[Harp-L] RE; Beginner Harp

[David M Scudamore <aroundtoithandyman@xxxxxxxxx>]

Richard! finally someone that got my dry humor. Honestly I do appreciate all the sincere answers I got. It gives me strength in resolve and encouragement to practice and I mean I really do appreciate the thought. My effort in the original post, all true BTW, was to suggest to Luke that an alternative tuning was not needed to lead a newbie to buy a second harp, as I have many, and to suggest to Phil that spending more than $10 is not a fear for all beginners. Sorry if I offend, just a tongue in cheek statement that after all my money and harps, I still can't play because I don't try.

I have Winslow's book, I should read it. I have a lot of books and instructional video DVD. Never watched. I actually do have harp mics, Tube amps, a Korg tuner and a digital metronome. If I set aside the time to practice I might actually play someday.

Dave 
------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Sun, 9 May 2010 09:34:37 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
From: Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: Beginner harp


I'm sure this post is a joke (right?), so I'll treat it as such.

What you want is a harp with no reeds.  Such a harp can be learned almost instantly with no practice.  

You can make one for yourself by buying almost any make or model and removing the reed plates. Practice holding it once or twice, making sure that you look like you're actually playing. 

Then pull it out when somebody else is playing the harp, and make it look like it's you.  Presto!  You've mastered the instrument.  To improve your skills, look for the best players you can find--every time you choose a better player to hang out with, you've improved your own playing-by-proxy.

And there you are!  I wish I'd thought of this strategy 43 years ago.  It would have saved me countless thousands of hours devoted to needless mastery, when I could have found somebody else to do all the work in a matter of minutes.

Regards, Richard Hunter



***********************************