teaching a lever harp

[unknown-user]

Good Day

[jennifer-buehler]

Do you have teacher there in the Philipines?

[Leigh Griffith]

Hello Donald,

Lever harps don’t have the option of flatting a string. the string is
either natural with the lever not engaged (down) or sharp with the
lever engaged (up). A string can be tuned to the flat and then the
lever can be used to make it natural. I’m afraid that’s all the options
a lever harp can offer. Also, each string has to be sharpened
independently by hand (which is probably obvious).

Hope this helps.

Leigh

[unknown-user]

Well, why isn’t there a lever harp with two rows of levers so it can be tuned in c-flat and make naturals and sharps?

[Leigh Griffith]

To do that, I would imagine that the neck would have to be about twice
as wide, then there’s another whole set of levers? I personally don’t
want a lever harp that weighs as much as a pedal harp. Since I am short
(4′ 9″), have a bad back (broken when I was 5), and arthritis, I will
be glad to tune to the necessary key and use the levers for accidentals.

My two cents,

Leigh

[liath-hollins]

Well, why isn’t there a lever harp with two rows of levers so it can be tuned in c-flat and make naturals and sharps?

I imagine it could be done – but I doubt anyone would bother, given the design problems that would need solving.

If you are wanting to play that type of chromatic music, it’s easier
just to play a pedal harp! Most lever harpists are playing traditional
music, which of course is modal, so you just don’t need such a range.

[Evangeline Williams]

There are also chromatic harps, cross strung harps and triple harps for those wanting more chromatics but not a pedal harp.

[barbara-brundage]

>two rows of levers so it can be tuned in c-flat and make naturals and sharps?

Actually, I think Salvi investigated the idea of a double action lever back in the 80’s, but really the technical difficulties would seriously outweigh the advantages. I play lever harp all the time (and for classical music, too) and I can’t say that not being able to play in C-flat has ever been an issue. Even double action levers wouldn’t make modulating a whole harp any faster, and that’s the main difficulty about levers.

[patricia-jaeger]

Instead of two rows of levers to

[barbara-brundage]

>Because four hurricanes in one year in Florida destroyed the workshop of the maker and patent holder of Dilling Harps

Well, only Charlie got Arslaan, but one was enough.

[Jerusha Amado]

How sad that the workshop was destroyed!

[Author]

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