Home › Forums › How To Play › Rapidly repeated bass notes
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December 19, 2012 at 4:20 pm #60067Angela BiggsMember
I have a 36-string Sylvan lever harp by Heartland Harps. It is marketed as a “medium- to high-tension” harp, but I would call it closer to medium; the L&H Ogden is strung with a much higher tension. Hopefully that will give you a frame of reference.
I’m playing off what I believe to be a piano transcription, bass line only, a flautist will take the melody. I need to alternate F/D with the right hand (in the octave below middle C) and B with the left hand (2 below middle C) in eighth notes, common time, at 126 bpm. This results in an audible replacement noise which seems especially marked on the F/D. It’s very noticeable when I’m playing alone because there’s nothing else going on; I haven’t tried it with the flautist yet. All of the involved strings are wire-wound-wire, in case that makes a difference.
I’ve taken a look at the wrist and finger movement in my RH and my replacement speed/angle/etc., and have tried a couple of different fingerings (2-3 versus 1-2), and haven’t yet found an approach that eliminates the extraneous noise. Is that possible to accomplish in this situation? I’m just looking to find out if this is possible or impossible: if it’s possible, I’ll figure out how to do it; if not, I won’t waste my time. 🙂
Thank you!
December 19, 2012 at 5:45 pm #60068jennifer-buehlerMemberThat fast, there’s going to be some muffle noise no matter what. this may sound more exciting and percussive. however, if it were me, I’d eliminate some notes. The Sylvan is fairly long ringing. Let that sound shine. That’s just me though.
December 19, 2012 at 6:28 pm #60069TacyeParticipantTry playing higher, or lower, in the strings. As you move away from the centre the string is moving less so you get less replacement noise. You also get a different tone so may not like this solution for other reasons, but it is worth trying.
December 20, 2012 at 1:18 am #60070Angela BiggsMemberJennifer – good to know. 🙂 Yes, I love the way the harp rings, and I’ve considered suggesting that I play quarters instead of eights, or something like that.
Tacye – that worked! You’re right, I don’t like the guitar-ish sound, but it gives me another option to present to the flautist. 🙂
Many thanks to both of you!
December 20, 2012 at 7:43 am #60071LoonatikMemberjust being creative… in case you’re still exploring.
if you don’t need C# and Eb you could tune the 2 strings natural and alternate F/D – E#/D with Cb – B
or since its accompanying, you could leave out one D and play F – E#/D ?December 31, 2012 at 7:20 pm #60072kreig-kittsMemberWhen borrowing from piano parts, especially for informal playing, I don’t have any problems with adapting the part in ways that make it easier to play or sound better on the harp. Here are a few things I might try if I had it:
The way you describe it, it sounds like you’re playing a B or B-flat triad, with the 1st note alternating with the 3rd and 5th. You might break it up further, b-f-d-f or b-f-b-d so you’re not repeating the individual notes as often.
Or you could try playing the pattern on the left hand, then repeating it an octave higher in the right.
Or you might play the entire chord in one hand on the quarter note and not worry about the 8ths. That might sound better anyway, since the harp likes to ring a bit. A pianist can use the sustain pedal while repeating, but a harp can sound choppy.
I recently played a similar pattern in church with short prepation time. Fortunately the notes descended each beat so the top note never repeated. However, I found that fingering the upper two notes with 2 and 3 instead of 1 and 2, and 2 in the left hand, made it easier for me to play cleanly.
December 31, 2012 at 8:11 pm #60073Angela BiggsMemberLoon — I saw your post just as the Christmas frenzy began. I’m sorry I forgot to respond. That is a good idea, and one that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own! Thank you. 🙂 I don’t think it will be necessary to retune my harp, because it looks like the flautist is going to arrange the piece with input from me regarding the harp part, but as a lever harper I don’t typically think in terms of enharmonics and your suggestion really got me thinking.
Kreig — thank you for your thoughtful response, as well! I like your first and third suggestions and will try them out. The second one might not work for this particular piece, but is an approach I will likely revisit in the future.
All of these suggestions have been thoughtful and very helpful. Thanks so much everyone!
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