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I don't think I am alone in suffering some "disappointment" when the wheels from my lovely Harpo trolley first started to fall off.  The trolley IS really good and has lots of PLUS points. But the wheels falling off are a real design flaw. (This is of course a massive understatement on how annoyingly frustrating the wheels are.) But here is how you can fix the Harpo trolley using just a cheap metal teaspoon. The design problem is very small... it's the teeth on the metal disc which turn the wrong way round with use, meaning that rod can't go full length into the trolley.  The teeth should be pointing towards the tyre and flush with the wheel - the wheel below is ok  If it looks like this (below) then you need to fix it  Grab a metal teaspoon rather than a screwdriver as you don't want to accidentally break off any of those teeth, you just want to push the ring down and at the same time try to push the teeth so it's going inwards towards the tyre. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BREAK THOSE TEETH - don't use a small screwdriver - use the teaspoon as it's less likely to cause breakage. Make sure you pull the rod towards you so that it is extended to it's fullest and carefully push that ring down.   and voila! The pesky wheels go on the trolley first time without any fiddling about.  It's a 10 minute job and saves hours of cursing at your trolley when you try to get it out of the car and the trolley decides to be a pain... and the wheels keep dropping off... and you're trying to get the harp unloaded... and it's raining... and you're annoyed because you spent so much money on this expensive trolley and.....
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Just done this teaching resource for a student - now there is no excuse not to practice ALL those scales, arpeggios and dominant sevenths as required for the ABRSM Grade 5 exam. Feel free to share with any harp students who could do with this free handy practice chart. Double click on each image to open the image fully and then print off. Tick the box as you complete each one you need to do at least 10 each day if you want to get through the cycle in a 2 week period. Select across different keys and types of scales/arpeggios rather than working down the list in numerical order. Happy days! Isabelle Perrin and Barbara Fackler have created a guide to harp notation as used by composer Bernard Andrés with the intention that this collection be shared freely among harpists at no cost.
A Guide to Harp Notation Used in the Compositions of Bernard Andrès Ahh - snow.... lots of snow. That'll be my weekend of rehearsals cancelled then! Always nice to have bonus unexpected time to catch up and do things you wouldn't normally have time to do - when you're not building snowmen that is. So - here is a tick chart for students practicing all the ABRSM grade 6 lever harp scales, arpeggios and dominant sevenths ;-) To play through all of them over during a months practice you need to do at least 12 different ones each time - assuming 20 days of practice in a month. Although I think it's probably more realistic to do the cycle over a 2 month period and do 6 a day. Double click on the images to open full version, save them to your computer and then print off. Such Fun Here's a good video showing how to replace bass wires on a harp - expertly shown by harp technician Peter Wiley. Thanks to the Sylvia Woods harp centerfor this excellent video. Shown on a pedal harp but also good for replacing wires on lever harps. |