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Carl’s observation here is excellent, thank you Carl! Let me add that one can use concert techniques (Salzedo, Granjany etc.) on most medium tension folk harps but they will sound pretty bad with the same force as used on a higher tension harp.
It is also not a real great idea to play with the nails on gut, although some do occasionally. Doing that all the time though will fray the gut in a big hurry. Some great harpers use their nails a lot on nylon for the added ring. Whatever harp you choose, you’ll soon adapt to it. Personally I’m partial to a higher tension folk harp, nylon and/or FC strung, since that gives me the best of both worlds:-)
Strings – boy big subject! Let’s start with a few generalities and then I’ll point to a good discussion on the nitty gritty. Background: we want the strings to have enough tension to drive the soundboard but not so much that they break a lot, nor so little that they sound ugly (which audio folks call wow and flutter). Tension depends on three things: the material’s density or mass, it’s vibrating length, and the note’s frequency. The last is a given so designers play around with length and density to get what they want. Specifically the formula is Tension = Mass(2xLengthxFrequency)^2.
For monofilaments gut has higher density than nylon, fluorocarbon is somewhat denser than gut and does not absorb moisture as much if at all, and of course steel and bronze are much higher. “Fiber” is artificial silk about the same density as gut; it is rarely used as the core except in special situations, partly because it keeps stretching forever!
Since nylon has a lower density it is often used in the high treble on pedal harps as well as on lower octaves for lower tension folk harps. On pedal, since otherwise those high treble gut strings would be pretty thin, they are close to their breaking point, and that’s a real expensive pain. On lower folk octaves for the lower tension and, let’s face it, lower expense than gut.
Incidentally there is a false rumor floating around that you should never put gut on a harp designed for nylon. Nope, just use smaller diameters ergo lower mass to get about the same tension as nylon. Bow Brand lever gut strings are manufactured specifically those who want gut’s tone and feel on a lower tension folk instrument. Aside from tone and expense, gut absorbs humidity easily so it goes out of tune fairly readily. As the old saw says “Harpists spend 90% of their time tuning and the other 10% playing out of tune.” Nylon does too but not so much.
We can generalize that nylon has a brighter ring than gut with fluorocarbon in between – but so much depends on the player’s skill that is just a generalization. I don’t use gut anymore since I live in a place where I can’t control humidity very easily so I use FC in it’s place. Fluorocarbon (principally marketed by Savarez Alliance of France and Aquila of Italy) are in fact upgraded fishing line developed in Japan. Some of us actually use the fishing line stuff where expense is an issue.
Here’s an excellent discussion by my friend Rick Kemper (Sligo Harps) on the nitty gritty:
http://www.sligoharps.com/string.html
Lucky for me, I live just across Puget Sound from Dusty Strings so I know their harps pretty well. Not too fond of the FH26 because the nylon/nylon on those are too fat for my little fingers, but it’s a very nice harp. “Purfling” is also called “edge banding”: decorative strips to mask where where the sound board and the back meet the sides of the harp body. The sound board is the part that the strings are strung through.
The back usually usually has large holes so you can access the strings easily for replacing them. Sometimes on some harps there aren’t any though, but you’re unlikely to see that on very many.
All of which leads me to put in a plug for two books that I strongly feel every lever harper should have: “Troubleshooting Your Lever Harp” (David Kolacny) and “The Harpers Manual” (Laurie Riley). Between those two you have just about everything that the average harper needs to know about their instrument, but are rarely told:-)
Cheers,
BiagioIncidentally (just can’t resist) before Melville Clark approached Dupont in the late 1930s about music quality nylon almost all popular harps were gut strung and those lower strings were either steel or bronze core with metal wrap. People have experimented with other materials and approaches since the 1970s when “folk” harps came back into vogue: nylon over nylon, nylon over steel with fiber bedding, fiber bedding with silver wrap and so on. The idea is to get a smooth transition in tone, tension, and sustain.
Older harps are often restrung these days with those kinds of strings since using the original design would put excessive tension on a soundboard that is in it’s secondary stage of deformity. For example, my 90 year old Clark was originally gut transitioning to metal wrapped steel at a concert harp’s tension. I’ve replaced them with nylon, fluorocarbon, nylon over nylon and silver over fiber.
Biagio
Thank you Janis that makes so much sense now to me!
Two posts – from “Celtic” and Carl – relate to the particular harp in question.
Some smaller harps use zither pegs, which are threaded and only protrude on the string and lever side. Most however are through pegs so the tuning wrench end is on the other side, usually the right.
Nylon wrapped nylon core strings are very common on lever harps in the “transition” range; I’ve not seen any on higher tension instruments such as Troubadour, Prelude or concert (pedal).
If you were picture the harmonic curve with respect to string tension, it is an exponential one with the curve accelerating upward around the fifth octave. That’s the “transition range”, so called because the physics requires a transition to heavier strings than monofilament will allow. Where it occurs exactly and what they will be depends on the harp design.
Biagio
Janis, I’m not saying that the piano would not be excellent theory training. But I’m puzzled – if I were to just run over the keys without making a sound won’t I simply be learning the chromatic scale by feel? I’m probably missing something here since I don’t play piano. Or anything else aside from saxophone back in high school. Not much music theory there:-)
Back to CelticKnot’s issue about knowing where the strings are…..wire strings are incredibly hard to see even in the best of light so many players go almost entirely by feel. They use two concepts called “coupled hands” and “finger anchor”. Not that I’m very good at this yet but I do understand the concept: your two hands are coupled in that they “know” where they are in relation to each other spatially, and one finger of each hand is always anchored on a reference string. Obviously this technique won’t work too well for octave jumps, but then a wire harp is not usually more than four octaves at most…..
Biagio
Here are a couple of thoughts for you…..
With respect to levers: there is a technique that double strung harpers use since they cannot, of course, see the right hand side. The “trick” is to place your finger on the string, then quickly slide it up to the lever and flip it up or down. This is easiest with levers having a long handle (cam) such as the newer Lovelands and the Truitts.
If you are starting music pretty much from the beginning it’s unlikely that you will need to be “flipping levers” (that is playing accidentals) for some time; at least until you’ve developed good technique.
On that score (pun intended) I respectfully disagree with Carl to some degree unless you already have a piano. A piano keyboard is certainly easier to visualize (white and black keys) and I wish I had started that way. Singing lessons would have gotten me started just as well and are lot more useful (ie to accompany the voice on the harp).
But if you can’t see the keys anyway how much would a piano really help? Technique is totally different and you would be training your hands to do something they would not do on the harp. It might be better to use your ears just as the blind harpers of Ireland did. There are plenty of good books out there on theory written specifically for harps and I am sure at least some are available in Braille.
Ask our blind musicians on the Virtual Harp Circle how they went about it (I am the owner and moderator of that forum).
As a matter of convention, most people say “harpist” when referring to those who play the pedal instrument, “harpers” for the lever or wire strung. Those who have a quirky sense of humor (that would be me) sometimes say “harperist” which usually gets a laugh.
Chairs: I love my “Adjustright” chair since I play several different sizes of harps, but it is pricey. The advantage is that you can change the height by almost a foot, as well as the angle. Aside from cost, the main disadvantage – it is heavy!
You will be fine with Dusty’s back pack straps but be aware that they are best for a lighter instrument – that FH34 is probably about as heavy as I’d want to do (though it certainly beats lugging the thing with a shoulder strap).
Welcome to the magical world of the harp!
Biagio
Hi Balfour,
Well I did say “about” heh heh. I suppose it depends on what we are calling the middle two octaves and of course what string diameters and therefor specific spacing the designer came up with. Still a two octave stretch from C below middle C to C above gives one a fairly good idea of the rest of the string spacing: 8″-8.5″ sounds about right to me.
Cheers,
BiagioMae, this sounds to me as though you want a pre-amp; would that be right? One reasonably priced option would be the K&K Pure pre-amp with single or dual pick ups. I don’t know what kind of output jack it uses nor specifics about volume/gain controls but it might fit the bill.
Biagio
Many if not most lever harps are designed with “concert spacing” but that’s really not a set standard, more of a reference. Typically the spacing gets wider to allow for thicker strings and more vibration as one progress to the bass. A very common measure for reference is that across two middle octaves: 8.5″/21.6cm from C to C “concert spacing.”
I’d expect any gut strung harp at or near concert tension would have similar spacing. The L&H 34 string Ogden suggests itself (Lyon & Healy is owned by Salvi). Another possibility would be the new Dusty Strings Boulevard, also a 34. I can’t think if any smaller harps at concert tension off the top of my head.
Hope that helps.
BiagioI would suggest Mike Lewis’ blog as a starting place:
http://www.harptech.com/index.html
Some maintenance is fairly simply; some gets more complicated as you must thoroughly understand string theory and the pedal harp mechanism. I don’t know of any books on the subject. Perusing Mike’s blog may give you an idea of what might be feasible for you and what might not. Factory trained technicians tour and you can make an appointment with them for the more complex stuff.
I have not had one of these Wickford harps in my hands, but would say that the concept is sound (small pun):
http://wickharps.blogspot.com/
Biagio
Balfour, I’ve read your testimony for the Ravenna 34 and definitely agree. If I could do it all over again I’d have just bought that to start, later an 36-38, a 26, and a wire strung and forget the building.
As it is, I got in through the back door with a scratch-built Limerick, then a Voyageur kit that I modified (did not like the transition strings), then proceeded to design and build custom harps – first for myself, then for some others.
But by gum if I just wanted to play the lever harp and no fascination with design – Ravenna 34, Eclipse, Lorien Raphael, and a Triplett Luna wire. That would have saved a LOT of work!
Biagio
I’m certainly no expert on this but can share with you what several professionals whom I know do. They memorize the intended set, not only the music but the sequence; write the names down on a piece of paper placed inconspicuously on the floor. Then they practice practice practice, preferably with their friends and students listening. They not only practice the tunes but what they might say between them – for example the tune’s origin, interesting or amusing stories etc. The idea is to establish a conversation, personally as well as musically.
I don’t know about you but a performance that just goes from one tune to the next is much less interesting to me than one where there is a transition between them. That not only gives me as an audience member some personal involvement, it also gives the performer a short period to gauge the “feel” of the performance.
Biagio
Fied, at what I guess would be “optimal” length my nails project no more than 2mm beyond the pad, and even 1mm would be OK for me. I play with nails or the pads depending on the tone I want (and how clumsy I am) and shape the nails somewhat as well. This because I also like my nylon strung harp and don’t want to be restricted. Getting the thumb nail right has been my main “issue”, I’ve had to experiment.
I’ve been taught to press into the string slightly before the pluck which of course exposes a bit more nail surface. Further, I kept the same spacing on my wire harp as on the nylon ones. I’m aware that really dedicated wire players like that minimal spacing, play entirely with their nails and eschew blades entirely. Fine for them but I don’t want to completely “re-educate” the hands:-)
Our wire harp group got together yesterday; of the harps, there were two Caswells, one Triplett Luna, one (and the only wire) Dusty, a converted Triplett Zephyr, and my own which is similar to a Caswell. None of those harps have the traditional narrow spacing and none are tuned with “the sisters.”
I think it’s as much a matter of philosophy as anything. Some people are really into historical harps and that’s wonderful for the rest of us. At the tender age of 65 and a beginner as well I’m just not real interested in becoming the next Cynthia Cathcart or Ann Heymann. Couldn’t anyway!!
Biagio
I used to have the same habit and still do when deeply into arranging. I’d say that the key to relaxation lies in one’s mental state – it is well known that we retain more and play better in what neurologists call the Alpha wave state. Here are a few harp-specific suggestions:
Start with slow relaxed stretches, particularly the spine and lower extremities.
Sit comfortably at your harp with feet flat on the floor and back straight – NOT military ram-rod. Then begin with very slow scales and argpeggios – I know one professional who does this no faster than one quarter note at 20 bpm.
Listen very closely to the sound of every note. Do NOT try for speed but for beauty.
As soon as you find yourself tensing up, stop. Get up, stretch, whatever until you feel relaxed again.
Just as strength and agility take practice, so does calm even playing; one must break the habits of rushing and stopping to correct every single mistake.
As my teacher keeps telling me, “If you practice with bad habits they will become habitual. Therefore practice good ones no matter how slowly you need to do it. Speed and precision will come sooner and more easily that way.”
She does half an hour of yoga every morning upon waking – me I need my coffee but you can see where she is going with that.
Biagio
Incidentally, since I like the Egan but only needed 34 strings I made my own version, the “Selchie”; it and her “sister” 26 string are pictured here:
http://www.harpcolumn.com/members/biagio/media/
Note that the fairly long bass strings give this style of harp great sustain, but they can be played quite softly if I wish. Strings are Nylon, Savarez Alliance FC and a few wound in the bass for the 34. Both are round backs.
If your budget is limited the Dusty Strings Ravenna 34 has an outstanding reputation among both students and professionals; Dustys are available in Europe and I am sure the UK.
