March 2001: On Levers And Tuning - Unit 3 - Levers And Flats

To produce flats on a lever harp the desired strings must be tuned to flat WITH THE LEVERS DOWN!

Let's start with B flats. The sound of Bb is exactly the same as the sound of A# (see the chromatic chart in Unit 1). Thus you can tune a Bb by first raising the lever of the A next to it-producing A#, then tuning the B string (with its lever down) to match the sound of the neighboring A# (whose lever is up).

The sound of Eb is the same as that of D#. To tune Eb's, match them (with their levers down) to the neighboring D#'s (whose levers are up).

The sound of Ab is the same as G#. To tune Ab's match them to the neighboring G#'s .

It is important to note that electronic tuners cannot differentiate between flats and sharps, so any sound that does not register as a natural is displayed as a sharp. Therefore: Bb = A# Eb = D# Ab = G# etc.

With all its levers down a harp that is tuned with all its B's flat is said to be tuned in the KEY OF F MAJOR:

F G A Bb C D E

With all its levers down a harp that is tuned with all its B's and E's flat is said to be tuned in the KEY OF Bb MAJOR:

Bb C D Eb F G A

With all its levers down a harp that is tuned with all its B's, E's and A's flat is said to be tuned in the KEY OF Eb MAJOR:

Eb F G Ab Bb C D

Because a lever raises the tuned pitch of any string by one half step, any note that is tuned flat may be changed to natural by raising its lever. Thus, if your harp is tuned in F Major and you want to play in C major (all naturals) you would simply raise all the B levers which would then give you all naturals.

What we have discovered is that:

• If a string is tuned: FLAT
• Raising it's lever produces: A NATURAL
• If a string is tuned: NATURAL
• Raising it's lever produces: A SHARP

Theoretically, If a harp is tuned in the key of Eb major (3 flats) it is then possible to play in any of the following keys by manipulating levers as shown:

• C MAJOR - C D E F G A B (raise B's, E's, A's)
• G MAJOR - G A B C D E F# G (raise B's, E's, A's, and F's)
• D MAJOR - D E F# G A B C# (raise B's, E's, A's, F's, C's)
• A MAJOR - A B C$ D E F# G# (raise B's, E's, A's, F's, C's, G's)
• E MAJOR - E F# G# A B C# D# (raise B's, E's, A's, F's, C's,G's,D's)
• F MAJOR - F G A Bb C D E (raise E's and A's )
• Bb MAJOR - Bb C D Eb F G (raise A's)
• Eb MAJOR - Eb F G Ab Bb C D (all levers down)

The most common keys for lever harp music are usually F, Bb, Eb, C or G. Many players like to tune in 3 flats, others prefer 2 or 1. Even though it is possible to play in D, A and E major with an Eb tuning, it is not a great idea since, with all your levers raised it is very likely that your harp will be out of tune due to regulation anomalies.

See you next month.

Stephanie

-You can access Unit 1 and 2 of this lesson in The Archives - Webmaster

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