Harp question

[Redwolf]

The Christina is a lovely little harp! I got a chance to noodle on one a few years back. Triplett is a great company to do business with.

Redwolf

[highland-piper]

I play both my 32 string Dusty Strings (floor size) harp and my Triplett Christina 25 string at sessions. I also play bouzouki, but honestly, after playing accompaniment with harp in my band with a wicked fiddle player, I have no problems keeping up in a session.

I'm not sure if my prior post was clear. My friend is a "master harper" in the Scottish Harp Society of America who practices two hours a day; no trouble playing accompaniment at any tempo. He just wants to play melody.

[Redwolf]

I play both my 32 string Dusty Strings (floor size) harp and my Triplett Christina 25 string at sessions. I also play bouzouki, but honestly, after playing accompaniment with harp in my band with a wicked fiddle player, I have no problems keeping up in a session.

I'm not sure if my prior post was clear. My friend is a "master harper" in the Scottish Harp Society of America who practices two hours a day; no trouble playing accompaniment at any tempo. He just wants to play melody.

Melody at session speed can be challenging on a harp, especially if you're talking about reels. If he's a master harper, though, he probably already knows what he needs to do to accomplish this...learn the tunes and then practice until he's sick of them, gradually building speed as his accuracy improves (same way we learn any tune, really).

Coupled hands works great for playing at session speed, but some of the techniques can be a bit challenging on lever harp because of the spacing.

Redwolf

[highland-piper]

Coupled hands works great for playing at session speed, but some of the techniques can be a bit challenging on lever harp because of the spacing.

I've never seen him play that way but once or twice.

I think like many things in music, it's probably a matter of priorities and/or focus. The SHSA seems to value the left hand accompaniment method of playing tunes (does it have a name?), so if he wants to do well in the competitions he might need to put most of his emphasis on that and less on getting session tunes up to speed. Especially since he can play them on bouzouki. I do know that the SHSA competitions require that he make his own arrangements, and coming up with all that has to take time.

It can be tricky when we're teaching each other tunes, particularly when they're in key that takes a different whistle. Like when I have a C whistle and he says to play a G so I play three fingers down. Doh! Or the following: "Dude, what key are you playing in?" "Umm. Beats me." "How can you not know?" "Let me think. If it was a D whistle it would be in G, but this is a Bb whistle so..." LOL.

[Redwolf]

I don't think the "left hand bass/right hand treble" has a name. It's pretty much standard for lever and pedal harpers. Essentially, it's based on piano technique.

We harpers get used to arranging our own material pretty early on. You can't always count on finding the tune you want in an arrangement you like, so making your own arrangements, or tweaking the arrangements of others to suit the range and chromatic abilities of our own harps, is just part of being a harper.

Redwolf

[CelticHarpie]

My apologies on misreading! I've been working insane hours lately

If your friend has the time/money/interest, I would recommend seeing if Gráinne Hambly has time for some Skype lessons or is doing a workshop in his area. She really changed the way I look at harp playing. She works on a more traditional approach to tune playing, as opposed to piano-style arranging. Most of what the left hand does is just outlining the melody: open fifths, doubled roots, short arpeggiations, etc. Now, that's not to say that she does only simple stuff, but it's a good starting point for doing a more Irish-type of playing. If you get a chance, have your friend listen to some of her recordings. She's probably my favorite harpist.

I know both she and William Jackson, an equally wonderful Scottish harpist, do workshops in arranging and also in accompanying and playing in ensembles.