My harp journey to me means that I’m constantly searching, constantly improving my technique for both sound and ergonomics, at the moment while trying to answer some nagging questions: -Why do my arms hurt after every harp marathon gig (e.g. 3hrs or more noisy pub gig accompanying accordion/fiddle/pipes)? Well yes I should take breaks, I should have a monitor so I don’t play so hard, but still. Do I have the wrong harp? -Why do I still have issues with my 3rd finger (I had an accident when age 12) ? This feels like a blockage, prevents me from playing fast & secure – maybe the blockage comes from the shoulder? A chat with some fabulous colleagues at the Harp Symposium in Plauen 2019, especially Eva Curth gave me some major insight: I’m trying too hard! This came from classical harp lessons in the 90es, where I had to learn to sit straight & to have my elbows up – I was trying to be too good a student! Eva told me to relax, exactly what I needed to hear! A wider soundboard took the dip out of my wrist, and a more ergonomic harp worked more wonders for the lower back. The research on the chromatic harp already taught me to drop my elbows for the cross-strung harp – maybe I should do the same for the “normal” harp? I attended a class in Alexander technique where it was more or less put into my mouth that it’s the fingers which play, not the arms. “The arms only come along for the ride”. But that would certainly mean to drop my elbows even more, which changes the angle in which the fingers approach the strings (more vertical rather than 45 degrees). Here we are full circle back to how I played 30 years ago! I was already doing reels and jigs at the time and was made to re-learn my whole technique when going for classical lessons. Which of course meant I couldn’t play any of my “old” tunes for several years! One more thing left to change to complete the “full circle”: not going into the strings so deep, especially with my 3rd finger, but playing more “on the edge” – Maybe here too I had tried to be too good a student? Playing more on the edge & more vertical means to build up callous in different spots – I do like playing on gut strings (and I do have an issue with carbon fibre) . Moreover I do like having the option of dynamics, which the classical technique caters for… So here I am, reaching for the stars & trying to marry the best of both worlds! …watch this space!

1/02/2023 UPDATE: I finally came to the conclusion that my small celtic harp needed re-stringing. Job done and delighted with it. It took me two days to calculate, experiment, compare & update my string charts, re-organise an actualised spare string set without having to order too many new strings (managed to boil it down to three coloured ones!). My big celtic harp (the new one by Pepe Weissgerber) seems to be a perfect reference – I reckon this will be the first harp I ever owned which I don’t think needs re-stringing. It came in a big box and was perfect from day one. It seems to play itself without effort, rests comfortably on knee & shoulder and is not too heavy to haul around. No criticism to the various harpmakers whose harps I re-strung (the big chromatic harp is on her 5th string chart), as they’re doing their best and are constantly improving, every one of them. Just that we harpists are the ones playing the instruments, and stringing can be a very personal choice. I like light strung, responsive instruments, and the feel and sound of gut strings. My fingers can’t handle carbon fibre, and my ears get confused when I try to tune silk gut – the “vegan” equivalent to gut strings apparently. Feels good under the fingers but takes ages to tune as their tone/harmonics don’t seem to want to settle on one particular pitch (says both my ear and my Korg orchestral tuner). A lovely not so obviuos side effect of changing to lighter strings on the same instrument: it takes the pressure off the sound board which in turn allows it to vibrate more: double benefit for fingers & ears! My little harp, which was amazing sounding in the first place now seems to come alive… and hopefully won’t hurt my fingers anymore in longer gigs!

Update 18/03/2023

Update 1: In the picture you see me wearing a wrist padding, because I rest my right arm on the sound board. This can lead to several complications: if the edge of the sound board is not rounded off, it can be painful – the padding eases the pressure on the wrist. If the sound board is too narrow (and if you still want to play in the middle of the strings), it creates an angle in the wrist (a dip) with another angle in the knuckles. In my case this lead to the outer tendon on my middle finger getting blocked (sideways) by the knuckle… it took me 30 years to figure out that one! I thought something was wrong with my middle finger (I had an accident at age 12; the nail still not growing right. Even got surgery in my 20ies). So I figured that if the hand is stretched straight, without dips & angles in wrist & knuckles, this should give a smooth movement and no blockages & bad surprises. (Lower that elbow again!) My conclusion was that one should not be glued to the sound board, also because it determines the approch angle of the hand. I decided it would be useful to practice while lifting my hand above the sound board (already doing that on the chromatic harp). Advantage: more freedom to pivot, to be extremy flexible with approach angles, especially when changing directions. Side effect: completely different muscles are activated and trained (back of the hand) – turned out to be hard work! Possible disadvantages when playing from “the air”: Firstly, the contact with the sound board gives stability/security. Secondly, it deflects the pressure (of the muscle movement) from going into the soft spots of the elbow where a strain can lead to pain and even inflammation (got the T-shirt, couldn’t even lift the kettle). Thirdly, one has to watch not to increase tension in the shoulder when lifting the arm… a lot of angles to cover! On top of that I had been playing a harp with a narrow AND curved sound board (bohemian harp). The curve gives the sound board not only more steepness, but also when following the curve on the edge of the sound board, one ends up with either completely different angles in the wrist, depending on which octave one is playing in, OR one ends up not playing in the middle of the strings, but wherever that curve leads you to! The narrow sound board then also becomes uncomfortable in the higher octave, where it would even block the movement of the thumb. When comparing with my Erard Grecian all became clear – an instrument of perfect balance & ergonomics in my opinion. So yes – get away from that sound board, but without pressure. Update 2: The thumb. Coming from classical technique, we were told to have our thumbs high. It makes sense for many things, including scales on a classical harp. A harp with narrow string spacing demands a lower thumb (and by all means a different fingering for intervals, e.g. a fifth with 1&2 makes sense on a bohemian harp) and more of a right angle (90 degrees) of all fingers towards the strings. Update 3: Fingerings in Irish music need to be more flexible. Coming from the chromatic harp, I developed the index as a “second thumb” – I’m doing a lot of crossing over with the index (downward as well as upward patterns into the upper row of strings). As to Irish music, I’ve seen Laoise Kelly doing it for the downward patterns, and adapted it myself with more confidence on the diatonic harp after seeing such an expert doing it! I reckon that Irish music is only partly compatible with classical harp technique. Many pieces have gapped scales. The Kesh jig, supposedly an “easy tune”, as well as many of the pentatonic “beginner tunes” are fairly awkward when using a strict classical technique (I call this technique “linear”, as opposed to the chromatic harp technique I am in the process of developing, which I consider to be “three-dimensional”). With those (semi-) pentatonic pieces there seems to be always a finger “missing”, and a lot of “stitching” needs to be done! On the other hand, when allowing the index to pass over (rather than to always keep it down to let the thumb cross over) it it opens the hand to a more parallel approach to the strings (as opposed to 45 degrees). This is also true for trebles (repeated notes on 432 – impossible to do at the strict 45 degree angle of the classical posture). So, how to marry the two: disconnect from the sound board AND disconnect from a “secure” fingering? I’m learning a lot from my young students, who spontaneously use fingerings because they are comfortable (sometimes outright lazy but that’s another story) and intuitive – maybe they do have a point? Keeping an open mind; and who knows, one day there may the the big breakthrough and everything will be easy and smooth! Update 4: I’m not really using a monitor when practicing, but I installed wooden panels in my practice room, to reflect the sound naturally. Update 5: (September 2023): The big chromatic harp is on her 6th string chart! After the visit of historical harp maker Claus Huettel and some very interesting conversations, I decided to move the crossing point of the medium & treble strings upwards again (breaking two bridge pins in the process). Furthermore I switched to thinner strings again between g below middle c and c above middle c (for now). I’m thrilled with the result – my harp starts singing now and is so much easier to drive! A far cry from what I think was the 2nd string chart with nylon strings back in 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n12tHST4Y58 Thanks Claus! Videos with the new sound coming soon!