String instrument
98-743: The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as cláirseach in Irish , clàrsach in Scottish Gaelic , telenn in Breton and telyn in Welsh . In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire -strung instrument requiring great skill and long practice to play, and was associated with the Gaelic ruling class . It appears on Irish coins, Guinness products, and
196-416: A bowed lyre that survived until modern times is the crwth . The theory was a variation of an earlier theory, talked about in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica's articles about the guitar, cithara and rotta , which were written by Kathleen Schlesinger . Where Winternitz later focused on the cittern, Schlesinger concentrated on the chain of instrument evolution from lyre to guitar. Schlesinger believed that
294-423: A double-harp) with a third set of strings between them tuned to the missing chromatic notes. The strings are spaced sufficiently for the harpist to reach past the outer row and pluck an inner string when a chromatic note is needed. Some harps, rather than using pedal or lever devices, achieve chromaticity by simply adding additional strings to cover the notes outside their diatonic home scale. The Welsh triple harp
392-495: A feast; a third female is shown sitting on a chair holding a harp in her hands. This find indicates that the instrument in Armenia had its Armenian name in 4th century BCE. Tahmizyan also writes about this horn beaker in his book. This find is evidence that Armenians knew and even enjoyed playing the harp in 4th century BCE. On the famous Armenian Cilician silver beaker a man is painted surrounded with his wife and animals. Formerly
490-512: A half step. In the 18th century, a link mechanism was developed connecting these hooks with pedals, leading to the invention of the single-action pedal harp. The first primitive form of pedal harps was developed in the Tyrol region of Austria. Jacob Hochbrucker was the next to design an improved pedal mechanism around 1720, followed in succession by Krumpholtz, Naderman, and the Erard company, who came up with
588-461: A handful of times by major composers such as Mozart and Beethoven), and its use by Cesar Franck in his Symphony in D ;minor (1888) was described as "revolutionary" despite the harp having seen some prior use in orchestral music. In the 20th century, the pedal harp found use outside of classical music, entering musical comedy films in 1929 with Arthur "Harpo" Marx , jazz with Casper Reardon in 1934,
686-515: A key consideration was some way to facilitate the quick changing of a string's pitch to be able to play more chromatic notes. By the Baroque period in Italy and Spain, more strings were added to allow for chromatic notes in more complex harps. In Germany in the second half of the 17th century, diatonic single-row harps were fitted with manually turned hooks that fretted individual strings to raise their pitch by
784-432: A mixed electrical signal. Hollow body instruments can also be played acoustically, while solid body instruments must be amplified. The late-20th century Gravikord is a modern purpose-built electric double harp made of stainless steel based on the traditional West African kora . Harps vary globally in many ways. In terms of size, many smaller harps can be played on the lap, whereas larger harps are quite heavy and rest on
882-407: A mortice on the back of the lámhchrann . The com (soundbox) was usually carved from a single piece of willow, hollowed out from behind. A panel of harder timber was carefully inserted to close the back. Crúite na dtéad (string shoes) were usually made of brass and prevented the metal strings from cutting into the wood of the soundbox. The fhorshnaidhm may refer to the wooden toggle to which
980-575: A narrowing spacing and lower tension than modern Western harps, and have a wide and deep soundbox that tapers to the top. The harp is also found in Argentina, though in Uruguay it was largely displaced in religious music by the organ by the end of the 18th century. The harp is historically found in Brazil, but mostly in the south of the country. The Andean harp (Spanish/ Quechua : arpa ), also known as
1078-480: A new type of harp which had gut strings and semitone mechanisms like a reduced version of a single-action pedal harp; it was small and curved like the historical cláirseach or Irish harp, but its strings were of gut and the soundbox was much lighter. In the 1890s a similar new harp was also developed in Scotland as part of the popular revival of Gaelic culture . In the mid-20th century Jord Cochevelou developed
SECTION 10
#17330854819211176-495: A prominent Gaelic poet of her time. The chief is praised as one who is skilled in judging harp-playing, the theme of a story and the pith of sense: The music of harp and pipe is shown to be intrinsic to the splendour of the MacLeod court, along with wine in shining cups: Here the great Highland bagpipe shares the high status of the clàrsach. It would help supplant the harp, and may already have developed its own classical tradition in
1274-475: A remarkable fact that the descendants of Protestant settlers, who had been at most for three generations in the country, seem to have been just as devoted to the Irish music of the harp as were the old Gaelic families. The function of the clàrsach in a Hebridean lordship, both as entertainment and as literary metaphor, is illustrated in the songs of Màiri Nic Leòid (Mary MacLeod) ( c. 1615 – c. 1705 ),
1372-518: A researcher at Matenadaran, the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, Candidate in Arts. In her work pictures of the instrument can be found. In the first picture the man is playing the harp which is on his knees. In the second picture the harp is played by a man who has a crown on his head, from which we may conclude that the musician has royal status. His harp is bigger and leans on
1470-424: A soundbox, typically carved from a single log, commonly of willow, although other woods, including alder and poplar, have been identified in extant harps. The Celtic harp also had a reinforced curved pillar and a substantial neck, flanked with thick brass cheek bands. The strings are plucked with long fingernails. This type of harp is also unique amongst single row triangular harps in that the first two strings tuned in
1568-405: A string was fastened once it had emerged from its hole in the soundboard. The playing of the wire-strung harp has been described as extremely difficult. Because of the long-lasting resonance, the performer had to dampen strings which had just been played while new strings were being plucked, and this while playing rapidly. Contrary to conventional modern practice, the left hand played the treble and
1666-626: A strong dislike of the Gaelic Irish , somewhat contradicts himself. While admitting that the style of music originated in Ireland, he immediately added that, in "the opinion of many", the Scots and the Welsh had now surpassed them in that skill. Gerald refers to the cythara and the tympanum , but their identification with the harp is uncertain, and it is not known that he ever visited Scotland. Scotland and Wales,
1764-401: A typically large soundbox, decorated with Gaelic designs. The Irish Saint Máedóc of Ferns reliquary shrine dates from c.1100, and clearly shows King David with a triangular framed harp including a "T-Section" in the pillar. The Irish word lamhchrann or Scottish Gaelic làmh-chrann came into use at an unknown date to indicate this pillar which would have supplied the bracing to withstand
1862-483: A variant of the modern Celtic harp which he referred to as the "Breton Celtic harp"; his son Alan Stivell was to become the most influential Breton harper, and a strong influence in the broader world of the Celtic harp. A multi-course harp is a harp with more than one row of strings, as opposed to the more common "single course" harp. On a double-harp, the two rows generally run parallel to each other, one on either side of
1960-632: A vessel in Nor Aresh and now preserved in the Erebuni Fortress , depicts a harp. Information about early medieval Armenian musical instruments has been found in Armenian translations of the Bible. In the past, the harp was played in the royal residences, in the royal recreation rooms. Sometimes not only the royal musicians, but the kings themselves played the instrument. Of course, in the past, harps did not have
2058-685: Is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard ; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or concerts. Its most common form is triangular in shape and made of wood. Some have multiple rows of strings and pedal attachments. Ancient depictions of harps were recorded in Mesopotamia (now Iraq ), Persia (now Iran ) and Egypt , and later in India and China . By medieval times harps had spread across Europe. Harps were found across
SECTION 20
#17330854819212156-419: Is a technologically advanced instrument, particularly distinguished by its use of pedals, foot-controlled levers which can alter the pitch of given strings, making it chromatic and thus able to play a wide body of classical repertoire. The pedal harp contains seven pedals that each affect the tuning of all strings of one pitch-class . The pedals, from left to right, are D, C, B on the left side and E, F, G, A on
2254-515: Is a type of lute. Some Samudragupta gold coins show of the mid-4th century CE show (presumably) the king Samudragupta himself playing the instrument. The ancient veena survives today in Burma, in the form of the saung harp still played there. The harp was popular in ancient China and neighboring regions, though harps are largely extinct in East Asia in the modern day. The Chinese konghou harp
2352-482: Is called Song of Vardavar : Evidence for the instrument’s Armenian origin is the horn beaker with a feasting scene, kept at the Erebuni Museum : The beaker was found buried inside a large container, in the district of Nor Aresh next to Erebuni Fortress in 1968 during construction work. The calf horn beaker has pictures of people depicted on it, including a harpist: It depicts a man and three women participating at
2450-594: Is documented as early as the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), and became extinct during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 CE ). A similar harp, the Gonghu was played in ancient Korea, documented as early as the Goguryeo period (37 BCE – 686 CE ). While the angle and bow harps held popularity elsewhere, European harps favored the "pillar", a third structural member to support
2548-424: Is extant for another harper, also blind, named Patrick McErnace, who apparently played for Lord Neill Campbell. The harper Manus McShire is mentioned in an account book covering the period 1688–1704. A harper called Neill Baine is mentioned in a letter dated 1702 from a servitor of Allan MacDonald of Clanranald. Angus McDonald, harper, received payment on the instructions of Menzies of Culdares on 19 June 1713, and
2646-452: Is first mentioned in the 1226 obituary of a clàrsair (harp player). Terms relating to theme and variation on the clàrsach and the bagpipe correlate to each other. Founders of bagpipe dynasties are also noted as clársach players. The names of a number of the last harpers are recorded. The blind Duncan McIndeor, who died in 1694, was harper to Campbell of Auchinbreck, but also frequented Edinburgh. A receipt for "two bolls of meall", dated 1683,
2744-416: Is one such instrument, and two other instruments employing this technique are the cross-strung harp and the inline chromatic harp . The cross-strung harp has one row of diatonic strings, and a separate row of chromatic notes, angled in an "X" shape so that the row which can be played by the right hand at the top may be played by the left hand at the bottom, and vice versa. This variant was first attested as
2842-409: Is the harp, which was played not just at ceremonies. The instrument was performed by solo performers as well as with the accompaniment of other instruments. The Armenian translation of the Bible gives a lot of information about early medieval Armenian musical instruments. The translators of the Bible use the name harp among other quite popular musical instruments. In Armenian a verb has been formed from
2940-608: The Dupplin Cross from c. 800 AD. The Norman-Welsh cleric and scholar Gerald of Wales (c.1146 – c.1223), whose Topographica Hibernica et Expugnatio Hibernica is a description of Ireland from the Anglo-Norman point of view, praised Irish harp music (if little else), stating: The only thing to which I find that this people apply a commendable industry is playing upon musical instruments… they are incomparably more skilful than any other nation I have ever seen However, Gerald, who had
3038-567: The Utrecht Psalter , the only other source outside Pictish Scotland to display a Triangular Chordophone instrument. The Utrecht Psalter was penned between 816 and 835 AD. However, Pictish Triangular Chordophone carvings found on the Nigg Stone date from 790 to 799 AD. and pre-date the document by up to forty years. Other Pictish sculptures also predate the Utrecht Psalter, namely the harper on
Celtic harp - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-721: The arpa de dos órdenes ("two-row harp") in Spain and Portugal, in the 17th century. The inline chromatic harp is generally a single-course harp with all 12 notes of the chromatic scale appearing in a single row. Single course inline chromatic harps have been produced at least since 1902, when Karl Weigel of Hanover patented a model of inline chromatic harp. Amplified (electro-acoustic) hollow body and solid body electric lever harps are produced by many harp makers, including Lyon & Healy , Salvi , and Camac . They generally use individual piezo-electric sensors for each string, often in combination with small internal microphones to produce
3234-407: The guitarra latina and the guitarra morisca . Scholars have not conclusively straightened out these instruments. The guitarra latina is one that has also been called the citole, due to the inability to know from the images whether it had a free neck (in which a hand can move up and down the neck freely, as on a guitar) or a deep neck with thumb hole (in which the range on the neck is limited to what
3332-581: The lyre and harp but also necked, string instruments . In fact, unless a medieval document gives an indication that it meant a necked instrument, then it likely was referring to a lyre. It was also spelled cithara or kithara and was Latin for the Greek lyre . However, lacking names for some stringed instruments from the medieval period, these have been referred to as fiddles and citharas/cytharas, both by medieval people and by modern researchers. The instruments are important as being ancestors to or influential in
3430-404: The rotta article: " ...The rotta represents the first step in the evolution of the cithara, when arms and cross-bar were replaced by a frame joined to the body, the strings being usually restricted to eight or less...The next step was the addition of a finger-board and the consequent reduction of the strings to three or four, since each string was now capable of producing several notes...As soon as
3528-526: The 15th century and may have been made in Argyll in western Scotland. One of the largest and most complete collections of 17th–18th century harp music is the work of Turlough O'Carolan , a blind, itinerant Irish harper and composer. At least 220 of his compositions survive to this day. Two experts in this field, John Bannerman and Micheal Newton, agree that, by the 1500s, the most common Celtic harp strings are made of brass. Historical sources don't seem to mention
3626-589: The 1890s a similar new harp became popular in Scotland as part of a Gaelic cultural revival . There is now, however, renewed interest in the wire-strung harp, or clàrsach , with replicas being made and research being conducted into ancient playing techniques and terminology. A notable event in the revival of the Celtic harp is the Edinburgh International Harp Festival , which has been held annually since 1982 and includes both performances and instructional workshops. Harp The harp
3724-926: The Americas where it was a popular folk tradition in some areas. Distinct designs also emerged from the African continent. Harps have symbolic political traditions and are often used in logos, including in Ireland . Historically, strings were made of sinew (animal tendons). Other materials have included gut (animal intestines), plant fiber, braided hemp, cotton cord, silk, nylon, and wire. In pedal harp scores, double flats and double sharps should be avoided whenever possible. Harps have been known since antiquity in Asia, Africa, and Europe, dating back at least as early as 3000 BCE . The instrument had great popularity in Europe during
3822-566: The Andean harp was Juan Cayambe ( Pimampiro Canton , Imbabura Province , Ecuador ) The arpa jarocha is typically played while standing. In southern Mexico (Chiapas), there is a very different indigenous style of harp music. The harp arrived in Venezuela with Spanish colonists. There are two distinct traditions: the arpa llanera ('harp of the Llanos ’, or plains) and the arpa central ('of
3920-524: The Asia Minor evolution of the cithara into a necked instrument, another influential musicologist, Francis William Galpin wrote a book, Old English Instruments of Music . Galpin expressed a similar viewpoint in the book: " Now it is well known that the Greeks and Romans adopted many of the instruments which they found in popular use throughout Asia Minor...this instrument with vertical incurved sides and flat back
4018-545: The Beatles 1967 single " She's Leaving Home ", and several works by Björk which featured harpist Zeena Parkins . In the early 1980s, Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider exposed the concert harp to large new audiences with his popular new age/jazz albums and concert performances. In the modern era, there is a family of mid-size harps, generally with nylon strings, and optionally with partial or full levers but without pedals. They range from two to six octaves, and are plucked with
Celtic harp - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-543: The Gaels of the Highlands and to Ireland. Exactly thirteen depictions of any triangular chordophone instrument from pre-11th-century Europe exist and twelve of them come from Scotland. The earliest Irish references to stringed instruments are from the 6th century, and players of such instruments were held in high regard by the nobility of the time. Early Irish law from 700 AD stipulates that bards and 'cruit' players should sit with
4214-614: The Hellenistic world, were cherished in the Sasanian court. In the last century of the Sasanian period, angular harps were redesigned to make them as light as possible ("light, vertical, angular harps"); while they became more elegant, they lost their structural rigidity. At the height of the Persian tradition of illustrated book production (1300–1600 CE), such light harps were still frequently depicted, although their use as musical instruments
4312-495: The Marquis of Huntly's accounts record a payment to two harpers in 1714. Other harpers include Rory Dall Morison (who died c. 1714 ), Lachlan Dall (who died c. 1721–1727 ), and Murdoch MacDonald (who died c. 1740 ). By the middle of the eighteenth century the "violer" (fiddle player) had replaced the harper, a consequence, perhaps, of the growing influence in the Gaelic world of Lowland Scots culture. In
4410-654: The Middle Ages and Renaissance, where it evolved into a wide range of variants with new technologies, and was disseminated to Europe's colonies, finding particular popularity in Latin America. Although some ancient members of the harp family died out in the Near East and South Asia, descendants of early harps are still played in Myanmar and parts of Africa; other variants defunct in Europe and Asia have been used by folk musicians in
4508-499: The Persians or Arabians...The transitions whereby the cithara acquired a neck and became a guitar are shown in the miniatures of a single MS., the celebrated Utrecht Psalter, which gave rise to so many discussions. The Utrecht Psalter was executed in the diocese of Reims in the 9th century, and the miniatures, drawn by an Anglo-Saxon artist attached to the Reims school, are unique, and illustrate
4606-603: The Peruvian harp, or indigenous harp, is widespread among peoples living in the highlands of the Andes : Quechua and Aymara , mainly in Peru , and also in Bolivia and Ecuador . It is relatively large, with a significantly increased volume of the resonator box, which gives basses a special richness. It usually accompanies love dances and songs, such as huayno . One of the most famous performers on
4704-593: The Psalter, psalm by psalm. It is evident that the Anglo-Saxon artist, while endowed with extraordinary talent and vivid imagination, drew his inspiration from an older Greek illustrated Psalter from the Christian East, where the evolution of the guitar took place. " Dr. Emanuel Winternitz talked about musical instruments evolving over time. From this perspective musical instruments change as luthiers build new instruments;
4802-468: The Stuttgart Psalter of the cythara shows it held a different way from all the other pictures on that document. The player is holding it vertically, resting on his lap or knee, supporting the neck with his left hand and having a free right hand to play. Citole players have also been shown holding their instruments vertically. The name may have been popular for its "magical" connotations, a belief that
4900-464: The Utrecht Psalter, illustrate this theory. The development continued from the early cithara lyre, through the forms of instruments (called generically cithara), through the citole, and becoming the cittern. Winternitz credited a Professor Westwood for making the Utrecht Psalter discoveries, quoting Westwood's 1859 paper, Archæological Notes of a Tour in Denmark, Prussia, and Holland : " ...frequently shows
4998-463: The West African kora and Mauritanian ardin are sometimes labeled as "spike harp", "bridge harp", or harp lute since their construction includes a bridge which holds the strings laterally, vice vertically entering the soundboard. In Armenia , the harp has been used since the fourth century BCE. Common usages included weddings and funerals. The "horn beaker with a feast acene", found inside
SECTION 50
#17330854819215096-449: The ancient kithara side by side with an instrument that has the body of a kithara but a neck in place of the yoke, in other words, a cittern, that is if we want to project this term as far back as the 9th century. The frets are usually carefully indicated on the neck, the graceful curvature of the wings corresponds precisely to that of the arms of the kitharas nearby. " In the same year (1911) that Schlesinger's articles were published about
5194-501: The central area'). By the 2020s, three types of harps are typically found: A number of types of harps are found in Africa, predominantly not of the three-sided frame-harp type found in Europe. A number of these, referred to generically as African harps , are bow or angle harps, which lack forepillars joining the neck to the body. A number of harp-like instruments in Africa are not easily classified with European categories. Instruments like
5292-422: The cithara with a body having the curve of the lower half of the violin was produced a rotta with the outline of the body of the guitar. Both types were common in Europe until the 14th century, some played with a bow, others twanged by the fingers, and bearing indifferently both names, cithara and rotta....The addition of a finger-board, stretching like a short neck from body to transverse bar, leaving on each side of
5390-533: The coat of arms of the Republic of Ireland , Montserrat , Canada and the United Kingdom . The early history of the triangular frame harp in Europe is contested. The first instrument associated with the harping tradition in the Gaelic world was known as a cruit . This word may originally have described a different stringed instrument, being etymologically related to the Welsh crwth . It has been suggested that
5488-519: The cythara. The instrument had a "superstructure" that reminded him of the "yoke" on the cithara lyre and "enormous ornamental wings" that were remains from the cithara lyre's arms. Under the theory, a neck was constructed between the two arms of the lyre, and then the arms of the lyre became vestigial, as "wings" (on the cittern "buckles"). Pictures from the 9th century books, the Charles the Bald Bible and
5586-513: The days of classic Greece, and had to be evolved anew from the cithara by the Greeks of Asia Minor. That the evolution should take place within the Byzantine Empire or in Syria would be quite consistent with the traditions of the Greeks and their veneration for the cithara, which would lead them to adapt the neck and other improvements to it, rather than adopt the rebab, the tanbur or the barbiton from
5684-402: The development of a wide variety of European instruments, including fiddles, vielles , violas , citoles and guitars . Although not proven to be completely separate from the line of lute-family instruments that dominated Europe ( lute , oud , gittern , mandore ), arguments have been made that they represent a European-based tradition of instrument building, which was for a time separate from
5782-472: The double mechanism, in which a second row of hooks was installed along the neck, capable of raising the pitch of a string by either one or two half steps. While one course of European harps led to greater complexity, resulting largely in the modern pedal harp, other harping traditions maintained simpler diatonic instruments which survived and evolved into modern traditions. In the Americas, harps are widely but sparsely distributed, except in certain regions where
5880-463: The early 19th century, even as the old Gaelic harp tradition was dying out, a new harp was developed in Ireland. It had gut strings and semitone mechanisms like an orchestral pedal harp, and was built and marketed by John Egan , a pedal harp maker in Dublin. The new harp was small and curved like the historical cláirseach or Irish harp, but it was strung with gut and its soundbox was lighter. In
5978-485: The far ends of the arch and soundbox. A harp with a triangular three-part frame is depicted on 8th-century Pictish stones in Scotland and in manuscripts (e.g. the Utrecht Psalter ) from early 9th-century France. The curve of the harp's neck is a result of the proportional shortening of the basic triangular form to keep the strings equidistant; if the strings were proportionately distant they would be farther apart. As European harps evolved to play more complex music,
SECTION 60
#17330854819216076-431: The finger-board space for the hand to pass through in order to stop the strings, produced the crwth or crowd (q.v.), and brought about the reduction in the number of the strings to three or four. The conversion of the rotta into the guitar (q.v.) was an easy transition effected by the addition of a long neck to a body derived from the oval rotta. When the bow was applied the result was the guitar or troubadour fiddle. " From
6174-468: The fingers can reach from the thumbhole. Kathleen Schlesinger wrote the cithar article and talked plainly about the transformation of the ancient instruments into the modern: " ...it was among the Greeks of Asia Minor that the several steps in the transition from cithara into guitar took place. The first of these steps produced the rotta (q.v.), by the construction of body, arms and transverse bar in one piece...the cithara with rectangular body, while from
6272-433: The fingers, largely using the same techniques used for playing orchestral harps. Though these harps evoke ties to historical European harps, their specifics are modern, and they are frequently referred to broadly as " Celtic harps " due to their region of revival and popular association, or more generically as " folk harps " due to their use in non-classical music, or as " lever harps " to contrast their modifying mechanism with
6370-435: The floor. Different harps may use strings of catgut , nylon , metal , or some combination. All harps have a neck , resonator , and strings , frame harps or triangular harps have a pillar at their long end to support the strings, while open harps , such as arch harps and bow harps , do not. Cythara The cythara is a wide group of stringed instruments of medieval and Renaissance Europe, including not only
6468-494: The floor. Not only did Armenians play the instrument but also they created songs about it. Kh. Avetisyan and V. Harutyunyan wrote a song called My Sweet Harp which was quite popular. This analysis and researches with the historical and archaeological evidence leads to the conclusion that the harp existed and was widely used in Armenians’ everyday lives, including royal families. The instrument’s popularity has grown during
6566-424: The form of the elaborate "great music" ( ceòl mòr ). An elegy to Sir Donald MacDonald of Clanranald, attributed to his widow in 1618, contains a very early reference to the bagpipe in a lairdly setting: There is evidence that the musical tradition of the clàrsach may have influenced the use and repertoire of the bagpipe. The oral mnemonic system called canntaireachd , used for encoding and teaching ceòl mòr ,
6664-551: The former by reason of her derivation, the latter from intercourse and affinity, seek with emulous endeavours to imitate Ireland in music. Ireland uses and delights in but two instruments, the harp namely, and the tympanum . Scotland uses three, the harp, the tympanum , and the crowd . Early images of the clàrsach are not common in Scottish iconography, but a gravestone at Kiells , in Argyllshire , dating from about 1500, shows one with
6762-553: The harp traditions are very strong. Such important centeres include Mexico , the Andean region, Venezuela , and Paraguay . They are derived from the Baroque harps that were brought from Spain during the colonial period. Detailed features vary from place to place. The Paraguayan harp is that country's national instrument , and has gained a worldwide reputation, with international influences alongside folk traditions. They have around 36 strings, are played with fingernails, and with
6860-448: The harp was played in royal castles. Sometimes not only musicians but also kings played the instrument. Of course, in the past harps did not have the sound range they have today but it is a fact that Armenians had the harp. Pictures of the harp can be found in People and Everyday Life ( Yerevan (1978) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFYerevan1978 ( help ) ) scientific work of Astghik Gevorgyan,
6958-579: The hunter's bow, without the pillar that we find in modern harps. The Chang flourished in Persia in many forms from its introduction, about 4000 BCE, until the 17th century CE . Around 1900 BCE, arched harps in the Iraq-Iran region were replaced by angular harps with vertical or horizontal sound boxes. By the start of the Common Era, "robust, vertical, angular harps", which had become predominant in
7056-424: The instrument on the playing arm, and bringing their forearm and wrist to the strings from underneath the body of the instrument. In contrast, players of lute family instruments, such as the gittern, mandore, or lute did not hold the instrument this way. Instead of keeping their arms below the instrument, they allowed their arm and wrist to move parallel to the soundboard, as a guitar player does today. One picture in
7154-522: The instrument used by wandering minstrels for accompaniment. Iconographic evidence of the yaal appears in temple statues dated as early as 600 BCE. One of the Sangam works, the Kallaadam recounts how the first yaaḻ harp was inspired by an archer's bow, when he heard the musical sound of its twang. Another early South Asian harp was the ancient veena , not to be confused with the modern Indian veena which
7252-589: The instrumental change that adapted the lyre into the guitar-like instruments took place among the Greeks in the Anatolian Peninsula, and she saw proof of that transformation in the drawings in the Utrecht Psalter . One point of controversy in Schlesinger's Britannica articles that continues among researchers today is a point of view against the idea of the guitar evolving from Arab introduced instruments . Schlesinger wrote about various instruments including
7350-445: The instruments retain features of older instruments out of concern for customer preferences. Winternitz saw a pattern in which the ancient cithara was given a fingerboard and developed into necked instruments. He interpreted the illustrations in the Charles the Bald Bible, the Utrecht Psalter and the Stuttgart Psalter as illustrating this transformation, and gave many more examples in books and papers that he wrote. Part of his idea
7448-403: The larger pedal harp. The modern Celtic harp began to appear in the early 19th century in Ireland, shortly after all the last generation of harpers had all died-out, breaking the continuity of musical training between the earlier native Gaelic harping tradition and the revival of Celtic harp playing as part of the later Celtic revival . John Egan , a pedal harp maker in Dublin, developed
7546-474: The lute-family instruments. In the 9th century, one of the instruments that cythara was actively used to name was a large plucked or strummed instrument; pictures show it being played with a plectrum . Pictures of the instrument illustrated in the Stuttgart Psalter all have the word "cythara" near the instrument in the text. The players hold the instrument in a distinct manner similar to the way that citole players were shown to hold their instruments, resting
7644-430: The middle of the gamut were set to the same pitch. The names of the components of the cláirseach were as follows: The corr had a brass strap nailed to each side, pierced by tapered brass tuning pins. The treble end had a tenon which fitted into the top of the com (soundbox). On a low-headed harp the corr was morticed at the bass end to receive a tenon on the lámhchrann ; on a high-headed harp this tenon fitted into
7742-491: The modern era, particularly Myanmar 's saung -gauk , which is considered the national instrument in that country. Though the ancient Chinese konghou has not been directly resurrected, the name has been revived and applied to a modern newly invented instrument based on the Western classical harp, but with the strings doubled back to form two notes per string, allowing advanced techniques such as note-bending. The concert harp
7840-552: The modern era. The earliest harps and lyres were found in Sumer , 3500 BCE, and several harps were excavated from burial pits and royal tombs in Ur . The oldest depictions of harps without a forepillar can be seen in the wall paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs in the Nile Valley , which date from as early as 3000 BCE. These murals show an arched harp , an instrument that closely resembles
7938-462: The music from a stringed instrument could sway listeners emotions. Lyres were displaced in medieval times by "plucked fiddles" (such as the guitar fiddle ), which were solely plucked and strummed until the bow arrived in the 10th century. The remaining lyres as well as the fiddles were adapted to fit the bow, after its arrival. One example of an early bowed fiddle was the Byzantine lyra ; an example of
8036-518: The name of the instrument: տաւղել which means to play the harp. The word has two meanings the second of which is stringed musical instrument which has the form of a triangular frame and this corresponds to the description of the musical instrument in Genesis 4:21 where it states Other uses of the word can be found in one of the songs of Grigor Narekatsi, a 10th century Armenian monk, medieval writer, and founder of Armenian Renaissance literature. The song
8134-448: The neck was added to the guitar-shaped body, the instrument ceased to be a rotta and became a guitar (q.v.), or a guitar-fiddle (q.v.) if played with the bow. " From the guitar article: " The guitar is derived from the cithara both structurally and etymologically...we shall be justified in assuming that the instrument, which required skill in construction, died out in Egypt and in Asia before
8232-472: The neck, and are usually both diatonic (sometimes with levers) with identical notes. The triple harp originated in Italy in the 16th century, and arrived in Wales in the late 17th century where it established itself in the local tradition as the Welsh harp ( telyn deires , "three-row harp"). The triple harp's string set consists of two identical outer rows of standard diatonicly tuned strings (same as
8330-410: The nobility at banquets and not with the common entertainers. Another stringed instrument from this era was the tiompán , most likely a kind of lyre. Despite providing the earliest evidence of stringed instruments in Ireland, no records described what these instruments looked like, or how the cruit and tiompán differed from one another. Only two quadrangular instruments occur within the Irish context on
8428-469: The oldest surviving fragment of a western European stringed instrument (although images of Greek lyres are much older). The earliest descriptions of a European triangular framed harp, i.e. harps with a fore pillar, are found on carved 8th century Pictish stones . Pictish harps were strung from horsehair. The instruments apparently spread south to the Anglo Saxons who commonly used gut strings and then west to
8526-541: The right the bass. It was said that a player should begin to learn the harp no later than the age of seven. The best modern players have shown, however, that reasonable competence may be achieved even at a later age. During the medieval period, the wire-strung harp was in demand throughout the Gaelic territories, which stretched from the northern Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland to the south of Ireland. The Gaelic worlds of Scotland and Ireland, however, while retaining close links, were already showing signs of divergence in
8624-404: The right. Pedals were first introduced in 1697 by Jakob Hochbrucker of Bavaria. In 1811 these were upgraded to the "double action" pedal system patented by Sébastien Erard. The addition of pedals broadened the harp's abilities, allowing its gradual entry into the classical orchestra, largely beginning in the 19th century. The harp played little or no role in early classical music (being used only
8722-621: The sixteenth century in language, music and social structure. The harp was the aristocratic instrument of Gaelic Ireland , and harpers enjoyed a high social status which was codified in Brehon Law . The patronage of harpers was adopted by Norman and British settlers in Ireland until the late 18th century, although their standing in society was greatly diminished with the introduction of the English class system . In his biography of Turlough O'Carolan , historian Donal O'Sullivan writes: We may note as
8820-429: The sound capabilities that they have today, but the evidence that Armenians had a harp is well established. Armenians have had the instrument of harp since ancient times. This proves that Armenians loved the harp and used it in their everyday life, at weddings and burials. According to YSC professor, scholar of Middle Ages, doctor of Arts N. Tahmizyan, many musical instruments kept their pre-Christian form; among them
8918-423: The strings' gauge or materials, other than references to a very low-quality and simply-made brass, often contemporarily called "red brass." Modern-day experiments on stringing a Celtic harp include testing of more exotic and custom materials including copper alloys, silver, and gold. Other experiments include more easily obtainable materials, including softer iron, as well as yellow and red brass. The strings attach to
9016-765: The tension of a wire-strung harp. Three of the four pre-16th-century authentic harps that survive today are of Gaelic provenance: the Brian Boru Harp in Trinity College, Dublin , and the Queen Mary and Lamont Harps , both in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh . The last two are examples of the small low-headed harp, and were long believed to have been made from hornbeam , a wood not native to Scotland or Ireland. This theory has been refuted by Karen Loomis in her 2015 PhD thesis. All three are dated approximately to
9114-453: The west coast of Scotland and both carvings date two hundred years after the Pictish carvings. The first true representations of the Irish triangular harp do not appear till the late eleventh century in a reliquary and the twelfth century on stone and the earliest harps used in Ireland were quadrangular lyres as ecclesiastical instruments, One study suggests Pictish stone carvings may be copied from
9212-450: The word clàrsach / cláirseach (from clàr / clár , a board) was coined for the triangular frame harp which replaced the cruit , and that this coining was of Scottish origin. A notched piece of wood which some have interpreted to be part of the bridge of an Iron Age lyre dating to around 300 BC was discovered on the Isle of Skye , which, if actually a bridge, would make it
9310-562: The years and the harp has become an instrument that represents the emotional inner world of the Armenians. In India, the B in-Baia harp survives about the Padhar people of Madhya Pradesh . The Kafir harp has been part of Nuristani musical tradition for many years. The harp largely became extinct in East Asia by the 17th century; around the year 1000, harps like the vajra began to replace prior harps. A few examples survived to
9408-476: Was brought into Southern Europe, the first name given to the Guitar in medieval times being Guitare Latine ...In this way, and popularized by the troubadours and minstrels, the Guitar reached our country in the thirteenth century.... Galpin was one of many researchers of his time that mixed up the name gittern and citole in his research. However, the man who straightened out the names (Lawrence Wright) indicated that
9506-576: Was reaching its end. Marble sculptures of seated figures playing harps are known from the Cycladic civilization dating from 2800-2700 BCE. Mesolithic era paintings from Bhimbetka show harp playing. An arched harp made of wooden brackets and metal strings is depicted on an Indus seal . The works of the Tamil Sangam literature describe the harp and its variants, as early as 200 BCE. Variants were described ranging from 14 to 17 strings, and
9604-480: Was that civilizations are constantly undergoing renaissances in which they rediscover and recreate the past. He pointed to the Carolingian Renaissance as one of these renaissances, that recreated old instruments anew. He also believed that since classical times there was an unbroken "stream of tradition". To Winternitz, in the Stuttgart Psalter old features were visible in its 9th-century illustrations of
#920079