I have some questions, but before I write an huge wall of disposable post, I’ll maybe just see if there’s anyone here who cares about the topic.
Maybe there’s some kind of virtuoso autoharp performance I’m unaware of, but I remember learning to handle one with about two minutes of instruction back when I was in elementary school. No, seriously.
Could you do this in elementary school?
There are a number of instruments similar to the autoharp, not to mention a variety of autoharps in the first place. The one in the video above is very much like the one I was introduced to in elementary school–it was owned by my music teacher… About fifteen years ago, I obtained a smaller verion of it. Alas, the thing is no longer with me.
So, OP: which version do you have?
That sounds like multiple instruments at once.
I don’t have any version.
At our day camp this summer, I’m in charge of the 4 & 5s, and our music teacher retires at the end of this year, with no replacement until the fall.
It’s not that bad, because she grew up in Romania, lived her young adult life in Israel, and ran music pretty much like you imagine a music class in Communist Romania in 1955 ran. She also, while great at teaching Jewish folk music, was clueless about American traditions of campfire songs-- and yeah, it’s a day camp, but no reason the kids can’t learn the chorus and first verse of “Barges,” and songs kids love, like “Black Socks,” or “Fish & Chips.” We’re going to make s’mores in the oven too. They’re junior K’ers.
My problem is that I don’t play any instrument very well. I do know how to pick out melody lines on a keyboard, and in programmable one, match them to preset chords and beats, but with little kids, the music needs to follow them.
I took guitar lessons, but haven’t really touched one for 15 years, and barely remember chords, not to mention, I have small hands, and joints that overextend, which is not ideal for the guitar.
I’m trying to get a sense of how easy the autoharp is. I might talk the school into renting one for me to practice on, and use for the summer, or to buy for the school’s use. To belong to the school, in other words, and at my disposal when I need to do music (it would allow me to sub for the music teacher, and if they hire someone with young kids, not a small consideration.
Another thing to try first, though, is one of these cheat bars you can put on a guitar that makes the most basic chords a button you push, and complex chords combinations of two buttons. You can’t produce all the chords, but the songs I want to play are all very simple. If there is any chord I need and don’t have, I can probably use something else. The kids won’t know the difference.
My last choice is to use recordings of songs, but then I either need to spend time with editing software, jiggering most of the songs to shorten them and slow them down. It’s probably easier to learn to play guitar. And nicer. And I can do things like repeat a chorus if the kids are really into a song, or if they really, really love one, decide to teach a second verse when that had not been my original intention. I also won’t spend lots of time on a particular song they end up hating. I have a list of about 20 songs, but I’m sure lots of them will be non-starters. This is my first year doing this, though. By the last couple of weeks, we’ll probably have pared the list down to seven favorites. I have no idea what they will be.
Seriously: the list has everything from “Barges,” to “Hava Nagila” (it’s a Jewish camp) to SpongeBob’s “Campfire Song.” There’s a Burt Bacharach song, and a song from Hair.
So, any and all advice, anecdotes, whatever on the pros and cons of the autoharp are greatly appreciated.
I have until June to practice, and I know I will not be giving concerts then. Just strumming chords with little kids, singing.
Oh, and I already know that I want a diatonic harp for the types of songs on the list.
Yeah, me too. It’s only slightly more difficult to learn how to play than the kazoo.
But (if my memory from decades ago serves), you don’t use one to play melodies, but rather to play chords to accompany singing.
Just spitballing here, but have you thought about a ukulele?
Ukulele? I don’t know anything about them.
Well, it looks like you can’t stop smiling if you’re playing electric autoharp… (John Sebastian loves his… a lot of Lovin’ Spoonful songs used it).
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Looks like there are instructional videos for autoharp, made by…
wait for it…
John Sebastian!
I’m sure you’ve seen them. Tiny 4-string guitar.
I have small hands, and on a large guitar* I mostly play the higher four strings. Sounds fine, except no bass notes (or I tune the bottom string down a step to D. Sounds fine, especially if I’m playing in G or D).
*meaning a guitar with a wide fretboard (the neck).
I went to a guitar store (on a slow afternoon, not a weekend) and admitted my problem, and my ignorance, and they were wonderful. They got me to try a couple of smaller guitars, and some with narrow fretboards, and “easy action” (meaning less pressure needed on the stings). And they had some ukuleles. I’d told them I wasn’t going to buy one that day, and they were fine with that.
They said they were used to people test driving, and were glad to have someone besides a teenager struggling to play Led Zeppelin.
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Hey, wait, if you’re just playing chords for a sing-a-long, you can tune your guitar so it plays a chord without any fingering!
It’s called Open Tuning, and the quickest/easiest is Open G. Just tune the two lowest and the highest string down a step. So instead of EADGBE, your strings are DGDGBD (a G chord!). If you’re only strumming the highest four strings, you can just re-tune the highest string.
A couple of fingers would give you a C and a D chord, and those are all the chords you need for almost any song your pre-Ks know.
No, they won’t care that all their favorite songs are played in the key of G.
My experience with the autoharp is precisely that my music teacher played one. She played it kinda like you would a guitar, just playing the appropriate chords in some sort of rhythm. Her songs all came from a book that would show the chords, but these days you could easily look up the chords online for any song you wanted to do.
And, of course, she sang along with it, leading the rest of us. The advantage of the autoharp is that it’s not really a melody instrument, so you don’t need to work out a melody.
Basically it seemed like having a guitar without needing to remember how to play any chords. It sounds like you could do that pretty easily.
Excellent!
I may do that! I’ll try it this weekend!
No, we were taught to lay it on a desk or table and do straight strumming—which for the purpose of leading a bunch of 3rd-graders in song was more than adequate.
Tried it overnight during a couple of insomniac hours. Was clumsy, and not ready for prime time, but I have 3 & 1/2 months to practice-- I think this will work out. I still might gamble on an EZ chord device, and try to figure out what chords it does with open tuning or other alternate tunings. The device is only $8.95, so I’m not out a lot if it does nothing. I mean, $8.95 is a coffee and a half at Starbucks. Not that I ever go there, because a coffee and a half is $8.95, but you get my point.
I have a small guitar (it’s actually normal-sized for some classical styles), because I thought it would be easier for me-- I can’t manage a full-sized acoustic to save my life, and I was thinking of getting a capo, because the little kids need a higher-pitched accompaniment, but the EZ chord will fit lower on my guitar and produce different chords for that reason. Might still need a capo, though, if I can’t play those chords.
If I’d known this day would come, I’d just have kept up the lessons. Would have been easier.
For the record, though, if I can pull off the music sessions, I will get a little more per hour for every hour I work. It’s not a lot, but enough to add up to “worth it” by the end of the summer, when I will be working 40 hours every week, and possibly some overtime.
Well, it’s been a week, and this is working. Since I’m playing for 4 & 5-yr-olds, I got a capo to raise the pitch. Yes, it’s not a G chord that way, but it’s a G chord analogy, and since I have sheet music for some songs, I can insert a couple of melody lines here and there (I can read music and transcribe-- thanks to my parents for seeing to that when I was a kid).
I also plugged into a lot of videos about strumming styles. Got the thinnest pick ever, that I didn’t even know existed. Did a lot of practicing just strumming the same patterns again and again. Then I got back to the songs.
I recorded myself, and was surprised at how good it sounded. I’m pretty certain that in 3 months, I’ll be ready for the littles. Practicing an hour a day-- sometimes all at once, and sometimes 15 minutes here and there, but sticking to it.
The songs are very simple; I’m not going to be ready for an audition at the Simon school of music at Indiana University in 3 months (or, ever), but this suggestion is the best idea anyone has passed on to me in a long time.
Thanks so much! Like, I think I need to make a contribution some place in your name kind of thanks.