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Unfortunately, Dusty Strings do cost quite a lot more in Europe than in the US. Partly this has to do with transporting costs, VAT and import duties.
In Europe a Dusty Ravenna with 26 strings would cost round about 1650 euro at: https://www.zingendesnaar.nl/dusty-strings-ravenna-26.html and a Ravenna with 34 strings round about 2650 euro at https://www.zingendesnaar.nl/dusty-strings-ravenna-34.html. Prices of Ravenna’s in other European countries are more or less the same.
Frankly, I’d prefer a Camac Bardic 27 strings above a Ravenna 26 string, but this is personal. The Dusty Ravenna’s are fine harps too.
You may like to find some inspiration in “Yuletide Treasure: Celtic & English Music for Winter Celebration, Harp Solos and Duets arranged by Deborah Friou & Julia Lane (Friou Music).
You could order it here: http://www.harpconnection.com/store/product.php?sku=400-1914
or
https://www.bookdepository.com/Yuletide-Treasure-Deborah-Friou/9780962812071 (free shipment worldwide) and probably in lots of other shops.Contents of the 94-pages book:
Harp Solos:
The Abbot’s Bromley Horn Dance; Green Grow’th the Holly; Lullabies for the Christ Child; Nos Galan (Deck the Halls); The Humors of Winter; Gloucestershire Wassail; Christmas Day in the Morning; Greensleeves; That Night in Bethlehem; The Holly and the Ivy/Sans Day Carol; Down in Yon ForestHarp Solos or Duets:
I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In; Three Sea Captains; When Christ Was Born; The Wexford Carol; Rorate; Coventry Carol; ‘is Winter Now; Cold and Raw; New ChristmasDuets of 2 Harps or Harp and Melody Instrument:
I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In; Three Sea Captains; The Wexford Carol; Rorate; Conventry Carol; ‘Tis Winter Now; Cold and Raw; New ChristmassDuets for 2 Harps only (no “melody instrument”):
When Christ Was Born; Down in Yon Forest; Soalin’/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; Nos Galan (Deck the Halls)Duets for Harp and Melody Instrument only (no second harp):
When Christ Was Born==
You may like to use these pieces to find compatible pieces for women’s choir. Perhaps you will have to transpose some of the pieces to make them fit between the women’s choir partsHi Sarva, did you know there are harp teacher who also give online lessons? Of course, especially in the beginning, it would be best to have a teacher who is actually in the same room, but internet lessons are at least much better than self teaching.
Anyway, if you think about saving for another few months, you could already start with looking at some great free harp tutorials on youtube like those of Josh Layne and Ray Pool.
Also, there must a really great website with free interactive tutorials on music theory (sorry, I don’t know which one I should refer you to). You don’t need this kind of knowledge to start on the harp, but it may help to speed your development as a harper once you’ve got a harp.
If you are going to take lessons, you may like to ask your future teacher for advice. Some teachers demand a 34 string harp. Others are fine with a much smaller harp. And, you may be lucky that the teacher is renting some of her harps to her students for a very reasonable price. Or, she may know a great second hand harp for you.
Hi Biagio, for several active people on this forum, including me English is a foreign language.
I think Evolène with “yes, most of the repertoire is made for larger harps but it’s possible to play for a few years on a 27 strings with minimal arrangements” simply meant that smaller harps usually only need minor adaptions.The Camac bardic is a very nice harp, so I would go for it. It’s rather easy to play tunes an octave higher as all C’s are red and all F’s are blue.
Yes, the tune will sound nicer when it is played an octave lower, but listen to the many great videoclips on youtube on the bardics and you know whether you like the harp. Later on you could always sell it, as it is a very popular harp.There is quite a lot of music specially written for lap harps. Yes, in that case there is never a need to play an octave higher.
An cheap but reasonable alternative would be the harps of Manfred Gosewinkel in Germany at: http://gosewinkel-harfenbau.npage.de/startseite.html
His largest harp has 2 octaves below middle C. Just like standard harps (and you seldom or never would play the highest A). His largest harp costs 650 euro at the moment. These harps have a rather low string tension but normal string distance. They are made in a cheap way, no sophisticated levers, but real hooks and you might see traces of glue. In Germany these harps are talked about mostly in a positive way in the German harpforum on: https://www.harfenforum.de/forum/search.php?keywords=gosewinkelYou may need google translate to understand what is said about them.
Frankly, I think I myself would go for a Camac Bardic. I played on a little old Camac Troubadour 22 string lap harp for the first two years. It did not go any lower than the middle C. The Camac Bardic has a full octave below middle C. I think it really is a great harp.
Hi Evolène, maybe shipping from the Netherlands or from Germany to France won’t be as pricey.
You may have a look at: https://www.zingendesnaar.nl/bruner-pamela-harp-accompaniment-for-vocals.html?___store=en&___from_store=nl
It looks like it’s also available from Glissando in Germany (https://www.glissando.de/harfe/kataloge/notenhaken.pdf ) and perhaps also from other German harp shops.
Hi Evolène, I am not a harp teacher, but I think reading Sylvia Woods’ Music Theory and Arranging Technique for All Harps (see e.g. https://www.bookdepository.com/Music-Theory-Arranging-Techniques-for-Folk-Harps-Sylvia-Woods/9780936661025 (no shipping costs worldwide) will explain this and more in a simple and fun way. And you learn how to make your own simple arrangements. I really love this books.
I-IV-V harmony is suitable for most simple tunes in major. The other chords would than be ii, iii and vi (not II, III and VI).
In minor tunes this would be the other way round.
So, in a tune in C, the I is the C-chord, the IV is the F-chord and the V is the G-chord.
In a tune in G, the I is the G-chord, the IV is the C-chord and the V is the D-chord.
There’s quite a lot more to say about this, but I think the aforementioned book will get you a solid base to start and make your own arrangements or learn how to play from fake books.In my previous post I already recommended Pamela Bruner’s book Harp accompaniment for Vocals. I’d like to recommend it again. Of course, a recorder is not the same as the human voice, but you would learn how to make a two handed arrangement while the recorder would have the tune.
My earlier more elaborate post in this thread vanished. So, I’ll post a summary.
” If so, what do you recommend for someone to do so they can practice outside of the home (like in the park?)”
I understand that you don’t have your own place, and therefore will take the harp outside a lot. Frankly, I think that you’d best buy a Dusty Ravenna, preferably 34 strings, but with 26 strings you at least can make a start at the harp. Of all the mentioned harps, the Ravenna may be best suitable to play outside in parks etc because of it’s use of sturdy and high quality multiply and vinyl. It’s well transportable and of sounds nice. I’d rather not take an expensive and very heavy lever harp like the L&H Prelude to a park…
As to string tension. The Ravenna’s have a kind of medium string tension. I think it would be rather easy to move on to a pedal harp, if that’s what you want. There are a few great harps with pedal harp tension strings, but they are way pricier and more susceptible to the kind of quick changes of temperature and humidity that can happen when one plays in parks etc.
The question is, what do you mean by ‘really portable’?
Did you have a look at Morley Harps in the UK? https://www.morleyharps.co.uk/PBSCCatalog.asp
Depending on what you are looking for, you may have look at the Ravenna (26 strings) Aoyama Saul (25 strings) or the Triplett Zephyr (22 strings). I don’t know how difficult it would be to fly by plane with them, though.
There’s an interesting little harp with very low tension but with a sweet tone: http://www.backyardmusic.com/Harps.html It has a sturdy cardboard soundbox and you can find several youtube clips with people playing on them. You could even put levers on this harp. And it is possible to order a separate new cardboard soundbox later on.
I just had a quick look to find a simple arrangement for ‘Bold Fenian Men’. I found the same melody that Woods uses, but with a different title (Down by the Glenside).
Here: http://gdaebouzouki.blogspot.nl/2010/10/down-by-glenside.html you can find the tune plus lyrics, plus chords and some extra information.Hi Evolène, you are welcome. 🙂
Yes, in your case, I would definitely start with Woods’ book. It contains a lot of folk tunes and suggestions on how to arrange them.
You may also like to have a look at https://musescore.com/sheetmusic . There you may find a lot of easily playable music as well (and with the free open source software of MuseScore, you can also easily adapt the scores to your liking.
Hi Evolène think of ‘fake books’. In these books you find the tune and the names of the chords. You could simply play this chords as 1-5-8 to start with and make them more interesting when will have learned how to do that with e.g. Pamela Bruner’s book Harp accompaniment for Vocals.
Hi Evolène, I own S. Woods’ ‘Music Theory and Arranging for All Harps’ and I love it. It’s very practical, easy to understand and fun!
The great thing about this is that from the very start you actually learn to make simple arrangements.
Another great book is Pamela Bruner’s Harp Accompaniment for Vocals. This book would help you to learn and make nice accompaniments with the tunes your husband plays on his recorder.
After you’ve studied Woods’ book, Bruner’s book is a lot easier to tackle, as Woods explains things more elaborately. But, Bruner’s books may give you many idea’s how to play together with a singer (or a recorderist etc). Perhaps it would be even nicest if you could use these two books next to one another.
Have fun!
Edit: you may like to read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code and find out which possibilities you may have to finally get the dvd playing.
Edit 2: you can see a lot more ‘preview pages’ when you log into your account at Amazon. If you don’t have an account there, you can only see a few pages. If you do have an account and are logged in, you can see substantially more pages and make a better informed decision.
Hi Isabelle, you can play practically all music for lever harps on a 34 string harp.
Like you, I’d like to play both folk music as well as classical music.
In the end, I chose for a Camac Excalibur (with 38 strings), because I love its sound and because it has the right height for me. The Excalibur strings have a tension somewhat between folk music and classical music. For an indication of its sound, you may like to have a look at the video clips of Josh Layne.The Camac Isolde has about the same height as the Camac Excalibur, but the strings of the Camac Isolde celtique have a lighter tension and the strings of the Camac Isolde classique have a stronger tension.
The Excalibur is significantly pricier than the Camac Isolde, but people say that the Excalibur has a better projection.
The Camac Telenn Kadiou has a rather light string tension. Lighter than the Isolde celtique.
As to portability, you may also think of the Camac Aziliz or the Camac Hermine. They have a ‘celtic’ string tension. The Camac Aziliz is also available with a classic tension (but this would be a special order as it needs some different levers)
By the way, a quality harp with a larger soundbox tends to have a richer tone than an equal quality harp with a smaller soundbox. All the same there are rather small harps that sound much richer dan some large harps…
