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David, congratulations! Some friends of mine went to the auction and said it was amazing. I’m sure everyone here would love a description of the harp and how it functions.
When I had the infamous glue gun debacle (about melted my index finger pad off right before all of my Christmas gigs) I used raw aloe vera directly from the plant. Luckily my son’s teacher had just given him a small starter plant as a gift. I broke off a limb (stalk, petal, frond?) and squeezed the juice directly on the burn. It felt great and I think it sped up the healing process. And about the hand paranoia, yes I’m right up there. I feel super left out during the dads vs. sons basketball team challenge. Everyone says “Why aren’t you out there?” and I have to go into this diatribe about finger-fears.
Thanks, Jerusha! A previous arrangement I came up with is the Intermezzo from Delius’s “Fennimore and Gerda.” I was able to get all the subtle chords from a reduction by Eric Fenby transcribed for oboe, cello, and piano. One day when things slow down (haha) I’m going to put everything down on paper!
I just completed making an arrangement for harp of the Sinfonia from Bach’s “Weihnachts-Oratorium.” It turned out great! I hope to make a You-Tube of it and post it soon. It’s based off of a reduction for organ I found on-line.
Here’s a link I found to the original LP.
Oh- and I love the Apollo’s huge bulging soundboard width. It is awesome. Just like when I used to play English horn in my high school/college days. I had this old one made in the 1920’s from Czechoslovakia with an unheard of low B flat key. The bell was so big it looked like a grapefruit and when I played that note it was seismic. (Incidentally, I sold the English horn to a museum in Germany to help get the Apollo!)
Unless they changed it since I got mine it has the new design. It has a dark warm sound. I visited the Atlanta Harp Center two summers ago and got to play all those harps which included an old Wurlitzer and a new LH 30; all wonderful, but to me none seemed to have the tonal depth that comes from the Apollo. The 4th and lower 3rd octaves are just so rich. I love playing a melody line there with a bass way down in the wires.
I’ve posted time after time how my Apollo has gotten me into trouble because of the projection when playing for smaller events. It happened twice just this fall. I’m not even trying to play loudly (I’ve become so paranoid about this) and the host comes over and asks me to hold it down. Then on the flip side I get these comments like “I never knew the harp had such power!” Don’t get me wrong, however- I love it! I just played a long gig last night in a large venue with no amplification at all and everyone said they could hear it great. I’ve never played another Salvi, but my Apollo is amazing.
This is my day job! (I teach 2nd grade) I’ve done these types of demos for years. Here’s what I’ve found to be successful. Overall, keep your sentences very short- don’t go into a great deal of technical language. Begin with the science of the harp. Talk about how sound is produced through vibrations and illustrate it with the lowest and highest string. Have them count how long it takes the bass string to stop vibrating, then the highest one. This will lead you into discussion about wavelength producing low/high sounds. Give a micro-short history of the harp (cavemen -Egyptians – troubadours- Erard). Then go into the pedals and how they work. Play a segment of a piece, then tell them you’ll randomly move the pedals. Play the same piece you just did- they’ll be amazed. At this time explain why you play the harp and your harp training/background. (Keep it brief! You’ll lose them if you pontificate about yourself.) Finish up with a showy piece, and for bonus points play a children’s song they could sing along with you – the a-b-c song will be fine. As a rule, I don’t offer for the kids to play it; it inevitably turns into wild banging on the strings as each child progresses through. This format should work up to 5th grade. Good luck!
