Helpful Harp Hint Tuesday: Harmonics - Mar 8, 2016
Many students struggle with harmonics and understandably so. There's more to successfully executing harmonics on harp than you might realize.
1) Specific: The point at which the harmonic will speak is very specific, too high or too low and all you'll get is an unpleasant thud.
2) Technique: Learning the proper technique for playing harmonics takes some time. At first it usually feels a bit awkward but with time, it becomes second nature.
3) Resonance: For harmonics to speak readily and loudly, you need to have good strings. If your strings are old, no matter how good your technique or how well you can find that specific spot, they're not going to speak as well on old strings as new.
4) Strength: It takes more strength to make a harmonic speak than it does an open string.
5) Callous: Part of being able to play a harmonic loudly is being able to pull and push against the string strongly enough. Your callous will affect this and it's important to note that the place the string hits your finger when playing a harmonic is different than the place used for open strings. You'll need to develop a good callous on the spot that touches the string, so go gently at first to avoid blisters.
If you're struggling with harmonics, take some time to go through this checklist and see if one of these issues is your problem. It's a technique work mastery with plenty of music available that features this lovely, gentle sound.
You can download a copy of Little Sketch Nr. 5 to use as harmonics practice.
This arrangment of the hymn Old 100th (Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow) also offers music that will let you practice harmonics. The harmonics aren't marked in the music, but there's a note offering this as suggestion, which is how I usually play this arrangement. It offers a nice contrast to the first section.
If you've worked on Still Waters, this is a simple piece that may be used as an etude to work on harmonics. Again, while not notated, harmonics can be added by playing the "non melody notes" as harmonics. This will give you a chance to learn left hand harmonics on the first page and right hand harmonics on the second page. If this is helpful, there are other, short, simple solos here https://hornandharp.com/simple_additions.html that where harmonics can be added into the mix.
