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How a Harp Works

The harp, of course, is a beautiful instrument. People often associate it with angels, Ireland, and Harpo Marx, to name a few. But not that many people know how it actually works. Why the colored strings? What do the levers do? How many different sizes are there?

Below you'll find a written overview of how a harp works as a short introduction. If you want something more in depth, you can watch the Overview of the Harp video that I put together, and see all of the different elements including basics about playing, various types of instruments, the strings, the names of the parts of the harp, and the mechanics of the instrument. Feel free to hit play!

 

However, if you don't want to watch a twenty-two minute video right now, I split the full video up into five shorter videos and put these on the bottom of the page. Here you can jump directly to the topic you're most interested in. 

How a Harp Works Overview

Basics

The basic definition of a harp is quite simple. A harp is a frame with strings stretched across it. When you pluck the strings, they create sound. For Western harps, these strings form a scale, the same as the white keys on a piano: C D E F G A B  (or Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si), which repeat over and over for higher and lower notes. Harp strings are color-coded for visual reference. All of the C strings are red and all of the F strings are blue or black. Harpists only use four fingers to play: their thumb, index finger, middle finger and ring finger, with both their right and left hands. The little finger is not used as it is short and awkward.

There are two different types of harps: lever and pedal harps, which are quite distinct from each other.​

Overview of the Harp

This is the full twenty-two minute video, which you can watch in its entirety, or you can jump around to the different sections by scrolling down and clicking on one of the five video segments below.

Lever Harps 

Lever harps are also frequently called Celtic harps, Irish harps, or simply folk harps. These harps are quite small, usually between 3 and 5 feet tall. They generally have 22 to 38 strings, a 3- to 5- octave range. The name lever harp came about because the strings are equipped with individual levers along the top of the harp. On the piano you have two rows of keys, one row of white keys (naturals) and one row of black keys (sharps and flats). The black keys are a bit higher or lower in sound from the neighboring white keys. The harp approaches this same question in a slightly different way. You only have one row of strings, but each string can be altered to a second position using a lever, so each string can make two separate sounds or pitches. The levers create sharps and flats.

 

Because this type of harp is smaller, less expensive, and more transportable than a pedal harp, most students begin by playing a lever harp. Some harpists play lever harps for their entire career. If you were to go see a professional Celtic harpist perform, they would perform on a lever harp. Other students, however, choose to switch to a pedal harp.

Pedal Harps

Pedal harps are large, sometimes gilded with gold, and what you see on stage with a professional orchestra. Pedal harps have 40 to 47 strings and are around 5 ½ or 6 feet tall. For someone who wishes to pursue classical music seriously, they eventually become a necessity. Pedal harps are more complex mechanical instruments than lever harps, which gives some advantages to playing demanding music. First of all, while lever harps have two positions for each string, pedal harps have three positions for each string: flat, natural and sharp, or more simply, low, middle and high sounds. Having three positions for each string gives you more options. In musical terms, the lever harp is limited in the number of keys it can play in, but the pedal harp can play in all twenty-four keys.

Secondly, each string on a lever harp is controlled by an individual lever. There’s one lever per string, so changing the position of all of the strings can be a slow process. The pedal harp uses a similar mechanism at the top of the string to move between the three different positions, but the mechanism is then connected inside of the harp all the way down to a set of pedals around the bottom of the harp. These pedals are used to move the strings between the three possible positions. Since it would be impossible to have one

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A full-sized pedal harp

pedal per string (47 pedals?!), the pedals instead move entire sets of strings together. There are seven pedals for the seven notes of the scale. All of the C strings are connected to the same pedal and move simultaneously. All of the D strings are connected to the same pedal and move together, and so forth. With a pedal harp you can change between the three different positions much more quickly than you can when moving each lever individually.

 

Finally, to change a lever, you have to stop playing with one hand in order to reach up and move the lever. Since the pedals are controlled by the feet, you can continue playing with both of your hands and move the pedals simultaneously, making transitions much more seamless. 

Lever Harp vs. Pedal Harp

Advanced classical music, whether it’s written as a solo piece or as part of an ensemble, is written specifically for the pedal harp. You need to have all 47 strings, be able to play in all 24 keys, and have the ability to change between sharps and flats quickly in order to play this music. Most easy classical harp music doesn’t make the same demands, so this can be played on a lever harp, along with all kinds of folk music and pop arrangements. It really depends on what someone wants to do with the harp as to whether a lever or pedal harp will suit them best.

If you didn't already watch the full video above, here it is split it up into shorter segments.

This way you can watch whichever segment you're most interested in:

General Considerations

 This video is a introduction, going over some general considerations and basics in playing the harp. 

Strings

Here you can find out about the order of the strings, the colors, types of strings, and the gist of how to tune and change strings. 

Types of Harps

This starts with the difference between a lever and a pedal harp, and then goes on to  discuss make and models of harps, as well as different sizes of instruments.

Structure 

Want to know the names for the different parts of the harp? That's covered here.

Mechanics 

Harps are surprisingly convoluted mechanical instruments, and lever harps and pedal harps have some major differences in how they work. All of the mechanical aspects relate to chromaticism on the harp. Since this is a big topic, this video is a bit longer than the others.

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