![]() It is pretty much the most confusing thing in the world to think, hmm, I want to play B flat. ![]() In fact, if you think about it, B# on the harp is the same exact thing as C natural, E# is exactly the same as F natural, and A# is exactly the same thing as Bb. They also find that they use Eb a lot more often than they use E#, and Ab a lot more often than they use A#. Most harpers find that they use Bb a lot more often than they would use B sharp. If you had tuned the B string to B natural while the lever was disengaged, the two notes available to you would have been B natural and B sharp. Your B string now has two pitches a half step apart, Bb and B natural. What happens when, say, you put your B lever up and tune the string to B natural? You put the lever down, and you get B flat. One of the easiest ways to do this is to put the B, E and A levers up, and then tune your whole harp to the C scale, using your electronic tuner as usual. To tune in E flat, you simply tune all the Bs to Bb, all the Es to Eb, and all the As to Ab. The key of E flat has three flats: B, E, and A. That means each string on your harp is capable of sounding any two pitches that are a half step apart. So how does tuning in E flat solve anything? It’s pretty amazing, actually. I resolved that as soon as I got a harp with levers, I would never, ever tune another string unnecessarily. If I wanted to play in F, I had to tune my Bs down. If I wanted to play in D, I had to tune the C strings up as well. If I wanted to play in G, I had to tune all my F strings to F#. ![]() I kept it tuned to a C scale, like the white keys of a piano, and limited my repertoire to tunes in G, D, F, and, on very special occasions, A. So in general, I’m a huge fan of anything that minimizes time spent with a tuning key in my hand. It’s also bad for my morale, because by the time I get to the green room, all the Twix are gone. I’m forever telling them to shut up so I can get on with it. Tuning is just about my favorite thing in the whole world or, at least, that’s how it probably looks to anyone who’s ever been in any kind of ensemble with me. ![]()
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