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I am confused – why has my message tucked in about halfway down the thread? Does this mean we will have to reread long threads to see where new messages are?
Am I the only one to get this?
new.harpcolumn.com uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate is only valid for http://www.harpcolumn.com (Error code: ssl_error_bad_cert_domain)The book emma linked to is available as an ebook off amazon with kindle text to speech enabled – I don’t know if that is useful for you.
Hi Mia,
Alexander devised his technique in the late 19th century and I have only come across it as something taught or worked with in person. Different people have different types of poor posture and a web page will not know which one you have and so what to tell you. There may be one that tries, but I don’t know it.I just came across a rather interesting site on playing ergonomics. It doesn’t have a harp section, but cello and piano and the overview are interesting. http://www2.siba.fi/harjoittelu/index.php?id=170&la=en
Lever harps I like – more specifically, that I like to play for my own pleasure rather than listen to or maybe choose for a performance.
Pilgrim – I grew up with Pilgrims and they are comfortable friends. The Boulevard also felt comfortable to me. Even if it is black.
Briggs – antiques. Tim Hampson makes replicas which were at Edinburgh (the back room opposite Morleys).
Frank Sievert – not at Edinburgh this year. I have played his less than others I mention but some I liked alot.Probably the harp I liked best at Edinburgh this year was the single action Mike Parfett had brought.
Hi Deidre – I don’t think I can explain the muscle use that well. Raise your arms palm up to a playing height watching in the mirror for shoulder raise and engage shoulder blade muscles – or maybe think about opening your chest up despite your arms being forward. Also stop yourself repeatedly while playing, every line if necessary, and check your position and tension. I was lucky enough to have a harp teacher who also trained as a pilates teacher before I realised that experts in body movement don’t need to also be experts in the instrument or sport in question.
For volume on a portable harp you will almost certainly end up getting a pickup.
Stoney End don’t come to Edinburgh, a couple of models (Lorraine, Eve and the tiddly one) are imported and show up in places like Hobgoblin Music or even Ken Stevens but not the double strung. I have an Eve (now brass strung) and it is a well made and not too quiet baby, and could get gut or carbon fibre strings if you find it too nylony, as I did. I can’t think of anyone who stocks double strung harps in the UK. Cross strung and triples, yes, but not double.
Not offended at all – why should we like the same things?
I too upset my left shoulder playing many years ago – holding it too far forward too much of the time rather than the arm forward with the shoulder back and too much tension seem to have been the main culprits for me. It used to be worse when I was tense (sightreading, orchestral parts I didn’t know well) or cold. Not sleeping on it helped it heal, but I wish now I had gone to a physiotherapist for advice when it first happened. Learning to hold my arms up using the muscles under the shoulderblades helped too.
I don’t think I will treat my harp like a baby – it doesn’t like milk.
On a more productive note have you ever seen the harp manufacturers turn up at a festival? The vans aren’t nearly large enough to bring all the harps lying flat. One, at least, transports the harps standing upright (and strapped/barred in, obviously). The harp shipping crates I have used were clearly designed to lie most ways up including along the column.
Also, whichever way up your harp is, do strap it in place. You don’t want it bouncing, nor do you want someone rear ending your vehicle and the harp being pushed forward into you.
Some very good advice above – I had been going to mention tension as a possibility. Also look at how you use your hands elsewhere, especially computing. It could be that the harping is acting as the final straw, rather than the main or only cause.
If instead of using the side of your hand to get the harmonic you use the fleshy bottom of your thumb (I have seen this in a method but can’t remember which one – might have been Renie) the stretch for a large lower interval becomes easier.
