The Instrument Itself

The most frequent question I get from people who don't know how this works is: “So... do you take your harp with you on the plane?” I quickly say: “No, no, good lord, that would be a nightmare.” There will be harps provided at the competition venue, and I will play those. The most frequent follow-up questions is then: “Does it feel different to play on different harps?” Yes, unfortunately, it does. This is the downside to not being able to take my own harp with me everywhere.

Each individual harp has its own character and its own set of quirks. Between individual harps of the same make and model, this variation may not be as drastic, but between harps made by different companies, the differences can be significant. The tension and the spacing of the strings vary, the angle and width of the soundboard, the curve of the neck, the weight-distribution of the whole harp, the resistance of the pedals, the technology of the mechanism – none of this is standardized. How much these little things will matter depends on the level of virtuosity and precision the harpist is aiming for. It's important to know that when I jump up to catch a top note or reach down with my left hand to grab a chord, that my fingers will find strings exactly where they expect them to be and not a millimeter off. I can't afford to look at everything at once, so I am usually just looking at one point on the harp for reference and then feeling my way from there, or I have my eyes closed. The problem is especially noticeable in the very top range of the harp, when a different hand position may be required depending on how much vertical space there is to fit my hand and even on the slant of the strings. Furthermore, the shape and the weighting of the harp will affect how I need to sit, because posture at the harp is not only important in order to prevent soreness and injury but is also crucial for depth of sound and virtuosic fluidity.

The choice of what kind of harp to play on is a very personal one. Everybody has a different aesthetic, different priorities for what they are looking for in the sound and character of a harp, and everybody needs to find a harp that fits their physiology the best so that they will be comfortable while playing. For a whole slew of my own reasons, I play a Camac harp. I am truly in love with my harp; I bought it two years ago, here in Paris, and it is doing wonderfully. However, the Israel competition is sponsored by Lyon & Healy Harps – an American company based in Chicago. L&H has made an agreement with the competition that Camac Harps will not be permitted to provide any of their harps for the contestants. Upon hearing this, I actually went to the bother of researching the logistical details of shipping my harp to Tel Aviv for the competition. After about two weeks of emails and price quotes and planning, I abandoned the idea with a shiver of relief. It is gruesomely expensive and there are just too many chances in the process for something to go wrong. My harp is staying here, thank you.

Thus, it was important that I find a L&H harp to practice on so I could start adjusting my playing to the aforementioned minor differences. Fortunately, this is Paris, so I didn't have to go far. Just down the boulevard Malesherbes from my apartment is the Salvi Instrumentarium (Salvi is the Italian harp maker). I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the people at Salvi for 1) having a L&H harp in their store and 2) taking me in and letting me practice on it. Despite the political tensions between the various harp companies who vie for our loyalty, and despite the fact that I normally play a Camac, they were welcoming and accommodating to me. I really appreciate that they have let me dominate their one practice room almost every afternoon for the past three weeks. It was a nice, calm environment that helped me to get away from the workers who are still jackhammering away at my wall and to focus. I now know what to expect when I play the competition on a Lyon & Healy harp and where exactly in my pieces I will have to reach a millimeter wider to grab an octave, or lower my hand an inch to nail a harmonic.

On the one hand, the fact that there is such a variation between harps is one of the inherent difficulties of mastering the instrument. If you have to be ready to adjust to any different kind of harp, then you really can't achieve the kind of precision that, say, a pianist or violinist could. Instead of exploring how to milk the unique traits of your own harp, you will mostly be spending time relearning your way around new instruments. But on the other hand, in as much as these variables affect the sound of the harp, it is a great thing that harp makers are experimenting and trying out new combinations! This makes the artistic world of the harp richer and gives us more to choose from. Our art is not just about what we do once we've settled in at the bench behind the harp; making and choosing harps is part of that art. (So is the mechanical upkeep of the harp, but that is a subject for another post!)

Three days to go!