I wish I had seen this comprehensive explanation of the harp when I first bought a harp and knew absolutely nothing about them. I still found this video interesting over a year later. Thank you for making it interesting.
Ms. Pollauf, I’m an orchestra conductor and have decided to take harp lessons to understand the instrument better. I found your videos looking for one of my first solos, “I Hear a Harp”. Thank you for all of your videos! After watching you play, I ordered the Andres Marelles. I hope to purchase my own harp soon!
I'm so pleased to hear that you're taking harp lesson to learn more about the instrument. Sometimes conductors are intimidated by the harp and don't always know how to provide helpful feedback, but you will be in an excellent position! I'm glad you're finding everything useful and good luck with purchasing a harp. If you need more repertoire ideas, you might look here: www.harpinsideout.com/repertoire-suggestions
Another question: Don't you just set the scale before you start, and do mid changes for accidentals? Not that it's good enough for concerts with mid-key changes, but in folk music, it should work, right?
For straightforward pieces, you do set the scale before you start, using the levers or the pedals. If you're interested in more about tuning, I have a whole series of videos about different tunings: ru-vid.com/group/PLDIMAxMsUvoNnxHnyNPHEuFtkqZsPiITw
@@kumarraja4089 I have a video about determining which replace string you need here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t3dK-fYYSPY.html Also, here's an entire playlist of videos I've made about repair and maintenance: ru-vid.com/group/PLDIMAxMsUvoNnxHnyNPHEuFtkqZsPiITw
Great video Jacqueline! I was wondering how often harps needed to be tuned. When you tune daily, are the strings very much out of tune, or just slightly?
@@JacquelinePollauf Another quick, random story. I was 14 when I found out I had perfect pitch. It was shortly thereafter that I took up playing the guitar. I was always diligent about staying in tune. I never developed the ability to hear every single note played in, say, a 10 note chord on the piano - but I could always instantly recognize any of the 12 notes played by itself with 100% accuracy. So fast forward to last year, I basically got lazy and stopped tuning for a few months. When I finally got my tuner out one day, I couldn’t believe what I heard: the actual tuned note was a half step lower than what my brain thought it was. E’s sounded like F’s to me, G’s like A flats, and so on! I was in denial and thought the tuner was broken, not in A-440, etc. I even went online and started taking these perfect pitch tests, and every time the answer was always a half step lower than the one I chose. Long story short - I’ve gone back to tuning often and with a tuner, and now it looks my pitches are back to being perfect. I can’t have my perfect pitch being downgraded! 😂
@@gelguitarist That's crazy! Your perfect pitch got decalibrated! I've always been really intrigued by the phenomenon of perfect pitch (which I do not have), but I have never heard a story like that one. I'm glad it's back!
Hello Miss Palluf.! I don't think I spelled your name right, and if I didn't I'm very sorry. I'm not looking at the screen, and I have a pretty good explanation for that you see I was born with no eyeballs. My name is Dwayne White, also known as DW Blues. I love all music, that includes classical, but I played Jazz, specifically smooth jazz. I play piano, synthesizer, Oregon, melodica, vibraphone, marimba, Kalimba, upright bass, aerophone, clarinet, and flute. I'm on the doctoral program at the University of South Florida and Tampa. I'm working on a double doctorate in Solo performance keyboard vocal emphasis jazz, as well as contemporary Theory and composition, and I have three more hours to go. My plan is to take three hours of harp. I believe that I can do it, because it seems pretty easy, and I have familiarized myself with the harp, seeing that I have a friend who has one. She doesn't play the harp, she inherited it, and I'm about the only one that she trusts to handle it. It has been a lifelong dream to play as many instruments as I possibly can which includes the harp. If I can Master this instrument, that will be instrument number 12, then I'll feel complete. Thanks for your contribution to me endeavoring to master this instrument.
Thanks so much for your message, Dwayne! That's really exciting to hear all about of your musical studies and the many instruments that you play. I'm so glad that you want to add a bit of harp in your life, and that you have a friend with an instrument. I hope all goes well with learning the harp and with finishing your doctoral studies! Best wishes.
Thank you so much for your response. It is so very encouraging. I'm having a labor day that is absolutely excellent. My friend Nancy has trusted her harp in my care you can imagine how excited I am about that. You know that I'm going to guard that thing with my very life if I'm going to have one, and you can also rest assured that my wife Kathy is going to make sure of it. She, meaning Nancy, has already given me instructions on what to do and how to take proper care of it you can be sure that I'm going to follow those to the letter. If it wasn't for the fact that I live in a gated community, I wouldn't have taken her up on that offer. I know how valuable and how expensive those things are. I've already picked out the perfect place for it, right next to my grand piano. The two of them will make beautiful music together. LOL. Now I have one to practice on for the semester I find it is very much like the piano the pedals are a bit of a challenge, but I suspect that they won't be for long once I remember where they are. I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve. I can hardly wait for it to get here. She's on her way with it. I do have a favor to ask of you though.! As I said on the previous message she does not play the harp, she inherited it. If you have any suggestions on how to better take care of it, I am open to them I want to take the best possible care of its that I can. That is the absolute least I can do to show appreciation for the great trust that she has for me, the least I can do is take care of it as well as I would take care of my instruments, if not even better.
@@JacquelinePollauf I wasn't quite done with my message. Kathy had texted me, and I figured I had better respond to it, so I had to either discarded, or send it as is. Kathy plays the Oregon. We have a grand piano and a Lowrey Prestige organ in our home. I have an organ also. It's a rolling 1890s. Her Larry is very nice. Don't get me wrong. I love playing it. However, I like my rolling because I can sequins on it and lay tracks. She loves her Prestige because it has that lovely Larry sound, plus you can play compact discs on it at eighty Grand, it's the most expensive stereo in the world. The rolling stays upstairs in the studio apartment. We have a spacious apartment, but not quite big enough to hold two organs in the living room. She had moved into here before I did. When we got together seven years ago, she had a studio apartment upstairs. Now that we're married, we still rent the apartment, and use it as a recording studio we have lots of fun. We don't hold many parties, but when we do, boy boy boy. The Lowrey Prestige is the perfect player Oregon, if there is a such a thing as such a thing. It also records on compact disc. My grand piano does the same thing. Actually, you really can't call it a piano anymore than you can call an electronic keyboard a piano. Cuz will cause of the grand ensemble that's more like it. When you midi those two monsters together, you have quite an Orchestra, or if you don't want to do all of that, just put a Frank Sinatra or platter CD in the Lowrey Prestige CD player well, the harp has come, and I am going to go practice. I have a lot of work to do. Those petals are going to take some time to master. However, that's what I intend to do, so I better get to work. It is Labor Day you know.! LOL.
Boy! Am I having a ball with this monster. You know, when you first hold one of these, the right way, it feels like you're playing the instrument backwards. However, this is not throw me off. This is not my first rodeo with the harp, it's just the longest I've ever spent with one. This takes me all the way back to 1980, when I was a senior in high school. I was going up on the southside of Chicago at the time, and had entered a Statewide musical can clay contest. One of the contestants played a pedal harp. I got to see it when the contest was over. I feel in love with it, but my dad said you can forget that one buddy. I was told my dad that I wanted to play as many instruments as I possibly could. He told me that's going to take a lot of work Dwayne.! I showed him that I was up to it. I already had a piano, organ, melodica, and electric guitar. My dad told me whatever you do, stick with the piano he couldn't have been more right. The things you can do with an electronic keyboard now.! You could be a one-man Orchestra, or one-woman orchestra.! They bought me a full-size autoharp the following Christmas. It was achromatic one with 21 chord bars. The thing even had 48 strings.! I loved it.! It was the easiest instrument I've ever learned. I did my share country music with it.! I'll tell you that.! I even played in bands with it.! I did Melody solos with it some Melodies that did using the chord bars. Other Melody solos I did just by playing the string separately. It's all about remembering where the strings are. At any event, I could go on and on. Getting back to the pedal harp, I can't say that this is going to be harder than I thought, now they cannot say that it's easier than I thought. The pedals are a bit challenging just like I thought they would be. However, I expected that. The Herr professor at the University of South Florida wanted to know why do I want to take three credit hours of herb when I hardly ever played the instrument? That is a very good question. I told him that I only have 3 hours left to go, and I wanted to make them as challenging as I could. I could feel the man looking at me, and as I have stated earlier, I'm totally blind. I was also diagnosed autistic by my elementary school. That's okay. Astrophysicist dr. Hugh Ross is also artistic. Need I go any further with that one? I think the Jazz great Thelonious. Monk with say well, you needn't. That's the title of one of his most famous pieces. I better get back to work. My first lesson is on Wednesday, and I don't want the man to feel like he's wasting his time. I think I better take this thing upstairs to the studio, so that a certain big girl doesn't strangle the natural life out of me. Cathy would like to get some shut-eye. In any event, I said all of that to say that I probably wouldn't be able to figure it out as quickly if it weren't for you. Thank you so much for your instruction videos once again.
@@dewaynewhite7325 I'm so glad to hear you have your borrowed harp and are starting your lessons! That is really exciting. I'm sure you will take excellent care of the instrument and learn so much. Yes, the pedals can feel a bit strange at first (and it's a lot to keep track of), but I'm sure that with all of your musical experience on so many instruments you will do a fantastic job with the harp. Good luck with your practicing and lessons!
Thanks for these videos. I've almost watched the entire series. As an arranger, you just can't realistically write for an instrument if you don't play it, but this will help until I can afford a harp. As an arranger, I enjoy seeking various colors from instruments based on things like range, mutes, etc. So I did a little research and found the ranges of the different string types (www.harpcentre.com.au/which-string-is-this/)-- I know you covered this but couldn't remember where-- and was wondering if there are composers who write for the different areas/tonalities/timbres of the harp's strings. Also, I suspect there's someone like John Cage for the harp, who works with "prepared" instruments... right? Thanks again-- great videos!
Using different colors on the different types of strings can work well, but it's also rather tricky. The really nice page you found shows a fairly common stringing, but people make all kinds of choices based on personal preference. The only constant is that C1 - G2 are always wire. After that, the number of gut and nylon changes from harpist to harpist (and for myself from season to season). And, you're correct, there are some prepared pieces for harp out there. I'm so glad you're finding these videos helpful! I am about to launch an informational harp website - HarpInsideOut.com - which I think will have all kinds of info you might find useful. It should be live quite soon!
@@JacquelinePollauf Thank you very much. I was wondering if they could make a lever harp that the sharping levers could move up 2 positions? I am aware of the double stringed harps etc. I was just wondering if a lever harp could be invented so it could be tuned in c flat and the levers could move up 2 positions.
I have actually considered this before. It seems to me that it should be possible to make a lever harp with a double row of levers, but because the mechanism that levers use is quite different from the mechanism that pedals use for the same function, I can foresee multiple challenges. However, I'm not a harp maker, so these are just my thoughts without ever actually trying any of it out! If you invent such a harp, definitely let me know!
