Short acoustic summary
In my previous blogs I’ve described some of the adventures I’ve been through to improve the sound & playability of my instruments. Here, in an “acoustic summary”, I gathered 3 (4, updated) samples of the “string stages” I went through with my big chromatic harp.
Have a listen for yourself:
1. Bach Prelude in C (2016) nylon strings
2. Pescetti Sonata in Cm on Chromatic Harp (Part 1; teaser; 2018) gut strings (thicker strings – higher string tension)
3. Priscilla’s song (2022) gut strings (thinner strings – less tension, easier to play. Especially noticeable when using ornamentation)
4. Passepied (Grandjany) – UPDATE on 2/10/2023, with thinner strings again from g below middle c to c” (1 octave above middle c) :
I have no sound sample of the (original) carbon fiber strings, which I didn’t use for long – the material doesn’t suit my fingers. With my classically influenced playing technique, and possible my skin type, callous was rubbed off faster than it could build up, which meant the more I played the more my fingers got sore, not the opposite (as with gut strings).
This harp was made by Henrik Schupp, Germany. As it was a “prototype”, made to my specifications (wider string spacing), I had to test-drive it first (took me a few years as I’m finding out now!).
I’m very thankful to Henrik who at the time was willing to build a “weird” instrument that only a few nerds were interested in (at the time), and the big harp got a little sister not too long ago…
Talking of which: My little chromatic harp recently got a string makeover as well, and I’m VERY pleased with the result. Watch this space!
I’ll upload videos to my channels:
1. Reidun’s Harp Music (My main channel)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd751YFMsJzjpAqPUA13MmA
2. Chromatic Harp 6/6 (A channel dedicated to the chromatic harp)