Enjoy the Double-Strung Harp book

Start playing the double-strung harp, or take your double-strung playing to the next level.

Enjoy the Double-Strung Harp is for double-strung harp players who are brand new to the instrument, who already know how to play the single-course harp, or who already play the double-strung harp. How do you make it sound like a double? How do you focus with two sets of strings? And then, what do you do next? Get the hard copy or PDF.

What makes Enjoy the Double-Strung Harp special

MORE STUFF HERE ABOUT THE BOOK.

Enjoy the Double-Strung Harp is available in hard copy and PDF. Here is the first section.

Chapter 1: Why play a double-strung?

Welcome to the world of the double-strung harp. The thing that makes a double-strung harp unique is having two rows of the same strings. Here’s what that gets you:

• Melody and accompaniment never collide. Take arrangements for a larger harp and move the left hand up an octave. You don’t have to make any adjustments to prevent both hands from touching the same strings; they can’t touch the same strings.

• More strings, much less weight. A double-strung harp with 24 strings on both sides is approximately 20” deep and weighs around 10 pounds. A 36-string single-course harp is over 30” deep and weighs at least 26 pounds. Which would you rather carry to gigs or into patient rooms?

• Special effects. Echo yourself. Play the same note in both hands simultaneously for a richer sound. Roll overlapping chords for the notes to ring in an unexpected order. Extend arpeggios over the melody for serendipitous ornaments, echoes, and harmonies.

• Easier arranging and playing from lead sheets. You can put much more concentration into your melody, because your accompaniment can be a repeating pattern that will never crash into your melody hand.

• Freer improvising. Being able to echo and create close harmonies with each hand on their own side invites opportunities to experiment with low risk.

• Better-sounding repeated notes. For songs with lots of repeated notes, you can split the playing between rows, so you don’t have to quickly damp the same string to play it again.

• Fewer mid-song lever changes. Set your accidentals on one side so you don’t have to flip in
  the middle of a song.

• More resonance. No matter what you are playing, the double-strung harp sounds fuller, because there are more strings to vibrate sympathetically.

This book explores how to take advantage of all of those things.

What else is inside Enjoy the Double-Strung Harp

• Twenty-four arrangements, including “Beautiful Dreamer,” “Carol of the Bells,” “Dona Nobis Pacem,” Beethoven’s “Für Elise,” “Loch Lomond” (“you take the high road, and I’ll take the low road…”), Bach’s “Prelude in C,” “Scarborough Fair,” “Silent Night,” “Taps,” “Wayfaring Stranger,” and more.

• Explanations and applications of the double-strung harp’s signature effects: harmonic overlaps, serendipitous
  ornaments, more rapid repeated notes, and natural echoes.

• Exercises and etudes to navigate both sets of strings, control your articulation, overlap chords, and use levers.

• Guidelines for adapting single-course arrangements, exercises, and method books for the double-strung.

• Recommendations for creating your own double-strung arrangements with lead sheets and left-hand pattern examples.

• 150 pages.

• See the table of contents and more sample pages for the hard copy or PDF.

The lowest note in all but three of the arrangements is the G below middle C. The highest note is three Es above middle C. About 12 of the arrangements and exercises are lever-free, about 17 need an F#, and four also need an Ab, Bb, C#, D#, Eb, or G#. See more detail for the hard copy or PDF.

Praise for Enjoy the Double-Strung Harp

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Two ways to purchase Enjoy the Double-Strung Harp

Click either option to see the table of contents, list of songs, and sample pages from the book:

Don’t have a double-strung harp yet? Check out my list of double-strung harp luthiers. Want even more double-strung harp music? Here are all of the composers and arrangers for double-strung harp, including links to their social media channels and double-strung sheet music. Not sure what a double-strung harp is in the first place? Find out what makes the double-strung harp different. Contact me for more answers over email, or set up one or more private lessons for double-strung harp, regular harp, or therapeutic harp.