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I play lever harp and have almost completed the purchasing process of my first pedal harp — and I can hardly wait. I’m totally psyched by what I’ll be able to do with the pedal harp, but I can already see one advantage that most lever harps have (in my opinion, and after playing tons of different harps in the buying process, I do finally have an opinion!): lever harps almost always sound reverberant, echo-ey, and just plain sweet and sustaining in the treble register. But whereas pedal harp bass and mid-register are usually lovely (and I find them much more powerful than a typical lever harp), the treble register of most pedal harps is often quite dry; the final octave and a half are especially that way — often sounding like a xylophone, or “plinky.” I don’t enjoy that sound very much, but it seems to be a fact of the instrument, probably due to the heavier (and hence stiffer) soundboard, which itself is necessitated by the higher pressure.
So there’s my vote — I still intend for the pedal harp to become my primary instrument, because of its beauty, and because of the repertory it has!
Hi Helen: I’m a professional pipe organist who’s been teaching for many years (and I’ve just started the harp), but we have many problems in common. Here’s my take on the issue you raised:
As weird as this may seem, I don’t think there’s much of ANYTHING I can do with my organ students’ bad habits. But I think there’s a lot that their REPERTORY can do. Let me explain: I divide “bad habits” into two categories: 1) those habits that literally prevent a student from playing the instrument TODAY, and 2) those habits that allow a student to play easier music today, but that I know will eventually need to be corrected if the student is ever to play serious, truly difficult classical organ literature.
Here’s the thing: after many years, I don’t bother myself too much over the second category. I know that sounds irresponsible, but I’ve based this decision on my OWN progression as a young organist years ago. I learned organ as a kid, and like most kids, at the time I wanted to play the “big” literature. That is, I based most of my repertory decisions on the excitement of playing big organ music that would sound like thunder. Technique bored me. I only learned as much “technique” as I absolutely had to in order to play the music that my ego was insisting I play! Oddly, I got pretty far this way, based on (mostly) sheer stamina and some natural ability. But eventually, by the time I got to conservatory, you guessed it, I had to pay attention to technique. So I did. Anyway, the point is, I try to teach technique congruently with the literature that requires it. The hope here is that the student’s excitement over learning a certain “big” piece is the best bet I have that she/he will actually be interested in the technique lever required by that particular piece. I try to allow the student’s frustration LEAD him/her to a better technique. Of course, if it’s really basic, like a difficult pedaling passage (organ pedaling, that is!) I generally try to teach a basic foundation. The point is: I think the worst way to proceed is to bog a student down by teaching all sorts of technical stuff that won’t be useful to him/her for years, if ever.
This is a useful board. Hope my thoughts add helpfully!
Steve.
