Harps
My Harps and notes on tuning
Everyone wants to have a go on a harp, like everyone wants to see the pyramids. Luckily harpists are usually happy for complete strangers to handle their harps, because there's not much can go wrong with them, and they are the most rewarding instrument for complete beginners.
I've co-founded "Harpotunities" which aims to make the harp available to as many people as possible. We work with the local council to run harp evening classes, and run other activities. Visit www.harpotunities.co.uk to learn more..
I am lucky enough to have two harps myself, and have experience of a few through Small Harps for Coventry /Harp-o-tunities.
My Harps
With a legacy, I bought a Mark Norris Round-back. This harp lives up to its reputation as one of the best instruments you can get – anyone can see just from its precise woodwork that it’s a quality piece, and its tone is astonishing – I can't imagine better. This is a 'traditionally' styled clarsach with Mark's unique levers and a stand to bring up to playing height.
After a couple of years carrying it to a weekly folk session, I felt it was getting bashed and abused a little too much. I also found the deep resonance on the bass end too 'muddy' for faster music. Perhaps I should learn a little about damping (I don't claim to be a good player), but instead I ordered another harp.
My second harp is by the Tasmanian maker Andrew Thom. I have a friend with a Thom "Adaryn", which packs a real punch for a tiny harp as well as looking like something off the original star trek. In light of this and some email discussions with Andrew in Tasmania, I went for the Elf 26 fully fitted with Camac levers (the newer ones that don’t bend).
Now I should have read the measurements on Andrew's website, I was wanting something smaller and lighter than my Norris, but the Elf turned out to be the same weight and taller than my Norris even when its on a stand. So I am still carting a good weight a mile uphill each Monday, but what I have is a perfect pub-harp. Its bass is incredibly punchy and fast – I think it’s the difference between a lute and a banjo – you either have lots and volume and a fast decay or a long resonance and less sound. For a pub session the "banjo" end of the spectrum is fantastic and I can play full speed tunes right at the bottom end without getting 'boomy'. For a solo wedding gig I'd play the Norris, and let guests enjoy the Thom, and I enjoy practicing on either, though the Thom has a wider string spacing than the Norris.
I am not comparing equals here – the Norris costs much more than the Thom, and Andrew's range includes a lot of bigger, high tension harps that I'd love to try out. My Elf is folk strung and one of his cheaper instruments – and as more Thoms find their way to Europe and people get a chance to try before they buy, I suspect they'll become a common sight in the UK.
The other thing about Andrew's harp are his designs. They look amazing, the paint job (any listed car paint effect) dominates every flash photo and its construction has inspired many long discussions with engineers. His design is very tall, so the bass doesn't need heavily wound strings, and he has also given lots of space to get your fingers in at the top. It is a magical thing – both functional and beautiful, and suits my needs perfectly (except I need to drop the back seat in my Rover 75 estate to fit it in).
The similarity with the experience of commissioning a harp from Mark Norris and Andrew Thom is the sheer delight in communicating with them. Both are passionate, skilled and seem to love the harps as much as I do. Both instruments had minor hiccups were dealt with by both Andrew and Mark swiftly and with a 100% commitment to providing a top rate service.
Thoughts on chosing a harp
For the harp centre, we have bought a suite of Dusty Strings Ravenna 26s from Morley Harps and more recently the similar Camac Bardic 27s from Vining Harps.
These are both compact low tension instruments with a have a nice tone, and excellent bags too, but we've had one major down-side. I would recommend both (I have a personal preference, but the difference is a preference for tone and sustain - try them both).
The significant difference that has effected our choices now is the service from the dealers. Any harp purchase will be the start of a long term relationship with the supplier, and I believe that choice is an important factor in choosing your harp. Most are a pleasure to work with, but some have a widespread reputation for not being as friendly - I would urge any prospective harp buyer to talk informally to harpists to get a sense of what you can expect from different dealers. (This item has been amended because we don't want to be critical of particular harps: we had a technical issue with some instruments which could have been sorted amicably, but were repeatedly ignored by the dealer - the maker couldn't have been more concerned and helpful when they eventually found out about the issue.)
Tuners
I've tried a few tuners over the years, most of which have been nicked sadly. An ancient Seiko with manual note selection and a real needle was a stalwart. After that was stolen I used a Yamaha which also seemed precise and stable. In those days I played steel strung lyres which didn't have a wide range (22 strings) but had intense resonance that demanded damping over all the other strings.
On my harps I've used a Sabine AX3000, a Sabine STX 1100, an Intelli IMT202, a Korg CA-30 and DT-4 and a Peterson Stroboflip.
The Sabines' key approach is a flashing light which turns green when the note in is tune. The trouble with this is the tuner decides when it is right – and I want to make that decision myself. The tiny AX3000 has a sticky pad that fits right onto the sound board – very convenient not to have a clip-on mic. It is the best tuner I've had for picking the whole range of the instrument, but it seems to pick up the general resonance of the instrument more than the individual string being played – its good as a quick check if you think a string has dropped out, but isn't the best for getting a harp really well tuned. Sadly Sabine have stopped making the stick-on tuners, I suspect the popular clip on styles have dominated the market, but I have yet to find a clip that will fit a harp.
The Intelli and the Korg CA-30 are both typical tuners – a digital needle giving a reasonable read-out. The Intelli includes a metronome, and the Korg can play a reference note. I've had problems with both picking up the bottom and top notes on my Norris (C6 – G1), but this has been less when I've used a audio quality mic instead of the cheap clip-on I use. In both cases I end up tuning 5 or 6 strings using octaves – not a problem but should be better.
The Korg DT-4 sadly only lasted a month before it was stolen. This has a big illuminated rotary display which I found useful - my local pub was built in the 1380s with low light levels making the CA-30 and Intellitouch's LCD displays unreadable. It was better at picking up the bottom end strings, and was my tuner of choice for its short life. It describes its display as "strobe", which is true in its circling movement, but is definitely not a strobe in the way Peterson tuners use the term. At the end of the day, it still decides when the note is close enough to stop moving the LEDs, and the accuracy of that point isn't in the hands of the musician.
At the moment I use the Intellitouch at home with a clip-on mic and Sabine AX3000 stick-on for sessions for its sheer convenience.
I’ve been lucky enough to also try out a Peterson Stroboflip. This has a moving display that stops when the note is right, but it is massively more accurate (and expensive) that any of the others. My complaint about having to trust someone else’s definition of “in tune” doesn’t apply – now I am choosing how compromised I want to be. It picks up the lowest and highest notes without a problem and is a dream to use. Its only drawback (other than price) is that it is very bulky compared to the others. The Peterson has a range of alternative temperaments which are great to see how the older tunes were meant to sound, but probably not so practical playing with other musicians and changing keys.
Tuning
There are two problems about tuning a harp. One is doing it at all – one wrong string doesn't wreck the sound like a fiddle or a guitar, and the time it takes temps one to be lazy. When people have stopped practicing on their harp, it is often because they have not tuned it recently and instrument just isn't rewarding them with its full rich resonance.
The other problem is that the sound comes from the whole instrument and not just the string being tuned. A single string will spread to the whole instrument, and if it is the only bad string, the rest of the instrument will vibrate in sympathy and make it sound less out of tune, so the tuner doesn't show the problem properly. To avoid this I damp the strings, especially the low end ones where this effect is strongest.
My secret weapon for precise tuning is cheaper than all of the tuners – a yard of flat elastic. I weave this between the strings and pull a loop out away from the string I am tuning, so that all the others are damped. This means every string is tuned in isolation. For a serious gig like a civil partnership, I tune this way, then check the instrument ringing as a whole.