Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hello Evolène
First of all I apologize something happened with my first response when I tried to attach a photo, so if I have made a mess on the thread sorry.
I also keep my harps in a sunny room with windows at both ends, in France (01300) also. Though maybe not as sunny as yours. I think it depends on if the temperature of the room is increased by the sunlight, if the room acts like a “greenhouse” you need to be very careful. The general advice is “if you’re comfortable the Harp is”. As my music room has pretty equal normal room temperatures, I keep my harps protected from direct sunlight just using dust covers, old duvet/quilt covers are good for this and are very easy to adapt, just cut and sow, about an hours work. If your lucky you can also align them so that the poppers and buttons are reused to release and keep the Harp closed. I am of the opinion the covers also reduce string breakage when the harps asleep. In many years I have never found a broken string with the covers on, but it has happened several times if the Harp is left naked. So I have the habit of “dressing the harps for bed” with the dust covers.
I have included a picture of where my harps live, although they are undressed in the photo.
Salut
TalfrynHello Miarae,
Looks like a translation error. I wonder if it’s a play on the expression “lacrimoso”, “sad” I have seen this a few times on manuscripts.If it’s a translation of “lacrimoso delicato” from Italian in English this would be literally “Gentle tears”. So my guess would be express the music as “sad and delicate”
Take this with a “pinch of salt” as a folk harpist I am not the best with written music, but it’s a suggestion.
TalfrynHello Annie
Looks like you have received a lot of good advice here. I have several harps acquired over the last 15 years, my sons also play and as they have grown up and left home, then the harps come and go with each visit.
There are three which I like to keep with me, one of which is a single action Camac sm38, the other two are lever harps a Camac Korrigan and a musicmakers Belle.
They are all good instruments for the styles I play, French and Celtic folk, classical and pop tunes. Although I made adjustments to the Belle, replacing the strings with new ones from Markwood from the US, changing hardware and adding Camac levers etc…Also the lower string tension took me time to adjust my technique to.
I can play all my repertoire on all 3 harps. The single action Sm38 is my preferred harp for classical music as it has a very precise and clear sound, however it’s big and heavy. The Korrigan lever Harp I tend to use if I am playing a solo performance, I regularly use the Belle at my local folk club and for dances when playing ensemble, it is very light and easy to transport, also because I assembled it, i can fix it if it’s knocked.
I do not consider which Harp will play which repertoire because they can all do it. I tend to choose on which is easier to transport and wether I am playing solo or with others. The choice is always a compromise.
Camac is no longer building the sm38 but they regularly turn up second hand here in France.
I tried a tyrolian single action pedal Harp 3 years ago at a luthiers festival here in France, it was very easy to play, the string tension was lower than I was used to but it was also quite ergonomic the one I tried had a curved soundbox, I keep promising myself to sign up to a workshop to learn some of the tyrolian polkas, but will probably need to brush up on my German first before visiting Austria.
So just some experiences but the best advice would be to borrow or rent a Harp to start with, the relationship you have with your particular instrument is the important thing..
Good luck
TalfrynHello David,
This seems a very strange instrument, I agree with the observations from Charles, the weird thing is the 3 pegs per string, I assume looking at the photos that this is only 3 for certain strings and maybe 2 for the final strings at the base end. Are all the pegs identical? Also are the lower 2 lines of pegs round or do they have flats? If so maybe these form some primitive sharping method. Typically with pedal harps they have 3 rows to mount the sharping discs. If so may be the strings don’t pass through them but between them. Also if the pegs are tapered you could be able to wind or mount them clockwise or anti clockwise which may give some hints at different possibilities. I personally have never seen any instrument with strings going straight through 3 pegs but maybe there’s someone with more experience on the forum. The tuning of the string is really down to tension and length, so I doubt these will be for micro tuning as the length will have a bigger effect than small tension variations.
As for the hole size, if they are 1 mm diameter that means the maximum string diameter will be less than 1 mm. I would expect the strings to be several sizes over the range of the Harp. Even on lap harps I use 3 mm holes at the treble end, so 1 mm seems very small.
I suspect this is a decorative harp which has copied a pedal harp look on the neck, however this would be a bizarre amount of work for a piece of furniture, so hopefully my suspicion is wrong..
Anyway good luck with the detective work an keep us updated
