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I can’t imagine negotiating who will tune first, second and last. It would probably take longer than the piece itself!
Do you mean Pirastro, by any chance? That is what I use. Doug Rioth played on my harp not so long ago, and I asked him about my stringing, and he said, more or less,
I don’t like sharing the spotlight with a lutenist, plus it makes the balance difficult, I should think. I have heard Ellis’s recording, and it’s cute, but I think the lute detracts from what the harp can say on its own. Who spends more time tuning, I wonder, a lutenist or a harpist?
They made rubber flutes?
I don’t think nylon strings are ideal, but in the upper range I prefer their responsiveness and the longer duration of the tone, and the luminous quality. If I hadn’t been taught to use them, I might not have, but the positive qualities they have make up for any shortcomings, or at least I hope so. I can’t switch to gut in any case. But I definitely don’t like gut in the second octave or higher.
The Camac harps I have heard sound very good, just up to a point. The newer ones may be different. They don’t reverberate to the same degree I expect, I don’t hear the overtones enough, and their response to sforzando notes seems, the only word for it I can find, that they bark. The notes leap out, without context and perhaps die off too quickly without supporting ringing of other strings. The aura of tone is not the same. It’s maybe the last 10 percent of tone quality, the 90 percent is there, but for a recital, that last 10 percent is all important to me. I haven’t played on one, to know how it feels under the fingers, but I go by the sound.
I would like something other than nylon, but have not found anything suitable, and at least they are made of petroleum product, which is sort of natural.
I wonder if anyone has tried making silicone strings.
The neck and column definitely affect the sound. The heavier they are, the less the harp will resonate. While they resonate less, they still contribute and lend support in some way. Adding more metal changes the sound as well. Weight is a major factor in a harp’s sound.
If you compare the size and weight and sound of Lyon & Healy harps, Venus harps and Salvi harps, you may hear the difference, at least with harps made in say, the 1980s. The models have changed somewhat since then. Lyon & Healy concert harps once weighed 78 pounds, as I recall, now they are around 82, while Salvis and some Venus harps are noticably more heavy.
The problem is when people can’t distinguish between carbon fiber and wood, or use them indiscriminately, and as there are already carbon fiber pedal harps (in part), it is already a problem if you care about the difference. Camac harps have a carbon-fiber layer in the sounding board. I think that is why they sound quite different in certain ways.
Loving an instrument, to me, is about loving wood, because I have only ever played wooden instruments, even flute (or maybe ebonite isn’t wood). Wood responds to its player and changes according to how he/she plays, the fibers actually change their alignment. I somehow doubt carbon fiber does that. I use plastic in a generic sense for synthetics. Is the carbon petroleum derived? I thought they were working on using kevlar, which I thought was flouride. Maybe I missed a thread that explained it all. Carbon fiber is fine for some playing or synthetic sound, but I won’t readily accept it for concert playing. The response is different, with some real limitations. But then, I only “accept” one kind of harp, with
As Salzedo used to say, “speculate on the harmony,” meaning, play the right harmony is the main thing.
Are you talking about the original edition? I have it in Annie Louise David’s collection, and it may already be there.
Dewey Owens also has a very thorough collection. If you know the tunes, Jewish songs are mostly in A minor or D minor.
Well, that raises an interesting factor. The universe runs on order and chaos at the same time, and that must be a factor in competitions as well. Perhaps the challenge is in accomodating the chaos factor, and identifying where it will crop up.
I noticed an art song competition recently with no upper age limit, that was very heartening to see. The Bloch Competition has no age limit, but you have to perform Bloch, and he wrote no harp solos.
If I sell mine by the yard, will it be possible to compare? How else can you measure music? Depth of pile?
