Pedal harp

Body and strings

A pedal harp typically has six and a half octaves (46 or 47 strings), weighs about 36 kg (80 lb), is about 1.8 m (6 ft) high, has a depth of 1.2 m (4 ft), and is 55 cm (21 ¹⁄₂ in) wide at the bass end of the soundboard. The notes range from three octaves below middle C (or the D above that) to three and a half octaves above, usually ending on G. The tension of the strings on the soundboard is roughly equal to a ton (10 kilonewtons). The lowest strings are made of copper or steel-wound nylon, the middle-lower strings of gut, and the middle to highest of nylon, or more or all gut.

The pedal harp is identifiable as a large instrument with a straight pillar for support sometimes adorned with a crown at the top, a soundboard, which is pear-shaped with an extended width at the bottom in most harps, while some mostly older pedal harps have soundboards that are straight-sided though widening toward the bottom, a mechanical action made up of over 1,400 parts attached to a harmonically curved neck, a base with seven pedals that are arranged in the following: D, C, B (left) and E, F, G, A (right). The D, E, G, A, B strings are normally colored white while the C strings are colored red and the F strings are colored either black or blue. The strings are initially (before any pedals are activated) tuned to all flat pitches: that is, to the scale of C♭ major.

Pedals

The concert harp is a pedal harp. Pedals were first used in 1697. Pedal harps use the mechanical action of pedals to change the pitches of the strings. There are seven pedals, each affecting the tuning of all strings of one pitch-class. The pedals, in order from left to right, are D, C, B (on the left side) and E, F, G, A (on the right). Each pedal is attached to a rod or cable within the column of the harp, which then connects with a mechanism within the neck. When a pedal is moved with the foot, small discs at the top of the harp rotate. The discs are studded with two pegs that pinch the string as they turn, shortening the vibrating length of the string. Each pedal has three positions. In the top position no pegs are in contact with the string and all notes are flat; thus the harp's native tuning is to the scale of C♭ major. In the middle position the top disc presses its pins against the string, resulting in a natural, giving the scale of C♮ major if all pedals are set in the middle position. In the bottom position the second, lower disc is turned, shortening the string again to create a sharp, giving the scale of C♯ major if all pedals are set in the bottom position.

Many other scales, both diatonic and synthetic, can be obtained by adjusting the pedals. It is also possible to obtain many chords in traditional harmony by adjusting pedals so that some notes are enharmonic equivalents of others. This is central to pedal harp technique. In each position the pedal can be secured in a notch so that the foot does not have to keep holding it in the correct position, unlike piano pedals.

Three strings on the pedal harp have no pedal tuning mechanism: the two lowest strings (contrabass C and D) and the highest string (G). These strings are normally tuned to C♮, D♮ and G♮ respectively. However, they can be manually tuned to sharp or flat through scordatura prior to performance. This can be indicated by verbal statements at the beginning of a composition, for example, "Tune low C to C♭", or "If necessary, tune high G to G♯".

Pedal harps are essentially diatonic instruments which are fitted with the double-action pedal mechanism to allow chromatic alterations and key changes. No matter how the pedals are set, the pedal harp still has only seven strings per octave. Smaller harps, often called folk, lever or Celtic harps, are equally diatonic instruments (also with seven strings per octave) and use a mechanical lever on each string which must be moved manually to obtain chromatic alterations. The only completely chromatic harps are the double (arpa doppia) and triple (Welsh) harps and the cross-strung harp.

This mechanism is called the double-action pedal system, first patented in London by Sebastien Erard in 1801 (patent number 2502) and 1802 (patent number 2595). In 1807 Charles Groll was the first person to register a patent (patent number 3059) where the harp mechanism was doubled with two lines of fourchettes or forks. Earlier pedal harps had a single-action mechanism which only allowed strings to play sharpened notes, the first of which was made in 1720 by Jacob Hochbrucker in Bavaria.

Technique

The pedal harp is played with the fingertips of the first four fingers (thumb, index, middle and ring fingers of both hands). The little fingers are normally not used because they are too short and cannot reach the correct position without distorting the position of the other fingers, although on some folk harps with light tension and closely spaced strings, they may occasionally be used. The fifth finger may also have been used on earlier, more lightly strung modern harps: Madame de Genlis, for example, in her Méthode, published in Paris in the early 19th century, promotes the use of all five fingers, while Roslyn Rensch suggests that Mlle de Guînes, the harpist for whom Mozart wrote his Concerto for Flute and Harp, might occasionally have used all five fingers when playing the harp. In more modern music, the fifth finger is used very rarely, for example in simultaneous cluster chords, such as in Daniel Kessner's Sonatina. The fingertips are drawn in to meet the palm of the hand, thus releasing the string from whatever pressure was placed upon it by the fingers. The fingers are naturally curved or rounded as they touch the strings, and the thumb is gently curved as the tip rises to the string as an arc from its base.

Plucking with varying degrees of force creates dynamics. Depending on finger position on the string, different tones can be produced: a full sound in the middle of the string, and a nasal, guitar-like sound at the very bottom of the string. Tone is also affected by the skin of the harpist, how much oil and moisture it contains, and the amount of thickening by callus formation and its surface texture.

There are differing schools of technique for playing the pedal harp. The largest are the various French schools, and there are specific Russian schools, Viennese and other schools from differing regions of Europe. One is called the Attl technique after Kajetan Attl, in which apparently only the uppermost parts of the fingers move and the hand is largely still. There is a St. Petersburg school (more than one) in Russia in which the thumbs are moved in a circular fashion rather than in and out toward the hand.

The differences between the French schools lie in the posture of the arms, the shape of the hand and the musical aesthetics. The traditional French schooling allows for the right arm to be lightly rested against the harp using the wrist to sometimes bring the hand only away from the string. The left arm moves more freely. Finger technique and control are the emphasis of the technical approach, with extensive use of exercises and etudes to develop this. Two very influential 20th-century teachers of this approach were Henriette Renié and Marcel Grandjany, who both studied with Alphonse Hasselmans.

The other major French school is the Salzedo school, developed by Carlos Salzedo, who also studied with Alphonse Hasselmans at the Paris Conservatoire. Salzedo's technique generally calls for the arms to be held horizontally and emphasises the role of aesthetic hand and arm gestures after the string has been plucked: "Each of the thirty-seven tone colors and effects of the harp calls for a gesture corresponding to its sonorous meaning."

Use in music

The harp found its early orchestral use as a solo instrument in concerti by many baroque and classical composers (Handel, Mozart, Boieldieu, Albrechtsberger, Schenk, Dussek, Spohr) and in the opera houses of London, Paris and Berlin and most other capitals. It began to be used in symphonic music by Hector Berlioz but he found performances frustrating in such countries as Germany where few harps and sufficiently proficient harpists were to be found. Franz Liszt was seminal in finding uses for the harp in his orchestral music. The French and Russian Romantic composer particularly expanded its symphonic use. In opera, the Italian composers used it regularly, and Puccini was a particular master of its expressive and coloristic use. Debussy can be said to have put the harp on the map in his many works that use one or more harps. Tchaikovsky also was of great influence, followed by Rimsky-Korsakov, Richard Strauss and Wagner. The greatest influence on use of the harp has always been the availability of fine harps and skilled players, and the great increase of them in the US of the 20th century resulted in its spread into popular music.

The first harpist known to play jazz was Casper Reardon, a pioneer in the world of "hot" music. Dorothy Ashby (sampled by hip-hop artists) and Alice Coltrane are other jazz harpists.

Many passages for solo harp can be found in 19th-century ballet music, particularly in scores for the ballets staged for the Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, where the harpist Albert Zabel played in the orchestra. In ballet, the harp was utilised to a great extent to embellish the dancing of the ballerina. Elaborate cadenzas were composed by Tchaikovsky for his ballets The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty; as well as Alexander Glazunov for his score for the ballet Raymonda. In particular, the scores of Riccardo Drigo contained many pieces for harp in such works as Le Talisman (1889), Le Réveil de Flore (1894) and Les Millions d'Arlequin (1900). Cesare Pugni wrote extensively for the harp as well—his ballet Éoline, ou La Dryade included music written for harp to accompany the ballerina's numerous variations and enhance the atmosphere of the ballet's many fantastical scenes. Ludwig Minkus was celebrated for his harp cadenzas, most notably the Variation de la Reine du jour from his ballet La Nuit et le Jour (1881), the elaborate entr'acte composed for Albert Zabel from his ballet Roxana (1878), and numerous passages found in his score for the ballet La Bayadère, which in some passages were used to represent a veena which was used on stage as a prop.

French ballet composers such as Delibes, Gounod, and Massenet made use of the harp in their music.

There is a prominent harp part in "She's Leaving Home" by The Beatles in their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In the 1970s, harp parts were common in popular music, and can be heard in such hits as Cher's "Dark Lady", the intro of "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves", and "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave. Most often it was played by Los Angeles studio harpist Gayle Levant, who has played on hundreds of recordings. Irish band Clannad featured the harp heavily in their music during the 1970s and 1980s. In current pop music, the harp appears relatively rarely. Joanna Newsom, Dee Carstensen, Darian Scatton, Habiba Doorenbos, and Jessa Callen of The Callen Sisters have separately established images as harp-playing singer-songwriters with signature harp and vocal sounds. Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan plays the harp in her 2006 holiday album, Wintersong. In Hong Kong, a notable example of harp in pop music is the song "Tian Shui Walled City" (天水圍城) performed by Hacken Lee with harp played by Korean harpist Jung Kwak (Harpist K).

The harp is also used as a central instrument by many alternative popular musicians. A pedal harpist, Ricky Rasura, is a member of the "symphonic pop" band, The Polyphonic Spree. Also, Björk sometimes features acoustic and electric harp in her work, often played by Zeena Parkins. Philadelphia based Indie Pop Band Br'er uses a pedal harp as the foundation for their cinematic live sets. Art in America was the first known rock band featuring a pedal harp to appear on a major record label, released in 1983. The pedal harp was also present in the Michael Kamen and Metallica concert and album, S&M, as part of the San Francisco Symphony orchestra. R&B singer Maxwell featured harpist Gloria Agostini in 1997 on his cover of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work". On his 7th solo album Finding Forever, Hip- Hop artist Common features harpist Brandee Younger on the introductory track, followed by a Dorothy Ashby sample from her 1969 recording of By the Time I Get to Phoenix. Some Celtic-pop crossover bands and artists such as Clannad and Loreena McKennitt include folk harps, following Alan Stivell's work. Additionally Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine uses the harp frequently in both Lungs and Ceremonials, notably on "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)". The Webb Sisters from UK use different size harps in almost all their material during live performances. Sierra Casady, of the freak-folk group CocoRosie plays harp on several of their songs. Another musician from the UK Patrick Wolf has used the Celtic harp throughout his career, often playing it himself while singing.

Aside from its use in music, the harp occasionally appears in the Marx Brothers' movies when Harpo plays it. Sometimes entire scenes focus on his harp-playing.

Electroacoustic harps

Lyon and Healy, Camac Harps, Salvi Harps, and other manufacturers also make electroacoustic pedal harps. The electroacoustic pedal harp is a modified concert harp, with piezoelectric pickups at the base of each string and an amplifier. Electroacoustic harps are a blend of electric and acoustic, with the option of using an amplifier or playing the harp just like a normal pedal harp. The electric harp is different from the electroacoustic harp, as it is entirely electric, lacking a soundbox and being nearly mute without an amplifier.