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Hi again,
The books I mentioned are all very popular worldwide,with the possible exception of Harper’s, so they should be in most well stocked harp shops anywhere. If not shipping in not that expensive even with VAT.
People use different ways of marking lever changes and some can be confusing due to the string naming issue. One method might read C # III between staves: that would be assuming pedal convention ( 3rd octave C). Another uses scientific and it would be marked C5#. It’s no secret around here that I prefer scientific (C4 being middle C, C5 one octave up etc.) since it is generic, not specific to only one instrument. Anyhow, choose whichever makes sense to you if you do it this way.
My personal preference uses a mark (typically a diamond) and the accidental sign at the point on the score where the arranger suggests the flip to happen – the accidental itself is usually played a few beats later. If your notation software does not have this, just pencil it in.
Not to beat a dead string HAHA but please do not confuse cross strung with double strung harps. The latter has two parallel rows of diatonic strings, and levers on both sides. The cross of course is already entirely chromatic.
You can play a double pretty much like a single (the eyes do adjust quickly) but a cross is an entirely different instrument! I often play my double when my back hurts and I just want to fool around on the couch – 46 strings on a 4 lb 28″ tall harp…I like that:-)Best wishes,
BiagioHi Elletaria,
Happy to hear that things are working out for you! It is difficult to speak of levels, at least for me – I’ve seen “advanced” scores that look easy and “intermediate/moderate level” that seem pretty complicated. Often that estimate seems to be based on the harmony in either or both hands – the bare bones melody might be very simple. So I’ll just suggest some collections that I happen to like:
Cynthia Shelhart – “Tunes to Go”, 400 of them as lead sheets – make the arrangement as simple or complicated as you wish:-)
Laurie Rasmussen – “Dawning of the Day”, mainly Gaelic selections from the CD
Sylvia Woods – “Music Theory and Arranging for the Folk Harp” contains a very large number of tunes as well as many suggestions for arranging them.
Harper Tasche – “A Small Harp Taking it Easy” and other collections of his arranged for the lap harp
WRT the wire harp: one can play these with the same approximate technique as gut/nylon – Allison Kinnaird and Lisa Lynn do for instance – whereas Ann’s Coupled Hands technique is radically different (although there is no reason not to apply it to the gut strung harp). So personally I am learning the tunes in her book using that technique but not trying to relearn others. Cynthias Cathcart’s “Pathways” is another popular wire guide and many find it more easily digestible.
I have to take issue with people who make statements about not substituting gut for nylon or any other string out of “tension issues,” as it is clear that they do not understand the underlying principles.
Fluorocarbon is heavier then gut which is heavier than nylon at the same diameter and length – so we use smaller diameters when replacing nylon with one of the others to achieve the same tension. When people speak of “lever gut” versus “pedal gut” they are speaking of a smaller diameter for the same note (gut is almost always named for the note on the concert harp, which causes a lot of confusion).
Farmers do not raise “pedal harp cows” in one pasture and “lever harp cows” in another LOL. My advice therefore is to choose strings that suit your style, music preferences and technique. People accustomed to high tension gut harps may not like FC or nylon, but that does not make them poor choices by itself.
I’m not familiar with George Stevens but will say you can do a lot more with a small harp than many people realize. Harper Tasche has published a series of arrangements for the harp with 26 or fewer strings (see above) and they are great!
A small double is very versatile too. I don’t know of makers in Europe although several players in England, Israel and Australia have my double 23 and seem happy with it. I’m not making any more but Rees, Argent Fox, and a few others make them here in the US.
Biagio
Hi Eliza,
There are a few good collections in that list but also some to possibly avoid, such as the Bunting Collection (she would have to edit the piano arrangements drastically for harp). Star Edwards’ “Easy Celtic Solos” are indeed easy but the arrangements are not traditional if one cares about such things.
I think that for a good introduction to paying Celtic styles it is very important to listen to recordings and not rely on scores entirely, as accent is often not what a classical harpist might expect. Also, while it varies by region, as a generality Celtic arrangements are sparse – typically open chords and fifths – but with a great deal of ornamentation and you won’t get that just from a score.
Two collections I’d suggest would be those by Kim Robertson and Laurie Riley. Laurie also has published a DVD devoted specifically to that style of playing. Some excellent CDs to “taste” are Alan Stivell’s “Renaissance” and Chris Caswell’s “Holy Wood”. These are wire strung harps from which much (but not all) of so-called “Celtic” music has evolved.
The Carolan collection is great but she should be aware that we only have his melodies so arrangements are by modern players (and not necessarily “traditional” either); Carolan also introduced Baroque elements to the more sparse Irish style.
Biagio
Something no one has mentioned so I will throw it out there. Part of the question concerned volume when a harmonic is played. The physical fact is that for the same strength of pluck the harmonic will never be as loud as the fundamental. As well, there’s a limit to how hard you can attack the harmonic (which depends on practice as well as pure physics.) We simply are constrained by virtue of how our hands are shaped. As to the physics, here’s why:
When we pluck the string we may think that we hear only one note (the fundamental) but in fact we hear the partials (or harmonics) as well. Put simply, the fundamental amplitude (volume) is greater than the partials.
When the string is stopped midpoint (the octave) we have effectively shortened the vibrating length by one half. This doubles the frequency but we have done nothing to change the string tension. The long and short of that (little pun there) without getting into mathematics is that the harmonic sounds at the same amplitude as it does as an “unnoticed” partial.
So don’t despair if you are not getting the volume you want. Lots of practice will help but there is also a physical limit.
Biagio
Lada, I agree that if she teaches well a student should stay with her. I am also choosing to believe that what you mean is, “It is a good thing for a kid to want to please the teacher” as opposed to “Fear is an excellent motivator.” Indeed that is true if we are training an attack dog, but this is not the case here.
I think that some teachers I have known would be quite shocked by your statement as written, including some of the best known in the harp world. Jocelyn Chang, Stephanie Curcio, Chis Caswell, Laurie Riley among others…very nice friendly teachers but no one would say that they produced lazy students with bad technique!
Biagio
Climate and in particular rapid changes thereof have more serious effects on high tension harps with solid wood sound boards than on those like the Ravennas, Rharp Merlin, etc. with medium tension and laminate boards. Laminate has an undeserved reputation as “lesser quality” for several reasons: it does not improve in tone as much, and until recently makers did not take as much trouble to tune them as they do with spruce, cedar, redwood, etc. This is a constant discussion among makers but one thing no one denies is that it is much less susceptible to humidity issues.
A good rule of thumb would be “if you are comfortable, so is your harp.”
Biagio
Try asking the folks at one of the Robinsons Harp Shops about their “decoration charts.” I’m not sure about the details but AM pretty sure that one of the options is the set made famous on the Clark Harps. Personally I’d prefer paint over decals but that of course is permanent.
Congratulations on your new Merlin!
Biagio
On problems in general, I always recommend that new lever harpers buy “Trouble Shooting Your Lever Harp” by David Kolacny (available at Kolacny Music).
There may be several reasons for string breakage other than age:
-Strings of poor quality or improperly stored (unusual in a new well designed harp)
-Bridge pins, tuning pegs, or eyelets have rough edges (smooth them with abrasive cord)
-Acute angle from bridge pin to peg (reduce # of windings on the peg)
-String improperly sized, tension higher than specs (consult the string chart)
– Nylon windings should not go past the bridge pin. If they do, slack off the string and coat the last inch or so with “Crazy Glue” (CVA)If the correct strings are used and the harp is well made strings should last quite a long time. How long that is depends on tension, climate, and your ear (some professionals change every year especially gut).
I am unclear as to why you would replace your wound Mikel strings with those from Dusty unless the vibrating lengths and specs (core material, bedding fibers, windings and sizes of all of these) are exactly the same. You cannot just go by the frequency. Dusty designs and makes their strings specifically for their harps. The only reason I can think of would be if Mikel reverse engineered a Dusty harp.
Hope that helps – but to repeat please get David’s little book, it is really worth it.
Biagio
–Hearpe, every harp maker designs their harp with a particular set of strings in mind. I would strongly suggest that you contact a professional string maker and have them either send you a new set if they have the model in their files or do an analysis for you.
The reason those bass strings are steel and thinner than the wound nylon is that they are heavier which means higher tension. That is what you need as you go down from treble to bass and at some point nylon over nylon will just not be heavy enough.
I’m sorry but we can’t answer these questions without specifics such as vibrating lengths, note frequencies and preferably the original string chart. That is work for the professional string maker.
I’m sorry that is probably not very helpful but it’s the best answer I can give.
Good luck with it and best wishes,
BiagioGreat thread for many reasons! Seemingly we have in the mix some purely historical reasons and some very logical ones, and the latter seemingly based on how the open strings are assumed to be tuned. Even more interesting to me, albeit a divergent topic lies the question of tradition – the music expected to be played and the techniques used.
The pedal harp has been dominant for most of the last century (some would say it still is) so it is logical that a good deal of recent “tradition” relates to this instrument: from how sharping devices are arranged to the way strings are named. With the recent renaissance of interest in so-called Celtic harps that has also led to some rethinking – contrast for example Balfour’s remarks on C tuning versus Tacye’s assumption of Eb for lever harps.
Wire players however often have no sharping blades and mostly tune to G, transposing if needed; and many have two paired Gs in the lower mid range. Paraguayans on the other hand often have an extra string in the octave tuned to Bb….
This is fun to consider – that the oldest stringed instrument is still evolving!
Biagio
What Gretchen said plus…..
Find the exact harmonic point. For the octave harmonic (best to start with) measure the vibrating length and divide by two. Then check for the harmonic at that point to be sure if it is accurate. Many people will then mark that with a dab of white out.
It is tempting but incorrect to press firmly with the knuckle. You merely need to stop the string – and use the knuckle, not the fleshy part of your finger (the fleshy part does “work” but the tone is not as clean). Some people use the same method on the LH side.
Practice the technique on one string at higher tension until you can get to thing down smoothly. Often one in the octave below middle C is a good candidate.
Biagio
Let’s hear from all with other secrets. Here are a few more just for fun…..
Makers prefer air dried wood over rapid kiln drying because the latter burns off volatile compounds leaving the SB dry and brittle.
By the same token, those compounds undergo gradual changes with age which also changes tone.
It is a partial fallacy that “Old growth Sitka spruce makes the best tone wood.” OK, I guess for some instruments like violins etc but a harp’s dynamics are different and a) that is getting hard to find with tight winter growth rings b) while nice for violins, cellos and the like instruments it does not have the best elasticity to strength ratio compared to others.
Those others might be a surprise and include basswood, Engelman spruce, Galacian pine, some cedar, redwood, and sassafras. That’s just for gut or nylon harps, wire strungs are a whole different subject.
In addition to the elongation of fibers (or more accurately as a consequence) the SB belly gradually becomes somewhat permanent as time passes. “Harps sound best when about to break” – yup and that is why – it also applies to modern composite and laminate boards. Although it takes a lot longer for those to elongate to a permanent belly.
There are stages of that belly – you can tell in an old harp when it is becoming critical if there are stress lines around the rib or vertical cracks are wider than 1mm, but best to talk to our maker about that. There are some gorgeous old harps out there over 100 years old!
Small horizontals cracks just indicate that the board is really, really getting to it’s optimal tone (if the ribs are OK).
It is also a partial fallacy that harps with aircraft grade “plywood” laminate boards do not sound as good as solid wood ones. “Partial” because a) “plywood” sounds “cheap” as a generic name (it is not cheap if a/c grade!) b) while it does stretch it takes a lot longer than all wood c) often amateur makers use it for quick results and do not understand acoustics and d) it is far harder than the soft woods mentioned so has a tone more akin to a hard wood board.
So much for my mind dump on boards. Strings next?
Biagio
Indeed they do Saul – LOL one reason you never really know the tone for several years!
Best wishes for a new year,
BiagioAsk that it be placed in a corner to avoid accidental bumps and falls. Loosely cover it with your harp case or a dust cover – do not enclose it tightly as you want it to breath and not trap humidity. As for loosening the strings, that I think will depend on how long you expect it to be there and what kind of string you have.
In general I recommend not loosening them as repeated loosening and tightening is not good for the board; but if you expect to be away for six months or more it might be a good idea. Harps are happiest when they are played but if that is not possible for extended periods probably best to relieve a bit of stress.
Biagio
