Need advice scoring harp
Something sounds odd with this glissando and I can't figure out what and why.
It starts in C major and ends in C minor. I thought harp glissandi were pentatonic, but I might be utterly wrong about that.
Can someone please take a look and give me advice?
I uploaded two short videos on my onedrive.
In the first video I added some of the strings so you can hear the harmony, and in the second one it's the harp by itself.
https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArAR9f6QlJGOoaF-NB_ihSSiCF5WGw?e=5cU5dw
THANK YOU!
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Comments
"Can someone please take a look and give me advice?"
Not really, because an image only tells a small part of the story. The best file for support purposes is always your actual score (the .mscz file), which contains all the settings which are reflected in the UI on the Properties panel.
If you look in the Properties panel for a harp gliss. you will see a Playback button. Clicking Playback will reveal a Style property which can be changed from Default (Diatonic) to Chromatic. Does that help at all?
In reply to "Can someone please take a… by DanielR
Thanks, I'll try that. :)
In reply to "Can someone please take a… by DanielR
Thank you, that helped. Curiously, diatonic is set to default, but every glissando sets itself up as chromatic when created.
Harp glissandi depend on the pedal settings. See https://harpnotation.com/de/the-harp/pedal-mechanism/ for example. You have to set the pedals to give the desired notes within the gliss. There are seven pedals, one for each note name. If all are in the middle position the strings are tuned to a scale of C major. The pedals can be used to flatten or sharpen each note of the scale and affect every string of that note name. If you want a gliss as a C major scale, leave the pedals in their mid position. If you want a C minor scale set the E pedal to its flat position.
See also https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/idiomatic-notation-harp
I don't like downloading things from unrecognised links and so I am not going to look at your example. Please attach the score itself (the .mscz file) here if you need more help.
In reply to Harp glissandi depend on the… by SteveBlower
I use the pedals, as you can see on the screenshot.
I can't upload the score, the music is under NDA.
In reply to I use the pedals, as you can… by Zsolnai
Have you set the playback properties of the gliss. to be diatonic rather than chromatic?
If I notate something as it looks in your picture with a diatonic gliss. I get a C maj scale starting on G and ending on C.
Can you extract the relevant section of the score an attach it here. We don't need the whole thing, just the bit you are having difficulty with.
One point. The harp is not playing anything other than that C after the key change. The pedal change can go later as all the notes it might affect have already been played. Or are you actually wanting to change from CMaj to C min in the middle of the gliss? Good luck to the harpist if you do! Three pedal changes and not even adjacent mid gliss is going to be a bit of a handful (or footful).
In reply to Have you set the playback… by SteveBlower
Oh no, no, I don't intend to torture harp players, it's not for live orchestra, I'll be producing this in a DAW after the mockup has been accepted. :))
If I'd be lucky enough to work with a live orchestra, I'd make sure to have the score checked first. :))
Switching the playback to diatonic fixed the problem, btw. :)
In reply to I use the pedals, as you can… by Zsolnai
Then create a small test score with only the glissando, and maybe a measure before and after. (And, obviously, make sure that your test score has the same problem as your real score.)