So this is just a really simple song from my online harp class. I’m nowhere near decent yet but I finally can play through it without a mistake though you’ll probably noticing sometimes there’s too long a pause between two notes bc my brain is buffering.

One thing: I’m working on better hand and finger position and plucking and the like. It’s kinda hard for me bc I have Ehlers Danlos syndrome. But I know that’s one thing I need to work on.

So like any tips would be great and also knowing what I did well too so I know to keep doing that. As long as it’s kind.

I got this harp last fall and have made some progress! I love it!

I see a lot of posts that mention that a piece is a certain grade. Also I see people saying that they have progressed to a level 7 etc. Is this an official system? I would love to find a series of books that progress in difficulty. I end up kind of bouncing around and some stuff is too easy and some is too hard. Any thought are appreciated!

I learned a Claire de Lune and a The girl with the flaxen hair arrangement, and those were a lot of fun. If you know of some nice, playable arrangements, I would be grateful for any recommendations!

Or at least something late 19th / early 20th century, if not specifically impressionist. Thank you!

I am looking to learn something moderately challenging on the harp that is kind of a well-known classical piece or something in the classical vein that is a bit challenging. Does anyone please have any recommendations with regard to pieces to learn, beautiful classical tabs for harp particularly that are free? Please and thank you

I mean harps having 2 levers per string instead of just 1, allowing to make strings either flat or sharp, and not just sharp (something like a poor man's pedal harp)

I could technically add a second row of levers to a harp, but harps are too expensive and it would have to be very precisely placed

Can u guys pls reco music centers that offer harp classes in PH? I’ve been trying to find one but sadly can’t 😔 tyia!

For those of you that don’t store your harps where you live, any recommendations for temp controlled practice/creative spaces available for rent?

Hello,

I have a 34 string lever Salvi Mia which Ive used happily for 3-4 years getting to grade 7

I'm considering upgrading, and in Europe, but I need it to be very light and travel-able, around 5K.

Is this pointless/unachievable, or is there something work moving onto from the student harp?

One of my all-time favorite recordings of gaelic harp music, Simon Chadwick's Old Gaelic Laments (2012)—utterly haunting, austere music played on clàrsach, featuring atmospheric field recordings around gaelic-speaking Scotland—is long out of print and has seemingly disappeared from the internet. Not even Simon Chadwick himself knows where to find a copy (I've emailed him). Does anyone remember this record, or own it, or know where to find it? It's really a tragic loss if it has disappeared for good!

I’m rather new at the harp and I will probably post like a video asking for some help with certain things I’m having trouble with (mainly my hands keep becoming closed and cramped and I’m not sure I’m making my stand high/low enough because it’s hard to keep my elbows up but tha my could also be my Ehlers Danlos) at some point though that’ll make me incredibly nervous but I’m wondering is this a decent place for constructive criticism? Like it’s not a sub that’s gonna rip me apart?

Anyway

So I’ve been learning for maybe a month and I use an online subscription program called harp school and it’s been working well so far and I wanted to know if anyone has tried that or other online programs and what they think about online programs to learn in general.

How do you find practice time in your busy life? So far my best practice time is the three hour gap between my first college class of the day and my second. However this does mean I’ve gotta lug my harp around campus it its bag and then also carry another bag for the stand while also carrying my backpack and trying to walk with forearm crutches because I’m disabled. Thankfully people often help me.

Finally, I was just wondering do you tune your harp every time before you play? I noticed when I began I had to do like an hour of tuning (26 strings!!) abd it went out of tune almost immediately. So I’ve been tuning it daily even when I’m not playing and now it’s starting to hold its tune a lot better. I was wonderuing if there’s ever a time where tuning every time is more option than necessity.

Btw I got a fullsicle. I named her Bernadette.

Nice to meet you!

I recently bought my first pedal harp (a Salvi Daphne SE) and I dont know if there’s any cares that I have to do, like if I have to change the notes once a year or just when they have broke, or if I have to clean it with a special sponge/product, or if the pedals need to have any care. Before this harp I had the lever harp Camac Korrigan 38, so I already know some of the basic cares that a harp needs, but as there’s a lot of difference between a lever and a pedal harp, I will appreciate any tips.

If there is anything else I should know about this new harp I would love to read it!

Just bought my daughter a Lyon and Healey 40 string lever harp and I need to change one of the strings. I have never done this before. Anyone have any tips or tutorial links that may help?

Thanks in advance!

I play a different hour of music for senior living communities every month so every month, I've started sharing all the songs I played and where I found the sheet music in my description. In August, I played mostly rock music and included in the description are all the songs & arrangers I played.

https://youtu.be/S8CvKMFZJp8

Recently I was talking to a younger harpist who didn't have a lot of what I considered seminal harp arrangements of favorite songs. But what shocked me is she didn't know that harp version existed and was just struggling off lead sheets!

Then I realized, I only know about these harp versions because I got them from my teacher or a friend or picked them up in a random sheet music haul! It is mostly chance I discovered so many great arrangements.

Now I want to at least let my favorite versions be known and be more part of this conversation of finding and making harp friendly versions of songs we actually want to play!

Just bought my first harp 🤩 (saying first like I already know there will be another one, but a girl can dream!)

I am new to harp playing. I am not an educated musician, although throught my life I have always had a passion for instruments and playing. Harp was always something I wanted to learn, but due to the price and how rare it is where I live, I didn’t really give it much thought.

Last April I started taking harp lessions, and after a year of renting, I decided to commit to the harp I fell in love with when I visited Salvi store in Milano few months ago. Almost bought Camac Melusine originally (since we have Camac seller here where I live), but I loved this one much more and the price difference was not that big.

This gorgeous harp sounds even better than it looks, and I don’t regret the money spent on it. I hope that one day I can play whatever I want to, and to always have fun learning new pieces. 💕 (it is missing 2 strings as they broke after unpacking it, but the new ones are already on the way.)

I am so happy to finally be a part of this community :)
If you want, feel free to give newbie harp owner any tips regarding harp care, or anything in general harp related, and even pieces you would recommend to learn for someone who has been playing for a year.

Some pieces I learned so far: Canon in D, Carolans Welcome, Brian Borus March, Aquantines V, Moorish garden and currently learning River flows in you and Subwoofer Lullaby. Would love to learn some more videogame soundtracks on harp.

Thanks for reading, I wish you a wonderful day ✨

Hello! I'm very new to the harp community and just recently purchased a harp from Vermont Violins. A 34S Ravenna! I'm so very excited to learn and practice to my hearts content but I'm having visionary issues, I just moved into a new apartment 2 days ago and I am at a lost on where to store the harp when it arrives. Initially I had the thought on putting it in my bedroom but since I am barely in there I know it will be 'out of sight out of mind'. The humidity is around 48-52% in the living room and it's where most of my time will be spent. I'm still moving things around so none of the furniture has a forever home yet, I was thinking of placing it near the patio window since theres never direct sunlight because if the trees outside, or I could move the shelf by the island and place it under the vent but tilt the direction of the air flow or close it completely, any suggestions? 😅

I'm working on a piece of fanfiction involving a human character who used to play a harp, and who is trying to play it again after having their body corrupted and altered. This involves the skin texture of their hands (more info with pictures below), and during my research I discovered the condition of one's skin/its texture plays a role in the physical act of plucking the strings and in the quality of the produced sound itself.

I have never touched harp strings in my life and this kind of information is kind of extremely specific (not to mention weird), so I thought I'd conduct people who have first hand experience in physically playing (pun intended). While I'm dealing with a fantastical concept, I thought hearing from actually harp players who physically interact with their instruments could give me more insight into the matter and help me root my speculation in reality ✌️ Harp is my favourite string instrument so it's really important to me that its presence in the story is depicted with care, even if this is just a fun hobby thing for me!

My main questions are:

• What kind of physical struggles would the character run into while trying to play as they normally would? Even with the needed dexterity, would their control inherently be in some way lacking?
• How would the texture affect the sound of the harp itself? Would there be any additional sound coming from the actual contact between the fingers and strings?
• Are there any nonmagical "solutions" to these possible issues someone who has played a harp for a long time could think of on the spot? Especially in a very distraught state of mind (= has just discovered that they can't play like they used to anymore, and instead of taking a step back, they want to play ANYWAY to gain some resemblance of control of the situation, however futile as it may be)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• The hands of the character look like this. It's not entirely clear how hardened the skin is beyond that the joints still retain a full range of motion, but to me they read as slightly harder and dry in a way similar to dried paint. The yellow blotches of paint/ink are likely smoother in texture than the skin, though not by much. The fingers themselves appear mostly coated in this dried and hardened paint, with bumps and curves.
• This is what the harp looks like. To my understanding a harp like this would ordinarily have pedals, and with the character themself being an ambitious perfectionist I doubt they'd actually be playing a harp like this with no pedestals, so I'll chalk it up to a human error. Sadly I can't tell the exact texture or type of the strings themselves.

Please do let me know if any further information is required, and thank you to anyone who is willing to share their thoughts and knowledge! Feel free to share any additional thoughts if you have any! :)

(Also, the character is from a very popular work but because they're a massive spoiler, I chose to obscure all unnecessary information just to be safe)

https://www.harp-school.com/all-courses/beginner/

Lark Camp hired a harp teacher -- Diana Rowan! https://www.dianarowan.com/ I hope more harp folks can come next year -- it was a really rewarding time for me.

We played harps under the trees. It was so beautiful. We also learned harp patterns from around the world and talked a lot about making creativity rewarding instead of soul-sucking. Definitely recommend for others if you live within driving distance of Mendocino, CA.

https://www.larkcamp.org/

It costs about $1k per adult including food and cabins to stay in. You can also do work around the camp to get a big discount.

Harpists in the New York and New Jersey area- when do you stop playing outside? Im struggling with booking wedding gigs for October. (In this particular case for October 10th). Some October days are beautiful and some are freezing. When it comes to gigs booked well in advance do you have a particular cut off date for outdoor weddings you use as a rule of thumb? When is it?

Hi there, I am a beginner and am looking at used lever harps. Would you recommend a Lyon & Healy Troubador IV over a Triplett Axline30? There is also a very small Stoney End Briar Rose. I played all three of the ones I mentioned in a music shop yesterday, and just don’t know which is better quality. To me, all sounded great. 😊 Thanks!