Any harp players?

[emer95]

My 8 year old daughter has a sudden passion for the harp. She'll be taking lessons in school this year and she is so excited. Since harps are rather cumbersome, I'll be driving her to and fro school to practice. I half-heartedly looked up prices for used, small harps on-line, and

Even our local music store seemed baffled by the music teacher's requests. They didn't sell the primer books, or the tuning key. Is playing the harp as uncommon as it seems?

I love harp music. It moves me. So does my baby girl, so the two combined will be heaven on earth.

I'd love to hear any experiences you may have!

 

[jenrose66]

I don't play the harp...I was a music major in college, I play the flute. But I just wanted to tell you that I love the harp! We had a harp player accompany us during one of our flute recitals and it was just beautiful. Harp music is so whimsical and free.

I will say that it is pretty uncommon though. I would look at that as a good thing if your daughter is serious about music though. Later on, if she wants to study at a good music school or conservatory her odds of getting in are better because they like to have diversified instruments and the competition won't be as bad.

 

[clarabelle]

My DD plays the harp!
there are a couple disers that have harp connections I think Cape Cod Tenors wife is a serious harpist and someone's daughter is a big time student harpist.

Now as for my DD (10). She is a beginner. We rent the harp from a store in Atlanta (3 hours away) it is a rent to own. If we decide to upgrade -they apply the money we spent on the harp to the upgraded one.

Her harp teacher has several harps -so we don't have to haul it around for lessons. We just leave hers at home for practice.
We order her books online.
If a string breaks on her harp I call the store in Atlanta and they send us one.
I also got the tuner and tuning key from them as well.
Do you have any specific questions?
The good thing about the harp -is it will make her special and noticed -even is she is not an amazing player -people just ooh and ahh because it is pretty.

 

[chris1gill]

My 8 year old daughter has a sudden passion for the harp. She'll be taking lessons in school this year and she is so excited. Since harps are rather cumbersome, I'll be driving her to and fro school to practice. I half-heartedly looked up prices for used, small harps on-line, and

Even our local music store seemed baffled by the music teacher's requests. They didn't sell the primer books, or the tuning key. Is playing the harp as uncommon as it seems?

I love harp music. It moves me. So does my baby girl, so the two combined will be heaven on earth.

I'd love to hear any experiences you may have!

Our daughter has been playing the harp since she was 7 (she's 11), she also plays at school and fairs, although this is the first time the school has had a harpist, so her private teacher has to work on her pieces before she plays them in school. Many orchestral pieces for children don't have accompanying harp music.

We purchased the Lyon & Healy Prelude, I'd suggest renting one and if things go well, then go ahead and purchase it. We're in fact trading the Prelude in very soon and the full purchase price will be applied to the Lyon & Healy Petite Pedal harp. When you purchase the harps, it comes with the tuning key. I should say, that yes, playing the harp is as uncommon as it seems.

I'll also say DD begged for 3 years to start playing, to say she wanted to play would be a huge understatement. If you have any questions, just PM me.

 

[clarabelle]

I knew someone's daughter here played harp!
I just couldn't remember who it was!

 

[clarabelle]

Emer -we rent a Lyon and Healy Ogden

 

[chris1gill]

I knew someone's daughter here played harp!
I just couldn't remember who it was!

That would be us! Your daughter has started playing since last year?

 

[clarabelle]

Yes -she had expressed some interest and when you posted about your DD getting a new harp it spurred me to look into it.

She has only been taking for a few months. She likes it -but I think it is a bit harder than she expected. She is not one of those driven type kids.
So we will see. I don't think I am going to regret it either way.
She does look beautiful playing it and even the simplest piece sounds nice to me on it.

 

[chris1gill]

Yes -she had expressed some interest and when you posted about your DD getting a new harp it spurred me to look into it.

She has only been taking for a few months. She likes it -but I think it is a bit harder than she expected. She is not one of those driven type kids.
So we will see. I don't think I am going to regret it either way.
She does look beautiful playing it and even the simplest piece sounds nice to me on it.

In what way does she find it hard? I've heard adults learning to play say the same thing. I'd just assumed it was easier for children? Does she enjoy playing the pieces? Does she like the sound?

I will stand by Lyon & Healy forever, they really stood by the old harp with the defect, I was glad to have been able to upgrade her to the Prelude and now, within a year here we are upgrading her to the pedal!!! I can't wait to put the order in!

 

[clarabelle]

Well she had not played anything before -so she is learning to read music ect..
But I think the hardest thing is hand position.
Trying to keep her thumb up and close her fingers into her palm.
She is plugging along.
I am not thinking that she is a natural.
Hopefully though she will stick with it and enjoy it more when she can perform a little.
Her teacher goes to the hospital and plays in the cancer treatment area while patients are getting chemo.
I think it would be great to do something like that

 

[CapeCodTenor]

My DD plays the harp!
there are a couple disers that have harp connections I think Cape Cod Tenors wife is a serious harpist and someone's daughter is a big time student harpist.

Now as for my DD (10). She is a beginner. We rent the harp from a store in Atlanta (3 hours away) it is a rent to own. If we decide to upgrade -they apply the money we spent on the harp to the upgraded one.

Her harp teacher has several harps -so we don't have to haul it around for lessons. We just leave hers at home for practice.
We order her books online.
If a string breaks on her harp I call the store in Atlanta and they send us one.
I also got the tuner and tuning key from them as well.
Do you have any specific questions?
The good thing about the harp -is it will make her special and noticed -even is she is not an amazing player -people just ooh and ahh because it is pretty.

Here I am, and yes, my wife is a serious harpist. She has a Bachelor's in Harp Performance, and a double Masters in Harp Performance and Music Ed. This is her full-time career, so she does make a living at it. My wife wasn't she wasn't trained to be just a symphony harpist, she was trained to be more than that. In fact, most of her gigs come from weddings, and living on Cape Cod, there's plenty of them. She's also played in a lot of pits for musicals, which she loves. She also does a lot of general background gigs, store openings, Christmas parties and once she was hired by a guy to play while he proposed to his girlfriend. So he gigs are wide and varied.

And yes, harpists are not very common. My advice would be to ignore the price of buying a harp and just rent one for a while. If your daugher wishes to continue after a year or so, then look into buying a used one. Full sized pedel harps can be very expensive, as much, if not more than, a car, so hold off on buying one of those until she gets more proficient at it. If your daughter puts a lot of hard work into it and becomes good, then there are lots of very good music schools who would most likely offer some kind of scholorship to have her go to school. Can we say Juilliard in NYC?

Our daughter has been playing the harp since she was 7 (she's 11), she also plays at school and fairs, although this is the first time the school has had a harpist, so her private teacher has to work on her pieces before she plays them in school. Many orchestral pieces for children don't have accompanying harp music.

We purchased the Lyon & Healy Prelude, I'd suggest renting one and if things go well, then go ahead and purchase it. We're in fact trading the Prelude in very soon and the full purchase price will be applied to the Lyon & Healy Petite Pedal harp. When you purchase the harps, it comes with the tuning key. I should say, that yes, playing the harp is as uncommon as it seems.

I'll also say DD begged for 3 years to start playing, to say she wanted to play would be a huge understatement. If you have any questions, just PM me.

Rent, rent, rent, rent, rent...did I mention rent? Don't buy right off. And as for lugging that thing around? Well, get use to it until your daughter gets her drivers license and can drive her self. As the harp grows, so should the size of your car, or at least storage space. My wife's harp, a Venus pedal concert harp (don't know the exact model) can fit in the back of a Toyota Prius. I kid you not! She's a tiny little thing, so she can drive with the up pretty far. Just something to think about.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

In what way does she find it hard? I've heard adults learning to play say the same thing. I'd just assumed it was easier for children? Does she enjoy playing the pieces? Does she like the sound?

I will stand by Lyon & Healy forever, they really stood by the old harp with the defect, I was glad to have been able to upgrade her to the Prelude and now, within a year here we are upgrading her to the pedal!!! I can't wait to put the order in!

I'll say the samething about Venus Harps. My wife had a concert grand that developed a defect in the gears after 9 years, and after 2 tries to fix it, they gave her full trade in towards a new harp. We were so happy, as that knocked the majority of the price off the new harp.

 

[chris1gill]

Well she had not played anything before -so she is learning to read music ect..
But I think the hardest thing is hand position.
Trying to keep her thumb up and close her fingers into her palm.
She is plugging along.
I am not thinking that she is a natural.
Hopefully though she will stick with it and enjoy it more when she can perform a little.
Her teacher goes to the hospital and plays in the cancer treatment area while patients are getting chemo.
I think it would be great to do something like that

Oh yes, thumb up, close fingers into the palm, but not too hard into the palm, I know the drill well. If it makes you feel better, DD still hears that from her teacher on occasion, on more than one occasion even Reading music is definitely hard to learn and get used to, again, something that just develops over time. As long as she's enjoying herself, I'd take that and the rest will come

 

[chris1gill]

Here I am, and yes, my wife is a serious harpist. She has a Bachelor's in Harp Performance, and a double Masters in Harp Performance and Music Ed. This is her full-time career, so she does make a living at it. My wife wasn't she wasn't trained to be just a symphony harpist, she was trained to be more than that. In fact, most of her gigs come from weddings, and living on Cape Cod, there's plenty of them. She's also played in a lot of pits for musicals, which she loves. She also does a lot of general background gigs, store openings, Christmas parties and once she was hired by a guy to play while he proposed to his girlfriend. So he gigs are wide and varied.

And yes, harpists are not very common. My advice would be to ignore the price of buying a harp and just rent one for a while. If your daugher wishes to continue after a year or so, then look into buying a used one. Full sized pedel harps can be very expensive, as much, if not more than, a car, so hold off on buying one of those until she gets more proficient at it. If your daughter puts a lot of hard work into it and becomes good, then there are lots of very good music schools who would most likely offer some kind of scholorship to have her go to school. Can we say Juilliard in NYC?



Rent, rent, rent, rent, rent...did I mention rent? Don't buy right off. And as for lugging that thing around? Well, get use to it until your daughter gets her drivers license and can drive her self. As the harp grows, so should the size of your car, or at least storage space. My wife's harp, a Venus pedal concert harp (don't know the exact model) can fit in the back of a Toyota Prius. I kid you not! She's a tiny little thing, so she can drive with the up pretty far. Just something to think about.

Hey Cape Cod Tenor, I wondered when you'd stop by I think the renting thing gets old sort of quick. After paying gobbs of money for six months (only the 1st 3 went towards the purchase), we just made the purchase. We thought that was a good gauge as to whether DD would stick with it (and of course she has), I think it all depends on what you're paying a month to rent. We went through the Harp Connection and they were big $$$ a month.

It's so funny your wife can get her harp in the prius! Where does she fit the cart? My DH is the harp roadie LOL... we've picked up a few others along the way as well. Wait till DD has to move that harp herself, yikes! I'm scared of the day! She'll get there though....

I still say it's too bad we don't live closer, DD could take lessons from your wife!