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My 2 heroes , Basil and Barbara Christensen! I had seen your name, Basil, on the posters list, amd only dared to hope that you were really signed on, and my own efforts just now at repertoire seem so insignificant, but seeing your post, Barbara, I know that I can still practice and hope!
So to Basil, and Barbara, many many thanks for your inspiration and tenacity!
First, it is wonderful to see you posting again! Second, my heart is with you in your loss.
You have picked a wonderfully ambitious program to start playing again. I wish I were equal to it.
Still, with perserverence I may get to that Ceremony of Carols yet, if only at home with a CD player.
Again, great to see you posting again!
Take a look at the Sibelius website. There have been problems with Sibelius being run on Macs, especially after some OS updates. I think remedies are available online.
Although our stories are a little different in some of the details, many elements are the same.
I bought a Wurlitzer C with its original straight soundboard almost two years ago. The risk factor was buying the harp with the original soundboard, but the confidence factor was buying it from Howard Bryan.
I continue on the theory that as long as the harp, soundboard, and I continue to hold up, I’ll continue doing what I’m doing. When any of the three segments mentioned falls apart, I’ll re-evaluate.
I hope you make a decision that gives you as much satisfaction as mine gives me.
I truly appreciate the comments. They have been both helpful and enlightening. Also, the choral version of “Avinu Malkenu” on YouTube is beautifully done.
I have realized that what I am actually needing is a phrase that could be chanted or spoken. The music is to memorialize the loss of a group of victims of a disaster, Jewish and Christian young people together during an unexpected catastrophic event. I originally considered using a fragment of familiar music, but now I have decided to use music that I have written if I can find meaningful phrases to honor the two traditions.
The music has already been composed, and will accomodate a short phrase. Is there a line or statement from the prayer that accompanies the lighting of the Memorial Candle that might work?
Thank you once again for responding to my request. The project I have undertaken is dear to my heart, and I am eager to honor the unfortunate young people appropriately.
Kay you might want to call a pharmacist to see if he has any glues that are designed specifically for healing wounds. They may be a little more expensive than Super Glue but a little more gentle to the skin.
My teacher uses a technique similar to the one Carl has described, but I can never seem to fix the tape so that it doesn’t catch the string.
If you attempt to use a glue, hold the slit together gently and paint the smallest amount over the top of the slit, then hold the slit closed gently so that the glue can take hold. If you get much of the glue into the slit, it can sting like purple blazes.
Before bed, cover the wound with antibiotic jelled salve and bandage it. A lot of healing can occur during the night.
I’ve had a split index finger for about 3 weeks. I get it almost closed, play for an hour and it opens again.
Hope it’s much better soon!
If you love the harp, even from just seeing or hearing them, and you really want to play, you will want to buy that lap harp. Don’t buy it!
RENT! Everything changes during the first year or two you play, and after that, and what you thought you wanted after you took your first lesson may be entirely different in 2 months or 6 months or a year.
Unless you want too many harps, rent and wait, and enjoy the process.
Lyon and Healy is still very proud of their old instruments, so if they know anything about your harp they’ll probably tell you.
The Washburn line was produced by L&H in the early 1900’s. You can find some info about them by googling. There is at least one thread by Sam Milligan here about them. There is also a book by Dr. Rosalind Rensch that may have some more info for you.
I think they were built as a harp to be sold in large stores for students and hobbyists, and since learning the harp was considered a sign of polish and refinement at the time, they were probably solid student instruments.
Hopefully you have a good harp repair person available to give it a good thorough going over for you. I hope you get lots of good playing out of it.
Would it be a good project for a college student to catalogue all of Bochsa’s works correctly? I have two relatively expensive sets of Bochsa etudes that I bought because the sets I wanted were apparently not assigned opus numbers.
It seems that there are more “unassigned” pieces out there, so a re-cataloguing would be both a good learning/research experience for a student and also a useful one for students and teachers.
Just in case there’s anyone who hasn’t seen it, there’s a Wurlitzer Pedal Harp site online that has some good pictures and small articles about the harps and their history.
Google “Wurlitzer Pedal Harps” and it will come right up
I played a Koa Thormahlen Swan and a Koa Dusty FH 34 last year at Somerset, and they were both gorgeous. I love Koa and Bubinga.
