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I thought the silver-wrapped ones had different metal than the copper-wrapped ones. I don’t like the colored one or the tarnish-proof…I get traditional. To me the tarnish-proof don’t have as much resonance, and the colored ones are ambiguous on pitch.
I’m going to be doing a harp demonstration, and they always want to know what the strings are made of. I’ll probably just say metal.
Yes, that’s how a wire breaks. Sounds like a gun going off. The string does not look broken. It won’t fall apart like a gut or nylon. As you said, it feels loose. Your string is broken. You need to put on a new one. If one wire broke, it might be time to change them all.
Had to laugh a little, but it’s not funny. Years ago, I went a couple of times to a ranch setting (B&B) for outdoor weddings. (TX) I charge more for outdoor and distance, but still….not a whole lot there money-wise. Then the lady approached me and said that if I got more jobs there, I should be giving them a cut. I informed her how much I made by going there, and that was the end of the conversation…and the last time I went. I never got a call from anyone for a wedding at that place again…don’t know if she caused that, or if it would have happened anyway. I wondered how much she wanted, but I didn’t ask. How cheap can they be? They saw all the work involved in schlepping a harp, setting up, setting up an amp, changing clothes, tuning, (and doing it all in reverse to leave) and then they wanted to rip off part of what little I was making. That’s the only time it ever happened to me, thank goodness.
Personally, I would not give a kickback, but maybe that’s the standard in some areas. I’d be interested in knowing what part of the country you are in.
I was wondering if it’s a straight soundboard or extended. (I looked at your profile, but there’s no pic of you or your harp.)
I suppose the owner means the soundboard had pulled up, and that would indicate it’s extended? I’ve been lucky to have a straight soundboard (LH 15- 1971) that never did that. I think the extendeds all pull up as they age, don’t they? So that might be normal.
Some people change all their strings at regular time intervals (yearly, every two years, etc.) to avoid string breakage. Perhaps you could try that.
Oooh, Paul. Now tuning keys are rubber-covered, I know. Years ago, when they were just the metal and wood, I dropped one on the soundboard of a harp at school. It made a gash. I reported it to my teacher, and after that, I was super careful about handling a tuning key. Maybe they bounce now without damaging the board, but I wouldn’t want to try it.
Maybe your director could get an orchestra version of the Ave, and you could just play your usual one along with them. The orchestra version would probably also be in Bb, since that’s the original key.
I’m interested to see what other people say about this.
Depends on which string. I had a wire break during performance. It sounded like a gunshot. I pretended nothing happened and just kept going, avoiding that string. (A wire doesn’t break thru and flop…you can’t tell by looking at it that it’s broken.) I also had a pedal rod break once while I was playing, so I had to choose my rep so I could avoid that note…it was the F, so I played just my C-flat music. Luckily, it was free-choice and not specific music.
Sounds like you had nylons or guts break. That would be difficult to avoid the string, unless it’s really high. Sometimes you can tell when nylons are getting weak because there will be a slight groove where the disc meets the string. Guts are a little easier to tell because they might have a rough spot or actually look frayed…in the middle or at either end. Some people change their strings often, but I don’t because it’s just too expensive. I keep an eye on them and hope they’ll be OK. It’s very rare that a nylon breaks, and it seems to be the little, tiny ones anyway.
It does take a long time for the new strings to stop stretching (except the wires…they are up pretty fast). That’s another reason I don’t like to change strings.
The college has harps to practice on. You won’t need to take one. I didn’t own a harp until after I left college. Then I worked nights in a nursing home to buy one….financed thru Lyon-Healy.
I started from scratch at 19…no prior musical experience. If the student wants to learn, he/she will. You don’t have to learn it all at once. My teacher started me on The First Harp Book by Betty Paret. It’s very basic, and I learned to read the notes and clefs as I went along.
I would ask the bride what waltz her mom wants to sing and assure her that if I have the music, I will be able to accompany her.
Well, this is a forum, and everyone has his/her opinion.
To me, not having the harp rest on my shoulder would give me a feeling of no control when I moved pedals, even if I felt secure enough to play the strings…which I wouldn’t.
As for buying a harp without trying it, I bought two without trying them. My LH 15 in 1971, and my Aoyama Etude in 1989. Both were made for me. There weren’t any ready. Both took a while to develop the sound. I think a harp has a combination of two sounds…the one it is born with, and the one the player gives it.
Times have changed, of course. When I went to my bank to ask about a loan for a harp, the loan officer laughed at me. Seems he thought that was the funniest thing in the world. I promptly took my meager amount of money out of his bank and put it in another one, explaining to his manager why….not that they really cared they lost my account…. Anyway, LH was happy to deal with me.
I’m here with a dash of cold water. When I bought my first harp, I wanted the LH Princess Louise because we had one at my school. However, all I could afford was the lowest-priced one at that time, a LH 15 (straight soundboard)….a nickel down, a nickel a week, as the old saying goes…LH financed.
I am SO glad I could not afford a bigger harp!!! … many years, many miles, and many moves….playing gigs, orchestra, opera, band…. not to mention having to have a vehicle large enough to hold a harp.
So my question is…who will be moving it, and do you have a vehicle large enough for it?
BTW, I would have been thrilled to buy a used harp from LH at that time, but back then, they always said they had a 3-yr waiting list. A used harp is already broken in, and coming from LH, it would already be regulated. A new harp definitely is “green”…. it takes a while to develop the sound…..
