Distance between adjacent harp strings…

[William Rinatti]

I mean from core to core, or left edge to left edge, etc.

I guess I will see if L&H or Camac will tell me.

The reason is that I am a composer, not a harp player, and I would like to have an additional reference point. I already have the recommended spans between fingers they give in books.

Thanks for your reply.

[Victoria Johnson]

I am not a composer, but I am a harp player. From a harp player’s perspective, I am looking for music that not only sound good on the harp but is also comfortable to play on the harp. “Fits nicely on the hands” is something that you might have heard of that describe that comfort. Like @titia.stultitia said, with the right kind of technique even small hands can do a lot. Not to mention there are plenty of harpists with large hands with really big reach that wouldn’t mind playing things that I am reluctant to play on the harp because of my own physical limitation! “Fits nicely on the hands” is so much more than how much distance your fingers need to stretch. If you are composing harp pieces or harp parts, it might be worth while to spend some time with a harpist and learn about some of the nuances about the playing the harp that you can take into consideration in your compositions. There are not a lot of music composed for the harp (relative to many other instruments), and many harpists do their own transcriptions of music for other instruments for the harp. What do harpists look for in a piece of music to decide if it would be suitable for adapting for the harp? What modifications were made from the original transcription to suit the harp? What makes one harp transcription better than another? I think answering these questions will give you good insights into composing for the harp as well. Just my two cents.

[William Rinatti]

I will contact Salvi also.

I do have some references on lever harps and have been watching YT videos of them being played. Surprised how fast some of the players can switch those levers.

Thank you very much for all your advice.

[William Rinatti]

Victoria, I will heed all of this great advice. Thank you very much for your time and great help!