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Sylvia Woods has lever harp versions of Canon in D, and Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring that are very nice.
She also has a book of wedding music for lever harp that
Only at first. Once you get used to it you start to anticipate the change. Also a harp with narrower spacing can still be consistently spaced, and some pedal harps with “concert” spacing are not consistently evenly spaced. That is a matter of the individual harp.
My pedal harp and one of my lever harps are Lyon and Healy, both with consistent, concert spacing. I
I think it’s not the style of music that matters, but the way it is arranged. Also lever and pedal harps can each have a variety of sounds, so it’s not like all lever harps aren’t good for classical music sound wise. I have a lever harp that, if you weren’t looking and just listening would fool most people into thinking it was a pedal harp.
Classical music arranged for piano doesn’t typically sound good on harp (with some exceptions. Debussy seemed to arrange for piano in a way that works good on harp, for instance). So if someone is just going to take a classical piece arranged for piano and play it on the harp it most likely isn’t going to sound good. But that same piece transcribed specifically for the harp by someone who knows how to arrange for harp is going to sound infinitely better.
Of course the lever harp will limit what you can play, but there are still lots of classical music you can play on lever harp. Just check out Barbara Brundage’s classical arrangements for lever harp.
Just a quick listen to folks like Yolanda Kondonassis or Nancy Allen will demonstrate that classical music can sound fantastic on the harp.
It might be difficult at first, but after a few days, if you keep playing on both, you will be able to go back and forth with only a few minutes adjustment.
However the first time you try you will probably experience much more difficulty. Almost certainly you won’t be able to play without looking at least.
You will be surprised at how quickly you adapt, and so long as you keep playing on both string spacing you will quickly developed the ability to go back and forth without much effort, so long as you get past the initial difficulty.
Carl is right, it really isn’t that hard to do, so long as you give it some practice.
Of course, but good general physical condition will help make sure you not only can play well into your 90’s, but will increase your likelihood of reaching your 90s in the first place :^)
You might get lucky like my great aunt who smoked and drank until she died at 99, but I don’t like to leave things like that entirely up to luck. Good genes count for a lot, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do what we can to improve the odds.
I would have asked them what percentage less than their normal fee are they paying everyone else?
Or I would simply tell them that unless their “something” is “something pretty darn close to my fee” then the answer is no.
Why do people think that musicians don’t need their full fee? Do they think that musicians don’t eat or something?
One of the best musicians I know, a pianist who has played with many orchestras and many great musicians over the decades, heard me play once and told me that I was obviously born to play.
That is tied with the first time my teacher referred to me as a harpist, and not a harp student.
The same basic thing. The amount of time you would have to prepare, any special requests you would have to accommodate. Not to mention that you still have your travel time, hauling a harp and equipment, set up, break down, and actual performing, your price is your price.
Really, the idea that they made a mistake budgeting so YOU should get paid less is pretty outrageous. If there is a dispute about price with the venue that is between her and the venue, not you. Why would your price be any more negotiable than the venue’s?
If there were no contract signed yet I would hope that would still have time to find another job for that weekend, and that you weren’t holding that time without a commitment from them until very soon before the event. So it would mean you having to find something else for that day, but better that than getting a reputation as the wedding harpist willing to lower a fee at the first push.
I’m not going to say you should never lower a price. There may be times when it is a reasonable thing to do. But a bride expecting you to lower your price because they miss budgeted? No. And in this case, after you have an agreement and contract? Insane that they even asked in my opinion.
I have always used (since my very first lesson) Salzedo’s Conditioning Exercises for Beginner and Advanced Harpists. I always begin and end my practice by running through a few of the exercises from this short book.
Not necessarily. Although the focus on the Clarsach society are Clarsach’s (and they use this in the general term, simply the Gaelic word for “harp” and referring to any Celtic style non-pedal
Never tried a Kortier electric myself, but I heard someone palying one a few weeks ago and sound wise it was nice.
I have a Camac and I love it. The wood ones are a bit heavy. The new DH Light is remarkably light and sounds great. I have tried the L&H and it is also perfectly fine. Lighter than the Camac wood, but I think heavier than the DH Light (by aprox 5 lbs , 2kg). They are all perfectly good harps, it is all about your preference and what is important to you. If weight is important than the DH Light is the way to go.
I just prefere the sound of the Camac electrics, but you really aren’t going to go wrong with any of them.
