Harp vs piano.
By CFstats
@CFstats (82)
March 5, 2012 10:42pm CST
This question is for the musicians, composers and conductors. My question is, what makes a conductor or composer choose to use a harp rather than a piano in a piece of music? I was listening to some harp music and it was playing some of the same songs I had previously learned on the piano. I think that it didn't sound that much different but I'm not sure what the differences are. Are there more runs, or is it just the sound that's different? Or what? Just curious, thanks for your responses.
1 response
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
6 Mar 12
A harp has approximately the same range as a piano and, because they are both stringed instruments where each string has its own particular pitch, they can sound somewhat the same.
The differences, however, are major. A harp is a relatively simple instrument, tuned diatonically (but often with a mechanism for changing the pitch of strings in order to play in different keys). The gut or nylon strings, under a relatively low tension, are plucked and damped with the fingers and, depending on where each string is plucked, the tone can range from mellow to 'sharp'.
A piano is a highly mechanical instrument where groups of two or three metal strings under high tension are struck with hammers and damped automatically by the mechanism. The only control the player has over the tone of the string is to hit it gently or hard. The other big difference is that the piano is chromatic and every note in the 12 note octave has its own string. This has a big effect on the timbre and resonance of the instrument, especially when all the dampers are raised.
In short, a harp may be played in such a way as to sound almost like a piano but a piano cannot be made to sound very much like a harp. Even a harpsichord (which plucks strings mechanically rather than hitting them) has completely different characteristics from both a piano and a harp.
@CFstats (82)
•
7 Mar 12
Wow, this is extremely interesting and very good information!!! Thank you so much for explaining this! I have always wanted to learn to play the harp and now this has intrigued me even more to want to learn! The only thing is, I don't have one. But are you saying that the harp can be played all in one key no matter which string is plucked like as if you were playing a diatonic harmonica instead of a chromatic harmonica where you have to worry about when to press the button? And then you can actually change the key with a mechanism? If that is what you are saying, then that is definately new news to me! I never knew that at all and it makes it seem even easier than it looks to play it! If that is the case, I bet I could play by ear very easily on it! I wish I could try it on someone's harp!
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
7 Mar 12
The pedal or concert harp has 46 or 47 strings covering a range of 6 and a half octaves. It has 7 pedals with a very complex mechanism such that each pedal raises the pitch of an individual note in each octave by one or two semitones (depending on how far the pedal is pressed).
Initially the harp is tuned to the scale of C-flat major (on the piano, you would play this as the scale of B but, according to the cycle of fifths, C-flat is the key with the maximum number of flats). If all seven pedals are depressed one notch, all the strings are raised by one semitone and the harp will then be in a diatonic scale of C-natural. If all pedals are depressed two notches, all the strings are raised by a further semitone and the harp will play in the scale of C-sharp (a key signature of 7 sharps).
By setting the pedals in various combinations, the diatonic scales of all the 12 major keys are obtainable and can be quickly changed by the player as the music modulates into other keys. The pedals can also be set to give scales which are non-standard and this feature is occasionally used to play arpeggios which do not belong to any single regular diatonic scale.
This is somewhat similar to (but far more flexible than) the way that a chromatic harmonica works. These are usually built as two separate banks of reeds - essentially two complete harmonicas in one instrument, one in C and the other in C-sharp with the slide controlling which bank is selected for ALL the holes.
The concert harp was developed from a much simpler instrument which was completely diatonic and the only practical way of playing in another key was to retune some of the strings of the instrument. More modern folk harps (such as the Celtic harp) often have individual levers acting on each string so that each individual string (rather than each note in all octaves) can be raised by a semitone. The range of most folk harps is far less than a concert harp, since they usually have only 30 or 36 strings, and very complex passages, involving many accidentals are generally impossible.
It is certainly a little easier to play a harp than it may look at first sight because of its diatonic nature and because the triad chords tend to occur naturally as alternate strings. There is still, however, a great deal to learn in the matter of correct fingering, playing technique and quick footwork on the pedals! In fact, the piano is really the easier instrument to learn.
