessons from, and you will need support from the community as you grow and learn more and make bigger decisions about continuing with the harp.
5. You are not too old. Period. To do anything. Ever. You’re the perfect age to learn whatever you want. I’m exactly like you, it sounds like… I really want to do everything and learn everything so I take on a lot of “hobbies” – but I think it’s a beautiful thing to have the opportunity to grow and learn more and do more in this life! GO FOR IT! 🙂
If you want to know more about my life since I started playing harp, I started a blog where I post rants/videos of my progress…
