What Dynamics are Possible on the Harp?

My latest orchestral piece includes a harp part, and I want it to be played ff, and be at least recognized as existing in spite of the brass and strings :P , but I might be dreaming. :lol: Does anyone know if this is possible on a harp? (The part is made up of sixteenth notes [at quarter=110], without chords, in case that makes a difference.) I am doubling it with the celesta where the orchestra is full, for added volume, but I really want just the harp where the woodwinds and violas/cellos are silent. :mellow:

It depends what pitch your harp is playing at, I reckon. If it's playing high notes then it will be more easily noticed, whereas if it is playing lower notes it has more of a tendency to blend in and/or be quieter.

Then again, I'm not a harp player so don't take that as gospel.

Originally posted by J Dunlap@Oct 5 2005, 02:25 AM

My latest orchestral piece includes a harp part, and I want it to be played ff, and be at least recognized as existing in spite of the brass and strings :) , but I might be dreaming.

You most cirtanly aren't dreaming! If you hear Tchaikovsky's The Nutckacker Suite, you'd notice that the harp and the celesta both have each a beautiful solo. and when i listend to it live i heard both perfecty well! I'm no harp player either but i hope this helps.

It can work, but not if the brass and strings are also playing ff...

It can work, but not if the brass and strings are also playing ff...

They are (brass and violins) :) I am not expecting it to be heard that well (definitely not a solo!), but its arpeggios are serving as sort of a rythm, so I am hoping it won't be completely drowned out. I put everything at the same volume on my MIDI sequencer and it wasn't drowned out, but then that's not exactly an orchestra. :)

Unfortunately, if the brass and strings are playing anywhere above mezzo forte, the harp will be barely heard, if at all. You may want to scale back the dynamics of the orchestra so as to make the harp audible...

Do you think it would be heard to double the harp and celesta, or should I add in something like the viola as well?

Harp and celesta would probably be heard.

The Harp in orchestral music won´t be noticed that much if it isn´t either playing solo or with other instruments. It will definately not be heard if the strings and brass are fully playing above mf. But in those cases the Harp can be great as an accompanyment, adding to the tone colour. Btw, if you want the harp to be noticed as the main instrument, don't use the celesta. If you just want it to add something to the piece, use whatever you like :D

I actually have a great example, my orchestra is currently playing the Polovetsian Dances 8 and 17 (A. Borodin). And in the first bit of 17 (the softer, slower part with the very well-known melody) the Harp first serves as a rythm, playing only a's on the beat. After that the harp is doing arpeggio's on the beat with some solo woodwinds and some strings play between p and mf. In this part the Harp is very well heard. In the bit after that the Harp plays chords just after the beat, but the orchestra is playing around mf in which it kind of drowns, but still adds to the colour very well.

As a general advice: If you want the harp to be heard, use the higher register and just keep the other instruments soft and not too many.

I'm assuming you'd want this to be played live, in which case you actually have another possible alternative which would also allow you to have as many other instruments playing as you wish. If you want the harp to be heard in a live performance which is using speakers, then you could have a mic hooked up to it and control the volume levels.

Of course this is only possible if it's a live performance with speakers, otherwise I'm afraid you're stuck doing it in one of the ways the others mentioned.

Good luck!

Thanks for the information about harp amplification. :P I might try that sometime, though since this is written for a normal acoustic orchestra, I decided to just use the celesta. It is quite a bit louder, right?

A professional harp player can play at any dynamics on any string

That's pretty much it.

Ben

You know what they say about harps, they're just nude pianos...

...*budum chhh* (2 drums and a cymbal fall off a cliff...)