The good news is that there are a whole bunch of high-quality lever harps being made these days, and we're so proud to be part of a talented community of harp-crafting colleagues. More than ever before, harpists have the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of sizes, looks, sounds, and feels, and to find the specific harp that speaks to their heart. And we'll be the first to say that even though we think rather highly of our own harps, a Dusty Strings harp is not going to be the perfect choice for every player.
But how does one make an informed decision when one can't try them all side by side? For those who don't have the luxury of attending a big harp festival or living near a harp store that stocks many different brands of harp, the struggle is real! You can read about all sorts of specs (weight, string tension and spacing, type of construction, species of woods used, etc.) and you can drool over gorgeous photographs online, but how do you really know what each harp sounds like relative to its cousins?
Many of us turn to YouTube at times like this, looking for honest reviews and sound samples by other harpists. There are tons of great harp videos by both new and experienced harpists, and you can typically find recordings done by the harp makers as well, but it's quite difficult to accurately compare one video to another. One harp can sound entirely different depending on who is playing it, what piece is being played, the acoustics of the room it's in, the specific recording equipment, and any editing that might have been done to the audio track.
To try and eliminate those variables, we went looking for comparison videos that met four criteria:
1. Same room
2. Same day
3. Same recording setup
4. Same player
To start with, we searched out videos that had our Ravenna 34 or Ravenna 26 side by side with at least one other brand of harp. To be honest, we didn't find very many that met the criteria, but we'd love to add to our playlists if you know of a video we missed or if you feel inspired to do one of your own! Hopefully we can gradually build the library, and if folks find this useful, we'll expand to other harp models beyond the Ravennas.
Our top tip for watching these videos is to use headphones. It's easy to get used to phone or tablet speakers and to forget how much more nuance you can hear with a good pair of headphones!
