Today’s post is about space, and specifically harp space and the complexities of it.
Last year I found myself parked up next to a Christmas tree at one of my favourite venues to play, which gave me another thing to add to the list for my perfect harp room.
Any musical instrument requires space to play it in, but a full size concert harp needs a large area to play in plus storage space for itself and its covers as well. Not to mention the vehicle to transport it and a place for that to live too.
A recent post on the Harp Mastery blog about decorating your practice room for Christmas and your aspirations for your harp next year got me thinking quite hard about my own current practice space, and living space, and then about some deeper stuff involving place and self too.
My first big pedal harp, squeezed into the corner of our dining room in Stratford-on-Avon - note the oboe/bassoon knick-knacks next to the clock up on the pelmet and I think what was the first harp collectible… Just next to the dining room was a baby grand piano. Eventually my mum and dad converted the garage so my mum had some space to teach at last. The harp stayed in the dining room though.
My initial thoughts were written during a rather tough day at work when I was tired, run down and ill, and you’ll be pleased to know I scratched that post - it was pretty gloomy.
But as it happens often with writing things down, your brain mulls them over and I realised that there was some important stuff in amongst all those sad words. I also finally admitted to myself that the space issue has been getting me down a bit and I need to do some more thinking on that one.
So, without further waffle, here are some thoughts on the perfect harp space. Harp aspirations?… they’re for another post.
Wendy keeping guard - you’d think a bony dog would want a soft space but she loved that floor especially on a hot day.
My old house was perfect in a few ways - it was at the bottom of the hills, it had a little space for harps, it had dogs in it for most of the time I lived there and it had a garage.
However, the house was tiny, the harp room was basically the hallway and because it was also part of the living room and my boy greyhound liked to borrow things, I had to pack the harp away every time I finished playing and barricade it in with my bike, harp stool and trolley. Most of the time that wasn’t too bad, but gradually I started acquiring more harp stuff, which meant more unpacking and packing away.
So what’s on my shopping list for the perfect practice room?
I dream of having space for both harps side by side, to be able to leave all my stuff out, to have space for my trolley and case while I’m practising and to be able to SHUT THE DOOR on it all when I’m finished.
I would also like space for a desk for my computer and printer and fluffy Cardiff dragon and owl mug.
There we go. I’m not big on manifestation but I do like a good daydreaming session so maybe over the new year, I might sit down and get specific about exactly how I’d like to lay my room out.
Testing my new pedal harp (left) versus my old pedal harp (right). The left one looks more impressive but the right one held its own sound-wise and it was a really tough decision to get a new one.
Eventually, circumstances changed from the tiny house and as you’ll have seen from the Day 9 post, I acquired a husband and that meant moving house.
It also meant moving harps elsewhere, as his flat is three floors up and while I think it’s the same overall floor space, it has one bedroom and a living room which means no sensible workable space for harps.
Thankfully, just down the road and within walking distance and exactly halfway between home and my day job at the time, I found a lovely studio that I could afford and which acted as an extra bedroom.
Note - it was also very small, BUT crucially it meant I could leave things out and shut the door. I’ve loved playing there, although I’m starting to miss having the harp at home as even three visits a week aren’t enough really. I’ve also moved job so it’s not as straightforward to get there.
Definitely no space for more than one harp out at a time though….
New space - It doesn’t look that much bigger, but at last it’s big enough and I LOVE IT HERE!
A few weeks ago I moved just down the corridor to a slightly wider room, and at last I have some elbow space around me when I practice. I can leave all my growing collection of electronics out and there is space for my trolley too.
Hopefully next year we’ll move to a different flat and I can have the harp at home again, as well as all the other requirements.
I’m a way away from having all this studio equipment, but hopefully there’ll at least be room for a Christmas tree in my new space.
It’ll be a different matter once I start to build some more studio kit …. this was me achieving one of my dreams of playing on a track for a techno producer a couple of years back. It went in the bin but it was great fun at the time.