Music and More

Harp music is identical to piano music. I took piano lessons for four years before I began playing the harp. This provided me with all the music theory I needed. One major difference between harp and piano is that you never use your pinkie finger to play any notes on the harp. This makes all the fingering, quite different from the piano. Harpists often mark their music with the number of the finger above the note and other signs to help themselves remember the fingering.  I have thoroughly enjoyed playing many of my piano pieces on the harp.

There are many different styles of music including Celtic, Jazz, Classical, and various other cultural styles.  The main two categories are Classical and Celtic. Someone playing classical music is typically considered a harpist. As apposed to a harper - someone who plays celtic music. The type of harp played also distinguishes harpists from harpers. Harpist use pedal harps, and harpers use lever harps. Many harpist play in the symphony or orchestra earning a steady paycheck.  They are extremely strict in their techinque, and play pedals with the largest soundboard to project the most sound and depth of tone as possible.  Harpers, on the other hand, may play as soloist, or with Celtic type group. Their harps are often much smaller and sit on their lap. Technique is not a main focus for them, and their music is much more soulful.  See the differences between this well know classical harpist and a world renowned celtic harper for yourself. Tomoko Sato has played with the Honolulu Symphony and the Pacific Symphony, and Sylvia Woods is a soloist harper who won the All-Ireland Harp Championship in 1980. 

Don't worry I haven't forgotten about jazz harpist, and harp therapy is a whole other category. I'll post some more about them soon. As for now, thanks for reading! Please leave questions and comments!

I finally found some pictures of the Lyon and Healy Harp factory. As you can see, it is a very interesting and complex process. Feel free to leave comments or questions. Enjoy!

   

Strings and Tuning

You may have noticed that some strings on the harp are red, others a dull gray, and others a darker blue or black color. This is to help the harpist keep their orientation and find the notes more quickly and accurately.  All the C’s on the harp are red, and all the F’s are black or a dark blue. The strings in-between are not dyed, but they may vary in color due to their composition: approximately 10 of the lowest strings are steel; the majority of the strings in the middle are gut; and the top 10 or so are nylon. A typical pedal harp is tuned so that it is in C major when the pedals are in there natural position, allowing for any key signature to be played with the proper placement of the pedals.

A lever harp, on the other hand, is usually tuned to the key of E flat. All the E, A, and B, levers must be in the sharp position in order to play in the key of C major.

Pedal Harps vs. Lever Harps

Before I get any further, I thought I should do some explaining about the basics. First, there are two main different types of harps: the pedal harp and the lever harp.


The pedal harp has 7 pedals at the base of the harp, one for each note of the octave- C, D, E, F, G, and A. Each pedal has three positions in which it can rest. The first position allows the notes to be flat (a half note lower) the second position places a certain amount of tension on the string bringing the tone of the string up to natural, and the third position places even more tension on the string causing it to be a sharp(a half note higher). Here’s an example of how I would use these pedals when playing. If the song was in the key of D major, which requires C# and F#, I would push the C and the F pedal into the sharp(#) position causing all the C’s and F’s to be sharp. Let’s say that there was one C flat in the song.  Using my feet, I would move the C pedal out of the sharp position into the flat position just before playing the C flat. Then I would move it back into the C sharp position to finish the song. I can explain about the mechanics involved with the pedals and the action later.


The lever harp has a small lever on the neck of the harp for each string. These levers need to be manually pushed up or down to sharp or flat the note. The lever harp is much lighter. One with 40 strings weighs approximately 25 pounds; a pedal harp with 40 strings is 65 pounds.