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I can say that they have used deception a number of times to try to join my Harp Rent, Sell, Buy group in Facebook, false identities, etc., and I have blocked them every time. One set of horror stories was quite enough. They said they are trying to improve the instruments, but I think they are just a waste of precious rosewood.
I very much doubt it. It was a temporary problem that they corrected. I have been using the same set of heavy gauge gut strings for over two years, and they are superb.
He has a lot of unnecessary doublings. You do not need to play a chord on the downbeat in that tempo, not when the following notes are the same as the chord. It should be two harps to have those notes played. Isn’t this scored for two harps? Yes, it says to have two harps, so harp II should play the chords and harp I the moving notes. It should all be divided. You can always eliminate a tone that is played higher in the right hand, and if he write cgce in the left hand, you only need cge. If he writes cace, you only need to play cae. Get it? I wish I’d known this when I was handed the Sea Symphony out of the blue.
And tuning forks will last forever, tuners will not. That said, my second-oldest Korg tuner is still my best one.
I believe the major factor in aging a pedal harp is how often and how carefully it is moved. While I saw a professional harpist put her Style 85 in the trunk of her car with no padding, maybe not even a cover, few harps would stand up to that kind of treatment. Moving is very hard on the neck and the base. Clicking comes from playing a lot, and that can start after 20-30 years. If a neck is going to fail, I suspect is more likely to do so quickly, which is why they have the five-year warranty check-up. I will say that my harp’s sound improved with every rebuilding job, three of them. Especially when they put a stirrup on the bottom of the center strip. When I first got my harp, in 1979, it was very plain, but even from top to bottom. If it hadn’t been so even, I’d have sent it back. But I thought, something might come of this. So I worked at it, and eventually it became totally responsive and richly resonant as I dreamed it might be. Adding a gold crown gave it just the right distinction. So, now it is 42 years old, and the main problem is the riveting. But I also stopped moving it 11 years ago because I noticed I was having trouble tuning it after being moved in a car. That told me the neck was being destabilized by not having been cushioned sufficiently or laid totally flat.
Salzedo’s Preludes for Beginners in the Method introduce most of them in beautiful music, climaxing with his famous Chanson dans la Nuit. Montsalvatge’s Variations employ several of his colors, albeit in Spanish. Persichetti’s Parable uses them extensively.
Yes, good news, indeed. I was told by a colleague that they had done so on new 85s and such, so I am greatly relieved that it is a false rumor.
Your reach can gradually extend with time, your fingers don’t get longer, but the flesh can stretch, especially between your thumb and second finger, it can grow a lot, if you do stretching exercises. In the meantime, you can leap from one note to the next.
You need to ask a recorder player. Wax of a type is used on the cork, not vaseline, that I can recall. It likely swelled up too much.
I think we need an American system, one more challenging, and geared to growth, and not spending years on insignificant music with little progress. The emphasis should be on major composers, to educate the pupil’s ears and minds.
