Customer Reviews

31" Ennis Beginners Harp Package, Complete Celtic Package with Video Tutor

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As a concert violinist, I have spent most of my life practicing and perfecting my skills in the vain attempt to master this most awkward of instruments. For as long as I can remember I have daily spent many hours practicing scales, etudes, and the great violin works by the masters. I have always loved to play, and found more and more opportunities to do so as I grew older. From my first lessons, in youth orchestras, throughout the conservatory years, and now as the concertmaster of a major European orchestra, I have spent more and more of my waking life playing and practicing the violin, all to have it go to waste when I die.

When was the last time you saw an angel playing the violin? As far as I know, angels play either the harp or some kind of horn. Since I have every intention of going to Heaven and joining the Heavenly host, or at least subbing for them, I figured knowing how to play the harp would give me an advantage when I am standing in front of Peter and the Pearly Gates. I bought the "31" Ennis Beginners Harp Package, Complete Celtic Package with Video Tutor" to give me that advantage.

The harp itself appears solid and well-made. Larger than a French horn but smaller than a tuba, the harp is about three feet tall and weighs about twelve pounds. Before playing, the harp must be tuned, which is where having the chromatic tuner is a necessity. Unlike the violin, which only has four strings to tune, the Pixie harp has nineteen strings, each of which must be individually tuned to the correct pitch. The video shows the correct form for holding the harp, working the sharpening levers, and plucking and strumming the strings. For those unfamiliar with harp mechanisms, the sharpening levers allow each string of the harp to play more than one pitch. This way, nineteen strings can span all the chromatic notes of the harp's 2.5 octave range.

I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would like practicing the harp, especially now that our orchestra is on tour, but as I have not yet lost the bloom of youth, I figure I have many years before me. Still, I should not tempt fate by neglecting the harp, for it would be a great irony to die after beginning the harp, only to have the Heavenly host pooh-pooh my playing and send me to the other place because of my lack of proficiency. I'm going to need to rethink my musical priorities.