From: dschatz@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Dan Schatz)
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk
Subject: Re: Autoharp?
Keywords: anything related to
Date: 13 Dec 92 05:39:35 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <hank.723882135@well.sf.ca.us> hank@well.sf.ca.us (Hank Roberts) writes:
>
>This seems like the place to ask; my wife just emailed me that we
>own an autoharp; any archive/discussion/pointers welcome about'em.

(My friends on the net knew I'd respond to this one...)
Well, I've been playing autoharp for almost eleven years (since I was ten) and 
I can honestly say it has nearly taken over my life.  When I perform, I always
use the autoharp, no matter which other instruments I have with me.  It's 
become my trademark.  So take it from an expert, it's very easy to fall in love
with this instrument.  Soon you too will be an "autoharpoholic."

It's hard to give you much advice over the net, since I don't know what you're 
looking to find out, but here's a few basic pointers.

Play the autoharp with the instrument sitting up, leaning against your body, anduse your fingers or fingers with picks.  I find that the sound quality and
playability are both much better this way than the "gradeschool method," with 
the autoharp sitting in your lap.  Using fingers rather than fingerpicks is a
styallistic choice to some extent, but I really feel it adds to the flexibility
of the instrument.  It also makes melody picking come much easier, I found.

Keep the instrument in good repair!  If you got an old autoharp with twenty yearold strings, then change them, by all means.  (Warning:  this is a major
project.)  On my old Oscar Schmidt, I had to unscrew the chord bar holders and
remove the apparatus to do this; my Keith Young custom autoharp has a hinge on
the holders so I don't have to deal with this.  After you've restrung the
instrument and attempted to bring it up to tune, you may find that it stays out of tune for several days.  New strings don't stay in tune, and having thirty-sixof them, with a combined pressure on the instrument of 2000 lbs, doesn't make 
the situation any easier.

Speaking of tuning, I reccomend that you invest in an electronic tuner.  It's somuch quicker and easier than tuning by hand.  You could also purchase a pickup
or a "tuning clip" which would allow you to plug directly into the tuner and
tune in a noisy room.  My tuner is a Korg AT-12, and I love it.  Oscar Schmidt
makes a fine-tuning system that adds to tuning ease.  I realize this is probablymore of an investment than you're prepared to make at this time, but now you
have the information.

You may also want to check out some of the autoharp journals, including 
_Autoharpoholic_ (put out by Becky Blackley of the Institute for Autoharp
Dependency in Brisbane, California) and _Autoharp_Quarterly_ (put out by Mary
Lou Orthey and Ivan Stiles).

So there's a few thoughts on the autoharp.  I'm posting this rather than
e-mailing it in the hopes some of the many folkies on this net who have one
in their attic will get it out and start playing it.  It's a wonderful
instrument!
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|Dan Schatz     |e-mail:                        |snail-mail  | _____    |    
|               |dschatz@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu     |Po Box 8270 | |    \   |    
|               |                               |Austin, TX  | |     \  |    
|               |                               |       78713| |      \ |    
|============================================================| |======( |    
|"Dan, Dan, the Autoharp Man"  | "Folking my way to the top" | |======) |    
|"If I can't revolt, I don't want to be part of your dance." | |______( |    
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Lou Orthey and Ivan Stiles).

instrument and brought it up to tune, you 
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk