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I guess it depends on what you mean by Technique. Generally it means the ability to have absolute control over your instrument. To be able to play what ever it is you want to play.
Technique only takes you so far. Two people can play all the notes in a particular piece of music and one moves you to tears and the other leaves you cold.
Being great is about more than playing the notes. It is about imbuing the music with content. That takes understanding the music and being able to express yourself through it. Something that can be partially learned and is partially a gift.
There are some people who have the talent and technique to play any piece on an instrument of any difficulty, but who will never be great musicians. And there are some who will grow into being great musicians through experience.
I remember seeing the violinist Midori play many
I’m with those who say that unless you are talking significantly shorter than 5′ then it really doesn’t matter.
My teacher was barely 5′ if she was that tall, and she played a L&H 23 her whole career with no problems at all. Sure, it may be harder to lug around, but that is a different issue from playing.
If you know that the pedal harp is what you want to play and you have the finances for it then go for it. There is absolutely no other reason I can think of not to.
Although I started with a lever harp I was renting a pedal harp within months.
I love both levers and pedals, but as mentioned they are two different animals. Each has it’s place. If you know you want
You can’t install pedals on a lever harp without completely rebuilding the harp. At the very least the column would have to be replaced with one large enough to be hollowed out to run the pedal rods through. A base would need to be built for it to
The strings on the electroharp are lighter tension and narrower spacing than on a pedal harp. It will take getting used to and you may require some time to build up some more strength and stamina in your hands before you can play as long and loud as you can on the electroharp.
Also if you haven’t studied one of the more common pedal harp playing techniques you may want to see about taking some lessons. I find that the pedal harp is far less forgiving and requires more attention to hand position and playing technique.
You may also have issues if you aren’t used to actually having a sound board. Again, it requires that you be more mindful of your arm position and posture than you need to be with the electroharp.
If you have never played with pedals before you also probably should get some lessons to help with that. While it really doesn’t take long to learn the pattern of the pedals and where to move your feet to in order to play your accidentals and change keys, there is definitely a technique to engaging and disengaging the pedals to do it quickly, smoothly, and most important quietly. A few lessons on this will at least get you going in the right direction.
The transition isn’t necessarily a huge obstacle. I go back and forth between the electroharp and pedal harp all the time and now I hardly think about the differences. But at first it will take getting used to and some hands on guidance will save you a lot of time and frustration.
I am in agreement Deb. It is nice to know what someone chose and if they are happy with the choice after the fact.
And Carl is right on. When I first read the thread title I was like, “What? Harps are disappearing? What?”
It will effect your tone a bit, but if you are just practicing at home then you can try just a bit of crazy glue over the cut. Just be sure you don’t glue your fingers together.
Saul, a diaphragm mic is one that uses a diaphragm as the transducer. Both dynamic and condenser mics can use a diaphragm to traduce the sound waves into electrical impulses.
A condensor mic doesn’t refer to condensing the sound. In this case condenser is just an older term for a capacitor. The capacitor is fed by a power source, and maintains a nearly constant electric charge in the microphone. The diaphragm acts as one plate of the capacitor (which are two terminal passive energy storage devices) and the sound vibrations change the distance between the plates causing fluctuations in the voltage across the capacitor, transforming the vibrations into an electrical signal.
High end condenser mics are the most common mic of preference used in music studios.
A dynamic mic works through electromagnetic induction. Basically it works on the principle used by electrical power plants. That when you move metal through a magnetic field it creates an electrical charge (it is also the same principle behind electric guitar that use electromagnetic pickups, and is the reason electric guitars must use metal strings).
Basically in a dynamic mic the sound waves come into the mic and hits the diaphragm. The diaphragm moves with the vibrations. The diaphragm is connected to a metal coil. That coil sits between magnets. As the diaphragm moves with the vibrations it, in turn, moves the coil within the field of the magnets, creating an electric charge that fluctuates with the movement back and forth of the diaphragm, turning the vibrations in to an electrical impulse.
In the end they both do the same thing, but the condenser mics do it with more sensitivity and more accurate translation, but at the cost of needing a power source and being more delicate.
As for your Shure mic, they aren’t all the same. The SM series is a series of dynamic miss that are very hardy. Shure makes condenser mics and other types, not all of which are as hardy.
There is a shop not too far from me, so if I can I get them there: Harps Etc in Walnut Creek CA. They do online orders too: http://www.harpsetc.com/xcart/home.php
I also use Sylvia Woods Harp Center in La Crescenta, CA. They are pretty much online only except for actual harps, where if you like you can make an appointment to see what they have in stock: http://www.harpcenter.com/
For the carbon strings I use for my electric Camac harp I get them from Harps Unlimited International in LA by mail: http://harps-international.com/
I have, in the past, also used the Virginia Harp Center by mail and have never had a bad experience with them: http://www.vaharpcenter.com/
I forget, a Salvi Heather has what? 34 strings about? Folk lever strings?
Yeah, a few hundred is what I would say. A quick look at where I get my strings, based on the typical mix of gut, nylon and folk bass wires, I estimate that before tax or shipping, a little over $260.
You might get the money back if you sell it to someone who is experienced and knows the value of good strings.
The thing is, it may sound good to you because you aren’t used to hearing fresh strings at the moment. If you were to play your harp next to one with new strings you would almost certainly think, wow, that other harp sounds better.
Yes, you can do it yourself. In fact I don’t know anyone who pays to have it done. My harp tech doesn’t even offer it. When she does a regulation of my harp she just reminds me to restring it with enough time to let the new strings settle. Trust me, restring your harp once and you will never forget how, your fingers will have it down by the end.
Changing the strings itself doesn’t require any adjustments. You just change them one string at a time, just like replacing a broken string. However, your harp may need adjustment because of age. Things shift, the sound board lifts a bit, and it throws the intonation off. It may need to have the levers regulated. But if it does it still needs to have them regardless if you change he strings or not. In fact changing them may make the harp play more in tune because the strings stretch and pit over time and that alone throws off the intonation. You can check if you have an electronic tuner. Tune the strings with the levers down, and then put them up and see if the tuner shows them playing perfectly a half step up. If they don’t then you need a regulation. Lever harps aren’t too hard to adjust the levers yourself if you have a good tuner, the right wrench, and time.
There is a short, inexpensive book by David Kolacny called something like Troubleshooting Your Lever Harp, which includes information on how to adjust many of the most common brands of levers.
