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Not so much a harp thing but a folk music thing. . .
People who are trained to play classical music (usually on a flute or violin) and assume, arrogantly, that they can pull off Irish trad music without actually learning how it works.
I think it’d be useful to just
a) get a harp set up with nylon strings and plug it into an oscilloscope to a readout of the strengths of various harmonics within a sample note or two (say, middle C)
b) get the same model of harp, same note, but use a different type of string, and repeat the measurement.
This would be cool stuff – it would show, scientifically, numerical data that explains why gut & nylon strings sound different.
Getting into other areas, you could do an experiment related to temperaments.
– Tune the harp to equal temperament
– Play a piece (or get someone to play a piece) to an audience– Re-tune the harp to Pythagorean tuning
– Play the same piece to a similar audience– See if you can measure any difference in subjective enjoyment of the piece of music.
The point would be to test the appeal of different temperaments, so it would be more of a psychology experiment than a physics experiment.
I’ve played a bunch of instruments in the past (guitar, bass, highland pipes, recorders, viola da gamba *very* briefly, baritone horn in grade school)
For me, harp, guitar, and bouzouki fill a harmonic niche that I can’t get in woodwinds. They also fulfill the “relaxing” niche – I can pick up a stringed instrument and burn through several hours of playing – most of it purely for my own enjoyment. I don’t know a lot of pieces on these instruments and I play a lot more improvisationally. Also, my interest in harp tied in with an interest early music (Medieval) and it’s hard to find people to play with at the hobbyist level for this genre. Stringed instruments are my “self-medicating” instruments, in sum.
Wooden flute and penny whistle play a very different role – I’m a bit more accomplished at these and have performed in public on winds since age 12. Also, the Irish flute/whistle are a bit part of my social life owing to sessions, house parties, and summer workshops. I met my partner at a session, in fact:) When I play at home, it is almost always to a) learn new tunes or b) work on old tunes or specifically practice my breathing and embouchure.
So I guess it boils down to strings: introvert / winds: extrovert.
Interesting discussion. Yet again, the strong harp/flute connection is apparent.
It seems that the logical end result of refining or redesigning a mechanical action is the electroharp. Basically you get a synthesizer with harp strings as the controls. If you remove the soundbox and make a purely electronic instrument, you can raise and lower the pitch to your heart’s content digitally. Heck, throw on a wah pedal and a whammy bar while you’re at it.
– Actually once I did run a lever harp through a guitar effects pedal. The results were. . .
The odds against me ever justifying *two* bray harps are pretty steep.
Yeah, setting the brays is something you more-or-less do and leave set. . . not a task for doing between pieces during a concert, certainly. I want to try setting them in the bass and leaving the midrange and upper end clean. . .
Braying – the pegs holding the string to the soundboard have a tab that can be adjusted to collide with the plucked string. . . making a big buzz. “Fully brayed” means that each string can have this effect. It’s not unlike a sitar. I haven’t tried it yet – waiting for the strings to settle in.
The whole harp appears to be made of walnut.
It weighs 7 pounds, so sore shoulders are not a problem 🙂 I read posts about hauling harps upstairs and thank God that I am not a pedal harpist, too!
In college, I was part of the early music group that did a Renaissance dinner-theater show once a year after Christmas.
Once, during a dress rehearsal, the conductor stood on her hands and conducted with her feet. . . .
What Steven said.
One of the more galling ironies is that the composer will in all likelihood get praised for the beautiful music, while you did all real composing!
Interesting comment about “Celtic” v. “Irish.” Can you articulate more what you like about Celtic (or even what you mean by the term) vs. “Irish” ? I’m not trying to start an argument – I am fairly curious though. By “Irish” do you mean the dance tunes – jigs ‘n’ reels and such, or something else?
I am in the midst of *downsizing* my harp – I had a very nice 36-string lever harp, and am trading “down” to a much small historical harp with fewer strings. . . It al depends on what ya want.
