My wife plays piano and is intested in taking up the harp. Any players out there? Also, is there a site like C&F, where she can chat and get advice from others?
What a coincidence.. I’ve had my eye on a 21 inch harp for a few days now. I’d be interested to hear about any good websites to visit.
My 13 yr old daughter has played harp for about 4-5 months. She just took 2nd place at the Orlando Feis in the under 15 category last weekend.
I dont know of any websites similar to C&F, but have not searched.
She is playing a “folk harp” which is rented from her teacher. It has 4 octaves and is about 42" high. I recommend getting one with as many octaves as you can afford. This one seems a good balance of size vs. number of strings.
Also, we just bought a chromatic tuner. This is a little electonic gizmo which tells you which note you just sounded and if it is sharp or flat. It has made a tremendous difference in getting all of the strings in tune at the same time and it was $29 US.
As one of the other student’s parents told me, harp..unlike violin..is something that sounds good from the very beginning! 
You might want to try http://www.harp.net. They have some links (I think) to BBs and listservs. There’s a better site, but I can’t remember the URL.
Be sure to consider a Dusty Strings harp. They may be better-known as hammered dulcimer makers, but their harps are simply remarkable.
I am not aware of a harp forum similar to C & F, but there is a very large Yahoo group called “Harplist”, which is very helpful to new players. Many experienced, helpful people reside there.
Yahoo Groups has many harp groups for specific interests: wire-harp, druid harpers, harpmakers, healing harps, sca harpers, as well as a list for those of us that play several types of instruments (string and winds group).
Just to reinforce this: The Yahoo Groups Harplist is definitley the major resource.
BTW, here is a couple of really good harp makers (amongst the best IMO):
http://www.fisherharps.com/
http://www.timothyharps.ca/timothyharpsmain.html
Another good place is Melody’s Music; they are primarily a folk harp store, and a good selection, from the tiny travel harps to the large concert hall harps… very cool, but kinda pricey.
Well, yes, I’m a harper as well as a whistler. However, my playing has lapsed and I don’t know of any sites.
I would seriously recommend your wife to take it up and to get a teacher for the first year, just to get technique sorted (pianists and guitarists make classic technical errors on account of their hand/finger positioning). It is a beautiful instrument, and worth it. However, go for 29-30 string size minimum - anything less is good for travelling but falls way short when you improve.
Also I’d recommend “concert string spacing”, but “folk harp tension”; concert tension is for high volume which you can only get on a concert harp, so celtic harps with concert tension are really kids harps for training up to concert level. She’ll feel a lot happier with softer tension and thin nylon strings - the sound will be bright and sweet.
I don’t know if Caswell Harps of CA are still around, but their harps were always excellent.
Timothy’s harps is right down the road from me(about a mile). In addition to being a good neighbor, he also makes fantastic harps(the website listed on Paul Reid’s posting is Timothy’s).
On 2003-02-19 09:24, nickt wrote:
Well, yes, I’m a harper as well as a whistler. However, my playing has lapsed and I don’t know of any sites.
Nick evidently plays the lapse harp as well.
Someone’s been reading my mind, I think, as I too have been dreaming of playing harp the last few months. We’ve got a little matter of job instability to work through first, but when we’re out of the valley, I think I know where I’ll be headed. Thanks for the links and tips, folks.
Jef
A great place to start is http://www.harpmall.com
If $ is a concern, you may want to look into building your own! Musicmakers http://www.musikit.com has great kits and blueprints. I have 3 harps built from their plans, and they are all wonderful.
They also have a wooden “Baroque flute”, which (I was told) can be used as an Irish flute.
On 2003-02-19 13:53, Underhill wrote:
If $ is a concern, you may want to look into building your own! Musicmakers > http://www.musikit.com > has great kits and blueprints. I have 3 harps built from their plans, and they are all wonderful.
I’ve also built three from their kits. All three were the small lap harps, and I love them (gave two away – I don’t have HOA, well, not really badly).
Have you built one of the big Gothic harps? I would just LOVE one of those, but can get an awful lot of whistles for what one of those costs with full blades, even in kit form.
A Celtic Evening with Derek Bell is a highly recommended CD…DB’s got many good ones out, but this one includes his interjections between numbers at a live show, revealing just a small portion of his wit.
His passing is such a loss.
Jef
A girlfriend of mine plays a Blevins… really beautiful sound, resonates unbelievably well. Simple contruction, and I don’t think they cost to much either.
Plenty of volume.
Take care,
John
Charlie and Underhill, thanks for the tip. I’d looked at kits last year and thought them a bit pricier than I expected, but you’ve got me looking closer today and I noticed they have hardware kits and blueprints so you can use your own wood. This is something I’ll be following up on. I’ll contact you off board when the time comes.
Man, the stuff you learn around here 
Jef
Thanks to all for the input. It’s exactly what I needed to know.