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Arrangements for Small Harps
Posted by Alyssa Cowell on 2 March, 2021 at 4:14 pmI love the arrangements Christy-lyn has put together for us, but I’m always on the lookout for more beautiful pieces for small harps! I would love some recommendations geared toward 26-string harps (or smaller).
I’ll get the ball rolling: I really love Anne Crosby Gaudet’s small harp arrangements – I’m working on her Watercolor on White collection and really enjoying the challenge!
Alyssa Cowell replied 1 year, 10 months ago 16 Members · 51 Replies -
51 Replies
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Thanks for the tip, I’m also interested in finding arrangements for small harp, because mine have 27 strings. I’ll follow this discussion!
If you like early music, I can recommand Claire Piganiol’s website (and it’s not because she’s named Claire haha): https://www.earlyharpmusic.net/
Not everything is for 26 strings, but a lot of medieval or Renaissance sheet music are adapted for small harp. Sometimes there is only a few lower notes, but you can also play everything an octave higher, which fits sometimes very well for this kind of music!
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I just got a chance to browse this site – all I can say is: John! Dowland!?
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Haha yes, I thought the same when I found it, I love Dowland! I think I’ll end up buying the book of 10 pieces, for the moment I have the Renaissance harp handbook and it’s very nice, moreover for beginners because there are also tips and a few exercises (about how to place fingers, accents, etc), and there is a level progression through the book. I recommand!
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I’m also looking for music for small harps; my harp only has 19 strings which has proven to be rather a challenge to find things to play
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For harps smaller than 20 strings, I can recommend Kristine Warmhold’s music. You can find it on her site https://www.musikunterricht-lohmar.de/noten-f%C3%BCr-kleine-harfe-sheet-music-for-small-harp/
or at Derwent harps: https://derwent-harps.myshopify.com/collections/all
I have a 15 string lap harp and bought one of her sheet music books aimed at that exact model.
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Thanks for sharing – the samples Kristine Warmhold’s site look intriguing!
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I have a 20 string harp and Kristine has a lot of arrangements for various small harps.
I bought some sheet music through Derwent harps website as thats where I got my harp from – https://www.derwentharps.com/collections/all .Also Kristine has videos of all her tunes (I think) on her youtube channel so you can listen to the pieces before hand.
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Thanks for the resource! I’ll have to check out her YouTube channel!
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Harper Tasche and Cindy Blevins both have lots of music for small harps.
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I have a few of Cindy Blevins’ books – she has some nice options for small AND non-levered harps! I find I need to spend some quality time adding brackets and fingering before I feel ready to attempt playing – a bit challenging for the beginner. Her customer service is great – when I had a missing page in a printed copy, and she responded to my email in record time.
Harper Tasche is new to me – thanks for sharing!
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My travel harp is a Blevinsong 20 and I’ve mainly adapted other music for it, and hadn’t even realized that Cindy Blevins has written specially for it!! Thx!
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In reviewing Cindy Blevins’ site, the first few pieces or books I looked at all require 24-26 strings. Any that you know of that just need the F below middle C? (Mine is fully levered, so 20 strings can go up to E if I sharp the D when tuned in E flat.)
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I would take a look at the “easy lap harp” and “easy lever harp” sections of her site: blevinsmusic.com
I think they might be geared more toward 25+ strings, but she posts samples of pages and audio clips🙂
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I’ve purchased a lot of Anne Crosby Gaudet’s music for 26 strings.
Melody’s traditional music has several books for small harps. I haven’t purchased any of these yet but they’re on my list!
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I really love Anne Crosby Gaudet’s arrangements – she makes expressive and unexpected choices that really shine on harp. This past Christmas I bought a copy of “All is Calm” and I’m still practicing it at least once a week because of how sparkly it sounds?
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Camac makes a small travel harp and has some sheet music for small harps in their shop:
Harpsicle also as quite a selection of sheet music for the small harp:
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With as many small harps on the market, I’m surprised there isn’t even more music available.
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Agreed! I picked a smaller harp based on portability, affordability, and because I wasn’t sure if I could handle the challenge of more notes – I think a lot of new harpists have the same considerations. I’ve started saving up for a bigger harp, but my savings account is not improving as quickly as my harp skills – thus the search for music to keep me busy.
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“my savings account is not improving as quickly as my harp skills” : so true, same here ?
I also find difficult to find sheet music for small harps, however I noticed that very often, a lot of high notes are not used at all through the piece. So it is technically possible to do everything an octave higher! Of course it won’t fit to all repertoires, but for folk/celtic or medieval music it totally works! It was kind of a revelation when I read this advice and tried, this opens new perspectives ? It’s just a little bit of adaptation for the brain, but definitely something to try!
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I just remembered another arranger that I have a few books by – Suzanne Guldimann.
For fans of historical music, she has arrangements for small harps with historical notes and lyrics. They are pretty accessible for beginners, too!
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Wow, I took a look at this, her books seem very interesting, thanks! I have to search if I can find them outside of USA (as shipping costs are really expensive on US websites when you’re in Europe – too bad because you have several wonderful online shops).
I just ordered the ’40 O’Carolan Tunes’ by Sylvia Woods (it took me a while to choose between this one and a few others!). Never worked on her arrangements, but I have the feeling that she is a reference for a lot of people here, so I’ll try! This one is not specific for small harps, but I guess I will adapt when needed…
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I have 2 Sylvia Woods books – I bought the 50 Irish Melodies book thinking it was the O’Carolan book and realized my mistake too late – I like the tunes though, so it worked out.🙃Word to the wise: I do have have to occasionally make some octave shifts to make the songs fit on my harp.
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Thanks for starting this discussion. I agree that a lot of people seem to have small harps, and yet is difficult to find music specifically for them. Thanks for all the resources mentioned here. Looking forward to looking in to some of them. One of the challenges to my savings for a bigger (my savings are also not growing as well as my skills 🙂 ) is I keep finding music I want to buy.
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I hear that – I feel like every other day I think of yet another song I’d like a harp arrangement of….😬
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I bought some fakebooks and play the melody in the right hand. With the left hand I add the chords, that are usually given within the fakebooks. I try out if I like inversions, or wether I need inversions if a chord would not fit wit the range of tones my small harp has. I’m still learning arranging for the harp with Sylvia Woods book about arranging techniques. And once I read some information about old Irish harp techniques. So I try this, too.
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You make a great point – fake books/chord charts/lead sheets are a great option once you have a good grasp of the music theory behind chord reading, and it doesn’t matter what size harp you have!
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I got this book a few weeks ago and love the haunting melodies!!
https://www.folkharp.com/19-26-strings/3074-peaceful-pieces-for-small-harps.html
Joanna Mell is the composer!
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I like that the site you linked to has a whole section of music devoted to small harps – thanks for the new-to-me resource!
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I discovered the sheet music arranged by Debbie Vinick on SheetMusicPlus.com labeled as “Easy” is arranged for harps 25 strings or more! Some are beginner and some are intermediate, and it looks like some of her other pieces can be easily used on a lap harp.
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Thanks for the suggestion – I’m excited about those Beatles arrangements!
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Just a quick addition to the list we’re building here:
https://www.harpkit.com/music-for-the-limerick-harp-1.html
https://www.harpkit.com/music-for-the-limerick-harp-2.html
Two FREE collections of songs for 26 string harp!
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Great, thank you!
This will occupy me during the re-re-lockdown…
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