harp dampen

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Vanessa McClintock Posted March 12, 2019 03:02

Windows 7, Finale 26

Here goes another harp question:

How does one create an effective "dampen" for harp?

In other words, playing the harp is similar to playing the piano with the sostenuto pedal always depressed, except most of the strings decay more rapidly.

There are times when the strings need to be "dampened" (some people say "muffled") right away.

I've read the User Manual, and found a few places in sundry forums for using text or symbols. Many text examples are suggested in the Users Manual, the "Coda" symbol or another similar to it are suggested for the symbol.

None of them work for me, and the other symbol that looks similar to the Coda one, but is a circle with crosshairs, I cannot find.

In either case, I would like the Expression or Articulation to function, and not just be text or a symbol.

Thank you,
:-)
Vanessa

4 comments

Date Votes

Vanessa McClintock Edited March 12, 2019 03:04

BTW--off topic--I found the Harp Diagram instructions in the Users Manual to be quite easy and effective--the one using the Engraver Text Character Set, just in case anyone happens to writing for harp.

:-)
Vanessa

Jeffrey Turner Edited March 12, 2019 15:33

I remember reading about the Salzedo font, which contains many harp specific characters. If you're you're looking for correct playback, then it looks like the Garritan harp controls damping by CC#64.

Vanessa McClintock Posted March 24, 2019 02:01

Thank you, Jeffrey,

Yes, in my perusal of other forums, I have seen mention of the Salzedo font.

As mentioned in my previous Reply, the Harp Diagram options in Finale are surprisingly good.

I had hoped there might be something akin to the Ped * options (pedal / release) in Finale for the pianos.

I am not quite sure what you mean by "Garritan harp controls damping by CC#64."

Do you mean creating an "Expression" to send a command?

:-)
Vanessa

Jeffrey Turner Posted March 24, 2019 02:36

Yes an expression is one way of sending a midi command. I looked at the standard human playback preferences and they do mention damped notes. They mention using KS1 or CC#64 with a value of 127. I've never played around with this technique, so I don't know how finicky it is, but it looks doable for playback.

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