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I found Tiffany Schaefer’s beautiful arrangement of Coventry Carol the other day. So I’m working through that. It’s for intermediate harp; I am hoping to play it for the family and maybe our neighbours this Christmas. I’m just getting to a point in my playing where I don’t feel a little performance would be a complete embarrassment anymore! ^o^
I’m rather in a rush though, as I’d like to learn a few more as well. O Holy Night is one I really want to do, at least.
Happy playing, everyone!
So many replies! – I love the enthusiasm you all are showing 🙂
First, Evolène: thanks for the links; I have spent some time looking through most of these accounts now, and have tried out some of the exercises from the videos. (The videos did correspond with the name you put up – no worries) Definitely helpful!! Like stumbling on a treasury.
I have now officially gone from mostly playing pieces, to mostly playing exercises…Biagio: The harp is a delightful instrument. Just playing a few simple notes in succession sounds magical. I have even composed a few little melodies already 🙂 And tried to make an arrangement of a song I couldn’t find any sheet music for, just for fun.
I ordered Robertson’s arranging book, to help me get that finished. Thanks for the tip.My harp is a Musicmakers Voyageur, a bit pricey for me but not too much, and definitely worth the investment as it sounds wonderful and feels nice to play. I’m glad I didn’t end up with a lap harp.
Emma: The link worked! Yay, and thank you! I have tried to change the fingering, and do think it feels and sounds much better now, as well as being more fun to play! 🙂
Tacye: Yes, that’s what I’m aiming for. To be honest, I haven’t practiced grace notes much yet – I actually had to look it up on YouTube to be sure what they were – so I am not sure I understand what you are suggesting.. *ashamed* The pains of being a complete music theory ignoramus…
But I will experiment, and then maybe I will get it.
I love grace notes, so ought to practice them anyhow.– – –
By the way, Christy-Lyn linked to the English version of the Grossi book in one of her newest videos! Thought I would share the link with you all, too:
I haven’t bought it (yet), but ordered Friou’s book yesterday.
Good point, Wil-weten. I do still find some of those exercises challenging. I hadn’t thought of using them as warm-ups (silly me), but just spent over half an hour working through them again, and will start all of my practice sessions thus henceforward.
I have also downloaded the op.26 now (which Charles-nix suggested), and will probably get Bruner’s second volume as well as the Harp Exercises for Agility and Speed, to begin with. All your suggestions are saved and looked at, though!
You people are wonderful.(Emma-Graham, shame about the size limit. I got your initial reply on my email, and was just about to respond to it. You seemed to have deduced the problem quite well, and I was curious to see the photo. I do find the fingering kinda awkward in this piece, but I’m sure I’ll work my way through it in time.)
Well then, it seems I am doomed to mediocrity – as the only harp teacher I know of lives several hours’ drive away from me and I don’t have a driver’s license. I took a couple of lessons with her when I first got my harp, during which she showed me basic hand position, plucking technique, and later cross-overs/cross-unders. But, that’s that, unless I can find someone to teach me over Skype… and I am doubtful I could afford it anyway.
Thank you for the book suggestions, though. Do you think I need to buy the first volume of Bruner’s Learn to Play the Harp Beautifully as well as the second (and third)? As I am not sure how much I would be missing out on.
I didn’t know what an etude was, so thanks for explaining that Charles-nix. Worth looking into, I’m sure. 🙂
Hi!
I do not at present work with a teacher; I use only a method book (the one by Woods, with the companion DVD). I also occasionally find lessons on YouTube.
As well as the problem you mention, Evolène, with the right hand sounding louder than the left, I have difficulties getting the timing right. I know, theoretically, that the chord is supposed to begin not on the beat, but just before it (so that it ends on the beat), but no matter how many times I seem to practice going as slow as possible, I still end up playing on the beat when I try to speed up. Either that, or there is a forced delay instead, so the melody comes in too late and sounds ‘chopped’.
I do not have this problem when the chords are left-handed.Anyway, I must have tried to put it together too early, as Tacye says. I need to focus my practice better from now on. It’s too easy to let impatience run away with you!
Thanks, guys, for sharing your valuable experience and thoughts. 🙂
I will check out those videos by Josh Layne as well – from what little I have seen, he is a great teacher.Ow, duckspeaks, that must have been painful! My harp has nylon strings, but it’s good of you to put out the warning all the same. Another reminder to be careful and do this slowly, it seems… I hope your finger healed well, in the end.
Biagio & Talfryn, I’ll print this right away so I have these details handy for future reference. It seems I will need to do some measurements and, as Talfryn says, go through some trial and error. I feel much more prepared now, though 🙂
That is extremely helpful! Thank you for sharing! My harp does have nylon strings.
As an aside, how much are the tuning pins supposed to stick out when this is done correctly?
(Need I mention I cringe at the thought of a harp dropped down a stairs… It must be quite a hardy one to have survived without exploding, and with the strings intact as well!)
Just take it as it comes – it’s good you’ve got someone to look it over for you and give you some lessons!
When you get the harp, make sure they’ve given you a proper string chart. Then maybe you could have your harp teacher look at that as well, to make sure it’s sound?
Best wishes again!
I’ll be around watching for your thread. Everyone here have been very kind to me; I hope we – and I myself – can be of help to you too, should you need it. Or, if nothing else, share in your joy and enjoyment of your new harp! 🙂Stardust
Best of luck, Maria! 🙂 Please do let us know how it turns out for you. It may be your experience is totally different to mine.
Kind regards,
Stardust (OP)Hi guys, I feel divided about giving this thread another boost, but thought I’d write and let you know that I received my refund today.
In the end, I was the one to pay for the shipping, but otherwise the process went quite smoothly.
Thanks to Dave, though, not Aine who proved impossible to get in touch with…I get the impression they are quite inexperienced and maybe don’t know too much about harps… but with the right intentions, maybe they’ll improve in time.
Now I’ll leave it up to the admins, I think, to decide whether this thread should stay up or be taken down.
Thanks again for everything. I’m saving all your responses so I can make more informed choices in the future.
Best wishes,
StardustThanks, Biagio. It is not spelled out in my warranty, which is why I wondered. But that’s good to hear. The case has hardly been resolved yet, but it’s good that they at least agreed to let me have the refund!
Thanks guys, I do see that I myself have not handled this perfectly from the beginning, but I have very little experience with twists like this one.
Muzikkon has offered to refund the harp now…but not before I have sent the harp back to them and they have received it. Does this seem reasonable to you? It makes me feel queasy.
(I’ve been unable to find any information on the EU websites about how this is normally done.)
