When servicing harps for our customers, one thing we see more often than we’d like is a string that is either way too thick or way too thin for its position on the instrument. In most cases, the string is the right letter, say a “C”, but in the wrong octave. For instance, I might find a third octave F in the second octave, or a third octave B in the fourth octave. This doesn’t do the harp’s sound any favors. A string that is an octave too thin sounds twangy and buzzy. A string an octave too thick is much harder to play than its neighbors, and it will likely break before long.
While I have occasionally seen strings packaged incorrectly, most often this type of mistake is made by the harpist (or harp parent) who put the string on, and this is a very understandable mistake. Pedal harp strings have a unique numbering system, one that runs in the opposite direction from the most well-known numbering system, that used on the piano.
Both systems use the note name and an octave number. On a piano, the lowest C note is called C1. The C an octave above it is C2, and so on. Middle C is C4. There are three notes on a piano below C1, and those are said to be in the “Zero” octave, A0 A#0, and B0. The highest note on a standard size piano is C8.
On the harp, the octaves run in the opposite direction. The first octave is the highest, and the octave numbers go up as the pitches go down. Instead of C, each octave starts at E. The highest E string on a pedal harp is the first octave E. The first octave runs down to F, and the next E is the second octave E. If there are notes above first octave E, they are in the Zero octave.
On a pedal harp, the highest complete octave is referred to as the first octave.
When discussing harp strings, it is customary to refer to the octave number before the note. We say “first octave E”, or 1E, for instance, not E1. This is to avoid confusion with the piano system, which names the note first. As I said earlier, the octave numbers run in the opposite direction. 1E on a harp is a very high note. E1 on the piano is a very low note.
No matter how you try to explain it, the harp string numbering system can be confusing, especially since different harps have different ranges and start and end on different notes. We at Moss Harp Service find visual aids helpful, which is why we’ve created charts for the most common models of pedal harp and made them available on our website.
String chart excerpt from a Rees Aberdeen Meadows Concert Line Harp, Reesharps.com
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