Full Version: Harps and Harpists
You're welcome, Gillaume and Duncan :smile2: and I hope some people are inspired to take up the harp. It's really a beautiful instrument.
Yes please do thank Rían for taking the time to come here and post.
I believe you will be relaying a few questions too.
Expanding the thread will be interesting, if you want or need something let me know.
There are many excellent and knowledgeable people in those university's, any thing that would come from them will be appreciated highly.
If a person is serous about something, :biggrin2: beit a hobby or a way of life, then no matter what they belong to or where, they are welcome here.
Of the sharing of experiences and knowledge of musical instruments I fall rather short. :music:
I'm one of those people who love music, but can't hum a tune, sing, or whistle any thing that resembles a song.
But now to listen is very different for me, the music I remember and can replay it in memory as I heard it for months after.
:smile2: Thanks Rían for joining and posting with us, please come back when you can! :laughlong:
Duncan
I believe you will be relaying a few questions too.
Expanding the thread will be interesting, if you want or need something let me know.
There are many excellent and knowledgeable people in those university's, any thing that would come from them will be appreciated highly.
If a person is serous about something, :biggrin2: beit a hobby or a way of life, then no matter what they belong to or where, they are welcome here.
Of the sharing of experiences and knowledge of musical instruments I fall rather short. :music:
I'm one of those people who love music, but can't hum a tune, sing, or whistle any thing that resembles a song.
But now to listen is very different for me, the music I remember and can replay it in memory as I heard it for months after.
:smile2: Thanks Rían for joining and posting with us, please come back when you can! :laughlong:
Duncan
First of all, I would like to thank Rian for posting. She's a very busy gal, as most intelligent and kind people are. Thanks for the information, and I hope that there are plenty of people out there who will benefit from the shared the information. Like Rian said, I would be happy to relay any questions
Secondly, I'm planing on expanding this thread in the future, probably sometime in February or March, perhaps with Rian’s assistance on the technical issues if her schedule permits. By then I will have moved back north and will be attending school full time. I should be able to renew some contacts with some good people in the music and folklore departments at Notre Dame and the University of Illinois, where I know there are some excellent references to medieval harps and even some reconstructed medieval harps (as well as other period instruments). I also know of some serious SCA people who are really into Celtic music in northern Indiana and Michigan.
Of course, in the meantime everyone should feel free to share their own experiences and knowledge on this subject
Once again, thanks Rian! :thumbs:
--David :sheildsmile:
Secondly, I'm planing on expanding this thread in the future, probably sometime in February or March, perhaps with Rian’s assistance on the technical issues if her schedule permits. By then I will have moved back north and will be attending school full time. I should be able to renew some contacts with some good people in the music and folklore departments at Notre Dame and the University of Illinois, where I know there are some excellent references to medieval harps and even some reconstructed medieval harps (as well as other period instruments). I also know of some serious SCA people who are really into Celtic music in northern Indiana and Michigan.
Of course, in the meantime everyone should feel free to share their own experiences and knowledge on this subject
Once again, thanks Rian! :thumbs:
--David :sheildsmile:
Hello! I met Gillaume on the Entmoot Tolkien board, and he found out I played the harp and asked if I would post here. I am no historian, but I do play the harp and love it! So here's just a brief post on the harp, for anyone that's interested.
I play what's called a folk or Celtic harp. The harp is a very ancient instrument, and pretty much showed up where there were archers
Master harpers were required to be able to do three things - make people laugh, make them cry, and put them to sleep!
The harp is very similar to a piano; or more accurately, a piano is similar to a harp. The big difference is that there is only 1 string per note, whereas a piano has a note plus its sharp/flat value. IOW, the strings are: c,d,e,f,g,a,b,c for however many octaves you have on your harp. If you have it tuned to the key of "C" (no sharps or flats), then wish to play a piece in the key of "G" (one sharp - the "F"), you have to either retune all your F-strings, or hopefully you were clever enough to buy a harp with sharping levers, in which case you flip up all your F-string levers.
(BTW, there are 2 basic types of harps - pedal harps and lever harps. Pedal harps are the ones you see in orchestras - there are foot pedals that set sharps and flats. Lever harps are typically smaller, and use levers to sharp a string. )
If you can play piano, it will be quite easy to transfer to the harp. But you DO need lessons, or you will pick up bad habits that are hard to break, and technique is very important, both for tone quality and the ability to play harder pieces. Pre-placing your fingers is esp. important - you want to try to get as many fingers on the right strings as possible before plucking them. Also, you want to pluck on the inside/side of your fingers.
I just love playing the harp - I can play for hours! To me, it is a beautiful instrument, and I highly recommend it. I'm fortunate enough to live an hour away from the only all-harp store on the west coast - an excellent, excellent place that was actually featured on one of Huell Howser's tv shows. It has a website - harpcenter.com. Check it out!
I probably won't be checking here too often, so ask Gillaume to give me a ring if anyone wants to ask me anything. :smile2:
I play what's called a folk or Celtic harp. The harp is a very ancient instrument, and pretty much showed up where there were archers
Master harpers were required to be able to do three things - make people laugh, make them cry, and put them to sleep! The harp is very similar to a piano; or more accurately, a piano is similar to a harp. The big difference is that there is only 1 string per note, whereas a piano has a note plus its sharp/flat value. IOW, the strings are: c,d,e,f,g,a,b,c for however many octaves you have on your harp. If you have it tuned to the key of "C" (no sharps or flats), then wish to play a piece in the key of "G" (one sharp - the "F"), you have to either retune all your F-strings, or hopefully you were clever enough to buy a harp with sharping levers, in which case you flip up all your F-string levers.
(BTW, there are 2 basic types of harps - pedal harps and lever harps. Pedal harps are the ones you see in orchestras - there are foot pedals that set sharps and flats. Lever harps are typically smaller, and use levers to sharp a string. )
If you can play piano, it will be quite easy to transfer to the harp. But you DO need lessons, or you will pick up bad habits that are hard to break, and technique is very important, both for tone quality and the ability to play harder pieces. Pre-placing your fingers is esp. important - you want to try to get as many fingers on the right strings as possible before plucking them. Also, you want to pluck on the inside/side of your fingers.
I just love playing the harp - I can play for hours! To me, it is a beautiful instrument, and I highly recommend it. I'm fortunate enough to live an hour away from the only all-harp store on the west coast - an excellent, excellent place that was actually featured on one of Huell Howser's tv shows. It has a website - harpcenter.com. Check it out!
I probably won't be checking here too often, so ask Gillaume to give me a ring if anyone wants to ask me anything. :smile2:
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