# I'm convinced that the harp is the most beautiful instrument



## Aloevera (Oct 1, 2017)

I'm really invested in the piano I have a sudden burning desire to learn the harp after watching this






Do you think thats a good idea or will it detract from my piano playing? Anyone have experiences with the instrument?


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

The harp can be the second-most beautiful instrument. I will allow this.


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## Aloevera (Oct 1, 2017)

And what is the first?


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Aloevera said:


> And what is the first?


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)




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## Aloevera (Oct 1, 2017)

The symphony as a whole? Excellent choice


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

The symphony as a hole, to implant your harp within.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Some more harp action to get your juices flowing.


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## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

1--Les voixes humaines
2--Le clavecin
3--Le orgue
4--Le luth et le theorbe 
5--Les violon et viole da gamba et cello et autres instruments a cordes.
6--Le cornet

:tiphat:


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Aloevera said:


> I'm really invested in the piano I have a sudden burning desire to learn the harp after watching this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Last question; no, doing both seems a bit much I think.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Howabout the HARPsichord


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Harp is a wonderful instrument. It looks beautiful, the sheet music looks beautiful, and it sounds beautiful. I can only offer encouragement and my favourite example of solo harp music:

this divine stereo recording by Lily Laskine (b. 1893)


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)




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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Aloevera said:


> I'm really invested in the piano I have a sudden burning desire to learn the harp after watching this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Here's my experience: decades ago when I wanted to learn how to write for orchestra, I studied harp for two semesters at the university. Most orchestration books are notoriously, and understandably, weak on the subject. The teacher was blunt: you will never master the harp if you didn't start learning it at a very young age. Like violinists and pianists who want to be concert stars, it's probably too late to start past age 7 or 8! After just one month of study I knew she was right. It's a formidable instrument whose beauty, and extreme importance, cannot be overestimated. The physical challenges are immense: you can't really see the strings as you play - it's all by touch. You have pedals you can to operate by feel and each has three positions and you have to change them well before the new pitches are needed. Some composers are nice and provide notes in the music as to what the pedal settings and changes need to be - they're usually French who seemed to really know the instrument. Many others don't and you have to figure it out. There are several methods of plucking the strings. And it's not all just chromatic swoops up and down the length of the instrument. I sucked and I knew it, but I did learn a lot about how to, and how not to, write for it. And tuning! OMG - before every lesson, rehearsal, concert you spend considerable amounts of time tuning each individual string. I had to do it before tuning apps on phones. It was horrible.

So if you really want to give it a shot, start with a 34 or 36 string Celtic harp. They're not too expensive and you can do a lot with them. A friend who plays in a Renaissance group uses one exclusively. But they're limited; you won't be doing Ravel or Mahler on one. Good luck! I hope you give a shot. You're never too old to learn something new. And if you play piano you have a lot of the skills already like how to read music on two staves.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I remain a fan of the Mozart Concerto for Flute & Harp. Mozart apparently didn't much like the flute, and I have been known to suggest that I would favor afterlife in the "other place" if the harp is truly the instrument played on Heavenly clouds. So, Mozart and I meet sensibilities in that beautiful Concerto.

But beyond that, I appreciate the harp when wonderfully used in orchestral scores (as Mahler is expert at doing) but not so much as a solo instrument, which strikes me as odd since I play nylon-string guitar (a plucked stringed instrument with tonal affinities to the harp), and when I ponder "Why do I favor guitar but not harp?" I can come up with no convincing argument. So … I'll stand by my original (apparently indefensible) position that if harps are prominent in Heaven, I'll choose the other place. (Besides, I'd likely know nobody in Heaven anyhow.)

I do love the harmonica, especially as played by Toots Thielemans, and that instrument is often called by the sobriquet "harp". "Bob Dylan plays a mean harp, dude." And so did Larry Adler.

But I'm done harping for now.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

"A naked piano flipped on its side and indecently diddled." _Morris "Bo" Winkel_


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

It always RESONATES nice with me, relaxes me and gives me illusion of heaven and purity...


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## Aloevera (Oct 1, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> Here's my experience: decades ago when I wanted to learn how to write for orchestra, I studied harp for two semesters at the university. Most orchestration books are notoriously, and understandably, weak on the subject. The teacher was blunt: you will never master the harp if you didn't start learning it at a very young age. Like violinists and pianists who want to be concert stars, it's probably too late to start past age 7 or 8! After just one month of study I knew she was right. It's a formidable instrument whose beauty, and extreme importance, cannot be overestimated. The physical challenges are immense: you can't really see the strings as you play - it's all by touch. You have pedals you can to operate by feel and each has three positions and you have to change them well before the new pitches are needed. Some composers are nice and provide notes in the music as to what the pedal settings and changes need to be - they're usually French who seemed to really know the instrument. Many others don't and you have to figure it out. There are several methods of plucking the strings. And it's not all just chromatic swoops up and down the length of the instrument. I sucked and I knew it, but I did learn a lot about how to, and how not to, write for it. And tuning! OMG - before every lesson, rehearsal, concert you spend considerable amounts of time tuning each individual string. I had to do it before tuning apps on phones. It was horrible.
> 
> So if you really want to give it a shot, start with a 34 or 36 string Celtic harp. They're not too expensive and you can do a lot with them. A friend who plays in a Renaissance group uses one exclusively. But they're limited; you won't be doing Ravel or Mahler on one. Good luck! I hope you give a shot. You're never too old to learn something new. And if you play piano you have a lot of the skills already like how to read music on two staves.


Did you play an instrument before this? Well I agree when it comes to music in general that starting early, especially in todays concert standards. But I was hoping, and am still not completely convinced against this, that there is quite a bit of knowledge carried over the various instruments to which having played another instrument will give the person an advantage which would make picking up a new instrument such as the harp a little easier. . Also, not looking to do it for professional ends so theres no need to master it.

But yeah, tuning alone is something in itself a factor that will refute this idea. I was kind of hoping you didnt have to tune each string and that somehow they automatically stretched to the right proportion. I dont know if i could handle the constant tuning.


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## Aloevera (Oct 1, 2017)

SONNET CLV said:


> I remain a fan of the Mozart Concerto for Flute & Harp. Mozart apparently didn't much like the flute, and I have been known to suggest that I would favor afterlife in the "other place" if the harp is truly the instrument played on Heavenly clouds. So, Mozart and I meet sensibilities in that beautiful Concerto.
> 
> But beyond that, I appreciate the harp when wonderfully used in orchestral scores (as Mahler is expert at doing) but not so much as a solo instrument, which strikes me as odd since I play nylon-string guitar (a plucked stringed instrument with tonal affinities to the harp), and when I ponder "Why do I favor guitar but not harp?" I can come up with no convincing argument. So … I'll stand by my original (apparently indefensible) position that if harps are prominent in Heaven, I'll choose the other place. (Besides, I'd likely know nobody in Heaven anyhow.)
> 
> ...


As much as I like Mozart, and tonal music, I think the harp best shines in atonality, of something ancient and eternal


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## Aloevera (Oct 1, 2017)

Flamme said:


> It always RESONATES nice with me, relaxes me and gives me illusion of heaven and purity...


Yeah the piano is a great instrument but is too easily able to turn violent, I feel like the harp is the one solo instrument that is inherently unable to do that


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Ina Boyle thought the harp magic:


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Aloevera said:


> Did you play an instrument before this? Well I agree when it comes to music in general that starting early, especially in todays concert standards.


Yes - I studied piano, then turned my attention to percussion and bassoon. That certainly helped. I took lessons or classes and workshops on practically every instrument - it gave me an insider's view that really helped with orchestration and conducting. Harp is just so different.


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## Aloevera (Oct 1, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> Yes - I studied piano, then turned my attention to percussion and bassoon. That certainly helped. I took lessons or classes and workshops on practically every instrument - it gave me an insider's view that really helped with orchestration and conducting. Harp is just so different.


Yikes, before I thought it was the general consensus that the harp was considered to be the most difficult instrument. Then recently i did a bit of googling and the results said it was a fairly easy instrument to play where people are able to pick it up and unlock its beauty right away. I also play/played the violin for years, and that is absolute hell for the few years + of playing until you manage to get a good sound out of it. So if its anything like the violin then absolutely bad idea. 
Of course instruments scale to their difficulty, the piano is an "easy instrument" but because its an easy instrument it also becomes the hardest because youre expected to do much more with it. I thought the harp would be similar.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I think my favorite use of the harp is in Ravel's Introduction and Allegro, which is really a harp concerto with chamber accompaniment. Downright ravishing! French composers really knew how to use the instrument. The Gliere and Alwyn harp concerti are pretty great too.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

hammeredklavier said:


> Howabout the HARPsichord


That is cheating.......:lol:


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

There are times - albeit not that often - when the only thing I want to listen to is the harp.

I have a small collection of harp recordings. It includes several albums of French works, written or transcribed for the harp. A favorite is Ravel's "Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet" - one of my favorite Ravel pieces. Maybe that's because the clarinet is another favorite instrument. I also have an album of Philip Glass transcriptions and several recitals. The first harp album I purchased was a Nancy Allen recital on LP, and I was pleased when I could repurchase it on CD with extra tracks.

In addition I have transcriptions of Bach and Scarlatti for the harp. The Bach includes transcriptions of the six cello suites and a few other works. They are pleasant alternatives. But I really like the Scarlatti - just as I like Scarlatti on harpsichord, piano and guitar.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Prince Charles has his own official harpist....

https://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/pr...becomes-new-official-harpist-hrh-prince-wales

Just sayin', as a matter of interest!

Two of my favourite harpy pieces:
Granville Bantock: Celtic Symphony (requires six harps in the closing movement/section) on this basis, this beautiful work probably gets fewer performances than it deserves
Saint-Saens: Morecau de Concert, Op.154. Short, but a proper Harp Concerto. Wonderful!


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

It is most certainly the most beautiful stringed instrument and by a wide margin, IMO.

I love when arrangements that were originally for piano are transcribed for harp:










(that album makes this look really bad, but it's beautiful)

Personally, I am more taken to the English horn as the most beautiful instrument, though.


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Henze wrote some of my favorite music for harp


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## Ekim the Insubordinate (May 24, 2015)

I've always been mesmerized by the harp, going back to early memories of watching Marx Brothers movies and watching Harpo perform his harp solos mid-movie. I don't know that I have many works that feature it, though. I know there is some symphonic music I own that it stands out in more than others. I do own a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations performed on the harp by Catrin Finch which I enjoy, but has not replaced my favorite piano and harpsichord recordings.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Harmonie said:


> It is most certainly the most beautiful stringed instrument and by a wide margin, IMO.
> 
> I love when arrangements that were originally for piano are transcribed for harp:
> 
> ...


I have the harp and oboe album. I thought about editing my post to mention it, but now I don't have to.

Edit - but I do, only to note that listening to the YouTube recording through my built-in computer speakers makes a travesty of the gentle sound I hear when I listen on my stereo, especially the oboe. Please don't judge the recording that way.


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

EdwardBast said:


> "A naked piano flipped on its side and indecently diddled." _Morris "Bo" Winkel_


Wth lol He said that?


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Ekim the Insubordinate said:


> I've always been mesmerized by the harp, going back to early memories of watching Marx Brothers movies and watching Harpo perform his harp solos mid-movie. *I don't know that I have many works that feature it, though.* I know there is some symphonic music I own that it stands out in more than others. I do own a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations performed on the harp by Catrin Finch which I enjoy, but has not replaced my favorite piano and harpsichord recordings.


My classical collection is rather ragtag, and mostly slapped together randomly.

Recently I raided the local library's classical CD collection, which itself is pretty random.

But because of that I now have one Harp work:

*Germaine Tailleferre* (1892-1983): *Concertino For Harp And Orchestra* (1927), and it's really quite beautiful.

Tailleferre was the only female member of Les Six.

This isn't the version in my library, but still . . .


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Aloevera said:


> As much as I like Mozart, and tonal music, I think the harp best shines in atonality, of something ancient and eternal


In that case, Sylvano Bussotti's Labirinti I-II-III-IV, a set of starkly beautiful atonal miniature movements for harp written from 1987-1992 may be right up your alley.


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