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I don’t have perfect pitch but my partner does and can easily tune by ear. The other day I was warming up my flute and played just one note, Eb. He immediately said, “you’re flat”.
I said, “it was one note, how can you tell it is flat without a reference?”
He said reiterated that I was flat.
I checked with a tuner and he was right. My head-joint was not set correctly and my whole flute was playing flat. I never would have know but he heard it immediately.
Stephanie,
An excellent job. It was a thrill to see a harp on American Idol. I have often listened to some of the arrangements and thought, “that would have been so much better if there were a harp”. But of course I am a bit biased.
Anyway it was great to see you on the show, and while I can appreciate Simon’s critique of the singing, his views on the overall arrangements of the music always leave a lot to be desired. You brought real class to the show.
By all means take a break if you are feeling too frustrated. But remember that typically our frustration is due to our own expectations from ourselves. Perhaps altering your expectations of where you think you should be and what you want to get out of it would change your level of frustration at your progress.
Hmmm. I never got material gifts from my harp teacher. Her attention, praise and encouragement were the best gifts ever. I think if she had ever given me a material gift it would have felt awkward.
Actually Celtic harps are basically just smallish lever harps, and they can come in any range of string tension. Actually most are lighter tension and closer string spacing than pedal harps, although of course some are very close to pedal harp.
That is why many people who play nylon strung lever harps can use their fingernails in the same general way that wire strung harpers play.
I have three lever harps and have had others in the past and only one of my lever / Celtic harps has had similar tension and spacing to a pedal harp.
I never thought of that, but you have a point. I know some lever harpists play on the left shoulder in emulation of the old time Celtic harpists, but I have never considered how difficult playing a pedal harp on the left shoulder would be.
Now I can’t wait to get home tonight to try and see.
Yes, according to the book he didn’t have any formal lessons other than the one with the guy who just listened and, according to Harpo, just wanted to learn how HE played.
Mildred Dilling helped him figure things out. He would call her when he would listen to a record and couldn’t figure out how to play what he heard. Sometimes calling her in New York late at night forgetting about the time difference. He said despite that she always was willing to help.
But while she did help him figure things out he never had any actual lessons with her. His technique was completely self taught.
If you are not overly concerned with playing it in a strictly traditional manner I really like Verlene Shermer’s arrangement of it in her book Traditional Tunes with a Twist.
It actually isn’t as “twisted” as most of the other arrangements in the book (all of which are brilliant in my opinion), but the harmonies in the accompaniment have a decidedly modern feel to them.
That was very impressive. Wow, she really knew her way around the harp, that’s for sure.
I actually noticed the
Well, I just had a harp delivered late last year direct from Lyon and Healy so I can recount my experience.
I was warned ahead of time that the delivery person would not wait for me to unpack the harp. I was told that if I say any obvious damage to the carton to note it on the delivery papers before signing them. I was given detailed instructions on how to unpack the harp.
Although it does come in a carton and not a crate it was well packed and it would really take some major mishaps to cause damage. However something like a misplaced forklift could really do a number on it, so look for that kind of damage to the carton.
After unpacking it look for damage to the finish. Make sure that all the joints are close and tight. There should be no separation where wood meets wood. Particularly pay attention to the base of the harp.
Check the levers to make sure they are all working smoothly. It WILL take some time for the strings to settle, but if you check right after you tune it you should be able to check the intonation on the levers to be sure it is regulated correctly. The first time you tune you should do so slowly. My harp came with instruction on how to get the harp up to tune correctly.
Although none of the strings were broken on mine I was warned that even though they tune the harp down for shipping strings can still break, so be prepared just in case.
If you notice any damage to the harp contact Lyon and Healy immediately. They will work with you in rectifying the problem. That may mean anything from sending the harp back and them sending a new one to them arranging to have it fixed locally by an approved tech if there are any in your area. But they are good people who want you to be satisfied with your instrument so they will work to fix any problems.
Chances are, however, that there will be no problem. They do this all the time and certainly they wouldn’t be able to stay in business if they had a lot of damage to their harps. They pick their shippers and handlers carefully. While there is always the possibility of problems and damage it is fairly rare. This is the third harp I have had shipped direct to me, the second from Lyon and Healy. Never had a problem so don’t worry until there is something to worry about.
In fact the guy who delivered my harp mentioned that he often delivers the harps for Harps Etc.. which is not too far from where I live. So I think that they use shippers who have a proven track record with them, which is nice to know.
And enjoy the new harp. Preludes are nice instruments.
Friou’s book is great for exercises, but it really isn’t a “teach yourself” book. It assumes you know decent basic technique to begin with.
You can get the Sylvia Woods book, Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp. It also has a companion DVD that you can get as well so you can see her demonstrate good posture, arm and hand position, how to properly pluck strings etc… Seeing helps greatly. The book IS mostly folk music, but honestly until you get a decent foundation down many of the classical arrangements are going to be too hard.
Some exceptions I think would be Sam Milligan’s books. Fun From the First Vol I and II. They give some good basics on playing, good photos of proper hand position, and I think even diagrams on how to tie the knot to change a string.
But what is nice is it has a good range of graded pieces that cover every thing from folk to classical.
Another good classical collection is The Junior Bach Collection by Chertok. Classical pieces by Bach arranged for the beginner. I used this book when I first started and was able to play some of the pieces fairly quickly.
Oh, we all know where it is going. H.A.S. or better know as Harp Acquisition Syndrome. Incurable and progressive condition.
Sounds like you are taking to your lessons well and have the right attitude about relearning things correctly. The time and patience you put into it now will really pay off for you later on.
Learning the harp is a lifelong journey of interest and enjoyment, but there is no moment more exciting then when you first start. It is almost a magic time. Enjoy.
Sharpening levers are the levers that make a lever harp a lever harp.
They are attached on the peg arm of the harp below the bridge pins. Either one on each string or on select strings like the Cs and Fs depending on how much money you want to spend and what kind of music you intend to play.
When you flip a sharpening lever up it effectively presses into the string shortening the vibrating length of the string causing the pitch to raise by a semi tone. So if you flip the lever up on the C string the C string now sounds as a C#.
They allow you to play in different keys and also allow you to play the occasional accidental note as well. Without them then on small non pedal harps you would have to re-tune to play in different keys and you would pretty much be stuck playing diatonic music.
Yea, give them a call and set up an appointment. They are very nice and easy to work with. Although I got my camac from their West coast branch it actually had to be shipped from the NY showroom first so I got to deal with the folks at both and they were all wonderful.
Also I believe Harps etc is affiliated with them as well and they are also great. I can’t give them enough praise and would gladly buy through them again.
Don’t have one but I tried one out. The Concertino is also called the 85E. It is very similar to the 85CG (Concert Grand) only a bit smaller. It has the same string range, 0 octave G to seventh octave C. It is about 3 inches shorter and a bit lighter.
Despite the difference in size I didn’t find a significant difference in terms of upper register spacing, just a little tighter. But then I have an 85P which is much tighter in the upper register so it could just be that anything is going to feel roomy by comparison.
Sound wise they are comparable to the rest of the 85 series, which I like enough to own one. I would say it is a very good quality no frills harp.
