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When the string finish cracks as you are tying a knot in it, it does not mean it is defective. You have to be careful how you bend it and not to pull it too tight. As long as it is not cracked above the sounding board, the string is fine. But the cracking issue is why I suggested, years ago, to try making white strings, as I noticed the black and red strings were much more supple. So, those of you who enjoy Concedo strings now, you can thank me. I have never tried them, though. I remain a loyal Bow Brand customer. Their gut strings last longer than they ever used to, even longer than my nylon strings do, nowadays. As far as I know, they are long past the temporary problem they had with their supplier. I would never pay higher prices, or I would get Pirastro gut strings. I find all the string dealers to be very fine to deal with.
Having experienced internet outages, and not to mention power outages, of course you need to keep your calendar on paper.
It can be sadly low, and sometimes they don’t even allow you to get tips. Other musicians get less than harpists, and if they don’t understand the expense of our instruments, we are stuck. One hotel near me pays $150 for three hours, the same as 20 years ago when I played there. Still more than a piano player might get.
I have had trigger finger on two fingers. It is definitely from wear-and-tear from playing and underlying ailments. You do NOT need surgery. Surgery works, but also causes other discomfort. You do need a radiologist like mine, who uses ultrasound with guided needle therapy, both for exact injection of cortisone to reduce any inflammation, then stippling the tendon stirrup with the needle to soften it so the tendon can glide underneath it once more. My doctor, Levon Nazarian, MD, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, invented this method of treatment, which is useful for bursitis, tennis elbow, and all manner of soft-tissue injuries. Surgery is a permanent solution, but you can have irritation from the tendon rubbing directly against the muscles.
It’s more important to learn healthy technique on strings that are not over-resistant. I had to practice for a week on a harp with Savarez strings, and by the end of the week, my hands felt very strained by it. They are noticeably tighter. They sound well enough, but don’t ring as much. I have tried gut and nylon, and much prefer nylon, though it is far from perfect.
I’m sure you can find many examples looking through published music. Again, inconsistent placement is distracting, messy and in my eyes, unprofessional. Stick with one or the other. Point size varies with different fonts so you might look for a font where 12-point is more legible and suggest a font change instead of point-size change. Other harpists have published with Carl Fischer.
Nylon strings are by far the softest and most flexible, and most apropos in your condition. You should avoid carbon-fiber type strings, and gut strings above the fourth octave.
Ask a harpist who has played it for a look at their book. It is large. Some parts are very tricky to learn. There are two versions, the old and the new. You also need to know if you will be playing claves or not.
Yes, we need slurs for phrasing, though some have wanted to do away with them. It affects how we play. But they should not obscure fingerings or pedal markings.
Such engravers as you describe sound incompetent. No one has used arc shapes that I can think of. “L.V.” is only needed where there is a pause, rest or at the end of a piece where it is not desirable to muffle the strings. Consult responsibly produced harp music, or contact me directly.Inconsistent placement of pedal markings is messy and very annoying. They should either be between the staves or below, one or the other, and be consistent. If between the staves, then you have to have extra room to allow for the dynamics and other expressive markings so it is not cluttered. But that separates the hands too much. The worst is when they’re above the system, which makes no sense to me at all, unless you’re playing lever harp.
As for Carl Fischer, did you perhaps show them some previous publications they did for harp with better printing style?I have some ideas for the ideal, stair-climbing cart, but finding someone to actually design and make it is not easy. Cindy Schultz’s father made the best one, though they are heavy, but they have long been unavailable. They had a friction skid on the back that made it safe on stairs.
I used to use my trunk, the only problem was I couldn’t see around it and it didn’t roll in a straight line very well.
My first dolly was made by Wayne Barrington, was just a wooden shelf with wheels and a strap to go around the base. It worked well, but the buckle chewed up a foot, and it might have made a lot of wear on the base. Maria Muribus’s husband made one with clip-on wheels that clipped over the feet, very nice looking. I don’t know how many he made. My teacher always liked those where you kept a hand on the harp, for safety’s sake.
