The Harp - Shaping your Nails

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My name is Cynthia Cathcart, and we are now going to talk about the other part of this instrument, the wire-strung harp. The harp is about half of what you need, other half of what you need is your hand. This is what really putting them together. The five fingers on your hand, the fifth finger, little finger, is rarely used. Sometimes used for damping. We will talk about damping later. The other fingers are numbered 1 for the thumb 2, 3, and 4. Wire harpers tend to use their nails. They give you really nice clean attack, so as I take the harp, I literally, I am using my nail to strike the string. People sometimes ask me oh! You must have really tough calluses. No, its my nail that hits string. Now, some people, some harpers will shape their nails a little differently. For example you may look and see that instead of coming to a nice neat point on the top like my mother taught me to shape my nails, I have pushed it off to the side a little bit. This way when I come to the harp, that point is coming directly to the string. I have literally my turned my nails into plectrum. Experimentation is probably your best bet on figuring out exactly how you might want to shape your nails for the best sound on your wire-strung harp.

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