Try getting a Gothic harp or a similar kind of renaissance harp. This should have about 24 strings, in natural gut, and be about waist high when standing on the floor. You can play a lot of renaissance music on this harp, including the typical 16th century dances which make a good starting repertoire. (You'll find them everywhere in editions for recorder consort!)
The entry-level harp, also the cheapest and most portable, is a small 'medieval' lap harp with about 16 gut strings. You will be surprised how sophisticated this instrument can be, but to begin with it makes an ideal beginner's harp. With this you can begin by playing single-line melodies, and gradually progress to playing two-part pieces and chordal accompaniments.
Put in an order NOW for a large Italian baroque harp. The waiting list with the better makers is several years long. Then look around for a second hand instrument to start with. The best would be either a Gothic, or a small (=portable and cheaper) double/triple harp. If you can afford it, get both. A typical collection of harps for a young professional would be an Italian double/triple (for continuo work), and a Gothic. When you can afford it, add a medieval and a Spanish double.
OK then, order a Spanish X-strung double. But while you can play Spanish music easily enough on an Italian harp, it is harder to do it the other way around. That's why I recommend starting double harps on an Italian.
Good for you! The wire-strung harps are absolutely essential for Irish (and some Scottish) early music, and had an important function as consort instruments especially in England, Sweden, Germany. Decide what period of music you like best, and get an appropriate sized Irish harp. Two things to look out for: thick brass strings (thick, and relatively low tension; brass and not steel, iron, bronze, nylon etc). Many wire strung harps have strings that are too thin, like harpsichord strings. This is a modern taste - all the old sources reiterate that the wires should be thick brass.
Both full time and occasional students are welcome to come to study with me in Bremen, Germany. There are regular weekend courses and projects as well as a full-time course (2 or 4 years, depending on your experience) which covers the late 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries in depth. Solo lessons, theory, history, ensembles, continuo, improvisation: it's all there.
I don't have time to teach when I am travelling for concerts - I'm sorry, but you have to come to me in Bremen. But I can arrange for you to borrow a harp for a trial lesson, and often I know of harps for sale or hire, while you wait for your harp to arrive.
Get my book (see below) and look for a local early harp teacher (a rare bird!) or more likely a lute-player. Ask your lute-player this key question: does he play thumb-under? If the answer is Yes, get him to show you how to hold your hand and how to pluck the strings. If the answer is No, keep looking.
Modern harp technique is a great thing, but utterly irrelevant to these instruments. Ditto guitar. If you can't find a teacher, then teach yourself, by looking at period pictures and tracking down the treatises via your local library. It can be done!
Get a harp. I recommend: Tim Hobrough South View Cottage Back St Fordyce Aberdeenshire SCOTLAND 01261 843423 and Simon Capp Stable Cottage Hampshire Farm Westbourne Rd Emsworth HANTS PO10 7RN but look around also for second hand or locally available instruments, since both Tim and Simon have waiting lists. Order my (very inexpensive) beginner's book 'Der Harpffenschlaeger' (in spite of its German title, refering to the old practice of striking, rather than plucking the harp) the book is in English, with diagrams, hand position and fingering details, and some simple pieces to play. It is published by Clifford Bartlett at Kings Music Redcroft Banks End Wyton Huntingdon CAMBS PE17 2AA
Continuo playing - the art of accompaniment in the baroque style - has a certain air of mystique, not to say mystery, about it. Many fine instrumentalists blanch at the thought of reading from a figured (or worse, an unfigured) bass.
But as in any kind of music-making, it's not WHAT you play that is important, it's HOW you play it. Andrew's teaching puts the art - rhythm, colour and expressiveness - first; and takes you through the technicalities so gently you won't even notice it....
For more information, GO CETRA! from the homepage of The Harp Consort.
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