-
38-Strings: F1-A6 OR A1-C7 ???
I’m saving up for a 38-string harp. I’ve narrowed it down to either a Lewis Creek Phoenix (F1-A6) or a Triplett Eclipse (A1-C7). My question to people who play a wide variety of music is: Which two extra notes are the most important: the bottom F1 & G1 (below C2) or the top B6 & C7 (above A6)?
As you play different types of music, have you found a need for either of these sets?
Most 36-string harps are C2-C7 (but not all).
I’m going to ask this a few times throughout the year because I want as many responses as possible. I don’t have enough experience encountering advanced music to know which notes at the extreme ends are most needed.
If find it so weird that with the harp you always have to ask whether your harp can play a piece. I play a little piano and some guitar – There is no such question as to whether your piano or your guitar can play the music written for it. Any guitar can play any guitar music and any piano can play any piano music. It is only with the harp that you have to be concerned with the range of the music relative to your harp.
So, which? F1-A6 or A1-C7 ?
-
16 Replies
-
I have a 36-string harp that ranges from C2 to C7 and a 34-string harp that goes up to the A6. A friend of mine has a harp with the C2 to C7 range; she likes having those two extra strings to complete a C <font face=”inherit”>arpeggio at the end of a song (she plays from lead sheets a lot and makes her own </font>arrangements). I never use the top two strings myself because a lot of music are written for 34 strings that goes from C2 to A6. I was looking at 38 strings with extra strings at the bottom (I think it is the same range from F1 to A6) and was very close to pulling the trigger, and I had to cancel my order because the shipping cost was very high. 🙁 I occasional play music written by harpists who play the Camac DHC 36 (A1 to A7) or the Camac Excalibur (A1 to C7 I think?!), and it annoys me that I couldn’t play A1 and B1 on my lever harp. I ended up playing those music on my 47-string pedal harp instead.
Another limitation of the lever harp is the fact that it is a lever harp. Depending on the number of levers your harp has and how it is tuned, you can only access a certain number of keys unless you retune the harp. ( https://youtu.be/T_1fSlq54Ms ) Music with a lot of accidentals also tend to be problematic for the lever harp. Piano is a fully chromatic instrument and does not have the same constrains as a lever harp (and to some extend a pedal harp as well!). If your goal is to play a lot of chromatic music (think pop, jazz, and even many of the classical music), the lever harp could be limiting even if you have a lot of strings.
Back to the string range question, I would take F1 – A6 over A1 – C7 any day!
-
That was very interesting. You would take F-A over A-C any day. That is a comment I would like to hear more about. Please explain your reason for saying that. As this is precisely my question. I know I have plenty of time to make a decision, but I would like help reasoning it out.
F-A is Lewis Creek. A-C is Triplett. Eventually, I will have to choose one. I have to save for a year or two to get it; I certainly can’t afford both! One. Or the other.
-
Read my long-winded story which lead to that very last sentence for my rationale. Long story short, I have yet to use the top B and C that I have on my 36 strings harp, but I have played music that goes down to a B or even an A in the bottom which I don’t have on my lever harps.
-
That advocates for the A and the B. But not the lower F and G. I don’t know if they would be used.
I had an interesting email exchange today with the wife of the owner of Lewis Creek. She said that she’s a professional harpist and has never used the highest B and C either. Just what you said.
I asked her if she has ever used that lowest F and G. She has yet to respond to that question.
-
You two choices were F1-A6 and A1-C7. Since I had no need to use the B6 and C7, I choose the option that has more strings in the bass. In reality I think the bottom F and G will have very little use so I would be plenty happy to go with a 36-string harp that goes from A1 to A6.
Most music are designed for lap harps (20 some strings), floor harp (mostly 34 strings because that is the most commonly available size and your music won’t get a lot of sales if they require a 37-string harp to play for example), and pedal harp (My guess is 44 to 47 strings; there are 40 strings pedal harps but I have yet to see music specifically written for them. I haven’t been playing the pedal harp for very long so don’t quote me on this.).
-
If I want more than 36 strings, odds are I am going to need a lot more than 36 and I’ll just switch over to play my 47-string pedal harp at that point. 😆
-
You make some really good points. Thank you.
Off the top of my head, the harp that I can think of that is 36 strings and is A-A is the Rees. Off the top of my head, the other 36-string harps I’ve read about are C-C.
Really, though. What you’re saying is that a 34-string is all I need, and I can save the expense of a 36 or 38-string harp. That is very helpful! Thank you. I believe Christy-Lyn uses a 34-string L&H.
-
-
-
-
-
The only other thing I’ve heard about extra base strings is that they add resonance to the harp. I don’t think that’s enough of a reason to buy a bigger harp. I thought maybe it would allow for more songs. But I guess not.
-
A bigger harp is a bigger harp, right? If you are tall and you don’t want to lift up the harp to get a comfortable playing position, you may find a 36 or 38 string lever harp a better choice for you. The design of the harp also matters for resonance. I have a 34 string Dusty Strings Crescendo and a 36 string Musicmakers Cheyenne; the lowest note on both of the harps are C1 and the Cheyenne has two extra strings on the top. The Cheyenne is shaped very differently and use different materials in the bass strings. The bass is a lot more resonance on the Cheyenne than on the Crescendo.
If you are a composer, having more strings could mean more possibilities for the music that you wrote. Marianne Gubri composed her most recent album on her Camac DHC 36 (goes down to an A in the bottom) for the show that was putting together that she intended to perform with the DHC36, and a lot of the pieces use those bottom notes. Josh Layne wrote a piece of music on a pedal harp and he has both pedal and lever harp version of the sheet music available. He has a 38 string lever harp so he could play the notes at the bottom that I couldn’t on my lever harp. He made those notes optional on the lever harp knowing that many lever harps do not have those bass notes.
When I purchase my first harp, I went for a 34 string fully lever harp knowing that I am very unlikely to write music and I just want to be able to play a wide selection of music on a harp that would fit me and my kids comfortably. (I am relatively short). When I was looking into purchasing a second harp, I knew that I should go as far apart from my first harp as possible in order to make the purchase worth while, so I went with a 47 string pedal harp. Between those two harps I can do a lot. I added the Cheyenne to my harp family later because both of my kids are also learning how to play the harp and we need to transport two harps that fit in our vehicle when they play in harp ensembles. And my husband also wants to build things so he built the Cheyenne from a kit.
If you are not certain which harp is for you, I highly recommend renting a harp. I learned so much about our harp requirements and likes and dislikes when we were renting for my daughter (she was the first in the house to start learning the harp). I purchased all my harps sight unseen. Having rented and and then owned a harp really helped me in asking the right questions, understanding what matters for me and why.
-
Perhaps renting the model I might want to buy is a good idea, although costly. I own an inexpensive harp that I am learning on.
-
What have your experience been with the harp you own right now? Anything that you like? Don’t like?
-
-
-
If you know how to transpose music, you can edit tunes to fit your harp’s specific range. For example, when a tune is in the key of F-major and goes down to a low B-flat, which is below my harp’s bottom C, I use MuseScore to automatically transpose it up one step to G-major. Then the bottom note will be a C instead of B-flat, and it fits my harp perfectly.
.
That requires learning some basic music theory, as well as using a music notation program (such as MuseScore, which is free). But both topics are fascinating to learn. So far, I haven’t found anything that can’t be adjusted to fit 34 strings.
-
This is very interesting! No, I don’t know how to transpose music, but I am taking a course on music theory online and I am learning a lot. Maybe one day I will know how to transpose music. I would very much like to arrange music for the harp because a lot of the music I like is not available for the harp. So, if I can learn how, I will do it.
I’m curious about Musescore. In order for it to transpose your music, you have to write the piec into the program first, no? Then what? With one click it will change the key for you? Wow! That’s really something.
-
That music theory course is certainly going to help you. You have some great questions about MuseScore. I’ll start a new thread on that topic later, so that it doesn’t hijack your discussion here. It has been interesting to follow all your harp selection questions.
-
Thank you. I’ll read your new thread. Thank you for the compliment. I really enjoy reading what people have to say.
-
Here’s a link to the MuseScore thread that answers Eileen’s questions:
https://www.learningtheharp.com/forums/discussion/musescore-free-music-notation-software/
-
-
-
-
Log in to reply.