Rearranging Music for Small Harps
This article was first published in the June 2020 issue of the Sylvia Woods Harp Center e-Newsletter.
I often get emails from customers asking if my music can be played on a 26-string harp. If you have a small lever harp, you'll need to get good at what I call "fudging" the left hand. This will significantly expand your possible repertoire, because you won't be limited to music arranged for very small harps. "Fudging" is a great skill to work on this month!
I'll start with some historical information about the books that I've written. When I wrote my first book, Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp back in 1978, my harp was a Witcher Celtic Harp with 30 strings. (You can see this harp on the cover of my book.) The lowest string was the G that is ten strings below middle C, the lowest note on the bass clef staff. Therefore, that is the lowest note that I used in that book. Most of my other early books also used that range, including The Harp of Brandiswhiere,
50 Christmas Carols,
Irish Dance Tunes,
40 O'Carolan Tunes,
and the
Hymns and Wedding book. In the mid-1980s, I got a larger harp, so many of my later books have some notes that go down to the lower C, two octaves below middle C.
For this article, I'm going to assume that you have a 26-string harp with a C as the lowest string. But the concepts will work on any small harp. So, grab your copy of my Teach Yourself book and follow along with these examples.
I usually start having the "left hand fudging" conversation with my 26-string harp students when they get to "The Grenadier and the Lady" on page 40 in Lesson 6 of my Teach Yourself book. This piece is in the key of A minor. (A minor is the "relative minor" of the key of C, as both keys have no sharps or flats.) Four identical measures in this piece require a low A, shown in this example. The "fix" for these measures is easy. Just play the first A in the measure an octave higher than written, as shown after the red arrow in the example.
This same technique works two pages later on the first and last measures of "Searching for Lambs."
"Greensleeves" on page 43 is also in A minor. The only low A in this version is the very last note, which you can easily play an octave higher. You'll often find that the final note of a song is low to give it a "finished" sound, but you can play it up an octave.
"Gilliekrankie" on page 63 has another example: a 4-note A minor chord, starting on the low A. There are a variety of ways you can play this, as shown in this example. Just choose the one you like the best, or come up with your own!
"Ash Grove" on page 64 has four low Gs. For the 3-note left-hand chord in the beginning pick-up measure, just play the highest G.
You have several choices for the G in the last measure on the first page, as shown here.
The other two low Gs in "Ash Grove" can be left out: don't play any note in the left hand on those beats.
Here are a few more examples of the types of problems you might encounter in other pieces, with several possible solutions.
Knowing some basic music theory will also be extremely helpful. My Music Theory and Arranging Techniques book will teach you about chords and inversions. For example, a G major chord is made up of the three notes G, B, and D. Inversions are the chord notes played in a different order. In a first inversion G chord, the B is the lowest note (B, D, G), and a second inversion has a D on the bottom (D, B, G), as shown here. Often, just changing the inversion of the chord in your left hand will make the music fit your harp.
After I wrote my Teach Yourself book, I started including chord symbols in most of the books and sheets that I have arranged and published, making it easy for you to know which notes to choose. If no chord symbols are listed, my Music Theory book will, once again, help you figure them out.
If your 26-string harp has C as the lowest note, your top string is a very high G, four ledger lines above the treble clef staff. So, if the highest note in the music you want to play does not go above the G that sits right on top of the treble staff, you can play the entire piece an octave higher than written. Just move both hands an octave up! I mention this in the description of some of my pieces of sheet music, which can all be played this way. For example, Fields of Gold, A Thousand Years, and Say Something.
Sometimes, particularly on more advanced pieces, there's not much that you can do to play them on a small harp, except to completely re-arrange them, or perhaps transpose them to another key. If this happens, you need to decide if it is worth the time and effort you'll have to put into it, or if it would be better to choose a different piece to play. If you are going to re-arrange it, don't be afraid to ask for "professional help" by getting some lessons from a harp teacher who specializes in arranging. Their advice and assistance will be invaluable!
In conclusion, work on "fudging" the music in your left hand to fit your harp. Here's a summary of the possibilities I've discussed here: raise the low note (or series of notes) an octave higher; leave out the note; change the left-hand rhythm; use a different chord inversion; or play both hands an octave higher. There are, of course, many other options you can try. Feel free to experiment. If you like the sound of what you come up with, it is most likely "correct!"