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Hello Grace! Alison has been trying to get a response to you for several days. See her topic “It’s proving impossible to load a response…” under RECENT TOPICS. Thanks, Grace. I’m just trying to help here.
Harp Hugs,
BalfourCarl, apparently, some apps still work when there is no cell-phone reception, depending on the way they are installed. Someone who knows more about this may post something here on this thread, I hope.
I was wrong about Debussy, but the above quote is substantiated in several sources about Stravinsky!Best wishes, everyone,
BalfourHarpists spend 90 percent of their lives tuning their harps and 10 percent playing out of tune.
Igor Stravinsky
I meant to add that my New Nylgut NGH strings are doing great, since Dec. 24, 2023! I’m so glad I made the change from pedal nylon to Nylgut. The improvement in tone and feel is “awesome,” believe me! Only real gut can compare with Nylgut, but those thin, high gut strings break too often in the top octaves for me.
Harp Hugs,
BalfourSorry the heading above the gauges is not in line with the columns!
1st column–Aquila New Nylgut codes
2nd column–New Nylgut gut equivalent/actual gauge
3rd column–nylon gauges
4th column–carbon gaugesFinally, I have a chart for converting nylon harp strings to the New Nylgut NGH strings! It even contains carbon gauges. Enjoy!
AQUILA NEW NYLGUT CODES NEW NYLGUT GUT EQUIVALENT / ACTUAL GAUGE NYLON GAUGES CARBON GAUGES
36NNG 0.36 mm 0.40 mm 0.30 mm
38NNG 0.38 mm 0.42 mm 0.32 mm
40NNG 0.40 mm 0.44 mm 0.34 mm
42NNG 0.42 mm 0.46 mm 0.36 mm
44NNG 0.44 mm 0.48 mm 0.375 mm
46NNG 0.46 mm 0.51 mm 0.39 mm
48NNG 0.48 mm 0.53 mm 0.41 mm
50NNG 0.50 mm 0.55 mm 0.43 mm
52NNG 0.52 mm 0.57 mm 0.44 mm
54NNG 0.54 mm 0.59 mm 0.46 mm
56NNG 0.56 mm 0.62 mm 0.475 mm
58NNG 0.58 mm 0.64 mm 0.49 mm
60NNG 0.60 mm 0.66 mm 0.51 mm
62NNG 0.62 mm 0.68 mm 0.525 mm
64NNG 0.64 mm 0.70 mm 0.54 mm
66NNG 0.66 mm 0.73 mm 0.56 mm
68NNG 0.68 mm 0.75 mm 0.58 mm
70NNG 0.70 mm 0.77 mm 0.60 mm
73NNG 0.73 mm 0.80 mm 0.62 mm
76NNG 0.76 mm 0.84 mm 0.64 mm
79NNG 0.79 mm 0.88 mm 0.67 mm
82NNG 0.82 mm 0.91 mm 0.70 mm
85NNG 0.85 mm 0.94 mm 0.72 mm
88NNG 0.88 mm 0.97 mm 0.75 mm
91NNG 0.91 mm 1.00 mm 0.78 mm
94NNG 0.94 mm 1.04 mm 0.80 mm
97NNG 0.97 mm 1.07 mm 0.82 mm
100NNG 1.00 mm 1.11 mm 0.85 mm
104NNG 1.04 mm 1.15 mm 0.88 mm
108NNG 1.08 mm 1.20 mm 0.92 mm
112 NNG 1.12 mm 1.24 mm 0.95 mmMolly, so glad it went well! You may want to check the website of Simply the Harp, my friend, Angi Bemiss, in Atlanta, GA. My few easy and intermediate arrangements for lever harp are there, along with an incredible amount of songs arranged by Angi to add to your repertoire, in simple yet effective arrangements, with very few lever changes. My simple “Essence of the Swan” requires no lever changes, and was a best-seller when we first published it. Angi is a warm, talented delightful person, who would love to help you build your repertoire!
Harp Hugs,
BalfourCarl, all I know is that when I don’t have cell phone service, nothing works on my phone. All of those “extras” like apps seem to be not really in the phone itself, but “in the cloud.” If someone knows more about this, feel free to respond!
I love “us old folks,” ha, ha! I remember back in the early days of my pedal harp experience in college, how delighted we were to find your book on harp maintenance and regulating!
I believe that Debussy may be credited with saying “harpists spend half their life tuning, and the other half playing out of tune!” We are having cold, damp rainy weather here, which raises the humidity above 60%, so we are using the dehumidifiers right now. The harps are not content, ha, ha! Sometimes I just play on them out-of-tune until the damp period is over. At least my fingers get a workout, if it is not too hard on my “perfect pitch,” ha, ha!
Best to all of you,
BalfourHa, Ha, Gretchen! Indeed, I have really missed your posts on HC forums! Hope all is well with you.
In this rural area of western North Carolina where we live, in the mountains, cell-phone reception can be very spotty, with miles of “no service.” Where these sweet young brides want to get married, 40 miles from “nowhere,” and “out in the sticks,” there is often no cell-phone service, so we traveling musicians have had to rely on battery-powered Korg tuners which work anywhere. I tune mostly by ear anyway, and only use the Korg to establish A=440 for the benefit of playing with other musicians, such as violin and flute. (Formerly, a tuning fork sufficed!)
Anyway, thanks for “shaking up the thinking” on this thread. My C flats and also my F flats are doing quite well, especially since I have to tune my pedal harp in C flat, ha, ha! (No such thing on the lever harp tuned in C, you know! A C flat has to be a B natural, like on the piano!)
Harp Hugs everyone,
BalfourCarl, so glad to hear all of that. I have stretched the octaves on my harps as long as I have been tuning them, for many years, since I was 8 years old, learning to tune my first little 29-string harp by ear. When I was 15 and complaining to my dad about “we need to have the PIANO tuned more frequently,” he told me that I could learn to do it, so I apprenticed with our elderly, faithful piano tuner. He did it the old-fashioned way, listening to 4ths and 5ths, getting a good temperament, so I learned it the same way. I’m so glad that the modern phone apps can stretch the octaves. Isn’t it a fantastic sound?
Best wishes,
BalfourThis was in the initial post by Dancingpiper: ” I know there are a lot of great tuner apps for phones but I don’t do apps on my phone. Are there any suggestions as to what would be a good non-app tuner? Thanks, all!!”
I am like her, I don’t do apps on my phone, either, but thanks Gretchen! I know a lot of musicians use apps.Harp Hugs,
Balfour
