Harp-cation, Part 1

I recently took a three week vacation to hike the Appalachian trail, but the trip also turned into a quest for a new harp! So today's post will be about a Pakistani harp and my first visit to a harp store, Virginia Harp Center. Since I had never played any other harps other than my own, it was quite an eyeopening experience.

First, I want to mention one other harp that I had the opportunity to play (and tune, repeatedly). My nephew's family has a small Pakistani harp, and unfortunately, all the rumors I have heard about them are true. Based on my experience, I could not recommend them other than as toys or decorations. It actually was quite a pretty little harp, but makes a plinking type of sound, like a child's plastic guitar, if you know what I mean. I had brought my little cardboard Waring harp with me, and it sounded much, much better than this Pakistani harp to my surprise. Besides the sound quality, the other clear issue was that it could not hold its tuning. It needed to be retuned after every song, basically. I would like to say hourly, but that's optimistic. I am not a picky tuner either, and tuned the harp too sharp hoping it would hold up a little longer, but it was no use, going flat in minutes.

I don't think I've done a post on my cardboard harp, which I'll do at a later time. It's a sweet little harp, but is a bit limited due to number of strings. I have the Mini 16 string model:  https://waringmusic.com/product/mini-harp/. It's perfect for traveling and fits in a standard suitcase! The sound is clear and it holds it tuning quite well after the first week or so of building it. The tension is slightly looser than my Harpsicle (which is also on the loose side) and it's sound quality is not as good, but its comparable. For the price, and the fun experience of building your own harp, it's a great buy. So, let me just suggest that if you have a budget of under $200, order Dr. Waring's larger harp kit, which has 19 strings and is $175 plus shipping currently, not a Pakistani harp. 

One more note on the Paki harps, I have read that the brand called Mikel is of higher quality. It could be that others will spring up that are worthwhile owning, but I haven't been to a harp festival yet and have not heard one in person. My experience is limited, but confirms the reviews I've read online.

Now on to the harp store!  I had the good fortune to be staying in South Jersey, near the quaint town of Haddonfield. So, I was able to visit the Virginia Harp Center three times during my trip!  I probably drove them a bit batty, but they were extremely patient with me, tuning harp after harp for me to try. They treated me with kindness and respect, even though they knew my budget was tiny by harp standards (and there were harps there in the $50,000 range). I must admit that in the beginning I wasn't sure I would actually purchase a harp on this trip, but as I got to know the staff and read reviews (all of which were glowing), I decided that I would buy one if I could find a harp that I could love for a price that I could pay.

The first time I went into the store, there was a harpist trying out pedal harps in their showroom. They brought several harps back to their office for me to try (so I wouldn't be distracted by hearing the pedal harps). The first time I heard one of the Dusty Strings 34 string models, I actually began to cry. The sound spoke so clearly to me - I was truly moved by the experience! This is not to say that the Harpsicle is not a good harp in its own right, but it is a softer sound that didn't evoke emotion in me. I had mainly focused on the Dusty Strings Crescendo and Boulevard models. I briefly tried many other models, some smaller like the Ravenna 26, and some which were used. I even had the opportunity to try two different Boulevards, both identical in appearance and age, but actually different in sound quality. I began to think I might buy a Boulevard on that first day...

But I wasn't done searching just yet. I wanted to see all that I could, and I knew that Marini Made Harps' shop and showroom was nearby in the Dutch Country of Pennsylvania. Before I left Florida, I had made an appointment with the very lovely Marini family to try their harps as well. Read about this experience in Part 2!

Lessons Learned

This will likely be the first of many posts on "Lessons Learned." In the ten months since I've owned my little harp, there have already been so many!

1. Harp Choice. Yes, I messed this up, but I hope to address it soon. I have alluded to this before - that my harp is too small. Even now, I am working on my second piece that has to be changed because I don't have enough of the bass strings to play it as written. Luckily, my teacher, who is also the composer, has helped me here. But I can easily see that the pieces would be better with those strings. Besides that, I long for a harp where all, or at least nearly all, of the strings have that full, round tone that I think will be beneficial for harp therapy. My Harpsicle has a range of notes that sound lovely, but the high and very low strings do not. 
2. Book Choice. Again, I have mentioned this before, and I'm now on my third set of harp technique books! Playing the Harp Beautifully book one was good for me. But the second book has much more of a Celtic feel, which is not exactly what I'm going for. So my third, and hopefully final set is Big Adventures, Small Harps. I began these with my first teacher, Christy-Lyn Marais, and played from them a bit with my present teacher, Anne Crosby Gaudet (who wrote them). We're actually not using them at the moment, but I assume I'll go back to them at a later date.
3. Teacher Choice. I have loved both of my teachers and would recommend either one, based on what your goals are. Since my goal has been Harp Therapy from the start and I very seriously doubt that it will ever change, having a harp teacher who is also a harp therapist has been a huge blessing. During most lessons, there is some discussion of how a piece or technique would be helpful to harp therapy. Since this will be a long road for me, having these little conversations is very motivating and encourages me to stay on course. However, for those who are interested in performance, I could see how learning from Christy-Lyn would be a big bonus since she is very experienced in this arena.
4. Goal Choice. For me, there was no choice. This is not simply because I am an older learner, though that would be a factor for those of us approaching 60! Age can get into the way and it would be foolish to ignore it.

• Age is a limitation when it comes to a goal like playing classical harp in an orchestra. We can't say that it's completely impossible, but it is unrealistic in the extreme. Classical harpists start as children or possibly in their 20s, which I have long passed by. 
• Neither would I be able to play jazz harp, since it, like classical, typically requires a pedal harp. This is something I can't afford, would likely lead to further arthritis in my hands, and by the time I would be able to do it any justice, I would not be strong enough to move! 
• We also have to be realistic and acknowledge that my appearance is that of an older woman. This is not favored in our society. Do I want to play for weddings? My appearance might not allow for that, particularly because of my age. I don't see gorgeous young brides looking for chubby senior citizens to play. Might be stereotyping a bit there, but this is a question of both  marketing and temperament on my part. Do I want to upset a bride and detract from what she believes is the most important day of her life? No way! I'm not up for that at this age.
• I feel that Celtic style is also a bit out of reach, but that could change over time if I could develop more speed. However, I feel no calling to play this music, beautiful as it is to hear.
• My goal is not a choice because of a calling that I feel to do it. You could say that I have a choice to ignore the voice that I hear telling me to pursue harp therapy. But by this age, I know not to ignore things like this. Is it a message from a god or my own conscience? Is that important when the message has been clearly received?

Finding the Time

Practice time can be hard to find during the busy times in our lives. But remember that you don’t need large blocks of time to play your harp. I actually find that several shorter chunks of 15-45 minutes each are far superior to trying to play for an hour or more at once. When I tire, my elbows fall, my wrists droop, and my concentration wavers.

•  Play outside while others are sleeping, weather permitting.  If your weather is temperate, you may give this a try any time of the year. However, if the temperature difference between the inside (where your harp lives) and outside is great, you might want to skip this idea. One time, it seemed that the extreme humidity of Florida in the summer was just too much for my harp. Several of the strings seemed to stretch and slip a bit.      

• Plan in advance.  If you know that you will not have much practice time tomorrow, then play longer today.  I feel badly when I miss practice, but if I know I have a busy day coming up, I’d prefer to play extra in advance.       

• Make practice a reward – or reward yourself for practice.  Practicing can be a reward in itself for me, especially if I love the pieces I’m working on.  But, it can also become more of a chore.  If that’s where you’re at, give yourself a nice little treat (non-caloric preferably!) for an intense practice session.      

• Involve others.  While not everybody is excited to hear me practice, I do have a friend who (says) she really loves hearing me practice.  Maybe prepare a special piece for a friend or family member to hear.  That might be the motivation you need to practice with more intent.

• Which brings me to motivation!  Do you have a goal in mind?  If you do, practice is the path to achieving  your goal.  For me, it is to be able to begin harp therapy training.  Part of the application is an audition recording of 3-5 minutes playing relaxing music.  I know my goal and often listen to music that I think would be appropriate for this recording.

•  Even longer term goals are important too.  Maybe it’s looking too far ahead, but in the long term, which to you want to accomplish?  Some of my longer term goals are having a wide repertory so that I can play music to suit many patients or the elderly.  So this would include old standards as well as calming sounds.  I would need to be at the intermediate level to have the tools I need.  I also need to be able to memorize many compositions. How can I achieve those goals?  How can you achieve yours?f9j

• And there are more immediate, short term goals. My goal lately has been to learn the fundamentals of a piece each week, and then refine that piece over the next several weeks. So far I’ve been pretty successful with this strategy, but I can see that eventually it will leave me with many pieces to practice daily!

Sabatical & Teachers

It has been eight months since I last updated my blog. Unfortunately, I had little time for writing for several months after Christmas 2018. This got me out of the habit of writing my harping blog, but I am back at it again, because I have so much to share now! I'm going to briefly describe my experiences over the past several months, and then will resume writing weekly on topics of interest to new harpers.

We had decided to move from a large home to a smaller home for our retirement years. This meant lots of upgrades to our old house, lots of downsizing, and lots of work!  We began prepping for the move in earnest just after Christmas, after close to a year of gradually addressing problems and decluttering. The house went on the market in late January of 2019. It sold just about immediately, which meant that we had to find a new house rather quickly. All that was accomplished in March 2019, but the house that we bought (for a very good price), also needed quite a bit of work. Actually, it still isn't all done, but we're not in a rush at this point. I did basically stop playing the harp for about six to eight weeks, but I didn't let the move hold me back too long!

Shortly after downsizing (which reduced our expenses a bit), I began taking harp lessons with Christy-Lynn Marais. I'll be writing a post specifically about her lessons and what I learned with Christy-Lynn. Because my teacher decided to visit the United States during most of the summer months (here in the Northern hemisphere), I ended up with a new teacher, Anne Crosby Gaudet starting in June. I'll be staying on with Anne now that I've made the switch. Many of my posts will be about the new things I'm learning with her.

Before I sign off for today, I do want to share something very important. And that is the role of a mentor. I wish that I had started off with a teacher, even though it is a big investment. I can't stress this enough!  The progress I am making now (after having to correct my technique) is much faster and more enjoyable by far. I feel like months were lost by muddling thought on my own. I am glad that I did eventually take the plunge and will continue with this as long as my finances will allow.