Composing for the Lever Harp

Course Description

Summary

In this course we will be taking a hands on approach to understanding the lever harp both historically and compositionally. We will be building and stringing small 19 string harps which will be used as the basis for our compositional work where students will be creating new works of varying length for the lever harp to be presented at the end of the semester. We’ll look at what techniques are and are not achievable, what makes this instrument unique to other harps, and how to include it in larger compositional contexts. Historically, our focus will be on the cultural significance of the lever harp, how it became a forgotten instrument, and its place in the revival/resurgence of folk music. Our in class discussions will involve analysis of other modern lever harp compositions and feedback on student projects and the compositional process. Students must have some fluency in notation either by recordings, western written notation or graphic scores (please check with me).