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Don’t stress about it. It’s one of those things that goes by epiphanies–at first it makes no sense at all, and then suddenly one day you wonder why it seemed so hard. You’ll get there.
>I also think I’m a little confused because the harp is in E flat, so it seems like the As, Bs, and Es should be something different when the levers are down, but I’m not sure.
That’s why you’re having to tune so far and not having things stay. Tuning in E-flat means tuning A-flat, B-flat, and E-flat in the open string (with the lever disengaged).
Another good option for pedal harp (but only if it’s a country club or some such place) is to just ask them to put out a 72″ round banquet table with the legs folded up. Makes a great stable platform and plenty of room for bench and stand, too. Obviously this isn’t an option at a private home or a small wedding in the park, but it works very well when you can do it.
The sharping ring is used on paraguayan style harps since there’s not really no place for levers when the harp is traditionally constructed with the split neck design.
Rings or taquitos (protruding stops along the center strip that you can press the string against) were the only way to get sharps and flats. Nowadays many of these harps are built with a sort of extension under the neck to give a space for levers.
The ring doesn’t work very well on most European style harps, even if you wanted to do it that way, because there’s not enough give in the strings. (Paraguayan harps are much more loosely strung, usually.)
But it’s quite tricky to get accurate sharps with the ring, because you must shorten the speaking length of the string *exactly* 1/18th of the original length. Deviate even a little and you won’t get an exact half step.
I think most people find levers a lot more handy than the ring would be, and pedals much easier than levers for making accidentals.
You can use google to search the forums by restricting your search to the site.
Yes, the best thing about Camac levers is how easy they are to adjust by yourself. The Thormahlen harp site has instructions for regulating here:
http://thorharp.com/pages/regulatingcamaclevers.htm
You will need the right tools, but that’s a very worthwhile investment. You can get quite accurate with Camac levers and a little practice.
They sell the harps made in Pakistan, I believe. If you do a google search of this site for “Pakistani harps” you will get beaucoup opinions.
Also check with your insurance company–they may have special requirements, like shipping declared value, which is much more expensive than the basic rate, in order to cover the harp in transit.
Yes, your teacher is right. It’s not going to happen overnight, but there is a friction point where the string contacts the lever and as the harp moves due to the slight temperature/humidity changes in the room, it’s ever so slightly rubbing the string at that point.
Put them down.
Also, if you look around shops that sell old LPs, you will find it’s very clear on the covers of several of his albums–very easy to see how it worked, in those nice big photos.
> It isn’t that hard to switch back and forth.
Gotta disagree, to some extent. It’s annoying as all getout to listeners when you’re constantly retuning, and if you’re playing advanced classical music you’re for sure going to run into situations where you need D#, unless you don’t play any pieces arranged by Americans.
I’d have to agree that with good levers four flats is a good tuning–I wish I’d gotten used to it early on, since it would make accompanying cantors at Jewish weddings infinitely simpler (f minor is a very standard key)–but it’s also visually confusing when you’re making fast lever changes and you’re used to seeing one thing then suddenly it’s different. And the harp isn’t pleased, either. It’s not going to stay perfectly in tune when you suddenly change the tuning.
I’m not talking about Saul’s recommendations. I was referring to the pieces on the exam syllabi, like the ABRSM and the Trinity syllabus.
Yes, Hovahness’s Garden of Adonis for flute and harp works beautifully, too. You just set the levers ahead of time.
There’s a great deal more stuff available than there was when this thread began.
One caution about some of the exam syllabus pieces–a lot of the more advanced lever harp music arranged by European teachers requires tuning in four flats.
