The stave for the harp is written under that of the percussion. Reading downwards it is the first stringed instrument in the score. Since it has a wide compass — of six and a half octaves — the music occupies two staves, the notation for the right hand being written in the treble clef and that of the left generally in the bass clef.

There is something lonely-looking and remote about the single harpist, by tradition usually a woman, arriving early on the platform to tune more than forty strings — some of gut or nylon, some wound wire and some copper. A blast or two of hot or cold air from an off-stage corridor can spoil her endeavours, as can the rising heat and humidity in the hall once the audience has seated itself.

The cascades of glissandi that can be played on the harp are often used to evoke the music of Heaven, suggesting a lack of creative imagination in that place, for although glissandi and arpeggio passages are characteristic of the harp, bold chords, trills, rapid repetitions on one note, harmonics and stopped notes are also part of its expressive repertoire.

The orchestral harp of today is described as a double action instrument, on account of the seven pedals at the base, each of which has two positions. When depressed one notch they raise the pitch by a semitone, and depressed another notch, by a further semitone. Since each pedal represents one note of the diatonic scale the number of combinations possible, even for one note, is considerable and in certain passages footwork can be as frantic as fingerwork. At the end of a concert the harp will be covered and, if to be transported, it will be loaded into a trunk with the strings slackened off — ready to tune all over again.

The name ‘harp‘ probably comes from the Old English word hearp, meaning talon, nail or plectrum. In Anglo-Saxon times the instrument was plucked. The harp is believed to have its origins in the hunting bow. The first harps had no fore-pillar and were called bow harps; these have been known for three or four thousand years.

A 7th century BC relief from Nineveh, now in the British Museum, shows a procession of Elamite harpists plucking their strings in a manner that is almost identical to that used by today’s harpists. The different positions of the left hand of each harpist indicate that each musician is plucking a different note. The procession includes people clapping, a singer beating her throat (producing a sort of tremolo), and a lyre player, as well as a small drum and a pair of double reed pipes. Such a multiplicity of harps is rarely heard today, and the relief probably represents concerted music of some complexity.

There is a considerable wealth of pictorial evidence of the early existence of the harp in the Middle East, Scandinavia, Ireland and all parts of the British Isles. But there are still gaps and puzzles in the story, one of them being the date and place of the introduction of the fore-pillar, creating what is termed the ‘frame harp.’ This is the instrument played in the orchestra today.

Early European literature also abounds with references to the harp and to the many legends connected with it. It has been a symbol of heavenly bliss for hundreds of years. Similarly on earth it has been endowed with magical powers, its sound soothing savage breasts, driving away evil spirits and gathering audiences of bemused animals.

The tradition of singing to harp accompaniment must be as old as the instrument itself and the pleasure of it is celebrated by Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales. The Friar harpist ‘when that he had song’ is described: His eyes twinkled in his head aright, As loon the sterres in the frosty night.

The Anglo-Saxons strung their harps with twisted horse hair but the Irish, who experimented with the shape of the instrument and were acclaimed throughout Europe for their harping, used gold, silver and brass. The Irish played low-headed harps, with large sound- boards sometimes carved from one block of willow, which were played with the finger nails and produced a strong, clear, bell-like sound. This was the type of harp that could be hung in trees at times of grief: hung where a breeze can blow across the strings, a strange and ghostly music is produced.

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dodoFolk Music, Microphone, Music Book, Music Box, Music Equipments, Music Software, Musical Instruments, Sheet Music23 Jul, 2008