Harp...anyone?

[Beanzy]

The link doesn't work because the luthier's name is being picked up by the site's automatic censoring of a four letter word beginning with s and ending with t that forms part of her name!

If you right-click on the link then chose "copy linklocation" then just paste it into the location bar in your browser it will appear. just replace the four censored hash marks with the slang word for a poo then it'll work

[Jim Garber]

are you guys talking about this kinda "harp"....
Kinda cool....

That is a harp guitar. Buy this site has too many filters -- you can't even use a tiny url.

[houseworker]

That is a harp guitar. Buy this site has too many filters -- you can't even use a tiny url.

Scott tells me you can: http://#######.com/7c4zjcm

.....but you can't!


And now, as if by magic, you can!

http://tinyurl.com/7c4zjcm

[Sandy Beckler]

I thought the "Harp Guitar" was pretty cool...thanks to those who helped "skirt" the rules...and to you as well Scott.

Sandy

[Bobby Branton]

Do they have a book named "Harps for Dummies??"

[Elliot Luber]

There used to be a jazz harp player at the NAMM Show every year in the '80s who would play an amplified and sometimes MIDIed harp. He was really excellent. I remember him playing Freeway Jam on it and drawing a huge crowd.

[Ed Goist]

Jason Harshbarger of Highland Strings Instruments, the talented young luthier who built my beloved 2-Point "The Raven" has also built at least one harp. Here are some pics of it:

[multidon]

Do they have a book named "Harps for Dummies??"

No, not yet, but if anyone is serious about trying it out the Harp for Dummies equivalent for the past 30+ years has been "Teach Yourself to Play Folk Harp" by Sylvia Woods. That book is amazingly clear, well written, and does exactly what the title says it does! Highly recommended. In my opinion, harp is easy compared to mandolin!

[catmandu2]

Jason Harshbarger of Highland Strings Instruments, the talented young luthier who built my beloved 2-Point "The Raven" has also built at least one harp.

Beauty Ed, thanks for the pics.

And beautiful playing and singing ms harper. You also play banjo? Pulled in a few different directions are you?

[Jeff Budz]

I figure I'll have plenty of time to study harp when I'm dead.... Or perhaps I'll be studying fiddle instead... If you know what I mean.

[harper]

Beauty Ed, thanks for the pics.

And beautiful playing and singing ms harper. You also play banjo? Pulled in a few different directions are you?

Thanks, catmandu2. Yes, if it has strings or bellows, I am interested. I don't play much banjo yet, but I hope to learn a bit at the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat in Texas in October. I have a Slingerland short scale Irish tenor banjo. Fortunately it is tuned like the mandolin.

[harper]

No, not yet, but if anyone is serious about trying it out the Harp for Dummies equivalent for the past 30+ years has been "Teach Yourself to Play Folk Harp" by Sylvia Woods. That book is amazingly clear, well written, and does exactly what the title says it does! Highly recommended. In my opinion, harp is easy compared to mandolin!

I have the Woods book, and it is good and has been popular for decades. However, I think by far the best books for teaching yourself harp are the relatively new ones by Pamela Bruner: Play the Harp Beautifully, 3 books and a DVD. Here's a description. http://www.pamelabrunermusic.com/harp_books.php They give excellent photos and descriptions of technique that will produce the best sound and avoid injury.

Naturally, if you can find a good teacher, that would be better.

[harper]

[QUOTE=Ed Goist;1063719]Jason Harshbarger of Highland Strings Instruments, the talented young luthier who built my beloved 2-Point "The Raven" has also built at least one harp. Here are some pics of it:

What a beautiful harp, Ed.

[CHASAX]

Yes, I am a harper. My avatar "multidon" refers to the fact that I am a multi-instrumentalist. In my group the Pic-a-Longs I play mandolin, fiddle, hammered dulcimer, and harp. I have only been playing harp a little over a year. I wasn't even thinking about starting harp but I found a Celtic lap harp collecting dust in a local music store. The owner was anxious to get rid of it because it had been around a long time. I got it for his cost-$250! Turns out it is luthier made by a fine maker, Steen Harps, in WV. I have enjoyed playing it immensely. I get complements on the beautiful tone wherever I play it. I also play it solo in the waiting room of an oncology center here. Even mistakes sound good because the tone is just so lovely!

If you are interested in pursuing this I do have some suggestions for you:

1. Harps can be expensive. It is possible to get a Celtic style lap harp for not too much though. Check out the "harpsicle" line and "Noteworthy" County Kerry harps. Good quality that does not cost an arm and a leg. Elderly carries both brands.
2. You need to buy a harp that has sharping levers. Each string that has a sharping lever can be sharped by engaging the lever. Usually most folk music stays in the same key so you set the levers once. If you have no levers you can only play in C major/A minor. It is common to find harps with levers on all the C's and F's. Then you can play in C/G/D major and A/E/B minor, which covers 95 percent of folk music. If you buy one without levers it is difficult and expensive to retrofit them. My harp is fully levered on all strings so I can play in any key.
3. Do not be tempted by the low price on the Pakistani-made harps common on e-Bay. They come in various brand names- Early Music Shop, Roosbeck, and others. They can be identified by being made of "rosewood" and often have "Celtic knot" carvings on them. They are not well regarded in the harp world.
4. Since you are a classical guitarist I will tell you you pluck harp strings with the skin of your fingers, not the nails. Your classical guitar nails might get in the way.
5. When I started I was afraid. I thought it would be difficult. I found out it isn't as difficult as one would imagine. For one thing, I didn't know the C strings were red and the F strings were blue. This helps to orient you and therefore you keep track of what note you are playing.
6. If you find a used harp it will almost certainly need new strings. Strings on a harp are not like other instruments. There is no standard set. Harp strings have to be custom made for each specific model. Most of them come with a "string chart" that tells you the gauges you need for each note. If a used harp comes with one that is a plus. If not there is a company that keeps many on file, Vermont Strings.
7.I highly recommend getting and reading "Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp" by Sylvia Woods. Not only does it enable you to do what the title says, it gives you a lot of background and reference information, including how to restring.

That's all I can think of for now. Feel free to PM me if I can be of further assisitance!

All that. Prefer the method book by Star West. Star West also has other sheet music books in print and a website.
Rented a Dusty Strings Ravenna 26 and had a lesson with Star yesterday. Have promised to sell some of the other instruments lying around if I buy a harp.
The sound is super superb.

[catmandu2]

Dustys are great harps. Congrats on your choice.

Wow, thread is 4 years old - have to report our progress with it. I did get my wire harp(s), and even the guzheng - used the harps (and even the guzheng) for hospice work last year. My son enjoys the zheng, particularly. Me, getting increasingly into early music - old clarsach repertoire, etc.

*Reading the old posts - i might mention i've since found a more portable HD and have played out with that quite a bit too over the last few years.

[Dr H]

Dustys are great harps. Congrats on your choice.

Wow, thread is 4 years old - have to report our progress with it. I did get my wire harp(s), and even the guzheng - used the harps (and even the guzheng) for hospice work last year. My son enjoys the zheng, particularly. Me, getting increasingly into early music - old clarsach repertoire, etc.

*Reading the old posts - i might mention i've since found a more portable HD and have played out with that quite a bit too over the last few years.

I messed around with pedal harp back in grad school; even took formal lessons for a year. But the closest I get to anything harp-like these days is my German Framus concert zither.

[catmandu2]

Well H - nice to hear from you again!

DON'T get me going on pedal steel...I was making progress whittling down my musical madness!

*Just realized it's '17 - and the thread is 5, not 4 years old. And now I see you'd said pedal harp, not steel. Sheesh. Shows you where my head's at.. I hope I'll hear more about your zither doings - on our 'zither page' maybe?

[Beanzy]

The harp is a wonderful instrument in duet with mandolin.
I had the pleasure of playing for a year and a half with a young harpist until exam pressures took over.
The warm rounded sound of the harp is perfectly set against the more focussed attack of the plectrum on mandolin strings.

This is one video that inspired us to explore some Michel Courette pieces;

We even won a local competiton playing that one.


Ferdinand Binnendijk has been exploring some lovely pieces with harpists:




As has Joseph Brent;


I find it a wonderful combination. If anyone has a chance I'd definitely encourage you to explore it.

[catmandu2]

Lovely as orchestral harp is, what really captured me is expressed here eloquently by TM (something I've posted before at least once ), rather than my clumsy utterings about "the sound." There's something about slow airs, pibrochs - the staple of wire harp - that affects me I guess in a manner of other players of the oeuvre. Perhaps TM's prognosis isn't entirely accurate, but I understand the compulsion for 'slow' music - it's taken me over to a large degree. (I haven't been into listening to the supergroups for some while now, myself)

[srosano]

There are also harps with cardboard sound boxes that sound as good as any professional folk harp. They are small and light weight. You can build your own as well, as some come in kits. Waring Harps are good ones.

[catmandu2]

While the cardboard (and other economic harps) are viable entree to harping, I wouldn't agree they "sound as good as..." They sound like what they are, no surprise (as would any other instrument made with similar economy materials). As with any instrument, the sound is what it's all about - resonant woods tend to produce better sonics.

Of all the folks who've listened to, and/or built/played one of these, and remarked on the harp fora, they all say the same thing.

Welcome to the cafe!

[Charlie Bernstein]

Oops! I was almost to the end of your post before I realized you didn't mean blues harp.

(For a minute there, I was trying to figure out what in the world a wire-strung harmonica was . . . .)

[Charlie Bernstein]

And hold the phone. A 2012 post?!

Got me again.

=O[

[Jim Garber]

My older daughter in high school expressed interest in the harp and I found a harp kit I was going to assemble for her but never did. I think it is a small lap harp. I have to take a look at the box and see what make it is. I still wantto put it together but I doubt she remembers she was interested.

A mandolin playing friend who lives far north of us came to our monthly OT jam years ago and his wife plays harp and it was nice addition to our music, though the repertoire was very different.

[catmandu2]

My older daughter in high school expressed interest in the harp and I found a harp kit I was going to assemble for her but never did. I think it is a small lap harp. I have to take a look at the box and see what make it is. I still wantto put it together but I doubt she remembers she was interested.

A mandolin playing friend who lives far north of us came to our monthly OT jam years ago and his wife plays harp and it was nice addition to our music, though the repertoire was very different.

Yes. I spent several years, from 2012 I guess, fairly immersed in the old Gaelic forms (airs, pibroch..). I play some tunes too, but having started late, my chops aren't what they are on fiddle/mndln, et al. So most of my playing is slow, contemplative music. Then I got my hardingfele and haven't been harping much this year - I'm back to reveling in the small and convenient.

To top it off, I have this thing with accordions and fast, ostentatious music. I think it comes from being a drummer - I like to groove. Also, playing out with wire harp is challenging for a variety of reasons. Not so with accordions! And we play horns around the house as my daughter continues to study, so I'm a "closet" bari sax/bass clarinet player. All this means, I've not been in Gaelic or Irish music for a while, ergo, not much harping.