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Plucked Strings
Tuning
Bowing Techniques
Sound Production |
PLUCKED STRINGS
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The harp is a plucked stringed instrument which is triangular in shape.
It is occasionally used in a modern orchestra for special effects. |
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SSO MUSICIAN PROFILE:
Name: Gulnara Mashurova
Instrument: Harp
Hobbies: Reading, sport, swimming
Favourite composers: J.S. Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Ravel, Rachmaninov
Favourite pieces: Franck's Symphony, Ravel's Bolero
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SOUND PRODUCTION
The harp has 47 strings of different sizes. The longer and thicker strings are for low notes, while the shorter ones are for higher notes. The player sits nearest to the short string. Beside playing tunes, the harpist can play arpeggios, glissando and harmonics:
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Arpeggios:
This refers to the notes of a chord played very quickly one after another over the whole range of the instrument.
Glissando:
This refers to the player sweeping his/her finger over the strings.
Harmonics:
This refers to the player plucking the strings, while at the same time touching it lightly halfway along its length with the side of his/her finger. The note produced has a bell-like effect and sounds an octave higher than the normal note.
Sound is amplified by the sound-board as the strings vibrate. The harp needs constant tuning and the harpist does this by tuning the pegs of the gut or metal strings which are coloured according to their pitch-name to help the player to find them more easily. The red coloured strings are tuned to C and the blue ones to F.
The harp is tuned to C-flat major. With a system of 7 pedals, each string can be raised in pitch by a semitone or a whole tone. Each pedal controls all the sounds with the same letter name. For example, all the C-flats are raised to C by pressing down the pedal one notch and then to C-sharp, by pressing down two notches. This enables a complete chromatic scale to be obtained.
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