Pedal Order

[balfour-knight]

Tacye, by any chance, have you discovered what the order of the five pedals was on the first pedal harps? I suspect that it was like the black keys on a keyboard, C-D on the left side and F-G-A on the right side.

[Tacye]

Both Roslyn Rensch and Laure Barthel say the 5 pedals were C D F G and Bflat not A, no mention of order. On a quick look in my library I can’t find any descriptions of surviving five pedal harps, just Roslyn Rensch’s mention of one on the Copenhagen museum. The catalogue of harps in the Berlin museum has a four pedal harp with Eb F Bb and C pedals but they date it to 1830/40 and at first look I suspect it would be quite easy to swap the strings going to the pedals round.

[balfour-knight]

Thanks, Tacye! I had also read that about B flat instead of A sharp in Roslyn Rensch’s writings. The part I cannot figure out is how the B pedal assumed its present position if originally it had been to the extreme right where the A pedal is now!

[Tacye]

I don’t assume cdfgb was giving the order of the pedals, just which ones there were. One of the references mentions them as B(b)FCGD in the order of the circle of fifths.

I suspect also that the first pedal harps were comparatively few in number and did not have the weight of custom and expectation that now would make it hard for a maker to change the order of pedals.

[balfour-knight]

That sounds good, Tacye. We are indeed fortunate that the order of the pedals is not constantly changing now, from harp to harp! At least, harpists usually can take their own harps to their gigs, unlike pianists and organists, who have to put up with all kinds of variations on their instruments, like stop-lists (or specifications) on organs! As an organist, I am very used to the stops being “all over the place,” even on the same brand of organ, just a different model. Also, number of manuals (keyboards) from one to five or more! Is the pedal board radiating and concave, or is it a flat one? As a pianist, I have to play all manner and sizes of pianos, from uprights to grands, with totally different tone and actions, relying on my own “touch” to make up for the differences. Never blame the instrument? I confess, I have blamed a few, ha, ha!

Harp hugs and Happy Holidays to all of you,
Balfour

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