Hi I'm new

[xstillxframex]

Hi all, I just joined this community and I'm wondering if you can help me out.
I'm a BIG fan of Celtic music, if Moravian College has a minor in it, I would probably minor in Celtic music, but alas they only have a concentration in Celtic Fiddle (maybe I should take up fiddle?).

Anyways, I also love love love playing traditional reels and stuff like

Comments

[lowlandscot]

This is a topic that could get really technical and probably not interest the entire community much. I am a harper and I'd be happy to chat with you offline. You can mail me at

khutchins at hughes dot net

if you want to. There's also a very active harp discussion list on yahoo groups:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Harplist/

[xstillxframex]

well like I said I'm a beginner.

But I also asked about materials for recorders and how if it differs from each other..

[lowlandscot]

Recorders are funny -- some of the inexpensive plastic ones sound just as good to me as pearwood and maple ones that cost 20 times as much. A guy I jam with sometimes has a $12 Yamaha recorder that sounds fantastic -- he's used it for studio recordings

[hobbitblue]

You can retune a harp to various keys, celtic harps often have levers ot make this task easier..

As far as recorders are concerned, yes the material they're made from makes a difference, also the quality - so a good quality plastic one can sound much better (and stay in tune better!) than a cheap wooden one. Wooden ones tend ot have different tones depending on the wood used, some warmer, some brighter. Recorders tend not to be made from tin or metal, that's more for low whistles and penny whistles.

Moeck and Moellenhauer have budget ranges of well-made, good sounding recorders, I'd look at the Mollenhauer Dream if you wanted something easy to get high notes on that keeps in tune, mine has the wooden body and plastic head which seems to be the best of both worlds, though Aulos make good ones if money is really tight :)

[xstillxframex]

thank you so much for your help!

[hobbitblue]

You're welcome :) You know, thinking about it, if you want to play celtic music you might be better looking into tin/penny whistles or low whistles - they are played in a similar way as a recorder but with just enough difference that I always end up second guessing myself, because I've been playing recorders for 30 years now; if you're starting afresh so to speak there are some great tutor books and dvds for whistles out there, that might be a better route for you (or just be a multi-instrumentalist, like me, and put up with the brainfrazzles switching between similar things :) )

[ladyofannwn]

i think brian boru's was the first tune i learned by ear. : )

[crysania4]

The cheap plastic recorders are generally a bit out of tune. If you're interested in Irish music, I would suggest getting a whistle instead of a recorder, as that's the traditional instrument Irish reels and jigs are played on. You'd want one in D.

There is a lot of debate on what kind of whistle is best, but I personally prefer a Susato. I've found they're all in tune and have a nice sound.

[lowlandscot]

I just noticed your comment about your harp not having the "high-pitched sound" of a Celtic harp. What kind of strings does your harp have, e.g., nylon, gut, carbon fiber (not very likely on a lap harp, but possible)? It may be that you associate a high pitched sound with Celtic because you've mainly heard wire-strung harp, which is historically correct for small Scottish harps (often called clarsach) and were also found on Irish harps. If you go to iTunes and listen to, for example, Ann Heymann -- she is playing a wire strung harp. I play nylon strung Celtic harps and have both a full sized (36 string) Thormahlen and a small (24 string) Timothy. Both are made of walnut; the Thormahlen has a soundboard of cedar and the Timothy of sitka spruce. I would describe the tone of both as warm, resonant, and well-rounded.

This is an mp3 clip of my harp being played by the luthier's wife.The tonewood and body wood used to build the harp will have *some* effect on its sound -- maple is usually considered the "brightest" sounding of the woods,