:ha

Hello this is Emilylou's Mum here, I know there are not likely to be many of you if any atal but just a word of advice........ do not enter a harp grade at the Lyme Regis centre, the access is awful and the space and practice room is so very small, I have sent a letter to the AB advising them of the unsuitable conditions and awaiting a reply having said that in the end she got a distinction for her grade 5 and we are all very pleased, has anyone else had any problems with any exam centres i would love to hear, I just thought I would warn anyone!

Well done Emilylou! That is a fantastic result, especially if the facilities are less than conducive.



And good on you Emilylou's Mum for complaining - if no-one says anything they can't make changes for future entrants...

In fairness, the Board does not have to provide a practice room, and in 20 odd years, I've only been to one centre which has had this facility.

The conditions don't seem to have unduly affected the result

However, they do need to provide you somewhere to tune your harp before entering the exam room, which would involve somewhere at least reasonably quiet since there are quite a number of strings to get through, some of them more than once!

At least Emilylou coped like a pro! Harpists need to cope with adverse conditions at orchestra and wedding gigs all the time I understand! Well done!

First, well done to Emmylou on a great result

I think it's good to share concerns about the limitations of exam venues. Part of the problem is, of course, that with a relatively unusual instrument like the harp, it probably hasn't occurred to organisers that there will be difficulties. Sharing experiences like this one can only help for the future.

If you have not yet got one, you might want to consider getting a pick-up for the electronic tuner. I assume Emmylou uses an electronic tuner. These lovely gadgets make life much easier when silence is in short supply, as it usually is before orchestral rehearsals.

I advise keeping the pick-up in a little box or bag so the chord doesn't get mangled and die.

Hi Erard
Emil-lous mum her again, Im assuming you have suggested the pick up because of the "practice room" I mentioned, it is a device I keep meaning to look into but not quite sure how they work, is it right they just pick up the actual harp noise and not the surrounding noise?

I think I was mainly suggesting one following the train of thought from Collyermum about needing quiet to tune. Pick-ups clip gently onto the harp and plug into the tuner so the microphone records the vibrations in the harp rather than the air. They don't cope all that well with the trumpets practising full blast behind you (as that sets the whole harp resonating) but are a great convenience for middling level noise such as dozens of harps trying to tune at the same time.

Hi Errard, would you kindly point me in the direction of a good one, ie make, one that you have used and found to be effective
Emily-Lou's mum

My suggestion to any harpists who find themselves in the position of being unable to tune properly due to the lack of a quiet place to do so would be to do it thoroughly in the exam room, and not start until ready...the board does allow extra time for harp exams for this purpose, and if it's not sufficient, that's not the candidate's problem.

I use the Korg CM100 from Pilgrim harps which seems to work fine clipped to one of the holes in the back of the soundbox. I find it works slightly better for the lower strings if I move it to the bottom hole, and for the higher ones moved up.

Hi

I also use an electronic tuner. I started off using it without a pickup but found it was better able to "hear" for the top and bottom octaves with a pickup clipped to the relevant holes in the back.

I use the Seiko 501 :

http://www.thestringzone.co.uk/seiko-sat501-chromatic-tuner

and a cheap pickup something like this:

http://tinyurl.com/77ntyba on amazon

Hope this helps.

Collyermum

Hi Erard

Yes we do use the Korg tuner also and it works fine, just wondered which was a good pick up to buy

[quote name='emilylou' date='Jan 8 2012, 07:37 AM' post='1120562'
Hi Erard

Yes we do use the Korg tuner also and it works fine, just wondered which was a good pick up to buy
[/quote]

The Korg I mentioned is the pick-up I use.

[quote name='erard' date='Jan 8 2012, 12:07 PM' post='1120601']
[quote name='emilylou' date='Jan 8 2012, 07:37 AM' post='1120562'
Hi Erard

Yes we do use the Korg tuner also and it works fine, just wondered which was a good pick up to buy
[/quote]

The Korg I mentioned is the pick-up I use.
[/quote]




Hi Erard
woops sorry, assumed you were talking about the tuner as it was the same make

I certainly think it would be a good idea to list what the accessibility is like in all the AB's centres, not just for large instruments like harps, but also for general access for wheelchairs etc.

Hi Barry

yes jolly good idea, the larger centres ie schools and churches are not a problem, never again will I book an exam centre without checking it out before, especially with a full size harp, I have learnt my lesson when we went to the Lyme Regis centre (tiny cramped and totally unsuitable!) talking of wheelchairs, yes that is a valid point, the other day I heard of a harpist with a wheelchair and less abled people should have the same access