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Yes, but I suppose if you catch them on something they make a lovely gliss… Not like those old-fashioned clodhoppers the rest of us wear. Sigh. The price of fashion… 😉
I take breaks all the time, in everything I do. It’s just routine with me. I’m not one of these non-stop, gotta keep going at all costs types, because I know that would wear me out. It’s just more of a long-term outlook, so I can come back later with some fresh perspectives to bring to the table (or the harp). Jerusha makes a great point about that… I’ve noticed that’s particularly helpful in creative work like composing, arranging, etc. New ideas I hadn’t thought of earlier. Can’t have guilt trips about taking a short vacation, because it does pay off over the long run! 🙂
Hi Laura Ann,
I don’t play live for the reason that I hate doing it. Seriously. I have not contributed to the Crash and Burn and Lived to tell about it thread, because my post would have been a real downer and I felt it a good thing that everyone was able to support each other on that front. But on my website http://www.sherrimatthew.com I recently posted an in-depth discussion of my thoughts on that and related subjects, under Quiet book review.
I used to work as a church organist before I took up the harp (and before I finished my degree) and boy, did I get a lot of nasty remarks after the service. Some of them almost confrontational. I would have panic attacks each Sunday, almost to the point of passing out, natually enough play badly, then get ripped apart after church was over. This happened at more than one church. I barely got through my degree recital. It was the last time I ever played live, in 2007.
Life is too short to put up with that kind of abuse, and I’ve gotten some wonderful emails and text messages from fans who loved my recording work. So you can guess which way I decided to go. I have never played my harp in public either. I really like what I do – studio recording – and my stress levels are way down because of it.
I’m happy to share my experiences here with doing recording work, becaise it’s been an enormously rewarding experience for me (by contrast!) and I had hoped to be able to pass some of that enthusiasm on. It’s been a nice alternative.
Hi Tracey,
Triplett Harps uses Highlander pickups: http://highlanderpickups.com/catalog/catindex.htm. They build them in at the time of construction. Looking over Highlander’s site though, I’m trying to figure out if you can just buy one and attach it to your current instrument. They primarily sell to the guitar market. Maybe you could email them and explain to them what you’re trying to do. They might be able to recommend a model in their product line that might retrofit easily to your harp.
Mine uses a 9 volt battery. Word of caution: I always take it out when I’m not using it. I found out there was quite a drain on it and the battery didn’t last very long. About a month at the most. The pickup has a 1/4″ mono output jack on the back of the harp but if you need a smaller plug, adapters are always easy to get. I have a nice long extension cable to run from one room to the other.
The way my pickup is installed is, it’s hard to see without putting a flashlight inside the harp. It runs up and down the length of the soundboard and I believe Triplett actually embedded some of the wires in the wood. But Highlander may have some products that would mount unobtrusively on your harp and could be removed when you need to return your rental. They have quite a FAQ section. See what they have to say! 🙂
Hi Tracey,
My piezo-electric pickup was built into my harp, and I’ve found it’s a nice supplement to the external mikes I place in front of it. The pickup goes to an external pre-amp with a gain control and from there to the mixing board. Here’s a link to a page on my website where you can read a bit about how I work: http://www.sherrimatthew.com/studio.html. My recording work is for an album, not to hear how I sound practicing, so it’s a more elaborate setup. The harp is in a separate room from the studio equipment. I would tend to think if you recorded primarily acoustically, but with the soundboard pickup added, you would get a very nice sound. I experimented with turning the pickup on and off while monitoring and the absence of it seemed to take away an undefined kind of ambiance, so I made sure to always have it on. It just seemed to add presence to the recordings.
As far as replacement buzz and other noises goes, just try to set your levels in advance with monitor headphones on and keep adjusting until you can hear your instrument but you don’t hear these sounds. Try adjusting your gain and/or mike distances. It takes some fiddling but the results are worth it! I spent a lot of time tweaking until I found the sweet spot for my gear, then I noted the values and kept it set up that way each time.
Placing the mikes near the sound holes is what I do every time. About six inches away.
Can’t advise you regarding gigs and amps, since I don’t play live but if you need any help with the recording end of things, feel free to ask again or email me.
Hi Brook,
My kitties have never done anything bad to my harp, but there’s been a few carpet accidents (my 12 yr old Isabelle is diabetic) that I’ve learned to clean up without residual smell. 1/2 solution water and vinegar followed up by baking soda and hydrogen peroxide eliminate any urine odor from the carpet, and that on a hot humid day. The question is, what would these chemicals do to the finish of a musical instrument, even if sparingly applied? Maybe someone else here might know? You might be able to dampen a cloth and wipe it down and hopefully it would not damage the varnish or color of the wood. Don’t know. Good luck to you!Hi Dee,
Question about pin sanding: would that work to help reduce pin slippage? Some of my strings don’t like to hold tune on high humidity days (see my above post link) and I find I have to push in and turn… but still they slip. This is intermittent but seems to affect the same pins; two or three of them at different octaves on my harp. The pins are about four years old. Thanks!
Hi Katie,
I had access to some old window drapes ( the kind with the thermal lining ) and with minimal sewing one drape made an excellent cover so my kitty Jasmine leaves my harp strings alone. The thermal material goes on the inside and I found it doesn’t tear easily if it accidentally gets caught on my wire ends. I might dress it up a bit more one of these days and add a lace overlay to the outside of the material. It’s a casual cover; not really fitted or anything, but it does protect all the strings from a known harp-playing cat! 🙂 Nice to be able to recycle window curtains to a new use, though!
Hi Samantha,
I have a wire-strung harp and live in Vermont. I had some issues with string breakage recently (read my post here: http://www.harpcolumn.com/forums/harps-and-accessories/posts/64029). Great advice about keeping a hygrometer nearby! Mine lives on my music rack. This has been a tough summer in the northeast for temperature and humidity. 🙁 My tuning (and breakage) issues stopped after taking Robert’s and Sid’s advice about keeping an eye on the humidity. Someone else may have better suggestions for your particular instrument, but here’s a starting point. Hope this helps!
I second Loreena McKennitt. Would like to see generally more coverage of lever, wire and folk harpists (nothing against pedal harp but I don’t play it). And I agree with Elizabeth, Loreena is a fine musician!
Hi Carlin,
Are there particular octaves where you have the most frequent string breakages? Mine seem to occur in the range above middle C, probably starting with the G and going up from there. They are bronze, .020 to .018 gauge where they break most often. The topmost ones almost never break. Likewise the copper wrap/bronze core ones in the bass are very stable. I only had one break once. Always wondered why that was… the emphasis on the middle.Hi Robert and Barbara,
Thanks for the info, I guess I’m not looking at wood damage. (we’ll save that one for the winter!) More likely seasonal changes are what brings out the tuning and breakage issues.
I wasn’t aware of the electronic hygrometers, have to check them out. I have a small plastic one with a movement in it that came for free with a humidifier I bought a couple of years ago. My instrument is a wire-strung Irish harp, at very high tension and I’ve had to retune to A415 and even set the two middle strings to C (traditional Irish na comhluighe), thus losing my topmost A to deal with string breakage. Bringing a replacement wire back up to full tension can take up to two days on this harp (depending on the octave), so I try to keep it from happening in the first place. If it does a string cascade, replacing and bringing all the wires to full tension can take a week.
I’ve noticed sudden shifts in humidity can cause breakage, so when I turn on the AC, I turn up the cool gradually. Metal fatigue is another one that I try to keep on top of, if I’ve been tuning a lot and it’s drifting about from one day to the next. I’ve found it’s a good idea to keep my harp bag well-stocked with a back-up supply of replacement strings in all gauges, esp. the range that’s most prone to breakage.
I have no experience with pedal harps. Does this sort of thing occur with them as well, or are they more stable?
Hi there Sid and Sherj,
Yes I do have a hygrometer! 🙂 Keep it right on my music rack too, esp. when I’m tuning so I know what I’m getting into. Actually, I was a bit remiss with my numbers. It was 75% indoors and the weather service gave the outside humidity as 90 to 100% on some days. Finally got the dehumidifier going in the basement after some minor flooding (no major damage, thankfully) and we’ve been taking out literally gallons. We have to dump one of them every night.
I guess this means I’ll have to wait for my harp’s wood to dry out a bit before the tuning stabilizes. I think we’re in for some more wet weather later on this week too. 🙁 Will have to close the windows again and start up the air conditioner then.
They should have a special weather forecast just for harpists on the Weather Channel. 🙂
Hi Angela,
This past winter I had an annoying buzz on the second D above middle C and it turned out that the wire end where it entered through the hole on the pin had a little bit of slack… even though the wire wrap itself was nice and tight. I experimented by giving it a gentle poke with a wooden q-tip and it moved pretty far, enough to detune that string and also stop the buzzing. So I just bent the wire a little better, where it came out the pin hole and also tightened up the wire wrap to remove the slack.
And I noticed the same thing you did too – put the lever on and the buzzing goes away. Drove me nuts. At first I thought it was happening under the sound board, maybe something to do with an ill-seated toggle.
Don’t know if this will help or not, but it’s one more thing you could check for. 🙂
