Sightreading for Harp Books 1,2,3 (lever and pedal)
Waaaaaay back in 2006, my great friend and fellow harp teacher, Lisa Williamson and I decided we needed sightreading (SR) resources for our students. There were some great resources for piano, but they weren't entirely transferable to harp due to using (and really needing) the pinky finger and there were NO student resources for harp sightreading. So we considered our parameters and thoroughly studied the ABRSM, Trinity College and AMEB (Australia) exam syllabuses, and took a close look at the technical aspects, the pieces and common techniques (both musical and harpistic) used at each grade, and also the specimen SR tests and theory levels, and combined all those bits and pieces into our own SR books.
It was an enormous undertaking and we learnt a huge amount over the next few years as we pulled together four books and over 650 SR exercises ranging from absolute beginner SR (yes, you can use it on lesson #1) to grade 8 pedal and lever standard SR. At the end of books 3(s) you could successfully sit Grade 8 SR and feel well prepared for it.
It was an enormous undertaking and we learnt a huge amount over the next few years as we pulled together four books and over 650 SR exercises ranging from absolute beginner SR (yes, you can use it on lesson #1) to grade 8 pedal and lever standard SR. At the end of books 3(s) you could successfully sit Grade 8 SR and feel well prepared for it.
Click on the photo to zip through to Gumroad to see samples for each book.
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Sightreading for Harp Book One by Anna Dunwoodie and Lisa Williamson A resource book designed for student harpists by two teachers to give beginning students practice in sightreading. These exercises are all original compositions, and can be easily taught or practiced on a daily basis. The 250 four and eight-measure exercises are divided into four sections, progressing from very easy exercises to more advanced, with quarter notes being the shortest note. With a few exceptions, chords are not used. This book is suitable for lever and pedal harp, however there are frequent key signature changes from exercise to exercise. A must for every teacher to include in conditioning, and nurturing the young harpist! 50 pages. |
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Sightreading for Harp Book Two by Anna Dunwoodie and Lisa Williamson
Book Two is approximately grades 3-5 progressively getting harder. The examples in this book have been written so lever harps have to set a lever (in about half of the examples) at the beginning and pedal harpist will have to change a pedal somewhere through it. We've achieved this by writing the accidental only in one octave and using it as a natural in the rest. By the end of the book they should be confidently playing in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 3/8 and 6/8, from 3 flats to 4 sharps, 3 note chords, all rhythms including all dotted notes and runs of 4 semiquavers and a wide range of dynamics, articulation and tempo marking. The first half of the exercises are only 8 bars long progressing to 16 bars for the last 25 or 30 examples! So there are 180 exercises in total! 97 pages. |
One thing we noticed when we did our pre project prep... in the Trinity College SR guidelines (2025 I haven't checked for updates on this) they stated they would not use compound duple time, but our experiences with our students, even to date (2025) is that more often than not the students were given SR by the examiner in compound duple time. So when writing book two, we brought compound duple time into the second chapter of book 2. By the end of the second chapter we think you would be ready to sit Grade 4 SR... with a bit of extra (maybe unnecessary) knowledge - but most of us would have encountered compound duple time by this level so no harm done!
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Note: Books 3 and 4 are both at the upper level and contain very much the same material, but.... they have been specifically arranged one for lever harp and one for pedal harp which, as you know, are quite different instruments and at graded exam level, are examined for different technical skills regarding levers and pedals. |
Sightreading for Pedal Harp Book 3
Sightreading for Lever Harp Book 3
By Anna Dunwoodie and Lisa Williamson
Book Three contains exercises at approximately grades 6, 7 and 8 levels.
Each book contains 90 exercises; these are based on the same material but altered to suit the different requirements of each instrument. The exercises demand technical skills as expected at this level such as etouffes, 4-fingered arpeggios, glissando, polyrhythms, pres de la table, xylophonics, harmonics, lever changes and slides and increasingly difficult pedal changes and pedal slides. The use of mixed meter, irregular beat divisions, and a wide range of tonality including bitonal, whole tonal, atonal and modal music gives variety to the exercises which increase in length throughout the book. As in the previous books, the lever and pedal pre-settings are indicated at the start of each exercise and there are explanatory notes for some of the technique. In an effort to move the music from the realm of an exercise into real music, some of the exercises have titles and become short programmatic pieces.
Lever book – 82 pages.
Pedal book – 86 pages.
Talking Harps chat about Sightreading here
Sightreading for Lever Harp Book 3
By Anna Dunwoodie and Lisa Williamson
Book Three contains exercises at approximately grades 6, 7 and 8 levels.
Each book contains 90 exercises; these are based on the same material but altered to suit the different requirements of each instrument. The exercises demand technical skills as expected at this level such as etouffes, 4-fingered arpeggios, glissando, polyrhythms, pres de la table, xylophonics, harmonics, lever changes and slides and increasingly difficult pedal changes and pedal slides. The use of mixed meter, irregular beat divisions, and a wide range of tonality including bitonal, whole tonal, atonal and modal music gives variety to the exercises which increase in length throughout the book. As in the previous books, the lever and pedal pre-settings are indicated at the start of each exercise and there are explanatory notes for some of the technique. In an effort to move the music from the realm of an exercise into real music, some of the exercises have titles and become short programmatic pieces.
Lever book – 82 pages.
Pedal book – 86 pages.
Talking Harps chat about Sightreading here