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Mine usually takes several weeks after the cover is put on the web page to come, so I haven’t started to worry yet. However I am eager to read this issue’s interview so I do hope it gets here this week.
Not much of a teacher myself, but I just went and looked through my notes from my earliest lessons and what do I see? The very first thing I have in my notes from my very first lesson was to remember to practice the scale and arpeggios I was shown before practicing the music.
So my teacher, who was the quintessential Salzedo player (she studied with both Salzedo and Lawrence), taught me to play scales and arpeggios before anything else.
It definitely isn’t important for the same reasons as for piano. I play both certainly on piano you simply need to know all the scales because that is the only way you learn how to play in the right key. On harp once you have the levers or pedals set the fingerings are all the same. But I can’t help feel that the facility developed by practicing both, particularly arpeggios, is of great benefit.
There is no better way to learn your way around the harp, and to learn to
A MIDI is basically a synthesizer. Think of those keyboards that can sound like almost any instrument. In this case instead of the movement of the keys it is the
Well, the majority of pedal harps don’t have sound equipment built into them. Those that do seem to all take some very different approaches so it would probably be helpful if you were more specific about what make and model of harp you are curious about.
Although I never did any repair on electronics in a pedal harp my electric Camac lever harp uses the same basic system as their pedal harps and I have done some work on it in the past.
Definitely keep it out of direct sunlight, and definitely don’t leave it in the car (without air conditioning or heat depending on the weather). But generally you should have no problems with it outdoors assuming it is a dry and stable environment. You might want to avoid beaches because even with levers you don’t want to get sand in your mechanisms.
Any weather or temperature change will effect tuning, but just give it about half an hour to an hour to acclimate to the new environment and then re-tune. Even the heat generated by an audience sitting in a concert hall can cause a harp to go out of tune. Harps are finicky when it comes to keeping in tune, that is their nature. But while you may need to tune again after the harp as adjusted to the temperature outside it should not cause any problems beyond that.
Personally I do. Not only does it keep the dust out of the mechanism it also keeps the finish from fading. Since my pedal harp is ebony I really don’t want it to fade. I never covered my lever harp either, but the finish faded a lot over the years and if I could go back I would have covered it.
1st thing is I always use my own mics. I use two. One on a short stand pointing towards the base of the harp. The second on a boom stand pointing towards the treble string, but not too close.
I have never found a way to get an even sound over the full range of the harp using a single mic. If I am trying to record I use a third from a distance to get the sound from the whole room as well.
Yes, I prefer (generally) the sound of gut over nylon. However I do string both my lever and pedal harp with nylon in the upper octave. Not so much because of breakage issues, but I find I get more sustain and a clearer tone with nylon on those very thin strings. But for the rest I’m gut all the way (except my electric which uses carbon strings).
Some harps have no problem going from nylon to gut and others can’t do it. Gut produces more tension so it depends on how the harp was built. Always check with the maker to see if it is possible to switch out without danger of hurting the harp.
As for breaking I’m not sure how much of a problem that is. I so rarely break a string no matter what type. The advantages of living in a fairly constant climate.
When I go to the address the picture is at I can’t see it either because it says it has been marked as private. If it need a password to see on the site it is hosted on then it will not show
Primary school is one thing, but where I went to high school teachers did have to have masters degrees in their subject. Teaching 2+2 may not require it but teaching advanced calculus or trig does. I would think most harp teachers would expect to guide their students from twinkle twinkle up through the advanced repertoire.
Where I live now high school teachers don’t have to have a masters and the percentage of
