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I can’t resist pointing out that the cheapest new pedal harp I know of is advertised at under 2500 Euros (excluding tax)…
Thank you Sid and Patricia, I also found http://www.steinwaybocaraton.com/HistoricalPricesofSteinwayPianos-5789.html
On a quick calculation the price of Steinway grands seems to have gone up over the last century by more than pedal harps. Interesting. If anyone has a source for prices of more modest uprights I would still be grateful.
Most of the harps on the brochure I link to are pedal, but there are a couple of lever ones on page 10. Do you have any figures for what pianos used to cost a considerable time ago? Your statement about historical affordability got me curious to check it out.
Don’t forget long term depreciation – how many digital pianos (especially used) would you need to buy over the long lifetime of a well maintained pedal harp?
Janis prompted me to research this Over the past two centuries, pianos have grown gradually less and less costly and more and more apartment-friendly, and over the same period of time, harps unfortunately went the other direction. 🙁
Drawing on an 1894 harp brochure and purchasing power calculator I conclude that harps are more affordable for the average person now than then. (I was looking at the economic status particularly, rather than the RPI or how many loaves of bread you could get for the same money.)Anyone know what pianos used to cost?
Other links which might give ideas about resources and music available are exam repertoire lists – sometimes working out which are pedal and which non can be less than obvious. I am sure there are other exam systems which include lever harp, but these are the ones I know.
http://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/other-instruments/harp-exams/
http://www.trinitycollege.com/site/?id=1054
http://www.uwl.ac.uk/academic-schools/music/lcm-exams/subjectsCarl, I find lever harps don’t fit into just two categories that well – more of a continuum from pedal gauge to cobweb! The ‘lever gauge’ strings that Bow Brand sell are a very good match for the 1911 L&H string gauges, and feel noticably lighter than modern pedal gauge but most harps with these will take a bit of finger pressure. Once I get to an octave lighter than pedal I am much more likely to overplay and I get on with gut at whatever tension far better than nylon. There is also the question of sustain, some lever harps don’t shut up which is different to play too.
Hi Carl – I started off on a level harp and Grossi. A lot of technical material doesn’t use pedals and as such swaps easily between the instruments.
In the UK the standard/common baseline for a lever harp is 34 strings – 6C to 1A – I think this became standard about the 1970s or 80s and before that from the 1930s the common harp was 31 strings 6E to 1G. (I believe the Clarsach Society’s preferences had a lot to do with there being a standard.) Larger harps are around but all the makers do a 34 string full levers student model.
Something you need to be aware of swapping from pedal to lever is the variability of lever harps. There are some, such as the Salvi Anna, Teifi Eos, L&H Prelude and the Dusty Strings Boulevard which you can sit down and play with the finger technique pretty much as you would a pedal harp. There are others where you need to use a technique more like that of single action or a nice Erard Grecian – tone down on the force and maybe rotate the hands a bit.
Maria, as I said it depends on the musical structure of the piece. If wading through 8 note treacle it would be a waste of effort to read RH chord(s) then LH chord(s) – much more efficient to read them vertically staves together (I would pick out a key note or three and fill in the rest from the shape of the chord on the page). On the other hand if the two hands are playing a fugue or something with more separate parts threaded together I think I move my attention between treble and bass more with an overview to keep the ensemble.
An interesting question. For me it depends on the music and how well I know it. If the left hand is just doing alberti bass all it needs is a vague glance to see if the shape is changing while more attention may be on the right hand twiddles. If the right hand has a familiar tune it will mostly take care of itself. If the piece is very chordy I would tend to read the hands together by shape as Sherj mentioned. I am not at all strong at memorising music, but if the piece is familiar I can just take in a reminder of the shape and waymarks looking at the bar as a whole. If I am sightreading more complicated music I look on at least two levels – an awareness of the bigger picture (lots of pedals coming up, whatever you do hit that fortissimo chord of F, overall shape of the bar) and secondly I read through the details only slightly ahead as I play them.
Even having bought it a seat, and knowing that it will fit (will it?) it is at the captain’s discretion whether the harp is permitted to fly and if it is in the cabin. Pretty much everything about flying is at the captain’s discretion. It must have the window seat – you don’t want any concern about clambering over it being a problem during evacuation, and definitely not an exit row! Make sure your case has securing points the belt can go through or work out your own strap system that can be secured by the usual single belt. For the sake of goodwill and practicality, don’t stretch the cabin baggage allowance in other ways and check your spare strings, they have been known to be refused by security, and be prepared for security to take longer.
Are airport taxes per person? Can you buy it a seat without the taxes?
Most of my pictures are hung with harp string, and one orchestral tubular bell was rehung with it. Also quite a lot of my garden is tied back with the stuff. If you soak old gut in water it goes soft and easy to tie in knots and then hardens again somewhat as it dries – interesting to experiment with and occasionally useful.
I also have some which come off one harp and are put back on one with a shorter string length which is not a performing instrument.
Your Bowbrand chart goes higher than the one I am looking at which only takes nonpedal gut up to 1st A – it has a little duplication in nylon but no pairs in gut measured in millimeters, a couple when converted to inches look like a pair such as lever 1F and 2E which both are charted as .024 inches, but .60 and .62 mm respectively.
The Salvis I know do indeed have a different string for every note but I don’t know every model. As Patricia suggests a skeleton set is possible. However, this isn’t perfect and I would really prefer not to perform on a harp with skeleton spares. Putting an A string in the B place won’t sound or feel exactly the same and will kink the string so when you buy the proper B and replace it then your used emergency spare won’t work as well in the A place it was intended for, even if it hasn’t been cut too short. I would suggest investing in a complete set of at least the top two or three octaves that are most likely to be called upon. Yes it is expensive, but hopefully she is charging fairly for the weddings.
How old are the wires on her harp? If they are due for changing and she takes the old ones off carefully (don’t scratch the harp with the sharp end) they could become her emergency spares given that they are not very likely to be called upon. This is what I do for my emergency set when I have put the new ones on and not yet bought the next lot.
