Although I listen to music for hours every day I'm embarrassingly devoid of knowledge when it comes to how it is made, time signatures, keys etc. And this. What are the implications of doing this? #harp

@keefeglise

"I am not a harp player"(!) but my guess would be a very different playing technique, but when mastered, probably brilliant for jazz or other 'less structured' music!

You do realise BTW, that 'somewhere on the Fedi' there will be a harp player going "oo, oo, I know!"

@bytebro @keefeglise Very quick explanation based on what I think is meant by that description:

A chromatic harp has a separate string for each possible note on a piano (12 notes per octave). A normal pedal harp has 7 strings per octave, and the pedals allow each string to be changed in pitch up and down one semitone (= to the neighbouring keys either side on a piano). This means there is some overlap of pitches.

This pedalling system restricts a little bit what notes the harp can play all at once, and means the player must use both feet constantly to change the pitches of strings as required by the music. All that goes away on the chromatic harp. No feet required.

@bytebro @keefeglise Oops forgot my bona fides: I am a professional music editor, have edited a fair amount of harp music.

@Gaolaitch @bytebro So the reason for using a chromatic harp is that it allows access to combinations of notes not possible on the traditional instrument?