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Hi, I’m from Vienna, and have been playing harp for three years-I
love it! And a I just got a brand new black Salvi Aurora in the
summer! If you want to e-mail me my address is
katrina@musikarpatia.comthank you very much for your sharing. i am indeed at a loss right now regarding which model to buy. sometimes, i believe a Daphne 46 is already good enough for a beginner like me, especially when i take into consideration of the price as well. but at times, i know
Dear Happy,
I may have an answer for you. I have not played anything from the Daphne line, but I can tell you that extended soundboard is better. Not necessarily always, like when traveling or if you’re gonna move it a lot, but I think that an extended soundboard gives the harp not only a more beautiful look, but a fuller richer sound. As a beginner, you will only need 46 strings, but as you play for a few years and move into more intense repertoire, you will need the 47th string.
Most people, when beginning the harp start on a lever harp, because they are smaller, cheaper, and lighter. I am assuming you know what these strange creatures are. But I really don’t see a problem if you want to start on a pedal harp. That’s what I did. I think the Daphne is a fine beginner/ intermediate harp, but it isn’t advanced or professional. Not by what I’ve heard about it.
In answer to your last question, YES! YOUR HARP HAS TO HAVE AN ANNUAL “CHECK UP!” This is called regulation. It costs about $200,ballpark. What is regulation? It takes about 1-2 hrs, and a certified technician checks your pedals, the harp’s action (inside and out) and a few other more complex things, more or less. It needs to be done once a year, starting with the year you bought it. YOU as the harpist have to do your job of maintaining the harp’s help by dusting it, polishing it, keeping it away from direct sunlight, cleaning the outside action, replacing your strings once every probably 1 1/2 years or as they break (to keep a crisp bright responsive sound), and other small things. Be sure to keep your pedals in flat position when not playing.
if you go on yahoo or google, im sure you can find american harp society on a search. When there, i think you can order an application by mail or even print it yourslef. Its bout $25 for 1 year membership. 🙂
Many harp teachers (or any musical instrument teachers, really) will give an introductory meeting/lesson for goal setting and assessing the match of student and teacher, so you may want to request such a meeting.
Post this question in professional harpists forum. You’ll actually get an answer there. That’s the only place with action. (Unrelated pun intented…)
Rachel is leaving San Antonio October 25. Nelda Etheredge teaches Salzedo and is currently accepting students.
What does it mean by palm muting? Your idea of using dwarf
bridge sounds interesting, maybe you can try the system of a
lever harp and use mini-hooks to raise the string a semi-tone.
<No, I dont think you can change a conventional guzheng to the
butterfly style. The tension of the string will change, I am not sure
how are you going to change it.>
I haven’t managed to find a pic of the butterfly guzheng, but a text reference mentioned 49 strings, so not so similar. I’ll still try some dwarf versions of the normal bridge pieces on the left side and see what notes I can conveniently tune to, without changing the tension too much from the current tuning.
<Hmm, also you need to use 3 picks to tape to your thumb,
second and third finger on your right hand to play the guzheng,
you know that already, right?>
ATM I’m using fingernails and a Jerry Donahue pattern thumbpick (for tremelos) on the RH because it’s similar to what I use on guitar. Is palm muting on the bridge part of the conventional GuZheng technique?
Icarusi
Hi Dave:
No, I dont think you can change a conventional guzheng to the
butterfly style. The tension of the string will change, I am not sure
how are you going to change it.
Hmm, also you need to use 3 picks to tape to your thumb,
second and third finger on your right hand to play the guzheng,
you know that already, right?
Dave, the left side of the Guzheng is not tune to any keys or
notes. It is mainly use for ornamentation or get the fa and ti note,
or special effect. There is another type of guzheng called the
butterfly-zheng, which the instrument
I was experimenting and came to the conclusion there were limitations to tunings of the left side.
That’s probably the type I’d seen being played in that fashion, but didn’t get the detail of the 2 bridge sets at the time. I was already considering a second set of bridges as a workaround. To your knowledge, can a conventional guzheng be converted in that way?
I think I’ve seen that one, but it looks realtively hi-tech (and probably expensive).
Very much so! Incidentally I took my guzheng to a local occasional meeting of guitarists (my main instrument), and one of the guy’s girlfriends quite took to playing it, while all the guys just looked a bit scared at it.
Try lyonhealy.com, harpmall.com,
Actually if you go to askjeeves.com, and type in “harp” you will get tons of websites. Most of those websites contain even more links to harp websites. Best of wishes! Tell your daughter we’re all rooting for her! Let her get involved with harp summer camps, that will help a ton! Email me if you have any other questions!
