Pedal vs Lever dilemma

[louis-xvi]

Hello,

Like many of you I find the harp to be the most beautiful of instruments, but I really have stagnated in the decision of whether to play a harp at all due to the problems of cost and of mobility/size. Of course pedal harps are generally much more expensive and larger than lever harps, and so I won’t be looking into getting one (as I am not rich–as of yet lol). But there is something about the sound of the lever harp that really subtly just doesn’t quite cut it for me. I am interested primarily in Western ‘classical’ music, and enjoy some albeit little Irish/Scottish/Welsh and other folk music. And of course pedal is more suitable for classical repertoire, and lever more for the latter. I just wonder about the extent to which, REALISTICALLY, it is difficult to play classical music on lever? I have read many times that ‘yes, of course you can play classical on lever, with scores transposed from pedal!’ etc. but to what realistic extent? And also, I know the sound issue is quite subjective but has anyone else had any experience with disappointment or vexation towards the sound generated by lever harps when playing classical?

–I only wish to play for enjoyment but wouldn’t mind being able to use the harp as a side-job kind of thing in the future, playing at fancy events and possibly for patients lol. I am currently 19 and plan on becoming a doctor. If not the harp I’d settle for the flute, due to generally cheaper cost, and the idea of being able to easily move the instrument around (I move around a lot myself–might change when I’m older) and play with other people liberally is very appealing (though I’m rather afraid that this would be almost impossible as most people in groups start in childhood and/or are amazing??)… and I suppose the flute is/can be more melodic than the harp?? Though I know then that the competition of flutes will make it more difficult to use it as a side-job at ‘fancy’ events and things lol. I apologize for the length of this post and kindly request your feedback.

[jennifer-buehler]

Have you even taken lessons yet? It may be best to start with a rental instrument and work your way up from there. As far as lever harps go, there is a great deal of variety in sound and feel. If you have the opportunity, shop around. You may find something that you fall in love with. Barbara Brundage who posts here regularly has done a number of excellent arrangements of classical music for lever harp. She would be able to tell you how they differ from pedal arrangements.

[leon-ducommun-dit-verron]

Buy a pedal harp!!! If you buy a lever harp you will always wish you had a pedal one. Plus pedal harps are prettier!

[Angela Biggs]

There are some lever harps made specifically for people who prefer the feel or sound of a pedal harp, or plan to move on to one someday. Look at the lever harp selection of major pedal harp manufacturers. Lyon and Healy is the first one that comes to mind; check out their Prelude.

You can run into trouble playing pedal harp music on lever harp when you get into chromatic (non-diatonic) music. A lot of Romantic-era stuff is out, and you pretty much can’t play Impressionistic music on a lever harp if you want to maintain the integrity of the piece. However — there’s all kind classical-ish music written specifically for lever harp, and lever harps do handle jazz and blues very well. Light jazz is often just as welcome as classical music at weddings, if not more so.

You could also look into single-action lever harps. [Arsalaan Fay](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK2NsuY-EQk) is the only one I could find online currently making them. Single-action lever harps still only have two pitches available per string, but by flipping a single lever on top of the neck you change all octaves of a given pitch at once (just like a single-action pedal harp. )

[Sherj DeSantis]

You might also find that a lever harp strung in gut gives a bit more of the pedal harp sound that you like. I own a Steen lever harp strung in gut, but you can also get many other gut strung lever harps from numerous reputable makers.

I saw Pamela Bruner one year at Southeastern Harp Conference, and she played, in her words, the most difficult classical piece she could find, on her Heartland Dragonheart, and her performance was amazing! I’ve never seen so many lever flips in one piece. How she even memorized it is beyond me, but she did it, did it well, and the result was breathtaking. I also agree with Jennifer’s comment about Barbara Brundage and her arrangements, which make classical repertoire available to those of us who desire that type of music.

I have posted this on another thread somewhere else, but just a recap. When my daughter wanted to go to Julliard for flute, we looked at the cost of a mid range “professional” level flute, and at that time, it was 44,000.00, which was more than the cost of tuition at that time. You can purchase a concert level pedal harp for less than that. (I do not track the price of precious metals anymore and do not know the cost of flutes, as she is now an adult). As to playing for patients, I have a medical background, and a flute in general, does not give the same, low key, warm sound that many string instruments do. I am not saying flutes shouldn’t be in hospitals, just to consider which instruments are better suited to the hospital/hospice environment. I am sure that any professional can gear any instrument appropriately to various situations. However, for many of us, harp is an addiction, and no other instrument can outperform it! Best of luck to you.

[kreig-kitts]

Sherj, either an aggressive flute salesperson heard the word “Julliard” and smelled blood, or your child had a teacher with a gold and platinum obsession. Somebody was trying to take you for a ride, and not in the BMW you could have bought with $40,000.

But anyway back to the thread, I think you’re getting ahead of yourself. If you mean “doctor” as in a medical doctor in the US, I doubt you’ll find yourself with the time and need for a side job later in life, and your main priority right now should be getting an A in biochemistry, anatomy, and all the rest. Lots of lever harps have similar tones to pedal harps, especially if you play with the same technique. I’d suggest renting a lever harp for now and taking some lessons, and let the rest of the harp stuff sort itself out once you’ve learned to play.

[Janis Cortese]

I’ve been going through the same back-and-forth. A pedal harp is not a possibility unless I hit the lottery, and the lever harps feel too constraining for me, especially since I also love Western classical music (and writing my own) and have been a pianist since I was a little kid, and so am used to being able to modulate with total freedom.

I’ve begun mulling a triple harp, just as a possibility. It’s laid out much the same as a piano keyboard in a way, and it was specifically designed to allow complete freedom of modulation. It doesn’t have the same depth of sound as a pedal harp does (I suppose it would rip the neck off if it were made to take that kind of tension on so many strings) but it seems like a harp for pianists in some ways. It is expensive but much less so than pedal harps, and it has many times fewer moving parts. And I admit to loving the Welsh connection, given that I’m a bit of a Cymrophile. 🙂

[Tacye]

I am very impressed with the Teifi Eos as a lever harp with a pedal harp feel and sound.

[jennifer-buehler]

Lyon and Healy has a trade in/trade up program where you can apply most of the purchase price of your L & H lever harp toward the purchase of a pedal harp. There’s also the Certified Pre-Owned program.

[Sherj DeSantis]

I actually would have loved the BMW Kreig!!!! But no, no flute salesmen. She was playing on an upgraded sterling flute, but you are correct, they were platinum and gold, and custom built, and it was about 11 years ago. We talked to numerous professional players, and teachers, and most of them had paid more for their flutes, than their cars. She decided to study biology instead.

[kreig-kitts]

I think she chose well.

[lyn-boundy]

I just have to throw in a word here in support of the lever harp. Many of us chose the lever harp because we prefer it and it pains me whenever I hear it spoken of as an inferior pedal harp. I once read a comment about those people who ask lever harpers if we plan one day to ‘upgrade’ to a pedal harp. The writer pointed out that nobody would ever ask a violinist if they planned one day to upgrade to a cello.

Now having said that, I do believe that if that is the way you look at harps and if you would only be buying a lever version because you can’t afford pedals, then you will always hanker for the pedal harp you really wanted. If, however, you see the two as two different, but linked, instruments, you may well find that the lever harp has plenty of charms of its own. I would defintiely disagree with Leon’s view that pedal harps are ‘prettier’ – beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder. I’m certainly not the only person who dislikes gilt, for a start, and that rules out a heck of a lot of pedal harps, though the carved wood models can be lovely.

I know none of us can predict how we will feel in years to come but I have real trouble trying to imagine myself ever wanting to change to a pedal harp. My clarsach gives me the versatility and mobility I want, fits perfectly into my home and lifestyle and has everything I want in an instrument. I know that’s just my own preference but I would urge that you try to think of the two instruments as different ‘people’ and do your best to decide which you really want in the same way that you would decide between a trumpet and a sax, rather than between a trumpet and a smaller trumpet.

[Loonatik]

Agree with Lyn.

It really depends on what you want: lever or pedal, and going for it.

Compromising a pedal harp and settling for lever harp will probably bring disappointments in the future, if the intention is to eventually play on a pedal harp. I did this long time ago, ended up having to buy a completely new set of music to play on a lever harp.

Though both are harps, plucking on strings seems to be the only commonality. They are actually 2 different instruments with completely different repertoire.

It’s like wanting to play an organ but settling for a piano – never works that way, even though they are both playing on keyboards.

[Tacye]

Personally, I feel that lumping harps together by the mechanism used to get semitones, while a useful shorthand, can be a very poor match for reality. A Teifi Eos (36 strings, concert tension gut) and a Stoney End Eve (22 strings, medium/light tension nylon strings) are both ‘lever’ harps – if the Eve has levers. However, from the point of view of sound and playing technique they are miles apart, and the Teifi is much closer to many pedal harps. Though of course there are harps which make their semitones with a pedal mechanism but are not very like a L&H 23…

[kreig-kitts]

Tacye’s makes a good point, that it’s mostly a mechanism difference. The difference is largely the harp and how it’s played. Since I started playing pedal harp, I’ve been able to get a much larger, pedal harp type of sound out of my lever harp as well. This has, ironically, allowed me to play it more often where I’ve wanted a classical harp sound but didn’t need a pedal harp’s range or chromaticism, because it’s so much easier to take around.

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