minstrel: Playing a Medieval Harp?

[C&HWOOD]

At 11:27 AM 5/20/1998 +0200, Anna Troy wrote:
>I'm very interested in learning how to play a Lap Harp. However I haven't
>been able to find just about anything about it here in Sweden an defenitly
>no beginners courses. I was therefore wondering if anybody had nay good
>beginners books to recommend and maybe some video courses? I'm also
>interested in which sort of harp one should begin with one of thouse 19
>string minstrel type harps or the bigger Irish types.  Any other suggetions
>and tips would also be welcome.
>
Anna,

I second the excellent suggestions that Gwen made.  I used the Sylvia Woods
book to learn harp and it worked well for me.  Another place you might
consider going to for info would be the harp mailing list.  S*bscribe by
sending email to <harp-request at zendo.com>.

With regard to size & style, that's a matter of personal choice, and also
some small controversy in the harp world.  What do you want to do with the
harp?  Do you have a specific style of music you want to play?  Do you
strongly want a harp that looks period for, say, the troubadours?  Or an
Irish bard?  In general, period harps had no more than  30 strings or so,
and usually less than 26.  I recommend Roslyn Rensch's book Harps and
Harpists if you want to read about the history of the harp, and see pictures
of period extant examples and illuminations.

If you have no real preference about period, and just are wondering what's
best for a generic beginner, then comes the "controversy."  Many harpers
begin on a small 19 or 22-string harp, and do so quite successfully.  Still
others who began on bigger harps also play little ones.  But there are a
number of people for whom a small harp's limitations put a glitch in their
initial learning.  A small harp can sometimes be a little awkward to hold,
needing more energy & skill to keep from bouncing against you as you play.
When I initially learned on a 19-string harp, I found that a number of
arrangements in the beginner's books required notes that I just didn't have,
and so was frustrated.  I didn't want to have to create new arrangments, I
just wanted to play!  On the other hand, a small harp is extremely easy to
carry around at camping events.  

My best advice is to actually try out a number of harps yourself before you
purchase one.  Different styles of harps suit different people best, and
there's no way to tell if it suits you until you hold it in your arms.  I
always tell people to buy the harp that sings to your soul.

I understand it might be hard to try out a variety of harps in Sweden;
still, I have to say I'd be wary of buying a harp without it.  If there's a
way you can make it to Pennsic, there's several good makers who sell there,
quite reasonably (much better prices than the harps for sale in the Sylvia
Woods catalog, which, although nice harps, are *really* expensive as far as
I'm concerned).  Or even if you could get to England; there's some music
shops in London, and Inverness, Scotland, that might have a selection.  When
you try out a harp, try to play notes, singly, and in chords.  Make sure the
tone is one you personally like, and that the harp is at least somewhat
keeping it's tune.  New harps will slip for a bit, but a good harp maker
will keep a new harp tuned so that you can get a good idea of the voice of
the harp.  If the harp sounds awful, and the maker says "Oh, it's just not
in tune," then tell him you're willing to wait til he tunes it (and it stays
tuned long enough to play it)!  

One note I'll add (and possibly get slammed for) is that I really, really,
don't recommend buying the Pakistani harps carried by Mid-East Manufacturing
and others.  They are very inexpensive, but I haven't heard one myself that
I would consider a decent instrument.  To be fair, there are some harpers
out there who own and are satisfied with their Pakistani harps; but everyone
I *personally* know who bought a Pakistani either was discouraged entirely
from playing by the poor tone and inability to keep tune, or moved very
quickly to a different harp.  This is all JMHO, of course.  A little
comparing harps yourself will show you what your own preference is.

If you have any other questions, please ask!  Also, if you did make Pennsic,
you'd be able to take my class "Introduction to the Harp" where I'll talk
about a lot of these issues, and attend the harp competition/exhibition
sponsored by my dad (an instrument maker).  Good Luck!

Linette de Gallardon




-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send email to majordomo at pbm.com containing
the words "unsubscribe minstrel". To contact a human about problems, send
mail to owner-minstrel at pbm.com