The Instrumentalists Thread

[Rían]

ps - mine is a 26-string Dusty Strings harp, like this: http://www.dustystrings.com/instrume...2/Default.aspx

And it's amazing how different even the similar models sound - my mom gave me the harp for Christmas but told me I could pick out another if I liked. The sound was a little too bright for me, so we went back to the harp store (drool!!) and tried quite a few before I picked out the one I have. They all have their own little personalities and voices

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

Cool! When did you decide to take up the harp?

Rian. I thought I made it very clear that my goal in life is to be Loreena McKennitt a well rounded imitator of Loreena McKennitt musician with the ability to play a diverse variety of Loreena McKennitt tunes instruments.

But seriously I just wanna be Loreena McKennitt... I've been wanting to play the harp for quite some time. I just think it's such a beautiful instrument... both in terms of physical construction and the sound.

Aside from that, I have such a heavy interest in Celtic music that I think it makes a lot of sense because it's a valuable instrument in celtic ensembles (and as a soloist) and not a lot of people (at least in my area) play. Being able to play piano or guitar and sing at the same time is valuable, and I imagine for celtic music being able to play harp and sing would also be very valuable.

That cardboard harp is amazing

I KNOW, RIGHT?!!?!?! O_o It still blows my mind just thinkin' about it.

For that price, it sounds like it's a good idea, but ask your harp teacher.

Definitely.

Two things I would HIGHLY recommend - one, start off RIGHT AWAY with lessons

That's the plan. I have not yet tried to play a harp, and I intend to talk to the teacher and have at least one lesson (maybe two or three) before I even consider purchasing a harp. Although I really, really, really kind of want to buy the cardboard harp anyways because IT'S A CARDBOARD HARP! I mean.... WHAAAAAAT?!?!!

For your eventual harp, get levers on all the strings instead of just on a few.

I've been looking at that. It's amazing the price difference... it turns a $400 harp into a $1,000+ harp just to add all of the sharping levers. But for me, considering that I sing, the levers are pretty much a must. No telling what key I'll need to play in so that I can sing along with a tune in my "best sounding" vocal key.

Most irish tunes are written for soprano/tenor voices, so I really need the ability to bump those down a couple of keys... it's amazing, with singing, how taking something up or down just a half step or a whole step can completely transform the sound.


But aside from all of this, I really need to do more research into celtic music. I know a bit, but I should do some actual research. I've watched a PBS special (with Moya Brennan, who I loooove) and done a little research, but nothing serious enough.

[Rían]

I'm SO excited to start talking harp with someone!!!!

[Tessar]

WHEEE!!! This Saturday, Rian! We'll be fellow harpists!!!!

[Varnafindë]

If I had lots of time to spend on learning an instrument, I'd like to learn to play the harp as well! I love the sound of it - I've been told that part of this is due to its pure tuning, as opposed to the tempered tuning of a piano or an organ.

I'll enjoy reading about your experiences!

[Tessar]

Varna, I just did a little research and I'm not entirely sure what you mean. It appears to me that pianos and harps are tuned exactly the same... just that harps are not strung 'chromatically' like a piano (i.e. C, C#, D, D#, etc.) so the harp strings just go C, D, E, F, G, etc. rather than C, C#, D, D#, etc... unless you've tuned it into another key.


You did cause me to stumble across this, though, which I think is pretty fascinating. O_o

http://www.donaldshabkie.com/harptune.html

[Tessar]

Rian, do you happen to have any favorite harpists? I would love to get some names so I can start listening and getting their "sound" in my ears.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Tessar

WHEEE!!! This Saturday, Rian! We'll be fellow harpists!!!!

YES!!

Is that your first lesson? Do tell!!!

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Tessar

Rian, do you happen to have any favorite harpists? I would love to get some names so I can start listening and getting their "sound" in my ears.

Why yes indeedy - Grainne Hambly, an Irish harpist who is amazing, esp. in concert - I was lucky enough to see her in a small-setting concert (a room with perhaps 50 people, no amplification) and she was amazing! I love how she does her left hand - kind of a small, circular motion as she does damping and other stuff. And get this - my husband set it up for me as a surprise present to be in one of her clinics after her concert! There were about 15 of us for about an hour or so with her. How amazing is that?! (and I wasn't the worst one there! )

Here you can see her gorgeous left hand playing - she's damping the strings right before she plucks the new ones.

This one is really cool - starts slow, but gets screaming complicated about 50 seconds in. She does all sorts of grace notes in the right hand, esp. this triple-pluck thing (that she showed us how to do in the workshop!)

[Tessar]

Had to move my lesson to Sunday (we'll see if the teacher OK's it) because I was mistaken about an opera rehearsal time.

I also didn't realize that I was going to get about $500 for singing in the opera. O_o That's a nice little sum I could put towards saving for a harp. I thought they were going to give us about a hundred or so... they called it an honorarium so I assumed they meant, "we're going to cover your parking fees."

Rian, what do you think of the wirestrung harps?

[Tessar]

These are some nice examples:

http://youtu.be/VGhEYBqIOG8

http://youtu.be/UoNb3_6TvqU

http://youtu.be/FSm63KJOW4w <--probably the best example

I they remind me a bit of a music box. I don't know if you'd consider them too plinky. They have more of a bell-like resonance than the regular harps do.

[Rían]

They're gorgeous! I don't think they're plinky at all. However, they need a totally different technique. You have to grow your fingernails out and use your fingernails. With the other harps, you cut your fingernails short and pluck at an angle on the pad of the finger.

Wirestrung harps are prob a lot more expensive, too, but they are definitely cool! But I like the "softer" sound of the other type of harp, too. I don't know that I'd like an entire CD of a wirestrung harp, but they're nice to mix things up.

On one of my Celtic harp CDs, "She Moved Through the Fair" (my all-time fav!) was on a wirestrung - it was a great match.

[Tessar]

TODAY, RIAN. I'M HAVIN' MAH FIRST LESSON TODAAAAAAAAAAY!! WHEEEE!!!! In just an hour and forty-five minutes. O_o

adjklal;'dfskjldfs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So excited... I can hardly stand it!!

I've been doing lots of research and checking out different harpists, technique manuals, and all the Sylvia Woods videos I could find on youtube.


For example, I now know that a harp is a wooden things with strings on it, and then people sit down behind the harp and do something or other and it makes noises.

.... maybe I should do a little more research.

[Rían]

Hey, my mom and I know Sylvia Woods!

Well, we've been to her store and talked with her a few times ... and she played the harp I have now. When my parents got me a harp for Christmas, they said that I could change it for another if I wanted (each harp has its own unique voice). I wasn't quite 100% happy with it, so we took it back, and I tried out a bunch of harps until I narrowed it down to two. I asked Sylvia to play a selection on both harps, since I wasn't good enough to give them a good test drive. She played the same bit on both, and hearing a good harpist on both harps helped me to pick out mine which I just love!

She had such a wonderful harp store (I mean, how many harp stores are there?! - the biggest one west of the Mississippi, or something like that - maybe the only one west of the Mississippi? ) It was in Pasadena, California - fun old town. And that's where she used to have concerts - that's where I saw Grainne Hambly play. But she closed that store down and opened a smaller one, I think. I haven't been to that one. Anyway, I like her instruction books - you might be using them in your lessons.

I'm SOOOOOOOO excited to hear from you!!!!!!!! *waits eagerly*

[Rían]

aaacckk!!!! you haven't posted yet!!!!!!

[Earniel]

Maybe Tessar has spontaneously trancended from pure joy?

[Rían]

Probably so!

[Rían]

(5 hours later)

Tessar, I'm dying!

[Tessar]

Sorry! Had a crazy last two days.

The lesson went sooooooooooo well. I had a ton of fun! The only thing is the girl was CLEARLY anxious about me. I don't know if I made her nervous because I'm tall or what, but I kept wanting to say, "Calm down, I'm not going to bite you." I had a hint from our email exchanges that she seemed like the nervous type, so I went in very "calm" (as opposed to my typical cheerfulness) and by the end of the lesson she seemed to calm down a little... not sure what her reaction to my full personality would have been.

I had such fun. We played The Mist On The Mountain and after I started to get the hang of it, she played the left hand part and I played the right hand part.

The things that give me SOOOO much trouble have to do with piano. I am not used to "placing" my hands for phrases the way you have to for harp... it's a totally different mind-game from "fingerings" for piano. Then I want to put my thumbs down with my other fingers, like you do in piano, but I have to keep my thumbs up.

I think I surprised her at a few points... because three or four times I got into that musical "groove" where you suddenly aren't thinking, and everything works. I'd be moving slowly through the song, making sure I had the right strings (luckily from all my years of piano/penywhistle/singing/guitar/STUFF I can read Bass and Treble cleff without thinking, so I always knew what pitch I was aiming for, just trying to remember which string was which pitch)... and then all of the sudden I'd just play two measures in a row without stopping or thinking... and then I'd be looking for notes again. It's like, "I THINK HE'S GOT IT!... Okay wait, he's looking for "A" again..."

[Tessar]

Rian, have you seen the "Sweetharps" by Caswell? One neat thing is the dye jobs he can do on them!!!

I am tempted, but hesitant. From all of my research, I feel like what I REALLY want is a Ravenna 34. The tone is gorgeous, and they're relatively inexpensive (around $2,000)... but it looks like I'd have to pay it all upfront, and I'm not sure I could fit one in my car... so no taking it to play with the folk group.

The Sweetharp has 29 strings (which seems like a good starting instrument), and it's much smaller than the Ravenna 34 (hence why the tone suffers). There's a Ravenna 26, but I feel like that's too few strings (I want that low C), and I don't love the tone. Also the Sweetharp has some truly awesome features (the tuning knobs for starters!), AND the Sweetharps have a rent-to-own program.

I'm torn, but the more I think about it the more I feel like I should get a harp as soon as possible so that I can practice. I'm completely enchanted and I want to start playing!! I haven't been like this about an instrument since I started to get interested in voice when I was 15. I remember I started watching endless YouTube videos and listening to ump-tee-billions of singers... and of course I still spend the majority of my free time listening to singers and trying to find new ones. But now I feel the same way about harp. O_o I feel a much stronger attraction to the harp than I have towards violin.