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You might lower your fee, but add some back-end charges, like for consultations, requests, additional hours. That’s the kind of thing businesses do. Or you have to add advertising, like, you can beat our prices, but we never miss a beat.
If you match (her) price, she will learn the cost of undercutting.Ten years might be a bit long for some people, but astonishing facility at that point? Maybe for some. Standards for professionalism have gotten unacceptably low, it seems, and that hurts everyone. I have colleagues who have lost almost all of their gigs, and that is after decades of devotion to the instrument. It does not help to have people running around calling themselves professional after a few years of lessons. Believe me, there is a lot more to it than that, and the listeners (hopefully) hear and appreciate the difference. Pedal harps cost a lot of money to maintain and replace, and an amplified lever harp is no substitute, sorry.
I think you have to inform your teacher of your intentions, and preferably have their approval. It is their work, after all, and another teacher can change everything.
I still say five months is too long, you need in-person lessons. Unless you are in the boondocks, if you know where that is.
A jazz waltz is always a hit if you can find some. Take Five is one example, though technically not a waltz.
I have made a comparison chart for shopping purposes, and an inventory chart, but it does not include every option. It would be quite a spreadsheet, then.
My experience with Burgundy strings of the last years I used them was that they were far more defective than merely cosmetic flaws. This did not used to be the case.
Karen Rokos, the finest harp regulator I have personally encountered, told me that it was preferable for me to use Pirastro heavy-gauge nylon strings on my aging 23, as they would regulate better, being thicker, hence the discs could be a little flatter in position but get the right pitch.
Savarez strings, on the other hand, have a noticably higher tension, as do gut strings compared to all nylon strings.
Heavy-gauge strings have been hard to find, but Salopian told me they could get them. Perhaps in gut as well as nylon.
The thicker strings have always produced a warmer, preferable tone quality, better projection, and longer wear, in my experience.
Concedos are processed differently for the color change, either more dye or less dye as well as more finish.
Bow seems to have cornered the market, unless you seek out Pirastro, so our choices are limited. D’Addario also manufactures nylon strings, but standard, or thinner gauge.
You would think that with Bow being owned by a harpist, that they would be much more responsive to our needs.
I guess the other option is to go into raw fishing line and trying to find the right material.Rotary International is a huge business organization that has lots of money. Being a nonprofit is no excuse to get a lower fee in itself.
I don’t think four years of studying harp is nearly enough to be professional of any sort. Doing a favor for a friend is another matter entirely and should be approached as such. Otherwise, one is potentially taking income from professionals who have sacrificed for many years to try to make a living, or lowering the prices paid so they can’t get paid enough. That is my reasoning. It takes a good ten years of serious study to become near professional, unless one is coming from serious keyboard training, which I would estimate might trim four years from that figure.Let me know if you find a solution. I haven’t yet. I have a lot to use up. I probably still have quite a few classic guts I could trade for Bow.
It is just a melody, and it can be downloaded or found in collections of historical music in a library. However, there are more-ancient Sumerian cuneiform scores that can be transcribed and played, I believe. Music of the ancient Hebrews exists as melodies, too, so Seikolos is only the oldest European music.
I played my troubador harp behind the perfume counter of a nearby Powers Department Store, what Xmas music I could. She was annoyed I didn’t bring my pedal harp, but I couldn’t have gotten it there.
It must depend a bit on the make. With a Lyon & Healy, there is no reason to worry about using any of the pedals.
I would not charge in your situation. If necessary, I would defer to a professional for such an engagement.
