Stephanie's "Little Lessons"

#57: Muffling - Unit 1

One of the most characteristic qualities of the harp is the ringing sound of the vibrating strings which continues well after they are plucked. This can be a lovely asset or, at times, a difficult dilemma.

When playing rolled chords, arpeggi or glissandi, the ringing melds the various sounds into a lovely harmonic structure but there are times it also creates a muddle of sounds that are not as pleasant. The latter situation is when we need to muffle, i.e., to stop the sounds specifically rather than letting them decay on their own. In its simplest form muffling means placing the palm of the hand flatly over an area of vibrating strings thus stopping the sound.

There are various ways of indicating a muffle. The most common is a circle with a cross through it:

Sometimes there are two of these, in which case the player would muffle two different areas of strings (e.g. high then lower, or vice versa). Sometimes the same symbol is used attached to a diagonal line that has little noteheads at either end which are placed on specific notes on a staff. This indicates the exact area of strings the composer wants muffled. Hence:

The most important thing to know about all muffles is that you must touch the strings and immediately get off them!!! The most common error I see in my students is that they place a hand on an area of strings and just stay there. This can do nothing but jeopardize the next movement required of that hand. So remember ---touch and run!

There are many more types of muffling and we will address some of them in the next Little Lesson.

See you next month.

Stephanie

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