May 2001: On Levers And Tuning - Unit 5 - Efficient Use Of Levers

Once upon a time, not too many years ago, lever harps were viewed as nothing more than a stepping stone to a pedal harp. Fortunately, over the past 20 years or so, they have developed a life and repertoire of their own. Part of the reason is that people have found that levers can be manipulated far more extensively than was originally thought. What is required is practice and efficiency. Efficient lever usage can be achieved in two ways:

- Change only the levers that you actually need.
Assume for the moment that your harp is tuned in C (all naturals). You are about to play a piece that requires F#'s and C#'s. If you look over the piece you may find that the overall range does not include the topmost F and C or the lowest F and C. Therefore it is not necessary to alter the levers of those notes you will not be playing.

- When possible set accidentals at the beginning of the piece.
Imagine first that you are playing a piece in A minor (all naturals). When looking over the piece you notice that there are some G#'s. Note which G's they are and whether any of them is ever played as natural. If all or some of them are consistently sharp, they may be set before starting to play.

Imagine next that you are playing a piece in C major (all naturals). About half way through the piece there is a high F#. Look to see if that F is ever played as a natural. If not, then it can be set in advance of playing the piece.

When dealing with levers, efficiency is the name of the game.

See you next month.

Stephanie

-You can access Units 1-4 of this lesson in The Archives - Webmaster

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