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In reply to Maria Myers post. I have worked with hundreds of teachers and performers, which includes myself, of course. Through the years the old antiquated notion that you have to buy as many strings as you can afford has only hurt the development and popularity of the harp. Most of Mozart’s compositions are in a three to three and a half octave range. If that is good enough for him, it should be good enough for the harp world. When buying a harp, you should decide as to what you personally want to do with your harp. Do you want to have fun, play a few Christmas carols etc. or become a concert harpist. Make sure when picking a harp teacher that it is your agenda that they are thinking of and not theirs. The harp should be fun for you, no matter what the size or the number of strings.
The Harpsicle® harp models and the Revenna are designed for different purposes. While the different Harpsicle® harps are made to be light and to fit easily into the overhead of an airliner, the Revenna is quite heavy, larger and unable to do this. As for the sound of the Harpsicle® harps, Gloria Garcia’s comment about “twangy” strings sounds more like a technique problem rather than the fault of the harp. If you would like to hear the sounds of the Harpsicle® harps go to YouTube and listen to a young German woman at “happyharps09” play the different Harpsicle® harp models. She plays each of the four models but this is a link to the basic Harpsicle® harp, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gu33Wb1Th0 . There are also Mp3 samples at http://harpsicleharps.com.
I have been building concert lever harps for 40 years for some of the top names in the business including three Grammy winning performers. Even though Harpsicle® Harps are our entry level line line they are still backed by Rees Harps Inc. Interestingly, despite the fact that we originally intended the Harpsicle® harp as a beginners instrument, it has not ended up that way. Full-time harpists from all around the world find themselves using these little harps in ways I have to admit I never even imagined. It is wonderful and exciting to see (and hear) what they have created.
Yes I had this happen about 15 years ago when I was playing a regular gig at a country club in an exclusive private dining room next to the main dining room where there was a wine cellar and only 6 tables – the table was an older gent and the missus/girl friend and they had already been served when it was time for me to start playing – I started tuning and in short order he told me to stop it, that it was interfering with his dinner – I told him I couldn’t play without tuning – and he said he didn’t want to hear it. So I got the manager and explained that I wouldn’t be able to start until the harp was tuned – I ended up taking the harp back out into the main dining room for tuning and then moving back.
I played this for the first time in the fall – it certainly wasn’t difficult at all to get it to 152, but it sounds like that was just me. I also think it is an appropriate tempo, but a little slower definitely wouldn’t be bad, especially if it makes it more solid for you.
~Sam
Rudiger Oppermann has some kind of a “gadget” on his harp to bend strings – the few pictures of his harp that I have seen don’t show any mechanism that he might be using – anyone out there know how he does it?Be wary of College Confidential. It’s full of false information, unjustified and unwarrented opinions, and internet trolls. In fact, I’d recommend staying away from it all together. If you’re looking for any factual information, it can be found elsewhere.
~Sam
Even if your interests don’t match up with mine (in which case my college list might not be so helpful) I’d recommend contacting all the harp teachers you can over the summer. It’s impreative that you make sure that they will teach you whether or not you major, minor, or do neither. That’s really the most important thing – a good music program is also wonderful (and will probably go hand in hand with a good harp teacher) but its the harp instructor that matters most, no?
~Sam
Hi Elizabeth,
I just finished up this process and will be in college in the fall. I was in the same boat as you so made sure that every single school I applied to had a music minor. What level (in regards to academic studies) are you interested in? If you are looking at a similar intensity of college that I was, I can be some help. On the other hand, I also applied to schools with good science programs, but most of the schools I applied to had good programs in most fields.
~Sam
I named mine….or rather he named himself….My Curly…after cartoonists’, Michael Leunig’s whimsical character, who has the same curl on his head, as my harp.
“Physically, what sets Mr Curly apart is his cranial dissimilarity, “… the curl is the tender, unfurling motion of nature’s growth; the unfolding consciousness; the way in which the heart reaches out into the world”
Here is harp…
http://www.thomharps.com.au/Olwen8.html
The photo does not do credit to his physical presence…and he booms!
Ooops – sorry – google “restaurant harp” in videos – here’s the first little snippet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZ-qensVMM
then here’s a second snippet where I let the daughter of one of the business partners try the harp – there are couple nice shots of the base with all the gilding –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTrvTviD6kE&NR=1
Also notice that as long as David had it apart to do the board, he also did the center strip and the side strips in 23K gold leaf – i absolutely LOVE everything about that harp!
Crumpets in San Antonio TX is where I play Sunday Brunch – been there about 10 years now- this is also the harp that I take to University hospital twice a week – now into my third year doing that –
well, I hope you can pull up those videos – in the meantime, I am going to try again to access my photobucket account where all the pictures are and try again to postDavid Williams of Williams Harp Galleries refinished my blue Venus Classic soundboard in blue to match the body and added a gold decal – it is similar to Jack Nebergal’s blue and gold LH3 – as to there being a change in sound, there wasn’t – David says the color layer was so thin it would make no difference in the sound – I too, tried to post some pictures but this time couldn’t make it work – however, if you google “restaurant harp” you’ll see two quick videos from Crumpets restaurant where I play regularly and you can see what a fantastic job David did matching the colors –
Have fun –
John
