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I would be very wary to buy a harp with a crack in it. From the damage at the backside of the neck I guess it has fallen and that may have resulted in yet unseen more damage.
Also, this harp is more than 30 years old, perhaps 35 or more years. These red white blue plastic levers are theoretically not adjustable (though one could get some adjustment by doing something to the bridgepin and so change the distance between the string without and the string with the lever on. These plastic levers are rather stiff and not great for flipping while playing.
Also, newer Camacs, let’s say those built since about 2010 sound nicer.
Also of importance: what kind of music would you like to play? E.g. Classic, celtic and/or folk?
I think it would be best to contact the teacher of your choice before buying a harp. Your teacher may know a great second hand harp for a good price or and/or help you select a harp of good quality. Also, you may be able to rent a harp from her of from a reputable harp shop. Frankly, I think its a good idea to rent before you buy.
Thanks for posting my message, Balfour. Perhaps the link to L&H proged indeed to be the problem, because now that it is left it out, the message did appear.
Hi Aleisha, the L&H Ogden harp has pedal gut string tension. One must be a very accomplished harp player to be able to play fast folk tunes on it. This harp is much better suited for playing classical pieces.
Hi Denise, for really comfortable playing a stand harp would be best. With 34 strings you can play almost all regular lever harp music. For celtic music a Dusty Ravenna 34 would give you a lot of bang for your bucks. Due to its staved soundboard, it feels rather comfortably to your shoulders and arms.
Dusty Ravenna’s can often be bought second hand. Also, if you want a new one, you could consider to buy it without levers and have them mounted later on. You could also buy them with a few levers, I believe.
You mention a 29 string harp, That would mean a creative approach of sheet music, as most sheet music is meant for harps with at least 2 full octaves below middle C (a 34 strings has 2 full octaves below middle C). A 29 string harp would also be more difficult to balance than a 34 string harp.
Edit: if ease to carry the harp, is really important, you may like to think of one of the light weight harps. They are rather pricey though, and frankly, I usually prefer the sound of normal weight harps.
If you live in Europe, you may like to check the Camac Hermine, but in the USA it’s a lot pricier. Anyway, nor the Dusty Ravenna, 34 nor the Camac Hermine are very easy to carry around, but you probably could carry them easily from one room to another. If you lived in Germany, there are several very nice lightweight harps built manually by reputable harpbuilders, but I guess their price is not what you have in mind.A 19 string harp is very hard to balance. You mentioned that you’ve been practicing a lot in anticipation of getting a bigger harp and I think that may be part of the problem.
Perhaps it would be better to practice in bursts of let’s say not more than ten to fifteen minutes at a time and then go and do something very different.
One can practice a lot of well focused mini sessions a day. That would be beneficial to both your learning as well as your muscles.Just curious, which bigger harp have you been waiting for?
I think the most important question would be: why would you be willing to move to a pedal harp? Is it the kind of sound? Is it the easier chromatic possibilities? Is it the looks? Or something else?
As for playing in church and/or some small events, you don’t need a pedal harp. There are lots of professionals performing with a quality lever harp. Also, a pedal harp is not as easy to transport as a lever harp.
As to sound: is it the kind of sound or the kind of volume?
As to chromatic possibilities: if you’ve got quality levers which are well adjusted, you may be surprised how versatile a lever harp can be.
As to looks: have you thought of a L&H Prelude?Your question: who doesn’t want a beautiful pedal harp?
I don’t want one: It’s pricey to buy and to maintain (the mechanical parts need regular adjustment). It needs a spacy living room to sound really well at home. It’s heavy to transport.Besides, the music I like to play can mostly be played on a lever harp.
On the other hand, if the pedal harp really speaks to you, I would go for it, no matter its disadvantages.
Hi Jasmin, you may like to provide us with a link to your video. That would greatly improve your chance of getting feedback.
Or go to this link: https://vimeo.com/402789487 and start on the 30th minute to see Philippa MCauliffe play very beautifully.
The way MuseScore works: you can listen to how it plays the right notes, including the articulation of the notes, with the righ rhythm of a piece or the passage that you have selected. If you play along and you sound different, you know the spot that needs working on. You may like to do that by setting the speed somewhat lower and by isolating a difficult fragment and let it play in a loop while you practice along with it.
The mobile app version is very limited in functionality, no way suitable for your needs and besides, it’s not free.
https://musescore.org/en/download
Open source, free, no ads, very flexible, active support forum.It does everything you want and wish, except for the hands-free commands (as far as I know, but perhaps you could ask this on the feature request section at https://musescore.org/en/forum/7).
If you don’t like the sampled sounds, you could plug in a more sophisticated set of sampled sounds.
I love the MuseScore software.Wow, Evolène, thank you so much for this great compilation. A lot of links are new to me, so this is really exciting.
Now that a lot of us are house bound, this is a unique chance to broaden our harping experience.
Thanks again!
I am not a harp teacher, but I have been taking (group) internet lessons for my clarinet.
My teacher uses Zoom instead of Skype, as Zooms doesn’t level out the sound, at least not as much as Skype does. So, one can hear better the difference between a passage being played piano or forte. Also, even the free version of Zoom comes without ads.
