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Sharps & Flats
I am new to learning the harp, and I play mostly hymns. I have been avoiding those with sharps or flats but I am tired of dodging those songs.
Can someone help me know how to tune or play the harp to play specifically sharps and flats?
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4 Replies
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Does your harp have levers, and if so, on which strings? An engaged lever will sharpen the string by one semi-tone. So, if you want to play a hymn which has one F# in its key signature (G major) simply put up all your F levers and then when you play F the string will sound F# ! So much easier than other instruments where you have to remember what key you are in.
If you don’t have levers, you can re-tune all you F’s to make them F#’s and/or any other sharps or flats required, but then you’ll have to tune again to play in another key.
If your harp is fully levered, harpists will often tune the harp to Eb (E flat) major, by having the B E and A strings tuned down a semi-tone to Bb, Eb and Ab when the levers are off, meaning that when you play Eb major scale – from one E string up each note to the next E, with all levers down (open strings) it will sound like the major scale. Now when you engage the lever the string will be raised (sharpened) in pitch to sound a natural B E or A. In this case, if you want to play in the key of C with no sharps or flats, you would have B, E and A levers engaged, i.e. up. Then all your notes will be naturals – C major.
Tuning your harp to Eb gives you the flexability to be able to play in any key up to three flats (Bb Eb Ab) and anything up to four sharps (F# C# G# D#). If your harp is tuned to C, because you can only ‘sharpen’ the strings, you could play up to seven sharps in the key signature i.e. every string, but you couldn’t play any flats.
I hope that makes a little sense, and I haven’t confused you. If you are playing hymns I assume you have some knowledge of musical theory.
Christy-lyn has some videos which may make it clearer. Hope you can now explore lots more hymns. 🎵
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Christy-Lyn has videos on her youtube channel on this subject that have helped me. You can also just type in how to tune my harp without levers. Please, let me know if you find any helpful tips/videos that help with playing hymns. I don’t have levers on my harp but really love hymns.
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I have a penny whistle book in the key of D and to play in that book on the harp I tuned all of my Fs and As to make them sharp.
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