The mother of a childhood friend played the harp. Her harp was in the living room rather the way many have their baby grand pianos. I thought it was lovely, she was lovely, and hearing her play was lovely. Sounds as if all the pieces are in place to make this fairly simple for you, so why not?!

Who was it who said that harpists spend 90% of their time tuning their harps and 10% playing out of tune?

I loved harp music when young, but never had the chance to learn how to play. I think it would be fabulous...just so long as the school doesn't expect her to participate in a marching band! Pretty hard to do that with the harp and the carillon.....
;)

I graduated with a Bachelor of Music, harp performance.

I would guess that cost is likely the most significant deterrent. A pedal harp can easily cost $15K and up. Quite different from other initial investments of instruments. Also, one must have the right kind of vehicle to transport it, which must be factored in as well. They are cumbersome, weighing in at 90 lbs. Finally, they devalue over time. While they can have a long lifespan, they must usually be replaced eventually (can be redone a few times).

I have heard the comments that Annie made more times than I can count (tuning, marching band). In fact, if I had a $1 for every time, I could probably buy a new harp, haha!

You have to love Gardenweb, where within minutes I find an expert like Anele! Thanks for replying.

It seems as though people usually start on a lever harp? The teachers says she rents harps to students for 75-100 a month depending on the type, which we would of course do initially. I am guessing she is renting lever harps not pedal harps.

Do they fit in most SUVs?

I was a professional harpist for many years. For a long time the big problem was twofold: cost and the size of the instrument. In my early days if you wanted to play the harp you went out and got a full-scale pedal harp, which was a huge investment (still is). There weren't all the nice little lever harps for beginners like there are now, and only people who lived in NY, Chicago, or LA had access to rental instruments, with a few exceptions.

Also, the old generation of harp teachers often insisted on piano competence before you started the harp. For me, with my parents looking at around 10K for an instrument (back in the 60s) and also getting a piano, which I didn't want to play, well, it just didn't add up for something they weren't sure I'd keep up. (They had major harp guilt later on.)

Unfortunately, I don't think harp is rare enough anymore to give you much of a boost just for that when applying for schools. Thirty years ago, yes, for sure. I knew people who went to liberal arts colleges on scholarships in exchange for playing in their orchestras, but those days are done,alas.

She should try it if she likes it for itself, not for what it could get her. It's a heck of a lot of money if you don't obsessively love it, especially today when you're extremely unlikely to be able to have any kind of career with it. When I was in music school I looked in the local mag for my home town and it listed 15 restaurants advertising a harpist. Those days are gone forever.

In addition to a harp and a car there is the upkeep, which is considerable. Strings break all the time and a set of decent strings for the smallest pedal harp is about $450 or more. Then the harp has to be regulated, which is usually several hundred dollars a year, depending on where you live.

The lever harps are less expensive, but even there, my usual gig harp, a gut-strung 36 string lever harp, is only about a hundred bucks less for a full set of strings.

>Do they fit in most SUVs?

It depends. I use a Matrix and that will move up to a semi-grand pedal harp comfortably and a concert grand uncomfortably. The size of a vehicle isn't the only factor; it also has a lot do with whether the seats fold flat, how long the wheelbase is, how wide the back opening is, etc.

I had students who had a Mercedes SUV and that was a miserable harp car (although I believe the wagon is fine).

If you google harpmobile, one of the harp magazines used to do an article every year about the best vehicle choices currently available.

>It seems as though people usually start on a lever harp?

Yes, these days that's true. And a lot of people now never do go on to play the pedal harp, either. There's an awful lot you can do with a lever harp if you don't want to do big orchestra stuff. But for ensemble playing (other than chamber music) it really helps to have pedals.

Thanks so much Writersblock! I am going to talk with the teacher tomorrow and see what type of instruments she rents.

My daughter would not be interested in a career or even looking for side jobs; she is just in love with the music. As an aside, she thought its uniqueness might help set her apart for highly selective high schools, over and above strong grades and SSATs. But that is not a primary driver.

Funny you mention Benz SUVs' - we have two SUVs, and one is a Benz. It's their largest model so I will have to check that site. The other is a Range Rover but the backseats don't go down so i know that won't work.. We have a convertible too, LOL. Watch out for that overpass...

Well, the teacher almost certainly rents lever harps at those prices, so it depends a lot on what size the harp is. Lever harps vary from small models that you can hold on your lap to floor standing models exactly the same size as the smallest pedal harps. Most of 'em will go into an SUV one way or another, but I often delivered harps to my students who didn't have suitable cars, so it's not a big deal till she starts playing out in public.

Well all in all it sounds feasible, so we will give it a shot. Thanks again

Writersblock covered it all . . .I will just add a few things based on my experience.

I started off with a lever harp as a freshman in college, but only because I specifically wanted to play Celtic music, just for fun. During that yr, my teacher told me to consider going into music professionally. I ended up getting a full scholarship, but that's because I went somewhere that needed a harpist-- not one of the major schools for music. That was in the 90s, though. A long time ago.

My 2nd teacher/college professor (my 1st was her student) told me that she never started people on lever harps if there was ever a possibility that they wanted to switch to pedal. She was the harpist for the Lyric Opera at that time. In her spare time, Celtic/lever/folk harps were her main interest, but she felt that it was harder to get used to the tension of a pedal harp after a lever harp.

If your daughter ends up moving onto the pedal harp (depends on the kind of music she wants to play . . .it really does give you MANY more options), one type of harp to consider is something like the Daphne Salvi. It has pedals, but it is significantly smaller than a concert grand, much lighter, and therefore, a lot easier to transport. It's a great compromise, IMO, unless a school orchestra would require a semi or concert grand. And, of course, they are much more affordable. Still pricey (they've about doubled since I had one, before I got a concert grand), but you can look for one used, too.

And Writersblock, so true about location being key back in the day . . . I grew up in Chicago proper, so Lyon & Healy was easy to get to!

Here is a link that might be useful: Salvi

Hi Mtn, my DD2 came home from a school music assembly when she was in third grade and told me she had fallen love with the harp. I wasn't quite sure what to think since my older two children picked more portable, less expensive instruments after trying out piano (which we already had). Most of my friends counseled me against it, but we let her start. We found a teacher and rented a lever harp. About four months later she came to us and said she wanted a pedal harp because she wanted to play Bach... We really debated about it, gave a lot of thought to equity among the children, and bought her the harp (thankfully we already had a car that the harp fit into). She loved her harp and still does. She is very musical and her practice ethic is very, very strong.

When my husband's company moved us from Southern California to Virginia, it took some hunting to find a teacher in the same style she had started in. Then, because she wanted to continue with the harp in college, but wasn't sure if she wanted a conservatory education, we had to help her look for colleges that had a harp teacher who wouldn't make her switch styles (and that also fit her other criteria). She got music scholarships to two colleges, although she ended up going to a university that doesn't give merit money. Maybe the harp made a difference in getting into the colleges she did, but that's not why we, or she, did it. It's part of who she is and what she loves. I drove her to a lot of lessons, auditions, and performances, but I drove my other two to tons of swim meets, flute lessons, drama camps, water polo games, etc.

Writersblock is right that strings, etc, add up, but I didn't find it over the top. Plenty of people spend a lot of money on their kids' extracurriculars (I have a friend whose son is a serious hockey player...)

For a long time we had a Volvo wagon and it was a breeze getting the harp in it. We have an SUV now and the harp fits fine, but you have to lift it a little more than you do with a big station wagon. I know other harpists who use a minivan.

We have no regrets. We were just up in April for one of her concerts (she's a freshman). When I saw how happy she was, I was so glad that harp has been in her life. And she'll share it, in whatever community she's part of.

You can email me if you want more details about her college search, or anything else. Good luck!

I have always liked harp music. This thread has been an interesting read for me. Mtn, keep us posted on your DD's progress.

Side note. Interesting that your daughter is already starting to think about college. Colleges look at not only what the student does, but how long they are doing it. You never know what will "strike a chord" with those looking at the applications.

Thanks so much everyone, for your input.

Ellendi, The school my DD attends ends at 8th grade, so she is also thinking about high school, 2 years away. She has her sighs set on some highly selective boarding schools, in part as the best stepping stone to competitive universities. Her whole class thinks this way ... 6 years ahead! Not sure it that is all good.

Larecoltante, I guess one never knows what may strike their fancy, and I see our job as giving them as much exposure and experiences as we can.

Anele,
The local instructor here only rents lever harps, as one might imagine. I would need to see 6mos-1yr of real commitment before I tried to rent or buy a pedal harp.

Update: So, my daughter literally jumped up and down when I told her we were going after school to pick up her harp. She has been practicing whenever she walks buy it -- she is totally enamored. Of course, we will see what happens in a month or two. In the meantime, it is so lovely to look at and one of the few instruments that does not sound cacophonous when a newbie practices!

That's great, mtnrdredux. I hope she continues to love it as much as now.