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I can switch very easily between ‘celtic’ tension and pedal gut tension.
You have mentioned L&H harps before, so I wonder what makes you feel attracted to them?
The question is: do you like the warm and full, almost pedal harp sound of the L&H harps? If you like to play classic pieces, the L&H’s may be what you are looking for.
If you prefer to play celtic pieces, you may prefer another kind of harp.If you live in Europe, Thomann.de sells L&H harps. The L&H Ogden harps there have a significantly lower price than at some other shops. And, depending on where you live in Europe, you may get them delivered for free and, if they don’t suit you for whatever reason, you could return them without any costs within two weeks (and then another two weeks in which you would have to pay the return costs).
Hi Stardust, thanks for letting us know this really positive result.
So, now you may like to start a new thread on the kind of things which may be important to you when selecting a decent quality harp.
Thanks for the link, Emma. Keziah Thomas has a great way of letting very small children have fun with the harp and learn a thing or two!
Hi Randal, I read that you are looking for a wire harp.
My friend Harriet (‘Harpjet’ has a Gealach built my MacDonald for sale. She has asked me to mention this in this forum.
You may like to have a look at:
https://youtu.be/C98gCKAxA7gShe’s not a member of this forum, but she is a member of the Facebook wireharp group.
If interested, you may like to contact her at harpjet at gmail dot com.
@jchagoya, I just read in the thread ‘no links on the phone’ that Veronika wrote: ” It’s definitely the mobile version of the pages that’s the problem, because if I use the “Request desktop site” option in the browser I can see the links.”
Perhaps her solution will work for you as well.
@jchagoya, I did provide the link. I will link it here again, but you do need to approach it from another device. Some phones block the links of harpcolumn.
https://www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?showforum=35
I will try and spell it out.abrsm dot org slash forum slash index dot php questionmark showforum=35
You may like to post your question also in the Harp Section of the ABRSM-forum at: https://www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?showforum=35
No prob, we like to help here.
Others here may have different suggestions, but I like the backyard harps with their sturdy (!) cardboard soundboxes.
Have a look here: http://www.backyardmusic.com/Harps.html
you can decorate them as you like it. They are also nice for starting adult harpers on a budget. They sound really nice.
Of course, for a 2 year old, this kind of harp would need to be played under supervision, but you really get a lot of bang for your buck.Please, stay away from little harps with wood carvings, they come from Pakistan and are a complete waste of money.
This is not a picture of a harp, but of a zither. Perhaps you can find ideas on a discussion forum for player of zithers.
Of course, there are harps suitable for toddlers too, and I’m sure some of us could help you getting started playing a real, small harp.
Hi Annie, if possible, do go to the Camac Store in your country and try out different harps to get an impression about how they feel and sound. Camac harps have great levers which one can flip very easily. Also, you may find a good second hand harp there for a nice price, which you’ll probably be able to resell later on for… a nice price. 🙂 Really, Camac harp give you a lot of bang for your buck.
I think it’s best to start harping and finding out along the way which kind of instrument suits you best. A lot of people want a different harp after a few years of playing.
This article may help you to think again about your fear for accidentals in music: https://www.cynthiacathcart.com/articles/accidentals_sans_levers.html
Good luck with your further research, and with trying some harps for yourself: you may have more opportunities to try one than you may think.
E.g. you could order a harp from thomann.de and have two weeks to decide whether you want to keep it or sent it back for free. Beware that the ’30 days money back guarantee’ just means that after the first two weeks, but within the 30 days period, you will have to pay for the costs of sending the harp back. Thomann sells harps of Lyon & Healy and Salvi (as well as some harps made in Pakistan which are definitely NOT what you are looking for). You could find sound samples of most of these harps (these sound samples are generic, so from the right model, but not from that particular harp; sometimes you can’t find a sound sample from a particular model, but when you look at the same model in a different colour, you do find a sound sample).
But, again, frankly, I would go in person to the Camac shop, even if you’d have to travel 500 km for it.
Hi Genevieve, frankly, I think that buying a baby harp just for this purpose is a waste of money and also that you will be disappointed by its sound and the difficulty to keep it in balance. I really wonder why you think learning on a harp like that could be easier in any way.
Now, which kind of harp have you been playing on for a few months? And what has been your strategy to find your way around it? And what kind of problems have you experienced.
There are several great tutorials to teach yourself the harp, but a few lessons to start with could be of tremendous help in finding an ergonomically sound posture and prevent chronic injuries.
There’s a lot to be said about strings, but for the moment it’s enough to know that you don’t want natural gut.
As to single action harps, decent ones to weigh about 20 kilo’s, so just forget to take them with you into the woods. Also, even with 7 pedals, the amount of keys you can play in, is limited (I already gave this link: https://www.fischerharfen.de/tonarten ). Also, these pedals are not meant for fast chromatic work. And besides, you would need to have them take to a reputable harp repairer every two or three years for maintenance.
One can play lever harp in many styles, but as you have already guessed, chromatism is somewhat limited, even with the best of levers.
So, now it’s time for the good news. Have you though of a cross-strung harp (or X-harp? The X refers to the strings that cross one another. There are two main types: 7×5 (layout like a piano) and 6×6. Both types have their pro’s and con’s.
Now, if you’d like to play in every key you can think of with as much chromatism as you like, an X-harp may the right harp for you. They are not very heavy and not too pricey.
This: https://www.klangwerkstatt.de/chromatische-harfe.html is a very popular 6×6 harp in Germany. Perhaps you like its ‘bohemian’ sound, perhaps you don’t, but this is a decent quality harp for a nice price. You could also choose to build one yourself from a kit in a ‘Baukurs’ of a few days.
For more information, start by reading this article: http://www.harpspectrum.org/folk/harper_long.shtml
As to the Fisher children’s harps, they are a pre-step to the so-called ‘Volksharfen’ or Tiroler harps. These Volksharfen have single action and a string tension comparible to celtic harps. Often, the distance between the strings are a bit smaller than those of concert harps. They are strung with celtic nylon, celtic gut, or pedal gut light, depending on the model.
The best-known and quality Volksharfen are Mürnseer and Zangerle.
This is what you said to be important: “being light, portable, having truitt levers (I’ve read a lot that these and camac are the favourites in general, right?) and having a very beautiful sound and nylon strings. But then I also thought that maybe a bigger harp, like 34 string ones, could be a very good option too.”
What does make you think that you want your harp nylon strung? If for some reason don’t want natural gut, there are several other interesting choices than nylon.
As you live in Europe where nylgut and silkgut (= a kind of nylgut especially suitable for celtic harps) are easily available, this may be interesting for you as well. It sounds warmer and richer than nylon, a bit like gutAnother choice, when you woulnd’t like natural gut, is carbon strings. Their sound depend on the company that makes them.
You want to make your own arrangements, but perhaps you would also like to play from score. There’s a lot of harpmusic written for 34 string harps. One of the great things of such a floor harp is that it is much easier to balance than a smaller one. And when making arrangements, you could have some chromatic notes pre-set at a certain part of the harp and let it unaltered in another part of the harp.
As to weight: how much kilo’s would still be transportable for you? Beware that some heavy ‘lap harps’ weigh almost as much some lightweight ‘floor harps’.
Are you willing to travel for a harp to, let’s say Germany or the Netherlands?
Hi Annie, just google on harfenforum.de Einfachpedalharfe and Volksharfe.
Google translate will give you a first impression about the limits and possibilities and the technical problems some people face with these harps.As to a children’s harp with only 5 pedals, you won’t be able to sit comfortably as an adult. These harps are meant for young children.
Here: https://www.fischerharfen.de/tonarten you can see the possibilities in keys to play with the 7 or with only 5 pedals. The German H stands for B and the B for Bb.
There’s a great difference in the technical way the pedals work. Also, most of these harp builders work with waiting times.
I haven’t tried single action harps yet, though I have done some research.
Hi Stardust. It looks like you will get the solution you need. Congratulations.
Yes, first sending the harp back and then receiving your money back is the usual way this kind of thing works.
Before you send it back, make pictures of all parts of the harp, also of the harp in its container before the container is closed. That way, you can make clear that the harp was fine before you sent it (and that when it would be damaged in transport, the damage wouldn’t be held against you).
Important is how Muzikkon wants you to send it back. Do they pay for the transport costs and/or organize the shipping? If you would have to pay for the return costs, it may very well be that they are able to get a far better price for shipping than you yourself would get and you might be able to have them organize and pay for the shipping and have them subtract the shipping costs from the amount of money they are going to pay you back. Of course, they should pay for the shipping costs to return the harp, as they sent you another kind of harp than you specifically asked for, but I think that I would agree if they didn’t.
I do hope you still have the original packagaging of the harp. If not, ask them for specifics to package the harp.
Just take care you will only deal with Aine herself and I think things will work out fine.
