Christoph Pampuch [2005]
New Paths for your Fingers
I've heard some really good comments: "For this instrument, you have to re-invent the human being!" encouraged one harp player, who was finding new paths himself on an early harp. Another musician, rooted in the celtic bardic tradition, gazed thoughtfully at my chromatic harp, which was waiting expectantly for its concert, and muttered (consolingly with a smile) "What a diabolical instrument." — My harp doesn't have any horns!
But fortunately, I've also been supported. "The harp of the new millennium." said a musician, whose own playing incorporated the spectrum between traditional Irish harp and jazz. A representative of the italian double strung chromatic harp said at first , "That won't work." only to revise her judgement a year later with "It DOES work ?!"
The History of Chromatic Harp ...
... begins in the Renaissance. Composers revel in new nuances of tone colour, notes departing from the key and driving the driving harp player to despair. The dignified one-row harp (which could only be played in one key) ran out of notes! The great-grandmother of my harp entered the stage. Like an "X" , a second system of strings crossed over the first row, which had become too few. Now all the notes are there, as in a piano. The honor of the harp is saved!
This concept was applied by Pleyel in 1840 to the size of the concert harp of that time. In 1720, however, Hochbrucker had already invented the pedal mechanism . There was a "war of harps" between the mechanically fastidious double pedal harp, (the half-tones being created by the shortening of the string by a pedal) and the simple cross-over of diatonic strings with complementary chromatic ones. In a era of "technical positivism", the more complicated instrument, i.e., the double pedal harp, was the victor and became the sole concert harp.
Instrument makers and musicians in Italy found another possibility to help the harp make the jump to chromaticism. IN the "arpa doppia" the chromatic strings lie parallel behind the diatonic. Fingers must move between the diatonic strings to get to the chromatic. This instrument developed further and is still alive in the triple harp of Wales, with its almost 100 strings.
In all these chromatic harps, the strings are arranged like the keys of a piano: The seven white keys of the C major scale are expanded to a complete chromatic scale, by adding the five missing black ones.
The whole tone chromatic harp
The unfamiliar, (and for many, horrifying) aspect of my harp is its organization using the principle of whole tone steps. The two rows of strings are tuned as a mutually symmetrical whole tone system consisting of six notes, which becomes chromatic as the sets of strings cross: C D E F# G# A# + C# D# F G A B. The only instrument using this system known to me is the Salzburger Hackbrett.
In 1845, the French harp builder, Henri Pape, built the first chromatic harp with this arrangement of strings. It is the direct ancestor of my harp. Nobody bought it- maybe it was simply too early for his idea.
The musical result is amazing: regardless of key, all intervals, chords and scales that sound the same, have identical fingering. It is the old principle of the diatonic harp that is actually transferred to the chromatic world. The familiar pattern of piano keys is merely a "chromatised" C major scale, which applies its logic to other keys.
Looking for new musical paths, the complimentary whole tone system seemed to be a significant key, because here, for the first time all notes are really equal according an inner logic. Since the introduction of equal temperament tuning in the time of J.S. Bach, music sounds "symmetric", while keyboards and fingering systems of traditional instruments are still asymmetric. The black and white keys of a piano or the logical main fingerings of a recorder in contrast to the more complicated fingerings for half-tones are examples of this.
Harp Philosophy
As early as a thousand years ago, Chinese music theory defined the twelve-tone system by dividing it into female and male whole tone scales, that complement each other like Yin and Yang. This is the kernel of Chinese concept of Tao. The two levels of strings of the whole tone chromatic harp behave like Yin and Yang: They are placed opposite of oneanother, each with the same inner structure. Only by putting them together do I get the complete chromatic scale. It is encouraging to re-discover this ancient wisdom in my Harp.
Three instruments are blended in the chromatic harp. The finesse of a classical guitar lives in the delicate stringing and in the versatility of hand positions. Fingers can create the most subtle nuances of sound, by touching the strings in various ways. Piano is represented by its universal ability to combine each tone with another at any time, without any mechanical interference beforehand, such as moving a lever or pushing a pedal. And, of course, the harp itself contributes to the beauty of a vibrating string, unhampered by any damping.
The Feel of Playing
After a short time, the sight of crossing strings became familiar, as the eye regards the hand, not the strings, while playing. On the contrary, when my hand moved along the (flat) system of stringing, it now has a playing area that has become three dimensional and somehow more "handy".
The angle of the two levels of strings to each other frees the little finger out of its banishment because the lower level of strings meets the hand. This is an enormous advantage, as European music is often marked with five-tone figures. The angle of crossing on my harp is larger than that on the historical Spanish forerunner, so that the hand must not move up or down, because the thumb can play on one level and the other fingers on the other.
I use modern technique (thumb up) just as often as historical (thumb down) and change back and forth between the two quite often. The three-dimensionality of the strings, with changing hand positions, make possible a wider palette of new and unusual fingerings. From new fingerings come new musical ideas which can open new horizons.
I am not alone
For two years, I have been taking my harp and my audiences on journeys through time. Transcriptions of old Spanish "vihuela", late Baroque contrapuntal compositions, romantic Spanish guitar music and intimate sound-paintings of Eric Satie comprise a concert removed from the usual repertoire for harp.
At the first public presentation, I met my first student, who, as a physicist, was immediately enthused at the logic of the arrangement of the strings. Since then, we often have discussions about ideal fingerings and are happy to find that we often have the same ideas independently from one another. He built his instrument in a course "Klangwerkstatt" under the supervision of the instrument builders, Christoph Löcherbach and André Schubert.
The "Klangwerkstatt" in Markt Wald in Allgäu fulfilled my idea of a bohemian harp that can even be built by future players themselves. This is made possible through its simple principle. Despite the new territory, this harp is actually an uncomplicated instrument. The only mechanism is the tuning peg. There is no clinking and rattling, no adjusting levers, wires rods or pedals. Once tuned, it's tuned completely. Fortunately, there are chromatic tuners!
For me, the year 2003 has been completely devoted to the chromatic harp. Another two new students are on the track of this chromatic adventure. For them, and further courageous ones, I want to write aharp school emphasizing chromaticism, that is directly inspired by this new arrangement of strings. New paths for your fingers give room for new sounds.
Translated by Linda Doernbach