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I’m looking for a biography of Pear Chertok. I do hope somebody can name me a site. Thanks in advance
I am a professionnal harpist living in Montreal and would be happy to teach you. Email me at harpisabelle@yahoo.com.
Isabelle Fortier
i started the pedal harp when I was 7, but i took piano lessons for 6 months beforehand at the suggestion of my harp teacher. i am 14 now and want to take harp in college and make it my life.
Hi Betsy,
Harps Unlimited International has a rent/own option for pedal and
lever harps. You can find them at http://www.harps-international.com
-Pat Dougal
PRD Harp Service
I own two Venus 46-string harps….a Traditional in birdseye maple and a Protege in two tone walnut/maple.
One of the reasons I got the Venus semi-grand is because of the range: low C to high F, rather than the low D to high G of the L&H or Salvi. I have had the need for the low C on many, many occasions with orchestras but have not needed the high G.
I think Venus is more harp for the money. All Venus does is harps. They have less overhead, since they don’t do sheet music and trinkets, so they can probably charge less for their harps than L&H.
I think owning a harp is very personal. I’ve played all kinds of harps and have never played a new model L&H that was satisfactory to me….I love the Venus sound. Others may prefer the L&H sound.
I also felt that Venus took more of a personal interest in my harp design, working with me to make sure the finish was correct, etc. The harp was even delivered to my front door by one of the Venus employees himself…..I’m afraid it would be a cold day in hell before L&H would drive one of their harps to my front door!
Darhon Rees-Rohrbacher
hi!! my name’s heather and i’ve been playing the harp for over 5 1/2 years going on 6 years. i’d love to chat with or e-mail harpists out there. e-mail me: harpingchic@aol.com
thanxHi! I’m Kelly Ramsay! I’ve been playing harp for 4 years. i’m 13 years old and am looking to talk to other harpists! E- mail me @ ramsay3@frontiernet.net
I play the cross strung harp. Since I play keyboards, the transition to cross strung harp was quite easy. I have a Stony End cross strung lap harp and am getting ready to buy a cross strung floor harp with five octaves (the lap has three.) I also have a levered harp. Compared to the cross strung, I find the levered harp limited.
I think most of us started on a lever harp – I did – because it’s smaller. I spent barely a year on it, though. Personally I prefer pedal harps because the most complicated most gorgeous pieces out there are impossible if you only have levers. I feel that levers are limiting. It’s one more thing your hands have to do and one more place for your eyes to look. And I think if you want to go as far as you can go with the instrument, you need a pedal harp. But it’s a good thing to learn both so we all know where pedal harps came from. Levers are a little bit easier to understand – it’s not exactly intuitive how pushing down on a pedal makes a string sound different. But my vote goes to the pedal harp.
Dear Judy, I strongly suggest that you consider taking piano lessons. It is the basic instrument for any musician. For someone as young as you are, it is unlikely that you will have trouble switching from one instrument to another, but learning piano will greatly help your musical ability. The piano is not a harp in it’s side. The piano has a key for every note. It is easier to learn to read music and understand theory on a piano. Learning piano will make learning the harp easier and more efficient. And don’t forget – it never hurts to learn more.
