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Absolutely, Bill! Gregg–play a lot of them and then choose the one that “speaks to you.” I have owned 85’s that I loved, but never found a 23 that I wanted to buy. Since I play harp professionally, I was often provided with a 23 when doing concerts, so I have played many of them. In the end, I have only one pedal harp, a gorgeous Camac Atlantide Prestige, which I love more than any L&H. Of course, that is just my personal taste, and everyone is different. Go with your favorite!
Best wishes,
BalfourHi, Grace!
Thanks for your post. I was wondering if you (or anyone else reading this) have ever used D’Addario’s bass wire strings on a harp. I have been very pleased with their nylon strings on my harps, but have never tried their wires. Please let me know.
Thanks again,
BalfourThanks, James. You, too, Wil! Yes, the interesting thing about a harp is its quiet voice which projects so very well! I was on vacation, playing my Dusty FH36S on the pier at a marina on our Outer Banks of North Carolina a few summers ago, and folks could hear the harp music very far away, along the banks of the marina! They came to the pier and made up a very fine audience as I played requests.
I remember looking at a Lyon & Healy 85E pedal harp a few years ago which had a very quiet voice, superbly suited for playing dinner or background music. I opted for a new harp which had a brighter voice for what I intended to use the harp for, but I always remembered the great difference in tone the E had.
Happy harping, my friends,
BalfourHello, James,
You are correct about the harp being a logical instrument and everything else you said above in your post. Many instrumentalists and composers who do not actually play the harp write for it beautifully. With hands-on experience, you should be able to play the harp well and compose/improvise on it to a nice degree.
This made me think about something else–do you read music and also play by ear? I have always done both, playing first by ear at about age 5, then learning how to read music. My keyboard knowledge transferred very easily to the harp, as I believe yours will. If you are like me and favor the central Key of C on the keyboard, then you would prefer that also on the harp. I learned the “white keys” first by ear on the piano, then transferred that to the natural strings of the harp, in the Key of C. I play in all keys now, of course, but C is always central, as it is in music theory.
Best of luck in this harping endeavor!
BalfourHi, James,
Hopefully this lockdown will soon be over. We have already gotten the first dose of the Moderna vaccine, and the numbers of new Covid cases are dropping here in North Carolina. Yes, there is hope!
Let us know how things develop as you find a teacher and a harp. It is all so exciting when you begin a new musical journey!
Harp hugs,
Balfour (and Carol Lynn)Hello everyone! Did you read Jan Jennings’ excellent review of Carl’s new edition of Tournier’s 10 pieces for solo harp? It appears on p. 38 of the new Harp Column magazine! Enjoy, my friends!
Best wishes and harp hugs,
BalfourCarl, you will love this! I have been asking some of my musician friends if they have any of this music, and most have been saying, “who is Tournier?” Ha, ha!
Best wishes,
BalfourGood points, Wil! I also wanted to add that most teachers have a preferred “tuning” that they want the student to use while learning whichever method the teacher prefers. Like Biagio stated, if all the exercises and pieces stay in the key of C, then the C tuning, even with no levers, would work for a while. It would be only when a new piece used F sharps or B flats that something would need to change. These Key Signature sharps or flats could indeed be tuned on the harp without levers. A levered harp would definitely be needed for accidentals, though, or some way of producing those notes quickly and temporarily!
Seek out the teacher first, and make sure it is a good fit. Then think about renting a harp to see how you like it!
Best regards,
BalfourCarl, I just searched through my collections and could not turn up that piece. Hope someone else has it!
Best regards to you,
BalfourHi Wil and James!
I was writing my post as Wil sent hers, so I just read it and wanted to add something.
Single-action pedal harps were traditionally tuned in E flat, but Double-action pedal harps were, and are, tuned in all flats, C flat, to enable the harp to play in All Keys.
Thanks for all your posts, my friends.
Cheers,
BalfourDear James,
Thanks for all your responses. It sounds like you love music and musical instruments like we do!
In answer to one of your questions, I play lever harp and pedal harp professionally, as well as piano and organ. Some harp players only do lever, and some only do pedal, depending on their preference. Each kind of harp has its advantages and disadvantages, as you are discovering. You never have the “freedom” of sitting at a harp like you can at a piano and having everything laid out for you without having to change levers or pedals!
The C flat tuning of the pedal harp is very normal. Tuned that way, it appears like it is tuned in C when you sit down to play it, and if your “perfect pitch” is not too affected by it, you just play like you are in C Major! By placing all seven pedals down just one notch, you arrive in the actual key of C, which I just do automatically when I sit down to my pedal harp. Then, placing all the pedals down one more notch, you will be in the Key of C sharp major. Neat, huh? As you said, it is a transposing instrument!
The Keys of G and G flat look the same on the harp pedals, all of them just down one more notch for G than they are for G flat. So are E and E flat, D and D flat, etc. You can place the pedals in any position to accomplish various glissandos in ANY key! Check out Sylvia Woods’ pedal gliss chart to see the amazing possibilities.
In my humble opinion, the pedal harp is easier and much more convenient to play with pedals moved by the feet than the lever harp is with having to move levers with the hands. However, there is that different beauty of tone with the lever harp and of course, its portability. But playing both types, if I could only have one, it would be my gorgeous Camac concert grand pedal harp!
Hope this helps.
Have a great day,
BalfourBiagio, my friend, I love your recap!
James, I forgot to say that the pedal harp and lever harp are “diatonic” instruments, as opposed to “chromatic” ones. The cross-strung harp, as mentioned by Biagio, is chromatic, and a unique instrument which requires a different playing technique than other harps.The diatonic pedal and lever harps require the levers or pedals in order to be able to play all of the chromatic notes, sort of like the black keys on the piano. Without pedals or levers, the harp would be like a piano with just the white keys.
Cheers, everyone!
Balfour
