Melody Lap Harp

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

The song sheets don't fit in case with the harp. An outside pocket would have been good for them to keep it all together. I purchased this to accompany singing & for music exploration in my preschool. It's not only beautiful and an excellent buy price-wise, but the children love it.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

I had one of these as a kid and used it for years. I bought this one for my daughter who has really enjoyed it. She loves trying new songs and making her own music. She has put on performances for the grandparents, who loved it!

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

Service was fine, at a busy time of year.
As a musician myself, I bought this for my three-year-old grandaughter, thinking I could play it with her at first and she could learn in time. I tuned it well but even then, the notes were off when I played a few pieces. The song sheetss were not songs that children are learning these days so the impetus to learn to play it herself was not there.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

Bought this as a Christmas gift for my 6 YO. She absolutely loves it, and is so pleased to be able to play songs on her own. I have read others' reviews and agree that the carry case would be better if the song sheets fit into it.. It also does need to be tuned frequently, but I imagine this would be true with any string instrument, especially one played by a child. Tuning it does take some time, but I haven't had any trouble with the tuning key. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a real instrument for their child...if you are looking for a "toy", this is not the thing for you.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

don't purchase without the song sheets or you defeat the purpose of learning the strings, i have bought these for two of my grandchildren at about 7-8 years of age.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

Hours of fun and creativity

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

Initially a bit difficult to tune, but extremely easy to play once the tuning is done. The blank song sheets are handy for transcribing other songs to use. Having the notes painted on the instrument (or a different color string for "C" would help. The storage case is a bit small, would have been nice if it could also store the song sheets

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

It's a real musical instrument, which means it needs to be tuned regularly, and strings occasionally break and need to be replaced. (If you're looking for a maintenance-free toy that you can give your kids and not worry about, this isn't it.)

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

My grandson loves making music with the lap harp. Others in his family play guitar and dulcimer. Now he can join in the family music besides just singing. Adds to his self-confidence. Probably the most successful gift we've ever given.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

Easy to play when you first get it, and even a small child can pick out a melody; the tuning key is very hard to use; strings break within a few weeks and require difficult replacement. Absolutely will not stay in tune!

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

Not enough instruction regarding tuning. A String broke right away. My daughter is a teenager, not a small child and was being careful. The free string replacement guarantee was nice.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

The harp and music cards are great, and my 7-year-old daughter loved them! (And, my 4-year-old daughter could even follow the music and pluck the right notes.)

However, the tuning key was extremely poor quality (soft metal), so when you placed it on a tuning peg and turned, the tuning peg would sink into the tuning key, then the only way to get the tuning key off the peg was to jiggle it, which untuned the string. After multiple attempts, the tuning pegs completely stripped the inside of the tuning key, so it was unusable. After looking unsuccessfully for an appropriately-sized socket wrench or replacement tuning key, I tried using a small adjustable wrench (4-inch handle) to turn the tuning pegs. It's a little awkward to maneuver the wrench, but it works.

The other problem is with the design of the carrying case. The description says that the pocket on the front is for the music cards, but, the music cards are wider at the bottom than at the top. The front pocket is too narrow at the top to allow the bottom of the cards to pass through, so you cannot get the cards into the pocket. (There should be a zipper on the side of the pocket to allow it to open sufficiently, or, the pocket should be sewn with a side opening, rather than a top opening.) However, the music cards do fit inside the carrying case, under the harp.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

Fun to use outside esp at the park

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

I had a professional tune this, and it still doesn't sound right. Not as user friendly as you would think. My 6-year old has deemed it too difficult to use.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

I ordered the accessories as well and pleased with the whole set. It badly needed to be tuned when it arrived and haven't done that yet. It's still fun to play but doesn't sound that great.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

We gave this to our 4 year old for Christmas this year. Although it took almost an hour to tune and required that we have a tuner to do it, she was playing simple songs within the day.

We bought the entire kit with additional songs and carrying case.

One problem is that you cannot put the songs in the carrying case with the harp. Also, the tuner got lost for a while. It would help to have a pocket for it.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

This was a fun way to teach my grandchildren about how music is made. They learned key names and ascending/descending scales. They were playing songs on their own quickly. The song sheets were great and the case kept everything together and neat. Very good product.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

The instrument itself is a work of art and is so fun and easy to play. The addition song packets make for more selection.

Comments about HearthSong Melody Lap Harp:

6 year old was able to insert the music sheet and play a song immediately! Younger brother 5 did best by just "plucking away" to his own tune. They both pick this up and play with it spontaneously.