Tuning
Many people find tuning a harp for the first time daunting, as there are so many strings and they all need to be tuned individually. Sometimes people ask whether you can hire a harp tuner, the way you can hire a piano tuner, but unfortunately not. Harpists tune their own instruments because harps need to be tuned regularly, just like a guitar or a viola. The process is quite similar to tuning any other string instrument, where you're simply adjusting the length of the string by tiny amounts until it's in tune. Below you'll find a quick written overview and then several videos that talk about tuning in more depth.
A Quick Overview:
•Harps come with tuning keys. These are tools used to turn each tuning peg.
•When turning a tuning peg, you always want to turn it by small amounts, so that you're just making tiny adjustments.
•For a standard harp, if you turn the tuning key away from yourself, it will make the string a little bit higher in pitch, or sharper. If you turn the tuning key back toward yourself, it will make the string a little bit lower, or flatter. Essentially you're winding or unwinding the string by very tiny amount when tuning.
•It is common to use a tuning app or a physical electronic tuner that shows when each string is in tune. These are universal for all instruments, so it doesn't need to be harp specific. If you prefer, you can also match the pitch of the strings to another instrument when you're first starting out.
•When tuning, you want to have your levers disengaged and your pedals in flat, so that all of the strings are in their longest positions.
•You can tune a lever harp in different keys, with the Key of C Major and the Key of E-flat Major being common choices. Lever harps are limited to playing in eight major keys.
•Pedal harps are tuned in the Key of C-Flat Major (with all of the pedals in their top position) and then can play in any key.
•People tune on different schedules. A beginning student might tune their harp once a week, a serious student every day, and a professional harpist multiple times throughout a rehearsal or performance.
•The more you tune, the easier and more efficient it becomes. It's a skill, just like playing the harp.
An Introduction to Tuning
If you've never tuned a harp before, and are unsure of the whole process, then this video is for you. It explains in depth and at a gentle pace how to tune a lever harp in the Key of C, starting with basics like what a tuning key is.
Tuning a Lever Harp in the Key of E-flat
Generally people who have been playing the lever harp for a while are interested in this alternate tuning. This video provides a detailed explanation of what keys are, why you might want to tune your lever harp in E-flat and then shows you how to do so. This video assumes that you understand the general tuning process, but might not know much about keys.
Tuning a Pedal Harp
If you've been playing the lever harp for a while, and now happily find yourself with a pedal harp to play and tune, you should know about a few crucial differences in tuning the two instruments.
Tuning a Really Out of Tune Harp
Perhaps you have a harp that hasn't been tuned in years, or has moved across the country in all kinds of conditions. Gradually returning such a harp to being in tune is a slightly different process, so here's a video devoted to this.