Composing for Harp

Anyone ever compose for the harp? It seems ridiculously tough and complicated but is capable of so many different sounds! I was thinking about it...and I don't really know any new music (with the exception of Still's Ennanga, and even that isn't very contemporary anymore) that uses it as a primary instrument....does anyone have any experience with the instrument that can give tips on composing for it/what new music out there is using harp?

Check out Johann-Baptiste Krumpholtz

He has some beautiful harp stuff

I have used the Harp

But you paln to use it "normaly" or some kind of "Avant Grade" music ?

like this guy

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/microtone-harp-18994.html

I think is not very difficult to write for the harp (I think is more for the guitar) you only have to imagine a keyboard without black keys, and the pedals matter.

Jason,

Ginastera is good:

YouTube - Alberto Ginastera "Concerto for Harp", 1st mvt. (piano reduction)

YouTube - Alberto Ginastera : Harp Concerto (with orch)

And Britten wrote some good harp stuff:

YouTube - Boy playing harp: Interlude - Benjamin Britten

I'm sure you have access to Naxos... Easy to find the Britten on there.

These are two good things to start with..... but you want newer, don't you?

One of Berio's Sequenzas is for harp.

Personally, I think the way the harp is used today in some pieces is a grave misuse of the harp's abilities and overall sound quality/timbre. This is just my opinion and should be viewed as such.

I would look into Tchaikovsky. The harp solo in his Waltz of the Flowers and the harp arpeggios in the Pas de Deux: Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and a Cavalier from The Nutcracker are great. The harp flourishes in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet (Overture) and the harp solo at the end of John Williams' Across the Stars from his music to Star Wars are also worth mentioning.

I would warn against SYS65's advice asking people to look at the harp like a keyboard because it is not. It doesn't sound the same and it isn't used the same; harps are able to do more romantic, lush flourishes and blend in more with the orchestra, while keyboards, like pianos and harpsichords, are more... distinguishable from the rest of the orchestra.

I didn't think he meant it that way. You don't treat the harp like a keyboard, but for an amateur composer it's good to think of it as a keyboard with no black keys so that you don't write anything impossible to play, since there are only 7 strings to the octave, and not twelve. You can move each pitch set up or down a semi-tone from the C scale, but you don't have the versatility of actually having "black keys" like on a keyboard. Obviously you don't treat it like a piano or harpsichord, but I think that's what SYS65 was getting at. Visualising the 7 string vs. 12 to the octave difference.

In my opinion, there are 2 major things that you need to remember when writing for harp. 1, the harpist only uses 4 fingers on each hand, (3 fingers and the thumb)(another reason it is unlike the keyboard, and even where some music is written with the thumb playing 2 notes at once) So when writing chords, there can only be 8 notes at a time if the chord is blocked. This obviously goes further in detail as far as determining if the chord from top to bottom is reachable by an average hand. Number 2, is there are no "accidentals" when dealing with the pedals. Each pedal is set to a different note and thus controls each string of that note, with the ability to be natural, sharp, or flat, when set in a particular pedal position. This allows for many combinations however,(for instance, if you set the E pedal and B pedal to the sharp position, you get a C pentatonic scale). Pedaling can be done fairly quickly though, as long as there is time for the vibrations in the strings to be stopped, as changing the pedal settings while the string is still sounding would obviously result in unpleasant sounds(unless that is the exact sound you're going for). These 2 major things are in my opinion major factors in beginning to write playable music for harp. I suggest reading the harp wiki post(afterthought after typing). It's informative.

I've written for harp in orchestral situations and have one trio with harp Terrestrial Mirror. I played with a harpist at the time of writing the trio so was able to get her to test out things as the work was in progress. It's definitely vital to imagine what the feet need to do for the pedalling, and know at what speed changes can be made. My writing is naturally fairly chromatic so it took a lot of thought to arrive at a satisfactory part for the instrument; the harpist thought it was difficult for the feet, but it's certainly possible to write chromatic music in spite of the harp being fundamentally diatonic.

EnigmusJ4 did understand what I said...

OMWBWAY is also right about avoid writing too large chords (I didn't mention that because I thought i was obvious, but is ok to remind it) ... If the chord is not too wide the harpist can use the 5 fingers (and the Pinky finger is used, mostly in octaves)

When I used the harp is was not so hard, (i wrote tonal music), so I only kept in mind the position of pedals and that's it, ... if you move B to Bb ... remember you don't have B natural that is all (keeping the C in C natural of course)

The black key is what makes the keyborad "look" in the way it is. Imagining the keyboard with out black keys is as easy as imagine a simple space divided in 7 parts.

Now, as in the thread I linked, 2 harps can be a solution for many things... think in that, it may help you.

While I realize this isn't really "contemporary" at all, you could always try looking at Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp which utilizes the harp very effectively (if rather sterotypically) in a chamber setting. Arnold Bax also did a bunch of chamber pieces which utilized the harp though I haven't heard any of them in forever so I can't comment on their quality.

There are a ton of Bax harp-viola (and sometimes flute pieces)...

The Berio looks like a good place to start.

Didn't Boris Tchaik write a harp concerto too? I have a disk of some harp concerto... Boris might be on the disc too... I'll check when I get home.

For an amateur composer it's good to think of it as a keyboard with no black keys so that you don't write anything impossible to play, since there are only 7 strings to the octave, and not twelve.

Then you will only write diatonic music for the harp, which a) does not challenge the performer & b) sounds trite...

The best way for an amateur composer to write for harp is to learn how it actually works! ;)

Crash course in harp:

The harp has seven strings per octave (CDEFGBA), which can be set to play up to seven different notes.

Each note can be set to natural ©, sharp (C#), or flat (Cb). If the C string is set to sharp, all the "C" strings on the harp will play C#.

Completely nonconventional tunings are possible, C# D Eb F# G Ab B for example.

Parts are often spelled enharmonically by necessity. For example if you want to play a chord that includes a C and a C#, the C must necessarily be spelled as a B# because the "C" string cannot be called upon to play sharp and natural at the same time!

I said "up to" seven notes can be played because strings can be tuned to play the SAME note. For example the F and G strings can be tuned to both play F# (F# + Gb technically).

This can be used to for example play a diminished chord. B diminished chord would be spelled B D F Ab normally. On the harp, the strings would be tuned to Cb, D, E#, F, G#, Ab, and B. As you can see, all the notes are enharmonically equivalent to notes of the diminished chord.

NOTATION! is a little confusing.

The pedal settings are laid out not in scale order, but always like so:

[EFGA|DCB]

For example if you wanted the harp to be able to play an E major glissando you would write:

[E F# G# A | D# C# B]

When you want the harpist to change a tuning, for example change our G# to Gb, you would write

[Gb]

indicating the new setting.

The harpist can change ONE pedal on each side of the | line at a time (because he has only two feet!).

[F# | Db]

is an acceptable pedal change.

[F# G#]

is not (unless given more time, e.g. a full measure of rest).

I have a piece where I set the harp to:

[E F# G# A | D# C# B#]

or, spelled in order and more conventionally,

A C♮ C# D# E F# G#

which as you can imagine creates a very interesting sound.

Also called harmonic C# minor :P

Not in the context of an A major chord it ain't ;)

Fair enough!

[E F# G# A | D# C# B#]

when specifying a pedal set up, the order is DCB|EFGA

Whoops yes, I got it backward (I was looking at one of my scores & I use the horseshoe notation, on two lines with EFGA above)

Can you play staccato on a harp? Or would you get the effect by plucking near the ends of the strings?

Can you play staccato on a harp? Or would you get the effect by plucking near the ends of the strings?

Usually any sort of plectoral instrument is automatically staccato. To acheive a shorter sound though, it just has to deal with technique and the dynamic plucked. Changing where you pluck is more for timbre purposes.

A typical technique for a "staccato" sound is damping the string right after plucking it. Such tones are usually called "sons etouff

Wouldn't it be confusing if the piece requiring damping also uses coda symbols?

Well, if it uses both, replace one of them with a verbal instruction, I guess.

A typical technique for a "staccato" sound is damping the string right after plucking it. Such tones are usually called "sons etouff