Understanding the harp

This is for all of you who would like to compose for the harp, but don't understand its numerous oddities. It’s important to note first that I am not a professional harpist. I have been learning to play the harp for the past two years, and therefore have two years’ more experience than most of you, but have no more than that.

The harp is part of the plucked strings family, the rest almost entirely belonging to the guitar family (lute, mandolin, etc.). This means that acoustically, a single plucked string on a harp sounds roughly like a single plucked string of the same pitch on a guitar. It furthermore shares with the keyboard instruments the polytonality of using a different string for each pitch, which allows it to provide accompaniment as well as accompany itself; it’s therefore notated on the grand staff.

Pedals
The pedals are the oddest thing about the harp and the least understood. Unlike the piano, which uses separate keys for chromatic notes and diatonic ones, the harp can only play diatonic notes, though it can change keys with the pedals (this is talking about a standard harp. There are, outside the classical music world, chromatic harps). The advantage, however, is that it can play any key (with seven notes per octave), and most importantly can play each one equally easily. A harp can do a 32nd note scale (through glissando) in C-flat melodic minor as asily as in C major, something a piano has trouble with due to it being “set” in C major.

Technically, you cannot simultaneously play C and C#. What isn’t realized, however, is that you CAN simultanesouly play C and D-flat. You can even play B# and D-flat and never touch the C-string! So the harp is not as limited as it may seem. In fact, every note except D, G, and A natural can be played by two different strings, which enables the above as well as certain tremolo effects.

The pedals work by restraining the top of the string, thus sharpening it. They cannot create flats. Instead, the harp is originally tuned in C-flat major, then every string is sharpened. So C# is actually C-flat-double-sharp. This is important because a string sounds nicest when unrestrained. For this reason, the harp’s “favorite” key is C-flat major, and it does not sound very good in C-sharp major. A minor point (the harp still sounds lovely in C-major), but one worth noting. Many harp solos are in C-flat major (remember, a harp doesn’t need piano accompaniment in solos).

Acoustics
This will not make anything technically unplayable, but can lead to bad sounds if you don’t look out for it. For those who don’t know, the piano has a special mechanism that stops the string the second you let go of the note and stops the sound (the damper). The harp does not. Instead, a loud note or a low octave note on a harp will last longer, and a shorter or higher one will be more staccato. Many dynamic effects, such as staccato, are rarely done on the harp. This requires the harpist to manually shut the string up every note, which is impossible if the hand is doing other things. Usually the harpist will just ignore the staccato. In fact, a harpist rarely pays any attention to the difference between an eighth-note eighth-rest and a quarter note. You pluck the string on the beat, then let it vibrate as long as it wants.

On a high octave, don’t play long notes. The sound doesn’t last. I don’t have a piano at home, but I seem to remember it having a similar problem, so I won’t elaborate. Worse is the low octaves. Because the sound continues for a while, it will interefere with other notes a little. If you’re writing an arpeggiated chord, this is good; you get the arpeggiation and the notes still manage to harmonize and create a chord. If it’s not, however… It’s minor, but you should look out for it if you plan to write sixteenth note melodies in the low register. This problem won’t happen if you keep playing the same notes (like in a repeating arpeggiated chord), but if you move around the low register a lot it’s a problem. So don’t do glissandos of the low octaves. Also, at the end of long phrases, the left hand (which plays the low notes) usually silences the strings, which stops the low hum that can still be heard. You can notate this or not ("étouffer"); the harpist will probably do it anyway.

Another problem with the continuing noise is buzzing when you return to a note. If you keep playing quick block chords (as I did once when foolishly directly trying to play an accompaniment written for piano), you will notice a buzz every time you restrike the notes. Expert harpists can minimize this, and it’s not noticable when you’re not constantly silencing multiple notes at once; still worth noting though. Another problem is pedal changes while the string is still vibrating; I’ve heard the buzz is similar to a “slide” on guitar, but having never heard a guitar slide and not really knowing what it is, I can’t say.

Fingering
This part is tricky, especially as it’s not an exact science. Unlike a pianist, a harpist uses only the first four fingers; the pinky is too weak to pluck a string. The total reach from fourth finger to a thumb is around an octave and a half (10-11 diatonic notes), and that’s stretching it (the hand). For example, a piece I’m currently learning involves a B-F-B-F broken chord; to do it I place my thumb on the second F after plucking the first B, as I can’t reach from the low B to the high F at once. Also, the second and third fingers are more comfortable nearer to the fourth finger than with the thumb. So C3-A3-B3-C4 is very hard, while C3-D3-E3-C4 is very easy. Chord spacing (like C-E-G-C) is ideal, though it’s comfort might just be the result of the constant practice in it.

For those who don’t know, harmonic notes on the harp involve temporarily stopping the string precisely at the halfline point while simultaneously plucking it, creating a nice, bell-like sound exactly one octave higher. This is always done with the thumb and involves the whole hand, so don’t use it in complex melodies (also, it’s soft; it won’t be heard if the rest of the music is forte). Basically, it can only be done if you can play it on the piano with only your second finger.

That’s all I can think of right now. If you have any questions, here’s the place to ask. I don’t know everything, but I’ll do my best to answer. The harp is a beautiful yet complex instrument, and understanding how to write for it is very useful.

Fascinating! Thank you very much for this information, I'm sure I'm not the only one here to find it very informative!

A really good modern piece that uses the harp is Webern's Passacaglia.

Check it out, it is quite an amazing piece.

There's so much I don't know. Thanks, Jerdol, for posting this. I've printed this out for future reference.

Thanks for the info and all that, but you're missing one crucial element: what is the order of the pedals, and how are they arrayed on the harp? This is perhaps the single trickiest feature about writing chromatic harp music - negotiating pedal changes - and without knowing thing such as the arrangement of pedals, it's nearly impossible.

What's the rhyme for Pedal CHanges??

Did Columbus Bring Enough Food Going to America

DCB on one side EFGA on the other... I think.... (and quite correct... that is the crucial element)

And also.. for a really good piece, check out Ukioy-e by George Rochberg.. Its amaazzing

Originally Posted by Christopher Dunn-Rankin

Thanks for the info and all that, but you're missing one crucial element: what is the order of the pedals, and how are they arrayed on the harp? This is perhaps the single trickiest feature about writing chromatic harp music - negotiating pedal changes - and without knowing thing such as the arrangement of pedals, it's nearly impossible.

D C B | E F G A

- harpists can only change one pedal per side at a time, but they can change two sides at once: i.e. F# + G# together are impossible, but F# + C# works.

- surefire way to irritate a harpist: give him a score with pedal/lever diagrams written in. Every harpist has his own preference for how pedal changes work, where they are, and whether or not to tune notes enharmonically - for example, in the "Wolcum Yole" of Britten's Ceremony of Carols that I'm learning at the moment, I tune to G to a Gb to imitate the F#, simply because in the fast quaver figure, I'm less likely to fall off the strings and lose the note.

- If you're writing in quick chromatic changes in soft music, you must remember to work around the fact that, simply, pedals make NOISE. Horrible, horrible noise. If you've just plucked a C and want a C# straight after, it's possible, but if the string is unmuffled, will make a horrid metallic grind as the pedal grip moves against the string. This applies to all octaves, so you can't escape. Enharmonics is the way out of this, as in most harp situations.

- Don't forget that you don't have to write for pedal harp. Lever harps - also known as Celtic or folk harps - work on a different principle: the chromatic levers are up the top, so you can easily have different pitches raised or lowered in different octaves. Of course, changes are limited - because lever harps are tuned usually to C or Eb, you can only have the key signatures that fall in the diatonic scales of both those keys. For example, you can't have a non-enharmonic D#. Also, to change levers, the harpist must take his left hand off the string: good players can do it quickly and imperceptibly, but it's hard. And lever harps generally have a smaller range than pedal harps: my concert grand has 47 strings, my lever harp has 34.

But lever harp is fantastic for harp jazz! We don't see enough of that around here.

I hope some of that made sense! - t.

This is an awesomely informative thread! Now I have this information I feel reasonably confident enough to try my hand at writing for harp, something which I've always wanted to do, but never had the knowledge.

I might make this into a wiki article if I get time...

Hey! I've been playing for 15 years...and I just have a few things to add.

For a really informative book on composing for the harp, I highly recommend looking up Dr. Ruth Inglefield's book: "Writing for the Pedal Harp".

There are many effects the harp can do, including one called a Thunder effect, which is basically just slapping your hand against the lowest bass strings. This makes a very loud clanging sound. You can also perform percussive effects on the soundboard, either with your hand or with various mallets---not to extremes! We still aren't drummers. But soft mallets are fine, and not while playing, obviously.

For more effects, check out my teacher's book! There's tons!

Jerdol, that weird pedal sliding thing you mentioned is called, in fact, a pedal slide! I love them, personally. I know you've only been playing for about (well, now) 3 years, but have you seen caplet's l'espagnole? It's chock full of pedal slides, and awesome.