|
|
|
|
Harp Myth 1
This article is the first in an extended series of articles addressing issues and myths surrounding traditional harps and their construction.
Bigger is Better
Imagine this scene. You are giving a party for your rich and famous friends at Spago in LA. You are sitting speaking to a guest when you are approached by a man. You stand to introduce the two guests to one another and you say, "Mr. Yo Yo Ma, this is Mr. Itzhak Pearlman. Itzhak plays the violin but he hopes someday to work his way up to the cello." There are still harpists in the world with exactly this idea about the pedal harp and the traditional harp.
Traditional harps, pedal harps and Paraguayan harps are different instruments, just as are the violin, viola and cello. The violin is not lesser due to its diminutive size. Additionally, as with the violin and cello, the differences go much deeper. The techniques employed to play the two instruments, in terms of body position and attack, differ in virtually all ways. Another illustrative comparison is the difference between Mr. Pearlman, the virtuoso violinist, and Alasdair Fraser, the master fiddler. These two men play violins with identical formats, the difference in their work is solely related to technique and to the music they select. One would never think of Fraser as "advancing" to Pearlman's chair.
Traditional and pedal harps are generally used to play music that is itself very different. Although a player trained in multiple styles can physically play classical music on a traditional harp and Celtic music on a pedal harp it is far more common for the musician to change harps as he or she changes music. The belief that the pedal harp is the most appropriate harp for all types of music is as ludicrous as the idea of a CD titled "Pavarotti Sings Dylan".
The pedal harp evolved not as a solo instrument but as a piece within an orchestra. The gentle traditional harp had to be transformed to become loud enough to compete with tubas, French horns and a bank of violins. Luthiers and mechanics worked together to build harps that were loud and had extended range. Since high tension adds volume, pedal harps have to be incredibly strong to support over a ton of string pressure. This is achieved in a combination of ways: by using plywood, by using a rounded or staved back, by using a synthetic composite material, and/or by making the solid woods much, much thicker. Regardless of the method(s) used, the outcome is basically the same. Structures strong enough to be pedal harps cannot be activated effectively by short strings or the harmonics of the bass tones within the range of human hearing. Pedal harps trade subtlety for volume. This makes it a superior harp for orchestral situations but not necessarily for solo work. Additionally, the size and weight of pedal harps, not to mention the cost, have been major factors in the failure of the harp to be more widely played. Because most people think only of pedal harps when they first consider playing a harp, many are discouraged before they even begin to learn more. Pedal harps are perfectly suited to their intended purpose but the voice and the physicality of pedal harps limit them just as much, though in different ways, as a traditional harp is limited.
Traditional harps, wirestrung harps, and Paraguayan harps all vary from one another dramatically but they share commonalities which set them apart from the pedal harp. Soundboards and backs are thinned and tuned together so that they can act in conjunction with one another to produce a full harmonic range. Concert models of these harps are built to optimize projection but these harps do not yet need the extremely heavy string tension of the still much larger pedal harp.
In terms of pedal harp and traditional harp lutheries, vastly different emphasis, skills and specialties are involved for the craftsman. It is not a coincidence that the finest traditional harp lutheries do not build pedal harps and that the famous pedal harp lutheries are not known for their traditional harps.
The "Readers Digest" version of all of this would be that pedal harps and traditional harps are different instruments, intended for different purposes, played using different techniques, usually playing different music and built by different artisans. The pedal harp excels in chromatic scale, scale range and loudness. The traditional harp, by the very nature of the physics involved, is lighter, more transportable and most importantly, has a richer, colorful, more harmonically complete voice. Traditional harps tell ancient stories, they dance jigs at weddings and reels on a hot summer night, they mourn at funerals; they speak in voices as personal and subtle and complex as life itself.
[General Articles] [Harp Care Hints] [911 Harp]
[Main Menu]
[Organization]
[E-Mail Us]
[Download Resource Articles]
[Search the Rees Web Site]
[Web Site Map]
© Wm. Rees Instruments, 1997, 1998, 1999
222 Main Street, Rising Sun, Indiana 47040 • voice: (812) 438-3032 • web: http://traditionalharps.com
The address of this page is: http://traditionalharps.com/HarpGeneralSize.html