LINKS FIRST!!!!

Here’s the event page: World Record Attempt

And here is my Facebook page:  The Tiny Harpist

I still need witnesses for the Harp Marathon.  Contact me!!   🙂

 

It’s been a very long time since I posted last. I am not great at keeping up with the website. 🙂 That will likely change though since I have a very big event coming up in June.

During the weekend of June 14th, I will be attempting to break the current record for the Longest Harp Marathon. I have to beat a record of 25 hours and 34 minutes that was initially set in 2010.
Because one of the first questions I always get is about breaks, here is a short summary of the guidelines I need to follow for the attempt. 🙂

Guidelines for Longest Marathon Harp Playing

Recognizable tunes, played to a reasonable standard, must be played through the attempt.
Apart from pauses lasting no more than 30 seconds between tunes, play must be continuous.
Allowed 5 minutes rest for every continuously completed hour of activity.
Each piece must last at least two minutes.
No piece of music may be repeated in performance within four hours. A playlist of all the tunes performed must be maintained.
No improvisation or jamming.

 

My goal is to play for at least 28 hours. The plan is to play in 4-hour stretches and take a 20 minute break.  The biggest challenge so far, is finding enough people to witness the attempt for me. I need two people at all times to verify start and end times, breaks and follow along with a list of the music that I will be playing.

The Beginning

I was looking through various YouTube and Twitch channels of harpists back in December.  Sometimes I’ll put videos up, but I have yet to get the hang of streaming. It was fun the few times I streamed. The people were very friendly and I had good conversations while playing.  Then I noticed the trend of people/gamers doing 24-hour streams.  The only shifts close to a 24-period of anything I had done so far were usually from doing inventory at work or Black Friday shifts.  (I’m out of retail, thankfully) That’s when I came across an article about the longest harp marathons.  The top one lead right to the Guinness World Records site.

I began to wonder then, how hard could it be? The hardest part would probably be finding enough music to fill the time.  I looked up the requirements for beating the record.  Easy, I thought.  I play for over 25 hours, comfortable in my own apartment, then tell the world I beat a record. Boom.

I was wrong.

First, I would have to find a public venue. Great, there are very few places that would be open 24-hours and would be willing to have cart a harp in.

Next, I couldn’t just film the attempt on my own and send it in.  I would have to film t, but I also would need TWO witnesses at all times.

Finally, I would need to put in an application ahead of time and have it approved.  Also, Guinness only sends representatives for certain records.  I took the free option, which would take 12 weeks to hear back from.  I sent in a full application with all the info, the instrument I was playing and my record goals.

It took a full twelve weeks.  I finally heard back in mid-march.

Now here we are. It’s taken a few months to find a place to accommodate the attempt and to find people to witness, but here we are!   🙂

 

The record attempt will be June 14th through June 15th.  Yes, it’s father’s day weekend.  know. I’ll be starting at 10 am on Friday the 14th and, hopefully, end around 2 pm on Saturday.  I planned on doing a full 28 hours, but we’ll see how exhausted I am by then. I have to at least beat the 25 hours 34 minutes.

I’ll be playing in the recital hall of Cascio Interstate Music in New Berlin, WI.

Here’s the event page: World Record Attempt

And here is my Facebook page:  The Tiny Harpist