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Tuning

The harp is kind of an in-between instrument. You cannot hire a harp tuner to come and tune your harp once a year, the way you might with a piano. Instead, you have to tune it regularly yourself, just like you would with a guitar or a viola. At the same time, there are a lot more strings than other string instruments and each one needs to be tuned individually. To further complicate matters, student harpists don't usually bring their harp to every lesson and consistently work on their tuning skills with their teacher the way most orchestral instrumentalists do. Instead, it is common for the teacher to provide an already tuned harp for lessons. Certainly you can still work on tuning skills with your teacher, and might take your harp in from time to time with questions, but frequently tuning is something you find yourself at home trying to figure out. 

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To help with this, I made a series of videos, covering different aspects of tuning. You can explore these below.

An Introduction to Tuning

If you've never tuned a harp before, and don't know that much about the whole process, then this video is for you. It explains in depth how to go about tuning a lever harp in the Key of C, starting with basics like what a tuning key is. 

Tuning a Lever Harp in the Key of E-flat

Generally people who have been playing the lever harp for a while are interested in this alternate tuning. This video provides a detailed explanation of what keys are, why you might want to tune your lever harp in E-flat and then shows you how to do so. This video assumes that you understand the general tuning process, but might not know much about keys.

Tuning a Pedal Harp

If you've been playing the lever harp for a while, and now happily find yourself with a pedal harp to play and tune, you should know about a few crucial differences in tuning the two instruments. 

Tuning Tips

Still have a few questions? Or maybe one string that won't cooperate no matter how much you tune it? This video covers various common issues and solutions when it comes to tuning. 

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