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You might contact Carolyn Mills in New Zealand, who had a harp and percussion duo for several years.
I can’t believe that any wedding budget can not accomodate $500 for the harpist in this day and age. They are most likely spending thousands on everything else. For those who are keeping it simple and inexpensive, that is still reasonable, if they are only hiring an officiant and a place. The music is one of the most meaningful and memorable parts of a ceremony and should be. Certainly, some areas are more impoverished, and half that is reasonable. You know your own area. But I don’t see any reason for anyone to be defensive. Some harpists play many weddings, some very few. We all deserve a chance to cover some of the horrendous costs of being a harpist.
I think these are bad rumors circulating again. I was told that they are made in the factory, using extra wood from making the other harps, and using one piece rather than laminated layers.
I tried them all and they all sounded good. There were no duds or exceptional instruments. They may need more time to age than fancier models, but they sound good to begin with. They are simpler looking than the carved models, and that seems to be the main difference. Their construction is more like a regular harp than the 85 line.
You may be interested to know that even though he did all the management work, when Salzedo toured with other musicians, he paid everyone equally!
I would imagine you could sand off the finish if you really needed to. Pirastros are incredibly costly.
The expanded sound of the bass provides greater support to the higher registers as well, so the entire harp has a rounder, softer quality. Straight-sounding board harps can have a more piercing quality in some cases, generally less bass resonance, resulting in a greater emphsis on the lower middle register. Hopefully, there are no holes in your sounding board.
No, I meant that Lyra carried the same line of gut strings as Classic, with a different name. Burgundy are close in quality, but not the same. I found that Savarez strings also fray where you play them, and I got rather sore playing on them because they are harder and tighter. I would not want to use them, myself. I can’t imagine why the Pirastro nylons did not sound as good unless it was just a different quality you were not used to. They have tended to last longer than the usual nylons. I just installed Bow guts after using Classic and Burgundy for years before that. They are sounding quite fine so far. I had some trouble with the finish cracking and turning white on some strings as I tied the knot. One of the C strings was rather dull, but the F strings seem fine, so I don’t know that it’s the coloring.
I have heard the figures of $500 and up to $1,000 in certain parts of California. It seems reasonable, but I know it is also lower in areas of the Midwest, where people are used to cheap personal services.
I think for a major metropolitan area with a good-to-high level of musicianship, $500 sounds good. But then you also have the effect of it that becomes the norm, then some players expect that for any gig, like it’s a minimum wage.
I would love to make Carl’s mathematics work.
You can order them from Lyra. I don’t know anything about Camac gut strings, but the Savarez are to me an entirely other thing.
My point about flowers was that many wedding have them by the boatload, not just bouquets and a nice display at the altar. But that money is spent before they go looking for a bargain harpist. At least
I think harp cost is a big factor in what you should charge. If you are playing a lever harp for a wedding, I don’t think you should charge the same as for a costly pedal harp. There is more wear-and-tear, and the repair and replacement cost is so much higher. But that’s a whole other category of undercutting: lever harpists taking what are normally pedal harpist’s type of gigs.
It’s ironic, but union scale is actually very low usually, so most people do charge more. Price setting is something a guild does, and can do for its members, certainly.
I am all for helping people who have little money, but the fact is that most weddings spend so much on other things, that they want to skimp on the music, when they could easily do with less flowers.
