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I thank all of you who filled out the survey I created for last month's newsletter. I received over 600 responses!
I have emailed the ten lucky recipients, who each received $25 Sylvia Woods Harp Center gift certificates, and most of them have already happily redeemed them for harp music. Congratulations to the winners!
Here are some of the results.
Please be aware that these results may not represent the entire harp community. Since the respondents are all customers of mine, the answers may be skewed towards lever harp players and my products. But I hope you find the results interesting and informative.
For a few questions, respondents could select more than one answer. Therefore, the percentages listed for a question here may add up to more than 100%.
78% live in the USA, 9% in Canada, 3% in Australia, and 2% in the UK and Ireland.
94% are female.
94% play lever harp, 32% play pedal harp, and 28% play both.
8% play a double-strung harp, 4% play a wire-strung harp, and 6% play other types of harps.
62% of lever harp players tune their lever harps to 3 flats, and 27% tune to the key of C.
68% of lever harp players have a harp with 34 to 36 strings.
95% of lever harp players have a harp with sharping levers on all the strings.
27% of pedal harpists own more than one pedal harp.
66% of lever harp players own more than one lever harp, and 19% own more than four.
19% started learning the harp before age 20, 21% began in their 20s or 30s, 37% in their 40s or 50s, and 24% started at age 60 or over.
30% have been playing for less than 10 years, 26% for 10 to 19 years, 36% for 20 to 49 years, 7% for over 50 years. And two women have played for over 70 years!
88% played another instrument before they started the harp. 71% played piano, 25% played guitar, and 18% played flute.
30% currently don't play any instruments other than the harp. 50% play piano, 13% play guitar, 8% play flute, and 8% play organ.
46% of pedal harpists and 49% of lever harpists listed their playing level as "intermediate."
The most popular types of music to play are Celtic and other traditional folk tunes, Christmas, classical, Christian, hymns, pop, original harp music, therapy music, Early Music, and jazz.
58% create and play their own arrangements of existing music.
35% compose their own music.
23% play only for themselves.
Others play in the following settings:
48% for friends and family, 32% at parties and events, 31% at church, 30% for weddings and funerals, 30% at a retirement community, 21% in hospitals or hospice, 20% in a harp ensemble. 11% give solo concerts, 9% play in an orchestra, and 9% create videos for YouTube or other online platforms.
55% of teachers use my Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp book for their students. (Thank you!)
Other recommended beginning books are First Harp Book by Betty Paret, Fun from the First by Samuel Milligan, Play the Harp Beautifully by Pam Bruner, Small Tunes for Young Harpists by Bonnie Goodrich, the Harp Olympics series, Old Tunes for New Harpists by Mildred Dilling, and Harp Exercises for Agility and Speed by Deborah Friou.
Thanks again to everyone who filled out the survey. I appreciate your input.
At the end of the survey, I asked whether your pets love or hate the harp. I'll save those fun answers for next month's newsletter. So, stay tuned!
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