Harpin' through Kansas

Recital in Warsaw

2011-12-01T03:26:00.000-08:00

We are living in Warsaw Poland this semester. It has been a wonderful experience. I was able to rent a harp from Anna Piechura-Gabrys, the wonderful harpist with the Warsaw Opera.

On Monday I presented a recital at the School of Music where she teaches. The program was all dance related music--you know, Sarabandes, Rumbas, Tangos, etc. I think it was a fun mix of music and the audiences was warm and appreciative.

For Spanish Dance No. 5 Andaluza, I invited the children in the audience to come up and dance. I thought this would be a good song for then to dance on because of the contrasting fast and slow sections. When I practice at home my daughter loves dancing to this piece. I wish she would have come up during the recital, but she was too shy.

Broken pedal rod

2011-03-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

This is not how I like seeing my harp!

It is very rare for a pedal rod to break, but it happened to me the week before last. I finally got the new rod from the factory (you can see the fed ex box in the corner) this week. I have made several valiant attempts, but I can not get the broken one out.

You can see I have Carl Swanson's handy guide opened on the floor there, but it is not helping. There is also a fabulous tutorial by Mike Lewis. I feel confident that if I could just get the broken on out, I could get the new one in. I think it is time to call a technician. I don't know what else to do!

update 4/6--the technician came and fixed everything. The rod they sent me was too long so I wasn't able to do it myself. So glad to have it working again.

New gig

2011-03-02T13:31:00.001-08:00

I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching harp at University of Kansas in Lawrence starting Spring semester 2011. I have spent many hours changing all of the strings on their three harps. They have all been regulated now and are sounding so much better. KU has a great music school and I am thrilled that they are putting forth the money and effort to build the harp department.

Fantastic photographer

2009-12-02T10:37:00.001-08:00

These photos were taken by Loraine McCall of Mojica Photography, while I was playing at a wedding at the Eldridge Hotel here in Lawrence Kansas. If you are looking for a photographer for your wedding or engagement pictures, I highly recommend her. She is very talented and wonderful to work with. Check out her website to see her beautiful photo galleries. One thing you will love about her, is that she includes a DVD of the photos with reprint copyrights, not to mention a Facebook album as well! That is very valuable and you won't find it included with many other photographers.

CD release

2009-04-27T18:47:00.001-07:00

The CD I recorded about a year ago with the KU Wind Ensemble was released this week. I made it into the picture in the liner notes, just barely! It looks like I am turning a page. The CD has some very lovely pieces, my favorite being Anahita by Roshanne Etezady.

Changing of the strings

2009-04-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have been going through the long, tedious process of changing all the strings on my harp. It has taken awhile because I always have a little helper,

or two, when I am working on it.

And sometimes even a third helper! This particular helper was quite useful with wrangling those impossible wire strings. Thanks honey!

My harp is sounding fantastic with the new strings. Tomorrow it will be regulated by a professional technician. The pedal harp has over a 1000 moving parts and requires yearly maintenance. I am fortunate to live fairly close to a harp technician. He lives in Kansas City and will drive out to Lawrence to work on a few harps tomorrow. In every other place that I have lived we have had to fly out a technician once a year to work on all the harps in the area.

I am looking forward to performing Rutter's Requiem in a few weeks at Plymouth Congregational, with my lovely, restrung and regulated harp!

The wedding harpist

2008-09-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite jobs as a harpist is to play for people's wedding ceremonies. It is a privilege to be part of this memorable event. I have enjoyed playing in many locations-- from scenic lakesides to underground in a limestone quarry, from the beautiful Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas to the lovely historic Eldridge right here in Lawrence, Kansas. The harp is a wonderful choice for a wedding ceremony. Not only is it visually beautiful, it is one of the prettiest instruments to listen to. I am always getting comments from guests about how much they enjoyed seeing and hearing the harp. If you are thinking about having a harp for your wedding ceremony or reception in the Topeka, Lawrence, or Kansas City area, please feel free to contact me.

Strings

2008-08-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

I am often asked about the strings on the harp--how many? why the different colors? what material are they made out of?

Well here are some answers to those questions you were just dying to know. Let's start with the colors--Red is C, black is F. That red string right there in the middle of the picture above, is middle C. Some people ask if this is "cheating" to have the strings colored. All harps are strung with this color pattern to give a reference point, just like the black keys on the piano. Can you imagine a harp with all white strings? There would be no way to tell where you are. There is an old tradition of blind harpists such as Turlough O'Carolan, and I guess they don't really need the colors. But for the rest of us, we need to see where we are sometimes because all the strings feel exactly the same.

As you can see from the picture on my header, the strings are made of various materials. On a concert grand harp, the lowest and longest strings are made from steel wire. The middle range is strung with gut strings, made from sheep gut. These strings have a warm beautiful sound. The upper two octaves are usually strung with nylon. The nylon is a brighter sound. The upper strings usually break more frequently so it is more affordable to use nylon up there. Harpists typically change (or should change!) their strings every 1-2 years. But with a set costing over $400 and the time involved to do this, some of us might put it off a just a bit. But I love the sound of new strings and I am getting ready to change mine soon. I always carry a set of strings to every gig, because you never know if one might break!

There are 47 strings on a concert grand harp, ranging from 3 octaves below middle C to 3 1/2 above middle C. It is similar to the range on the piano (which has a few more notes on either side). The piano has 88 keys because there are keys for the sharps and flats, whereas on the harp the sharps and flats are created on the one string. But I guess I would have to save how that works for another post...

Carnegie Hall

2006-03-12T07:31:00.000-08:00

I took this picture at the dress rehearsal before I knew that you aren't allowed to take pictures in Carnegie Hall. Oh well! This harp was rented by the ensemble so I didn't have to bring my own all the way from Kansas. The unions in NYC are very strict so I wasn't allowed to move the harp on and off stage and had to let the stage guys handle everything. It was weird to not be hauling it around myself.