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I was at a solo recital she gave in New York City, organized by Don Henry of Lyra Music. She played many of her solos that were familiar from her recordings. She was very warm to talk to. Her performing, on the other hand, was very cool, concentrated and exact.
You can set it up as “pay what you wish” or “donations for expenses gladly accepted.” How much food you are serving could make a difference. It is customary to serve punch, beverages, cheese and crackers, cookies and bars, etc., certainly if you are selling tickets. You could sell tickets at a low price, $5-10 to cover costs. Or, you could also say that donations will be divided between expenses and a favorite charity. I don’t know what your intentions are. I’ve always presented recitals as professional events, no matter who is attending. If this is not meant to be professional performing, then you have to eat the cost, as they eat the eats. It does cost money. I really don’t have an answer. People get offended by anything one does. I had someone get irate once that AHS members didn’t get in free, even though it was not a chapter event. As people are handed programs, someone could say, here is a donation jar to help cover costs. Or, just say, admission by donation.
The issue is not having the pinkie sticking out, but if it is holding tension and not closing. It affects all the other fingers and can become a serious problem. How one practices, and how one approaches practice, how one approaches learning is key. Remove the effort, and remove the anxiety. You will get where you are going when you get there. So try practicing so you can enjoy it.
The curves of the column suggest an Art Nouveau influence to me. It’s decorative art at its finest, so if Lyon & Healy won’t say, then we have to ask someone who knows decorative arts. The decal on the sounding board may be a different style.
I believe that anyone who can repair a Lyon & Healy harp can repair a Venus harp, more or less, anyway.
There’s also recreational music, such as playing for children or seniors, not sure what job title that gets, or what training, if any.
For most harpists, you do not want to go beyond a tenth in total, or a fifth between 4 and 3. But it depends on the total spacing of a chord and if it is broken (as usual) or flat (exceptional). A chord of all 4ths is possible, or all fifths, when broken. Vaughan-Williams wrote many chords with a sixth on the bottom, c-a-c-f, but one would omit the doubled note and play c-a-f 421. Some harpists can do it comfortably. Many cannot.
Music Education is probably still the most practical choice. Another option might be studio engineering, but that probably requires a lot of investment in equipment. I wish I had learned plumbing to pay the bills. Many working-class semi-skilled or skilled jobs pay much better and maybe some can be done part-time. But you don’t have to worry about that so much until senior year.
I would never consider a Camac harp as they are musically inadequate for certain requirements, such as responding to a sudden accent or change in dynamics. They ring a lot, but you have less control of it, and there is a plastic quality to it, as the columns are not wood, but carbon fiber (synthetic material).
Therefore, you would have to play music with a lot of sudden contrasts. But the main thing is to play a scale and see if the tone is even from top to bottom, that it resonates freely, and there are lots of overtones; the other factor is, how responsive is it to your touch? Does it speak clearly, or in a fuzzy way? I think it should be very responsive, very even, very reverberant but not overly so, and very clear. Some harps now seem to have too much bass and the bass strings won’t stop ringing beyond normal, which becomes a noticable problem, requiring frequent muffling. I think the LH Style 100 is your best option. It can last a lifetime, if needed.Or you can buy a second-hand harp, which may turn out to be the better deal, as the older models all had a proper glossy finish and were extremely well built since the 1990s.
It’s never too much if the harps are fine enough to warrant it. Everything has gone up tremendously recently. At least a 30 or 100 is still a viable alternative, I hope. I’m more concerned with the large turnover of staff they have had recently.
Do what fits your hand. It doesn’t matter how it was done in ancient times, you’re the one who’s going to play it, and you are probably a good size bigger than they were.
