A few years back, I created a now-deleted post containing 2 memes I made using my Photoshop to express what I want for a harp. Especially the lever harp which I had hated for many years because a majority of the lever harps made were all in the form of old-style Celtic harps like the ones played by Irish and Scottish harpers many centuries ago. I didn’t like such lever harps because their shape is unappealing to me, unlike the pedal harp which shape has great elegance and lots of appeal. For years I hated the lever harp because of the inconvenience of having to take my hands off of the strings to move the levers up and down during play, preferring to let the feet do the changing of the pitches on the pedal harp for me. But there are times when I get so desperate for a pedal harp of my very own that I would look into buying a lever harp that looks and feels like the pedal harp. One time I even drew pictures of lever harps shaped like pedal harps in a few different forms such as the one drawn in form of a T. Rex dinosaur for instance, just to satisfy my desire for a dream harp.
In recent years, I decided to make a change in my life by weaning my way into liking the lever harp, but only in the shape of the pedal harp. Years ago, when I first started to play the harp, a vast majority of lever harps were made to resemble the old Celtic harp with the exception of the Salvi Ana, one of the earliest lever harps made to replicate the pedal harp and the Venus Baroque, the second earliest pedal harp-shaped lever harp that I wasn’t aware of until I found out about it on the WWW.
Times sure have changed since then! Now there are more likeable lever harps made out there that replicates the pedal harp to near perfection such as the Salvi Hermes, the Hidden Valley Minuet and King David, Lyon & Healy Prelude, Pratt Chamber, the Princessa and Empress, and finally the Camac Mademoiselle 40 stringed concert lever harp which happens to be my very own lever harp that just arrived at my apartment house last Friday after Christmas.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Ernie Angel!
This is Ernie Angel, my brand new Camac Mademoiselle concert 40 stringed lever harp which I bought from Enchanted Harps, a delightful harp retail store located in Puyallop, WA located just south of Seattle.
I’ve always wanted a Camac Mademoiselle harp ever since I found a used one up for sale at the Virginia harps website months back. But back then, I didn’t have the money to buy the harp until circumstances involving excessive phone calls from Chase Bank lead me to receive an undisclosed amount of money that allowed me to fully purchase the Mademoiselle without the aid of Allegro Credit.
I wanted a gigging harp so I can easily bring it to a few public places to play music for people. But I wanted a lever harp that has more strings on it than Curtis, my 26 stringed harpsicle harp I once had. But I admittedly sold him on eBay to someone living in the Washington State area where Ernie and Enchanted Harps came from a few months back. 26 strings may only cover simple pieces, but the 40 strings that Ernie has on him will certainly cover more than that. The 40 strings on Ernie will cover a whole lot of the same music pieces that I also played a lot of on Grover (now called Grover Gilligan), my beloved Camac Athena pedal harp who just got professional help dealing with cosmetic issues that all that paint and cleaners I’ve used on him just couldn’t solve. I’ll explain the update on Grover’s issues later.
Grover Gilligan and Ernie Angel
Now I have Grover Gilligan and Ernie Angel side by side. Double the harp, double the pleasure. Double the fun. 🙂
Sherry Konkus lives in Owosso, MI. She is the proud owner of the Camac Athena EX Concert Grand Harp named “Grover” and Camac Mademoiselle named “Ernie.” She’s also the proud author of The Punisher Harp Zone. Sherry is the one who came up with the idea of portraying The Punisher from Marvel Comics as the punishing harpist who plays the harp in memory of his family who was killed by the mob years ago.