Harp Column Blogs: Carl Swanson

Sometimes we have to remember that we have a life away from the harp. This blog has NOTHING to do with the harp. It's a memorial to a woman who died recently, and who I never met, but who I will miss. She was the mother of my partner's brother-in-law. Her name was Emma Sue, and she died a few weeks ago at the age of 89. She lived in Dallas, where my partner's family lives, and she was the living reincarnation of Mrs. Malaprop, the wonderful comic character in Sheridan's 1720(or thereabouts) play, The Rivals. The character Mrs. Malaprop constantly uses words that sound like the ones she means to use, and so she turns each sentence on its head. That character spawned the words Malaprop(to use a word incorrectly) and Malapropism.

I'll quote some of my favorite malapropisms of Emma Sue and then put in parantheses the word she meant.

The family went to a restaurant for dinner one day, and the host asked them if they wanted to sit inside or on the terrace. "Oh lets sit on the terrace,"Emma Sue said. "I love eating al dente." (Al fresco).

Another time she told the rest of the family that she had been at a restaurant when someone started to choke. "The waiter came over and did the heinekin maneuver on him" she said. (Heimlick manoever).

At a large family dinner, the conversation turned to the (then in the news) troubles of Michael Jackson. "The one I can't stand" Emma Sue said "is his sister Toyota." (La Toya).

Emma Sue told the family on another occasion that she had just seen a wonderful movie called The Last of the Puerto Ricans.(The last of the Mohegans).

Her favorite TV show was Murder She Wrote, but Emma Sue called it either 'Murder She Said,' or 'That's All She Wrote.'

I'm going to miss Emma Sue.

HUMIDIFICATION AND YOUR HARP

It's that time of year again when the heat goes on, the air dries out, and your harp runs the risk of major damage from not having enough moisture in the air. Let's start by looking at the problem.

Wooden musical instruments that are made for the American market(pianos, harps, harpsichords, etc.) have to be made from wood that has been dried to a moisture content of 5% to 8%. If there is more moisture in the wood than that when the instrument is made, then there is going to be too much movement in the wood over the seasonal changes that occur each year, and that will result in cracks, checks, and open joints. European musical instruments were traditionally made with wood dried to a 15% moisture content, and this didn't cause any problems because western Europe is much like the west coast of the United States. The relative humidity in the air is pretty constant year round. But when those European instruments are brought to the United States, all hell breaks loose. The higher moisture content makes the wood move a lot with the seasonal changes here, and it can destroy the instruments.

But even with an instrument built to American specifications, problems can occur. In areas of the country where the heat is on for months at a time, and particularly in the northeast and Midwest, the relative humidity inside houses drops to close to zero. Your harp does not dry out immediately. In fact, it takes several months. So most of the damage will occur at the end of the winter, just as the climate is starting to get more humid.

Lack of humidity will cause checks and crazing in the finish. It will also cause glue joints to break apart, especially ones that are under a lot of stress. This is the main reason that baseframes come apart, and that soundboards develop cracks. On gilded instruments it will cause the underlying wood to shrink, causing cracks in the gilding and even loosening the gesso from the wood.

The fix for this is so simple and yet so important. GET A HUMIDIFYER!!!!!!!!! Turn it on as soon as the heat goes on, and keep it filled and running all winter. Even if you move your harp out of the house frequently, the time that it spends back in that humidified room will save it from damage.

The type of humidifier you get is important. There should be no visible vapor coming out of it. If something looking like steam comes out of it, then it is the wrong kind. Humidifiers that emit a visible vapor will leave calcium deposits and possible condensation on objects in the room. The right type of humidifier will not leave anything.

The right humidifier has a reservoir of cold water, usually holding 5 to 7 gallons, and a porous belt that rotates through the reservoir, picking up moisture. A fan blows through the now saturated belt, evaporating water into the air. So the air coming out of this type of humidifier is invisible. You can and should put this kind of humidifier as close to the harp as you can, because the humidity will be higher the closer you are to the machine.

You should keep the harp and humidifier in a closed room, and keep the relative humidity in that room at around 40% to 60%. If, when you walk into the humidified room, you can 'feel?'the humidity, then it is humid enough. Lowering the temperature in the room will raise the relative humidity. So try to keep the temperature in the harp room as low as you can stand it.

OK, Here's Paris, the sequal. Or PARIS, PART DEUX. About 10 years ago I read some Sunday travel section article about Paris and things to see, and one of the things mentioned was the Museum of Plans-relief, which is housed in the Military Museum at the Invalides. I'd never heard of it, so on my next trip to Paris I went there and had the surprise of my life.

Back in the 1600's the technology had not yet been developed to make maps showing the land contours and other geographical features, so the only thing they could do was to make a scale model. The result was the Plan-relief, or scale model of entire cities, ports, fortifications, etc. The first ones were made in the reign of Louis XIV, around 1690, and continued until about 1835. Some of the models are quite small(4 feet square) and show a fort, or Mont St. Michel, etc. The largest ones are about 15 feet square and show entire cities. The plan-relief of whole cities shows not only the city, but also all of the surrounding countryside. On a model that is 15 feet on a side, the city is around 3 feet in diameter in the center of the model, so you can see that a lot of countryside is shown too. Every building in the city, including all churches, monastaries, ramparts, are made to scale and painted to look like the building, and all trees are made out of wire and silk thread. The surrounding landscape is painted to show fields, streams, rivers, etc. The astounding result is that you can see a scale model of a city that was made in 1690 and see exactly what it looked like at that time.

I discovered on this trip that the Museum of Beaux Arts in Lille has 15 of these models on display, all representing cities in northern France, Belgium, and Holland. Maastrikt is one of the cities shown. I was headed to Lille anyway, so I stopped in to see the models. They're unbelievable. Looking at one of these models is like flying over the actual city in a small plane. The buildings are about 1/2 inch tall, so you see the scale. I recommend to anybody that they make an effort to visit this museum at the Invalides, and if possible, take the train to Lille to see the other models. It's well worth the trip.