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Sorry, I don’t know how to do that. I don’t use diamond heads. I personally find them distracting because they look too much like notes, so I just write the lever name in the middle and add a descriptor if necessary (i.e. high D#). I’m sure my preference is affected by the fact that I mostly play pedal harp myself.
I just got a midi keyboard this week, so I’m trying to teach myself how to use it. Haven’t really played any piano since those mandatory keyboarding classes in college, so I’m not exactly fast, but I think it will be helpful once I figure out how to use it. 🙂
Great point, Jerusha. At the same time, playing what we think of as timeless standards for younger crowds might not produce the song recognition and response we expect. Over time you learn how to read your audience and adjust the music as needed during the gig. This is why I love playing from a ipad. Very easy to change up the set list at a moment’s notice.
Similarly, playing religious music can either be the best thing and bring tears to people’s eyes or the worst thing and offend people. For a background gig or anything where music choice is loosely defined (think “easy listening” “classical” “love and pop songs” or that oh so clear “mix of whatever sounds good”), I ALWAYS ask the client during the initial consultation if they would like religious songs included, excluded, or if they have no preference. Takes the guess work out of it.
Thanks for all the great ideas everyone has been sharing. Please keep them coming! While it is true that everyone will have different experiences, the more advice we can come up with, the more likely we are to cover what inexperienced harpists will encounter.
I will add to the list of ideas to create a business name and brand, complete with a bank account in that name. It will help with clients seeing you as a true business as opposed to a person who just plays harp for fun, and it will also help you separate your business expenses from personal expenses.
Thanks for your help. I used Andelin’s suggestion and it did work. The music looks great now! No more of my scratch marks!
I know this thread is old, but having just seen it I wanted to chime in. I am a harp teacher (playing 20 years) and also a TVI with multiple braille certifications (I am currently on the committee that is editing the update to the Braille Music Transcription Manual to align with the UEB changes). I know several blind harpists and have taught students who are blind to read braille music. CenticKnot, if you have questions about the braille music, especially specific to harp music, I’d be more than happy to help.
Just to give you an overview, braille music is written linearly, similar to how fractions are written in braille. The symbols you are likely to need first in beginning braille music are the octave sign, note value, and duration. Each line of music will start with an octave sign. For example, middle C is in the 4th octave, which is represented by dot 5. Immediately after that cell will be your first note. The note values are represented by using the top 2 sets of dots (dots 1,2,4,5) and the bottom 2 dots (dots 3,6) tell how long the note is held (the duration). As another person (I think it was Sylvia) said earlier in this thread, braille music uses the solfege system (makes sense since braille was created in France), meaning they do not call middle C “C” but instead call it “Do” (think Sound of Music Do Re Me).
So in braille, middle C would be notated as dot(5) to tell you the octave, then dots(1,4,5). Braille letter D is music note C (Do), Braille E is music note D (Re), Braille F is music note E (Mi), Braille G is music note F (Fa), Braille H is music note G (So), Braille I is note A (La), Braille J is note B (Ti), then back to Braille letter D for music note C (Do).
For the note duration, the letter by itself is an eighth note. For now, just think of that as lasting for 1/2 beat (counting 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and, playing a note on both the numbers and the “and’s”). When you add dot(6) it becomes a quarter note. So a quarter note C would be written as dots(1,4,5,6), like a th sign. A quarter note is held for one whole beat (counting 1 2 3 4 and playing on each number). A half note adds dot 3. So a half note C is written as dots (1,3,4,5), like an N. A half note is held for 2 beats, so counting is 12, 34, playing only on beats 1 and 3. A whole note is written with both dots 3 and 6 added, so a whole note C is dots (1,3,4,5,6) like a letter Y. A whole note is held for 4 beats, or a “whole measure.” Also, not to confuse or overwhelm you, but a 16th note (think fractions, cutting an 8th note duration in half) reuses the symbol for a whole note. It is obvious that it is a 16th note, because there are a bunch of them in the measure, whereas a whole note will be by itself in a measure. Oh, also, the measures are separated by a space in braille music. In print they are separated by a bar line, but it’s important to understand that in braille music it is a space. So every symbol touching each other is all part of 1 measure.
Other symbols are added in a specific order (sharps and flats, accent marks, dots, ties, rests, glissandos, …). You will start with reading only 1 line, which you can do on a refreshable braille display, but eventually it will be preferable to have it hard copy so you can better see the layout. The right hand will be written on the top line and the left hand on the bottom line. Lever changes will be written on a third line.
I could go on all day, but too much info out of context will probably be counterproductive. I hope I have not confused you too much. I recommend you get your hands on a book or course on how to read braille music and start working on that even before you save up enough money to buy your harp. If you have a friend with a keyboard that you could borrow, I do think it would be very helpful with understanding the music reading, especially with where the half steps are versus whole steps. You don’t have to learn how to play piano, just mess around with the keys while reading the book on music braille and/or music theory books/courses. There are some good videos on youtube on reading music braille that you might want to check out.
And one more suggestion. Some harpists paint a small dot to serve as a place marker somewhere on the harp, either on the sound board or directly on the string. I am personally not a fan of paint on the soundboard, and I think you said you don’t want to permanently alter the harp either. But putting a dot of puffy paint or a little nail polish on a string is not permanent, because strings are changed frequently and easily (so if you hate it, just replace the string). Lay the harp on its side so it does not drip down, and make sure the paint is in the middle where your fingers play so you will easily feel it (your harp teacher or a Dusty Strings rep can show you exactly where that is on the string). Another option is a tiny strip of tape wrapped around middle C. It has been helpful for some of my students who were renting and could not make any permanent changes.
Please contact me if you have questions that I might be able to help with. Two of my favorite things are harp and braille, so when the 2 collide I’m in my happy place!
I’m in Tucson, Arizona. I charge $300 for a basic wedding ceremony, including music consultation in my studio or over Skype if needed. I have extra charges for travel over 25 miles away, for outdoor ceremonies, difficult locations, stairs, etc. I don’t attend rehearsals unless they pay my regular hourly rate ($200) like a separate gig.
I concur about the weather clause. I ALWAYS bring it up with the client before signing the contract. Many couples are happy I did, as they had not thought about it, and as a result they did create a Plan B.
I also include a start and end time to the contract so that if I need to stay later for any reason at all there is an overtime fee. Can be weather, wedding party wardrobe malfunction, even an accident on the freeway that delays guests, or speeches went forever so ceremony lasted super long. I put in a cushion of extra time in the contract (if a 5:00 wedding is expected to be done by 5:30/5:40, I put 6:00 as the end time), so I don’t feel bad when it starts at 5:45 and goes til 6:30 and I need to enforce the half hour of overtime, because at that point we are significantly overtime.I know this discussion is old, but I am a Teacher of the Visually Impaired during the school day and a harpist in the evenings and weekends, so this discussion encompasses my 2 passions.
I have many blind or visually impaired friends who are musicians, including harpists. The calluses devolved from playing harp do not interfere with reading braille. A harp callus is mostly on the thumb side of the finger, whereas braille dots are felt as the hand moves to the right, so it’s the other side of the finger that primarily feels the braille. Regarding a reference point on the harp, I have found that on a lever harp an easy fix is to put one of those rubber rings on the lever for middle C. The harpist can feel for that lever and slide down the string, knowing they are on middle C without having to pluck a few strings to find it. Once the harpist has that starting note, it’s a matter of staying focused and keeping the reference point, whether through placing or feeling the jumps. Try closing your eyes and playing a few measures of a favorite piece. You may be surprised how far you can get without seeing the strings. It’s not as bad as you would think.
I have brailled harp music of various levels. It gets complicated when you run into harp-specific symbols that (as far as I have found) have no standard notation in braille, so I have to make up my own and notate them in a reference page. I definitely think it is helpful to have braille music as a reference and for understanding the piece, although as was stated in another post, one cannot read the music while playing.
