Yup, jef - you've got it! The ONLY thing I would add is that in my estimation, I think it would certainly be possible to notate AND produce (say) discernable quarter tones but it would be pretty damned near impossible to attempt <specifically>-pitched smaller microtones. Non-specific flat or sharp microtones, sure - but if you want something really specific....beyond quarter tones....I don't think so. It's the mechanics of any particular harp. I think you'd have to have a pretty damned talented pedal foot - with pretty amazing control.
As for the buzz - again: specific harps and specific players - for example, when producing harmonics on a harp, you kinda have to discover the sweet spot of individual strings. And so it is with buzz and harps: easy to do on some harps (particularly those in need of regulation) and some pedal so smoothly you really have to time your pedal changes with your hands to create buzz. That said, it is easier to produce buzz if you're pedaling <lightly> while simultaneously sounding the string(s). So re: your question about pedal change with or without noise or buzz? Basic rule of thumb is that if the pedal is ill-coordinated with the plucking of the string, OR a 'clunky' pedal job: easy to buzz. And the exact opposite can also be produced: the whole point of the 'Harpo trill' is that the string is plucked and THEN the pedal is (usually rapidly) 'pumped' through one half-step alteration several times: if done carefully, no buzz at all. Hope that helps. My 1921 Lyon & Healy is in need of regulation, but gave me NO difficulty at all in producing the effects discussed above....and the instrument is (incidentally) the very harp upon which Harpo took hundreds of lessons with Mildred Dilling in the 1920s while he and his brothers were doing 'The Cocoanuts' and 'Animal Crackers' on Broadway - as Mildred told me. After the show, he'd run to her apartment, have a late dinner and an informal harp lesson. The stories about him being completely, totally self-taught? Only nearly correct....although he - to the very end of his life - never did learn to read music. But whatever: he was a phenomenal harpist and created technique that became 'legit'. Les Marsden (209) 966-6988 Cell: (559) 708-6027 (Emergency only) 7145 Snyder Creek Road Mariposa, CA 95338-9641 Founding Music Director and Conductor, The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra Music and Mariposa? Ahhhhh, Paradise!!! Mariposa County Planning Commissioner, District 5 Past President, The Economic Development Corporation of Mariposa County http://arts-mariposa.org/symphony.html Marsden Marx Pages: http://tinyurl.com/ygpj7og ----- Original Message ----- From: SN jef chippewa To: finale@shsu.edu Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 8:27 PM Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: harp notation les, thanks for the details, very much appreciated!!! i am in fact aware of the mechanical aspects of the instrument but am trying to better understand the actual results and what can actually be controlled and to what degree. >Now - in practice: of course it's possible to micro-tone any pitch >between a string's flat and sharp positions: done carefully (and if >the harp is well-regulated) there's no buzz - but the harpist CAN >deliberately create a buzz EVEN while slowly altering the pitch from >(say) fully flatted to natural. Microtones, you name it: you can >do it. are you saying that (assuming proper prep time) i could ask for any 1/4-tone, 1/6-tone, 1/8-tone? or are the smaller *raised* inflections easier to perform and control than tempered 1/4-tones? since the pedal is mechanical, in the case of a well-regulated harp, how could the performer intentionally create the buzz? it would seem to me that there HAS to be a point at which (for mechanical reasons) the pins come into contact with the strings as the pedal is pressed and that beyond this point (raising the pitch) the performer can no longer prevent the buzz. i.e. after a certain pitch increase, the control of the buzz is directly related to the pitch alterations to the string. this makes me think: - slight pitch inflections upwards can easily be done without noise, up to perhaps a 1/4-tone and beyond, according to the make of the instrument, regulation of the haro and control of the performer - above a certain point (varies according to same reasons in previous point) -- once the buzz starts - the pitch variation will always be accompanied by noise, and this noise can to a certain extent be controled in tendem with pitch fluctuations effected by the pedal except you say that a clean gliss is possible wth no noise! sorry to sound dense, but can you explain the separate conditions for a gliss with and without noise? >Matter of fact, Harpo Marx (with whose technique I have more than a >little familiarity!) ah! his rachmaninov technique? >Done slowly, ya hear the interceding tones; done quickly and the >persistence of hearing (my term) makes you think you're hearing a >clean 1/2-step trill. can you give us a tempo for this? >Done badly: buzz buzz buzzzzzzzzz......... and this? thanks, this is very helpful!!!!! _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
