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Rather than isolating harpists against non harpists composers, there is also the inbetween…. I’m referring to the composers who choose to work directly with a hapist along the way of composition… and not just after its finished for editing… I’v been working with a Japanese composers for the past couple of months on a work she’s composing for her doctorate portfolio, and it has turned out into a work very-well written for the harp… unfortunately few composers choose to do this… as well… I’v realised along the years that the best harp-compositions (as to understanding of the instrument’s possibilities and boundaries) come either from harpists themselves… of composers who were either married (or fooling around) with harpists….
I have to make this point… I think that a big majority of the fact that we end up performing a lot of piano type scored music is really our fault… especially, we the young ones tend to fall for this very easily… composers might approach us with a new work.. and we’ll perform it no matter what… just so our CV’s will gladly pronounce that we were the performance at the premier of some work… just to have out names written on the eventual publish of the work or something… well its only a few of us who are ready to stand up and say “no sorry… its piano written.. I’m a harpist…”
Lever Harp; I like the Triplett Eclipse (Bubinga) the most, and I did a lot of looking around. I’m not trying to be biased, but I won’t lie: aesthetics played a roll in addition to sound and feel. I can honest say that after all the lever harps I examined and test-played, the Eclipse is still at the top of my list. I like the sleek lines and how the column reminds me of a taught bow, reading to unleash its musical arrows to the wind. Hehe.
For a lap harp, I kind of like the Belvins Phoenix 29. (Black) I don���t know why… there is just something about the embellished arch and unconventional design. But I don’t think I could
I would like to comment that I have had the pleasure of playing an R-Harp and I thought the sound was gorgeous. The workmanship was nice, and the price was right-on for a quality 35 string instrument, fully levered. Also, they are very light. You can hear a sound-clip at the R-Harp page: http://www.rharps.com/
When I first became interested in the harp I saw the Mid-East ones on eBay too. I decided that, for me, it was preferable to rent a top-quality instrument while saving the money to buy. As it happened, I bought from the same place I rented from, and was able to recoup my rental fees in savings on the instrument I purchased! (The rental fees were less expensive than it would have been to buy a Mid-East harp outright.)
Check around, because there are great deals to be had for those willing to look. Rent-to-own programs from harp dealers and makers are just one of the many offered.
of course zen is absolutely right, this isn’t even a debatable topic. the point is this: when there are real harp makers in the world, making REAL HARPS for almost the same price as a pakistani, why would anyone ever choose a pakistani?
you would have to be off your rocker completely.
my first harp was a pakistani heather harp. of course i thought it was fabulous. i had NO CLUE otherwise. i played it for almost three years! and yes i developed terrible habits that have taken me years to correct. of course i play real folk harps now, i have both a dusty strings, and a blevins…
truth is, had i known that blevins offers small harp “seconds” for almost the same price as the mideast paperweights, i would have had a quality instrument to learn on from the beginning! i WISH i would have had this forum to guide me then….
that said, i actually recorded an album with my now internationally acclaimed band on that pakistani! it’s funny but after i had played it for a couple of years, it developed it’s own sweet little voice. and since our music is original and not at all traditional, the songs i used it on turned out gorgeous. funny thing is, it doesn’t even really sound like a harp on the recordings (well, in my opinion, it barely is an actual harp) it sounded more like bells or something….
so of course, it’s not worthless. it’s what you make of it that defines it’s worth.
still, with quality harps being offered at comparable prices, there is no doubt these “harps” should be avoided if at all possible.
In folk harps I like the high headed ones. Before I started playing I always lusted after the low-headed type but ended up buying a high-headed one. Go figure…Now I love all tall harps. I think they are much more emotive, to me anyway.
Pedal harps all look the same to me…Lol! But I do have to say I think the ornate ones more often than not look heavy like wedding cakes. I like gold trim but not fully gilded harps. I’m also a strictly blonde or black harps. The brown ones just don’t do it for me. The Camac Clio is my pick for pedal harp. It’s sweet and petite and I love it in maple.
Carl… I fully agree… I just didn’t go into such historical detail (don’t worry.. done a whole thesis titled French music, its development, influences and relationship to Mediterranean Music ; )
When a man loves a woman… hehe.. no nothing to do.. that’s my Mp3 playing some background music.
We never said that Renie was not a great harpist… no doubt on that… but since it was me started the Renie/Salzedo argument…. A harpist, and a composer, are two different things, even if we’re discussing the same person…. If salzedo instructed Dilling to study with Renie, and also as the statment reflects he was doing this on a harptuition argument… no doubt Renie was great at that… the original argument started off by saul from where this drifted was the different composition manners.
Thanks Saul for giving the exact explanation of what I meant… Its the same thing like getting a violin and performing an E at forth position (on A string) or bowing it open… the sound is not the same… same goes to harp… ok.. ok.. I should have said resonance and colour.
If Salzedo didn’t come go to USA… well probably he would have ended up another Renie and all the other cuddled up in the Hasselmans School with no space for fresh air… We have to admit that Europe is still highly conservative, so any new ideas are considered trash… I myself have the image of trador of the harp, cause I’m out with some different music… And now let’s be honest… throughout the whole 20th century, the best composers and composition all came from the other side of the Atlantic.
Saul… sorry to leave Salzedo out of my list… I was tempted to write his name too, but I havn’t studied his music with profs Camilleri yet… so I thought I didn’t wish to risk on something I havn’t studied about yet… but thanks for the clarify.
No… they don’t sound the same to me! I tune my harp perfect on flats…. I sharpen one note, and put it against the other coherent flat.. its not the same.
