Harp tuning crash course

[Ron Koval]

Hey Terry,

At this point, I'll assume that you will be facing a folk harp, not a pedal 
harp.  If it turns out to be a pedal harp, (unlikely) go ahead and put the 
pedals in the middle and tune to a c major scale. (It's really best to put 
the pedals all up, and tune to a Bmaj scale, but I digress.)

So, first find out if she got a tuning key. (should be a T-lever thingee.  A 
drum key might fit in a pinch.)  As you sit at the harp, with the slanty 
side toward you, the tuning key will work on the right side. (should be 
obvious)  Look on the left side to see if there is a mechanical doo-jobee 
that can shorten the speaking length.  That would be a "sharping lever"  
Traditionally, the harp is tuned in C, and then the levers can be used to 
change keys.  See a problem?  Hard to play in flats.  So....for those that 
want a little more flexibility, they tune the harp in Eb major.  So to play 
in C, they use the levers on all of the B, E, and A strings.  But again, 
this may be more than she needs to know at this point.

BUT, you will be facing a new instruments, so the tuning will be wildly 
unstable as the harp and strings all do their stretching dance.  So first, 
just tune it off of the piano - quickly, unison from the middle.  Octaves by 
ear.  Zoom, done.  She will need to do it on her own, so see if she can do 
it that way, or suggest a little electronic tuner.  Plucking nearer the top 
of the string, or getting a little of your finger nail into the action 
sometimes helps get a clearer reading. Check with the double octaves to keep 
it clean.

Now the real fun begins.  Most folk harpist will tell you that they tune ET, 
and use the little tuners, but then they "fix" the tunings by making the 
fifths and thirds "pure" for the one or two keys they are playing.  
Hmmmmmmm.....  Yup, a nice broadwood or stronger helps a lot.

Oh, and those sharping levers?  They usually don't move the note a half step 
without some adjusting.  (The pedal harps are quite a project to get set 
right - don't ask!)

drop me a line if you run into trouble.

Ron Koval
Chicagoland