Harp for Beginners: Picking your harp part 1

Hey again! So let's just say you're interested in the harp and you want to learn to play it. And that's good! But what harp do you choose? There's about two different types of harp to choose from: lever and pedal harp. So what's the difference? Both the levers and pedals are different in design but the same in function, which is to change the key. If you're already a musician you'd know, at least vaguely if not completely, about C major, B flat major, A major, et. cetera et. cetera. If you don't know anything about that, well I'd recommend learning about them first before moving onto the harp, because it can get difficult. I'll let you know why in another post. Alright, let's take a look at the lever harp. Levers on a lever harp basically look like this: 

There's a lever for every string. I'll explain in the next blog how to work them. Now the pedal harp on the other hand has these:

The top of the pedal harp looks like this:

We'll talk about lever harps for now. My first harp was a 29 stringed Ron Wall lever harp, made in Vancouver. From a friend, we paid 500$ for it. Right now I'll warn you, if you're going to buy a (lever or pedal) harp, better save up a lot of money first. Harps in general are freaky expensive, even the small ones. But once you get one, it's totally worth it, since their sound is really beautiful. Anyway, 500$ is pretty reasonable for a small lever harp. Not a bargain per say, but reasonable. In most popular harp companies you see, like Lyon & Healy, Harpsicle Harps and Dusty Strings Harps, 26 to 29 string lever harps are usually in the middle to late hundred dollar range. The harp I have now is also a used lever harp. I got it in BC when a friendly lady decided to sell it. Its brand name is Troubadour Four, 36 stringed. It was made by the Lyon & Healy company in Chicago. The woman who owned it gave it to us for 2000$. Now that is a bargain, because a new Troubadour Four is 4000$, easily. Of course the more beautiful harps have much higher prices, like the Louis 15 Special is 189,000$ in the Lyon & Healy store. That would be the gold harp with the transport cover set. For beginners, perhaps like yourself, I'd recommend starting off with a 29 string lever harp. Yes, you could get a 26 string harp, but for the 29 string you'd get a bit more for about the same price.The lever harp is good for beginners because the sort of songs you'll start out with will keep the same key throughout the piece from start to finish.  If you have more intermediate or advanced songs that have a sudden sharp or flat or just generally a key change then you'd have to flip levers. It works if you're quick to flip them, and with practice you can get good at it, but only if there's only one key change with a note or in the whole song, in my experience. Jazz songs are tricky with the lever harp. And that's a subject for another post! I'll tell you about how to work a lever harp, and if you do then look forward to my post about the pedal harp next and how they usually cost. I'm doing this in small parts so you don't get tired of reading these extremely long posts. See you in my next one. Ask questions if you have em!