I am often asked about the strings on the harp--how many? why the different colors? what material are they made out of?
Well here are some answers to those questions you were just dying to know. Let's start with the colors--Red is C, black is F. That red string right there in the middle of the picture above, is middle C. Some people ask if this is "cheating" to have the strings colored. All harps are strung with this color pattern to give a reference point, just like the black keys on the piano. Can you imagine a harp with all white strings? There would be no way to tell where you are. There is an old tradition of blind harpists such as
Turlough O'Carolan, and I guess they don't really need the colors. But for the rest of us, we need to see where we are sometimes because all the strings feel exactly the same.
As you can see from the picture on my header, the strings are made of various materials. On a concert grand harp, the lowest and longest strings are made from steel wire. The middle range is strung with gut strings, made from sheep gut. These strings have a warm beautiful sound. The upper two octaves are usually strung with nylon. The nylon is a brighter sound. The upper strings usually break more frequently so it is more affordable to use nylon up there. Harpists typically change (or should change!) their strings every 1-2 years. But with a set costing over $400 and the time involved to do this, some of us might put it off a just a bit. But I love the sound of new strings and I am getting ready to change mine soon. I always carry a set of strings to every gig, because you never know if one might break!
There are 47 strings on a concert grand harp, ranging from 3 octaves below middle C to 3 1/2 above middle C. It is similar to the range on the piano (which has a few more notes on either side). The piano has 88 keys because there are keys for the sharps and flats, whereas on the harp the sharps and flats are created on the one string. But I guess I would have to save how that works for another post...
