r/harp

Hi all!

I have a lot of problems tuning my low bass strings because my electric tuner is unable to pick up the frequency, and I am unable to tune it by ear.

I just purchased a Peterson Strobo Plus HDC tuner in hopes that this will help as I've heard this can pick up even the lowest octaves (hopefully that's true).

I've also included a "pickup" with my purchase that is a clip to attach to the harp / tuner, but where do I actually clip it on?

Once clipped on can I tune all 47 strings while it's in the same spot or do I need to clip it in different spots depending on the string?

I am using a Lyon & Healy Style 85 CG pedal harp.

Any advice here would be highly appreciated!

So my daughter started piano at 3 through Suzuki. We allowed her to switch over to harp when she turned 4 through a Suzuki teacher. When she turned 6 we changed over to the local university junior program which she progressed a lot. The thing is the university has consistently raised the prices and over the past 3 years it’s went from 700
A semester to 1,100 a semester (so times two) we can not long afford the program but she doesn’t wan to just quit. We played around with learn the harp . Com during summer breaks. But I don’t feel like it really teaches anything. Is there a program online that has videos we can go through at our own pase just to keep her skills up? I don’t feel like
Private lessons are the way we want to go right now as she’s been taking private lessons for 6 years now and it’s extremely expensive.

I’m getting ready to learn my first Christmas piece (I need a long time to practice cos I'm a beginner), and my teacher said I can choose whichever one I’d like!
Would love to hear everyone’s favorites especially pieces that you think sound magical or lovely on the harp🥰

Total beginner and have something on your mind? Or you've been playing your whole life but need a refresher? Judgement free zone to post questions!

Hi there, my strength is not in arranging/freehanding folk tunes but would really love to play O'Sullivan's March. Does anyone know of a good solo arrangement (both R and L hands, not just the fakebook bare notes) for purchase? I've already tried most of the major harp music websites and no dice. Thanks in advance.

I have a question about interpretation of Venezuelan harp music.

My student is learning El Negrito by Lauro, A. For his performance exam. He asked me, which notes are the melody?
I struggled to answer as my interpretation I wasn’t sure of. I thought that the broken chords of harmony sometimes have melody notes that are played forte whist the purely harmonic notes are played mezzo forte. In this sense it is very reliant on the cultural origin of the music where it is played loudly for community dance and that part of its beauty (seems to my ear) is the confusion created between the harmony and melody; it’s like the shimmering light on flowers dancing in the wind.
In the Williams performance attached, the melody is very hard to spot in section A, in section B it is both written and performed much more clearly but at the end of B section Williams plays a clear cadentially harmonised melody that transfers into a broken tonic chord; this makes me think that I am on the right path when suggesting to my student that: “the beauty is found within the confusion of what is melody and what is harmony and, that this is a feature I have heard within traditional Venezuelan harp music as this gives the impression of fractured light bouncing off different petals of tropical flowers.”
I’m hoping somebody with experience in traditional music may answer this for me too…?
As a very side question, do you think Williams’ performance and interpretation of Venezuelan music changed between these early recordings and his album of said music in the 2000s? Not allowing the change of guitar to misinterpret such changes…?

I’m actually still kind of baffled by how poorly I feel this was handled.

About two months ago I reached out to Lyon & Healy about renting a harp. I live in San Francisco, but I was planning a trip to Chicago and thought it would be fun to pick it up in person and drive it back home with me.

I specifically asked if that was okay, or if they only allowed in-person pickup for people who live in the Chicago area.
The rental coordinator replied and said it should be fine, but told me to reach out closer to the date since inventory can change.

Great. I was super excited to start learning, found a harp teacher near me, and started planning around bringing one home.

Three weeks ago, about two weeks before I got to Chicago, I emailed again saying I’d like to pick up on August 4th and sent over the documents they asked for.

I got an auto reply saying he was away at a conference until July 20th. Totally fine. I resent the email and documents on the 20th.

He got back to me and said the Ogden I wanted was out of stock, but they had a Drake and asked if that was okay. I said absolutely, I was still excited.

Then he asked for my documents again, so I sent them again.
A week goes by with no response.

I follow up and get another auto reply saying he’s away at a conference until August 5th.

While he’s away, he does respond to me and sends over the contract. He also asks for my documents again. At this point I’ve sent them multiple times, but whatever, I send them again, fill out the contract, and ask what time I should come in for pickup.

By this point I’m already in Chicago on vacation.
August 4th comes around, which was the day I originally wanted to pick up the harp, so I follow up again asking if we can schedule something.

On August 5th I send another email basically saying, “Just wanted to get back to the top of your inbox, I’m only here for a few more days.”
At 10:36 PM I finally get a response asking if I can meet the morning of August 7th.

Great! I don’t have to leave until Friday afternoon, so that works perfectly. I tell him yes and ask what time I should meet him at the office.

No response.

Then Friday at 11 AM, he messages me asking if I can meet at 1.

At that point I had already left Chicago. After not hearing anything for over a day, I just assumed it wasn’t going to happen.

So over about two months, I sent my documents four times, asked to schedule a pickup date or time six times, and had the pickup pushed around multiple times.

And now I don’t have a harp.

I had cleared out space in my apartment for a little harp corner, booked lessons, ordered a spare set of Drake strings, and bought a transport case. Thankfully I can return the strings and case, but it’s still really frustrating.

A few of my friends mentioned that maybe they thought it was weird that I live in California and wanted to pick up in Chicago. That’s totally possible, but if that was an issue he could have just told me that when I asked two months ago.
I happily would have paid to have it shipped.

That’s honestly the part that gets me. I specifically asked if picking it up in Chicago was okay, was told yes, and then spent the next two months trying to get a date and time nailed down.

I completely understand being busy, going to conferences, and inventory changing. None of that is really the problem.
I just don’t understand why getting a simple response like “come by at 10 AM on Friday” was so difficult.
I was really excited to start learning harp, and I’m mostly just disappointed that after all that planning and back and forth, I came home without one.

Edit: Thanks everyone for listening to me vent. I’ve found a reputable harp renter in the bay and will probably move forward with him.

Looking to sing at a gig and would love to stand and play. Any ideas appreciated, especially if they have been tried and tested. Thank you.

Recently discovered compositions by Carol Kappus. Lovely music.

Wondering if anyone has used her digital downloads. The music written seems to be missing some basic elements such as when chords are rolled, bits of arpeggiated runs that can be heard in the sample recordings but are not written down. Is there a specific way (or some information) on how to approach her music to match the sample recordings?

Puzzled

When I try to do Salzedo's exercises I find most of them too much of a stretch & I'm wondering if I should keep at it or forget it. I was told that he wrote these exercises for his girlfriend who had a wide hand. I've been playing for 25 years but I like to go back to exercises (besides just Friou) to avoid getting in a rut.

How one would humidify the harp? I have some Boveda packets and for a week I left one of the packets in the bathroom when I take the shower and it is filled up with water like would that be ok to use or that be too much to place over the pieces of wood for the harp under a 100% cotton cover? I am getting the travel gig bag for Limerick harp. I just hope it is padded or would the padded be too hot for the harp in 110 degree weather. we having a dry spell over here as well. I just don't want to build the harp then it crack because of the issue of humidity. This is 4 months I'm building the harp. Any help is great.

I was a teenager in the 1990s. Started classical harp at age 7. Did anyone else in a similar age bracket notice a cult-like status of Carlos Salzedo? I’m just looking back on it with fresh eyes, now, and man, it was intense.

Hello, this is perhaps an odd question from a writer.
I have a character that is a magic powered robot. He is integrated with all kinds of musical instruments as he is a bard (lungs are bagpipes, stomach is a cello, his hands can swap out for flutes or trumpets/horns, his shoulder his a push click violin, etc).

Currently I'm trying to describe him performing a song. The instrument I want him to play it on would preferably be a Harp. How I describe he creates this harp is by folding his body in half, laying his left arm over his left leg, machinery things happen to attach each limb with harp strings. As he returns to an upright sitting position, he raises his left arm, bending into a traditional harp-shaped arch.

But this means he's only got one hand left to actually play and I've opted to describe this instrument as a Lyre-Like Harp because of that.

My question is two-fold.
Is the description of an instrument being a "Lyre-like Harp" utter nonsense?
And can you play a harp one handed? (If not, then theoretically, could you if you were a robot with six fingers?)

When I tried to Google it, I got lyres or handed exercises for harp playing.

Any help is appreciated!