Block chords, how to play them gently

[Tara Schoepke]

I’ve been playing the harp for about 6 months. I listened to a recording of myself and noticed that whenever I play a block chord, it sounds terrible. The analogy I draw is that it sounds like a kid pounding on the piano. It sounds very harsh and blunt.

How do I make it sound more gentle and elegant? I tried doing some flowy wrist movements, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. But I also don’t really know what I’m doing!😄

Any ideas on what I should work on would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[Biagio]

If you are playing 3 or 4 notes together as blocked chord it may well sound terrible no matter how long you have been playing, so don’t worry. ALL must be played simultaneously (not too easy to do, actually at first) Timing is everything.

Here’s a suggestion: just play a lot of chords by themselves in different configurations: standard 1-3-5-8, 1-5-8, 1-5-3, 1-3-5etc. Play them VERY slowly and listen VERY CAREFULLY. What sounds most pleasing to you?

Honestly, it could be just the way your harp sounds, not your technique but ya know, blocked chords on the harp are not that common in my experience, unless played very fast, and they are usually damped, where they are almost a passing tone.

Hope that helps!
Biagio

[balfour-knight]

I agree with Biagio, rolled chords on the harp are much more common and “harp-like.” I remember working so hard as a child to make a rolled chord sound elegant, but blocked chords were not required that often. Maybe think of “gently squeezing your hand” on the 3 and 4 note blocked chords. You could also practice with just intervals (2 notes at a time) until those sound gentle, then add a note and do 3 at a time. When you feel these are pleasing to your ear, try 4 at a time. Good luck!

Harp Hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)

[Tacye]

Technically, concentrate on squeezing the strings before releasing them. Musically, concentrate on the balance between the fingers. If you play a 3 note triad can you hear if it is major or minor? – if not, your middle note is not sounding compared to the outer ones.

[Gretchen Cover]

I applaud you for being self aware about your chords and playing. Do you take harp lessons? If you are being self taught, this would be the time to find a good harp instructor with lessons preferably in person. However, there are a lot of excellent teachers who teach online. You may also want to look into joining Harp Mastery http://www.harpmastery.com. There are online tutorials and there are live online instructors. Harp Column Academy also has an array of prerecorded tutorials that would be helpful.

[Tara Schoepke]

Thank you for all of the replies. I play the piano also so it never occurred to me that block chords are not all that common on the harp. I’m playing the Deborah Friou version of Danny Boy and there seem to be a lot of them. I don’t like to roll them all because it’s overkill. But now I feel a lot better knowing that it’s probably not all me.

I don’t have trouble making the notes all sound at once; I concentrate on making sure the upper voice is heard in the right hand since it’s usually the melody.

I’m teaching myself, I’m older and this is my third instrument. I might do an online lesson at some point.

Thank you for the tips on websites and tutorials. I’m always looking for lots of those! I’m so grateful to people for putting these sites out there.

[Biagio]

While the origins of Danny Boy aka Londonderry air are obscure, some have traced it to the late 1700s to a tune recorded by Bunting.

What does that have to do with blocked chords one might ask? Well, it is an Irish “Celtic” tune played traditionally on the wire strung harp and extended chords sound poorly on that instrument unless they are damped. So single note or blocked chord harmony is pretty common.

Listening to Friou’s arrangement there are plenty of rolled and arpeggios too…but her arrangement is clearly for a gut or nylon harp so she can get away with it; a “traditional” player would view that as anathema. My obscure point being that where they are blocked she intended to accentuate that beat.

Sometimes (always) it is good to earn a folk tune’s history when considering the interpretation, IMHO. Dunno if that helps though (grin).

[Author]

Posts