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Personally I think it all depends on what music you want to play. If you are not going to be playing in flat keys or needing accidentals in flats often then it makes sense to tune to C. Even the best levers will have an effect on tone, although many of the newer levers are much better than they used to be.
I have three lever harps that I use for different kinds of music and one I keep in C and two in Eb.
I agree with those who suggest not changing the tuning back and forth. What ever tuning you want to use stick with it and if it is Eb then just raise the necessary levers to play in sharp keys.
However, I do think that if you want to tune to C for now and then at some later point tune to Eb you shouldn’t have a problem, but I would make a major change like that as part of a full restringing of the harp. It takes a while for new strings to hold their tune anyway.
I actually did this. One of the lever harps I use now I got early on and I was taught to tune to C. Later on, many years later, I decided I wanted to try more classical music so I restrung it and tuned it to Eb. It took a couple of weeks to settle but I have had it tuned to Eb ever since and despite years of being in C it plays in Eb just fine and holds it’s tuning very well.
The thing is not to just go back and forth, one week in C, one in Eb, the next back to C… that would just be hell for trying to keep it in tune.
Interesting that this thread was revived. Since getting my new pedal harp I have decided to re-learn this piece for pedals and after much consideration have chosen the Salzedo version.
Anyone who knows me knows that being true to the original isn’t something that particularly concerns me (although I respect those who put the effort into historical accuracy). In the end I liked Salzedo’s more modern approach. As Saul said his cadenza is very 1940’s in style and I actually really like that.
If I were going to play it with an orchestra that might not be my first choice, but since I am playing it for my own enjoyment I will just go with what appeals to me and Salzedo’s style has always had a big appeal to me. I have actually had the music for a few months now and have read through it but haven’t sat down to do it. I am going to have some serious free time in a couple of weeks and was just thinking that would be the best time to start.
While I don’t think anyone is infallible, the only person I know who actually knew Salzedo was my teacher and she never had a negative thing to say about him. In fact she seemed to think the world of him both as a
The harp Derek Bell used when he played with the Chieftains was a Pilgrim Clarsach. That model of harp was actually designed specifically for him and they are great harps and not hard to find.
The harp he used later on for recording and his solo concerts was built by Glenn Hill of Mountain Glenn Harps. He had a similar harp, not as detailed carving, for sale not long ago. It was the harp Derek used when he performed the concert in CA that was recorded for the A Celtic Evening With Derek Bell album.
If you had the money he could build you pretty much anything you want. And actually considering both the quality and custom nature of his work he really is reasonably priced.
A Salzedo, and a Camac Big Blue electric acoustic but I would have it custom done in red instead of blue.
Yes, pedals definitely have the advantage that it is relatively easy to train the feet to find them without looking, so you don’t have to look away from the music much.
For the issue of finding the levers I went ahead and got myself some of those little blue and red colored elastic rings from Sylvia Woods. You slip them over the lever handles and it makes it much easier to identify the C and F levers just like the strings. I also use white and yellow rings that I use when I am learning a piece, or playing a particularly chromatic piece on levers, to mark the levers that need to be changed. Makes it very easy to find them even using peripheral vision.
For me both pedal and lever changes are pretty much the same. The mechanics of doing either takes some practice but you just get used to it.
What is most important for me is to look at pedal or lever changes in exactly the same way I look at playing the notes. Everything happens at its precise time and in precise rhythm. The changing of a lever or pedal becomes as much a part of playing the music as any other aspect of playing.
So either way you can’t just reach out about the time you think you should and jerk a lever or press a pedal. All movement need to be made with a sense of rhythm so it all flows as part of the music. I don’t know if I am expressing that clearly but I hope you get the idea.
The mechanics come with time, the trick is making the mechanics of lever and pedal changes just like any other of the mechanics of playing.
Congratulations. Playing for other people the first time can be intimidating, but I think an important step. The harp does have the advantage that the sound is so pleasant that an audience is often much more forgiving of imperfection when listening.
Really though, you have every right to be pleased with yourself. It is a big step. Well done.
Yeah, it really depends on what it is. Debussy? A very long time. One of Sylvia Woods arrangements? A week or two.
When I learn a jazz piece it actually takes me the longest. I learn the basic piece, melody and basic accompaniment. But then I take a while to study the structure. The chord progression and the main intervals used and to what effect. I really need to get that under my skin and it takes a while. Then I have to play around with it for a while to get some ideas on which to build counter-melodies and to provide a basis to improvise over. The whole dissecting and analysing part takes longer than just learning the head and chords even though the actual reading of the music is often easier than reading a even one of Sylvia Woods ‘easy’ arrangements.
My advice is to not judge yourself by other people in these things. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Some people can sit down and play almost perfectly from the written page the first time though (and I admit I envy that ability), but they may have difficulty with memorization or problems playing by ear. Others can improvise an accompaniment for another player without even knowing ahead of time the structure of the piece, but can’t play from sheet music to save their lives.
So don’t worry. Just work on the things you feel you need work on and in the process you will discover your strengths as well. We all have problems in one area or another, and we all shine in others.
That’s right Carl. Although in Jazz you might modulate from one key to another and back just for the hell of it, for the most part you center around the key, however you may keep the pedal in place when playing the head or certain parts of the melody.
Basically I learn the melody the same way I would learn any other piece, and if appropriate I would keep a pedal for an accidental locked in place if that was appropriate.
However when improvising that gets too difficult to keep track of, so for the most part yes, I would immediately put the pedal back. Mainly because I often don’t know what note I am going to play until I am practically there. However even when improvising I might work in part of the head fairly unaltered, in which case I may lock the pedal in place if the section I was using was long enough.
But in the end I always tend to get the pedals back in to the key, and in reality they don’t get too far away from it at any point.
Carl,
That’s an interesting point. I guess I just haven’t tackled anything quite that complicated that I felt the need. But I am not strongly opposed to the idea. Just so far most of what I play doesn’t really need it. Besides, I mostly play Jazz so my concern for what is on the actual page only goes so far ;^)
Inspired by this thread Tacye and I met for tea last night and had a very nice conversation about all things harp. It was very nice and I am glad this thread got started to put the idea out there.
I hope to get the chance to meet more of you when the opportunity presents itself.
Carl pretty much nailed it. I will only add that I generally don’t like pedal diagrams. The only place I ever use them is at the beginning of the piece if it is starting in a key that I don’t often use. Then it is just a reminder how the pedals should be set when starting for quick set up.
Other than that I just mark the pedal changes, as Carl said exactly where they occur. I always try to get them as close to the note as possible, but that sometimes is just not possible so where ever the actual change occurs.
Everything else that Carl mentions is pretty much exactly as I was taught in terms of notating pedal changes.
Sylvia Woods also has a great book of John Denver’s love songs. I know many would say “John Denver !?!?”, but he really did write some wonderful love songs and they work really well on the
My pick would be Boieldieu’s concerto for harp and orchestra in C.
It is very accessible for listeners, even those not familiar with harp and harp repitior. It has moments of grandiousity that I think many harp concertos lack, yet when you listen you know this was written for harp and not a transcription of a keyboard piece.
It can go from being very pretty to being a bit bombastic, so it has a great dynamic range that I think pulls people in. And at times it seems to me it sounds just a hint like something Mozart might have written.
Anyway, I listen to this one all the time. Nicanor Zabaleta’s recording with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Top notch interpretation.
