FAQ

Q: What makes your harps different from other harps?

Quick answer:

As there is no such thing as a "standard" harp, they can't help but be "different" from each other. Harp builders have a huge range of design options to choose from.

Explanation:

Harps have no "standard" to follow. From small hand held harps, lap harps, small floor harps, to large concert harps, they each have their own selected number of strings, range, spacing, tension, and scale design. These are all variables of the harp's construction for the style of music played on them. Ethnic origins also play a major factor in their design.

Personally, I gravitate to large professional instruments with elaborate profiles and beautiful art cases which puts my harps in a separate class. Most lever harp makers focus on smaller models with simple features, primarily for mass production and budgetary restraints to meet price points. Very few venture into the larger ornate models. This is what I am inspired to build.

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Q: How long does it take to build a harp?

Quick answer:

Between 2 to 5 months, depending upon the model, carvings, whether it is a brand new design, or reproduction of an established model

Explanation:

Every new harp design starts with a full sized drawing to determine the number of strings, range, soundboard angle, the harmonic curve (neck profile based on bridge pin and tuning pin positions), base, pillar profile, and other details.

From the drawing, plywood templates are made for fabricating the actual parts of the harp. Special jigs are designed for making any complicated parts. This adds extra time for a new design, but these templates and jigs are reused for further reproductions.

Completed sections of the harp are checked for final fit. Carvings are done at this time if required. Then all the parts of the harp are varnished and/or painted.

Once the varnish cures and the artwork completed, hardware is installed on the assembled harp for stringing. It takes nearly a day to carefully string up a large harp which is repeatedly pulled up to pitch several times a day to help stabilize it. It's amazing how much the strings stretch during the first few days.

After a couple of weeks the harp settles enough to install levers if desired. Installing levers can take a day or two for a full set as they must be done with utmost precision to ensure the harp plays in tune in every key.

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Q: How often should I tune my harp?

Quick answer:

This one is easy. Tune your harp every time you practice, play for enjoyment, perform, or whenever it hurts your ear. In other words, as frequently as needed.

Explanation:

Pianos have heavy cast iron plates designed to withstand 20-30 tons of tension, but harps have simple wooden structures designed to withstand only 1000-1500 lbs of tension. Huge difference.

The harp is also unique among stringed instruments. Violins, guitars, dulcimers, pianos, and related counterparts have strings running parallel to the soundboard's surface. Suspended by a bridge, only a small fraction of the string's tension is actually pushed into the soundboard.

Not so the harp. The soundboard bears the full brunt of the combined string tensions at an angle that is somewhat more perpendicular to its surface. The string to soundboard angle is actually a compromised design consideration to facilitate adequate string spacing within the harp's triangular profile.

Wood used in all stringed instruments shrink or swell with varying humidity levels that we have little control over. This makes wooden instruments go out of tune quite regularly. Pianos with their massive construction and iron plates generally fare much better and tolerate being tuned only once or twice a year.

So, come join the company of string players, guitar players, and other harpists who frequently tune their instruments as a normal part of a musician's life.

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Q: Is the harp an easy instrument to learn to play?

Quick answer:

Yes, I think so.  But like anything else in life, a lot depends on personal aptitude, and who you ask!!!

Explanation:

Some instruments are easily played. Others demand developed technique just to produce sound. What challenges one person is merely child's play for another.

"Easy" instruments include pianos, drums, whistles . . . and the radio. Why? Any young child can press a key, bang a stick, blow a mouthpiece and produce sound. Notice I didn't necessarily call it music. The instrument requires very little effort from the player who has no further direct control of the tone once set in motion.

"Difficult" instruments include trumpets, flutes, violins, bagpipes . . . and 747 cockpits. Again, why? These instruments are not typically found in a kindergarten toy box!!! The player must acquire sufficient skills to produce and sustain adequate tones to make music with.

Every instrument is capable of virtuosity requiring years of training, some more than others due to a wider range of technical possibilities. Pianos rank very high on that list.

"The piano is the easiest instrument to play in the beginning, and the hardest to master in the end" - Vladimir Horowitz.

Hmm, I guess he should know!!!

In my opinion, the harp is very easy to start learning, requiring basic skills to produce beautiful tones. With some piano background, the harp is easy to adapt to. (Not necessarily the other way around).

Both pianos and harps use the grand staff with the treble/bass clefs. Many simpler piano pieces are easily played on a harp, often sweeter sounding with its soothing voice. On the other hand, pieces easily played on a chromatic keyboard are impossible to play on the harp. Every instrument has its advantages and disadvantages.

So where does that leave you? If you like drums, then whack away. If you like trumpets, then toot your own horn. If you like pianos, then get all keyed up. And so on.

But if the ethereal sound of a harp captivates and fires your musical imagination, it just might be the most wonderful thing you will ever purchase to make music with. It can be the start of a lifelong journey that you will never regret. Who knows? You might even find yourself somewhere on Center Stage.

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Q: You talk a lot about pedal harps and lever harps. What's the difference and where did they come from?

Quick answer:

On a pedal harp you use the pedals to change the pitch and on a lever harp you use the levers to change the pitch. (Okay, um . . . that was really helpful . . . )

Explanation:

This will take a little longer as we need to take a little walk through history. For hundreds, even thousands of years simple harps were played in one selected key with no means to play in other keys. Simple harps are usually tuned to the key of C, and lever harps to E flat. Pedal harps are always tuned to C flat.

[Let's clarify something first. The seven letter names of the musical scale are A B C D E F G and each have three possible variations: flats, naturals, sharps, e.g. G flat, G natural, and G sharp. The key of C has all naturals, no flats or sharps. Every other key has either flats or sharp.]

Each harp string has a speaking (vibrating) length measured from the soundboard to the bridge pin. Shortening a string length raises the pitch. Guitars use frets, and violins use exact finger positions to shorten string lengths to specific pitches on a chromatic scale. Simple harps have no such means.

One dull and dreary day long ago (okay, maybe it was a bright and cheery day - but that's not the point) someone got the brilliant idea to bend some thick wires into a U shape (called a "hook") and press fit them into strategically placed holes between the strings on the neck. Rotating the hooks a quarter of a turn against the string raised the pitch of the string one semitone.

Playing different keys no longer required re-tuning a harp. On a harp tuned to the key of C, all the hooks on the F strings raised the pitch to F# to produce the key of G. This novel idea quickly caught on and each string got its own "hook".

Flat pieces of solid brass called "blades" replaced the hooks improving tone quality, and are still being used, mostly on wire strung harps. Modern levers have replaced these old style blades, and if carefully installed are very accurate with hardly any loss of tone quality. Flipped by hand when choosing keys, or adding accidentals in the music, they are very popular today.

Then one dark and stormy night not quite so long ago (okay, maybe it was a clear moonlit night - again, again not the point) someone got the brilliant idea to mechanically link all the octaves of a given musical pitch . With a key of C tuning, all the F strings are simultaneously raised in pitch to F# for the key of G. This linkage extended to the base where a foot pedal shifted to select the desired pitch of the F strings. Linking the rest of the strings in like manner produced the single action pedal harp.

Solving one problem often introduces new ones. Some strings are tuned flat to play in flat keys. Assuming a key of C tuning, B flat is needed for the key of F. Since sharping devices raise the pitch of a string, the B strings are tuned a semitone lower to B flat.  Engaging the devices raises the pitch back to B natural.

In the early 1800's a musical and mechanical genius named Sebastian Erard took a really long hard look at this dilemma and realized that two rows of devices were needed to resolve the conflict between flats and sharps. So, starting with the single action pedal harp (one row of devices) he added a second row. Commissioning a skilled clock maker to make the intricate parts of his new mechanism, Erard invented the double action pedal harp which is usually seen in orchestras today because they can play in any key.

The longest speaking lengths on pedal harps are tuned to the key of C flat. Various foot pedal combinations engaged either the bridge pins, first row, or second row to give flats, naturals, or sharps accordingly as required by the key signature, besides adding various accidentals written in the music.

Pedal harps, being big and heavy, and very expensive due to its mechanical complexity, are not always a practical consideration for most people. Lever harps, being smaller and lighter, and much less expensive due to its mechanical simplicity, are gaining popularity for many people, making a great comeback.





More questions to follow.