Analysis of Musical Instruments: Harp - Essay Example

Research around Musical Instruments: Harp Among all music instruments created and used by people throughout the history of civilization, harp is probably the most graceful and aristocratic. Moreover, this is one of the oldest musical instruments ever known (for it came into being long before the Common Era), which has given birth to the different nationally and culturally specific varieties. Being one of the most ancient instruments, harp became a predecessor of literally all other stringed musical instruments and has survived till nowadays, having undergone certain transformations of appearance and cultural context surrounding it. One could say that the harp is the instrument bearing the imprints of different cultures and a lion’s share of human civilization’s history, and this statement will be supported in the current paper with help of closer insight in the harp’s history, background and description. Description Waltham and Kotlicki (1774) state that “harps exist in different forms, from large factory-made concert harps to small hand-made folk harps”. This means that the harp was modified many times throughout centuries of its existence in different cultures, yet the stem always remained the same. Therefore, harp is a stringed musical instrument consisting of the sounboard – typically made of wood – and from 45 to forty strings, which used to be made of gut, but are mostly replaced by metal or nylon nowadays. The carcass of the modern harp has triangular shape and the size of approximately one meter (earlier versions of harp had rectangular soundboards). The principal importance is granted to the top part of the instrument, or its neck, as all the strings going from the lower end of the harp, where they are fastened off in the firm wood strip, are secured by the crossbar containing special wrest pins that are aimed at adjustment of each string’s pitch. The lower end of the harp, in its turn, is referred to as a sounding board, and the wooden strip contains a hole for each string, where the latter is fastened with help of a knot. The distance between the sounding board and the neck of the harp as well as the tension set by wrest pins define the pitch of each string. The resonating power of the carcass is achieved owing to its hollowness – once a player plucks a string, the resonating body produces the sound. As far as the harp is characterized by the irregular triangular shape, the longest part of the carcass is referred to as pillar or column. However, early instruments were different by their external shape and thus were deprived of pillars. It is obvious that strings are very taut, and thus the primary task of the pillar is to support the neck of the harp so that it can resist the strain. Modern harps – especially those intended for concerts – also have pedals that make string adjustment easier and quicker, but the older versions of the instrument could produce only a single note in a certain position and strain of the string. While the ancient and medieval versions of harp were simpler and less flexible, the development of instrument production technologies enabled making the harp far more flexible in its adjustment and musical properties and, on the other hand – increasing its complexity, size, cost and weight. History overview First harps are known to have been used as long ago as 3500 BC (Galpin) in Sumerian civilization; and even in ancient Egypt harps were known and played, though they were rather big, up to 1.8m in height. The most common version of the harp’s invention is that the bow was its prototype, for its taut string resonated and produced rather melodic sounds at the moments of shooting. Naturally, people could decide to put several bowstrings on and see what sounds they would produce – and they would sound differently due to varying strain and length. Plucking the strings, ancient people must have been able to produce simple melodies, and this was the great invention. Egyptian fresco paintings dated the 15th century BC depict early harps looking much like bows. In ancient Greece, Rome and oriental civilizations, harps were among the favorite musical instruments accompanying singing or other instruments. For centuries, the harp had been a bow-shaped musical instrument with the number of strings gradually increasing in the course of time, i.e. its shape remained unchanged. Middle ages contributed to the harp’s popularization in Europe, with Irish harpists being probably the most authentically peculiar and well known, for they used to accompanying the sagas they sang with harps. Moreover, “gothic harp” emerged in central Europe in late middle ages with rather shallow soundboxes and one-piece hardwood “pointed” design (this is where the name comes from) (Daltrop Gautier 837). Baroque harps in Spain and Italy were equipped with more strings for chromatic notes’ playing, while Jacob Hochbrucker invented the earliest pedal version of the harp in 1720 in Austria’s Tyrol. Later improvements made by Erard and others created two-pedal version of the harp, the closest one to the modern versions. However, it was European tradition that encouraged greater flexibility, complexity and development; and other peculiar national traditions have preserved their simpler forms of harps with diatonic structure. Various versions of folk harps are typical for countries of Latin America and Africa as well as those of Southeast and East Asia. Harp in European tradition In European tradition beginning with the Renaissance, the harp has been associated with exquisiteness and aristocracy, it was widely used in chamber music along with, for instance, flute, and was seen as a “divine” instrument. This perception is of no surprise, for religious pictures often depicted heaven as a place, where angels live and play harps. Therefore, the harp came to be the divine and extremely poetic instrument mainly associated with female players. In the 19th century, it was traditional that each decent young lady should be able to play harp The pleasing sound produced by the harp could be also paralleled to its appearance and shape: this instrument was traditionally lavishly embellished with gilding and carving, or with mosaics. Celtic Harp Another side of the harp as an instrument with rich cultural and historical background is significance and symbolism for a certain people. Here, it is reasonable to talk about the Celtic harp, as “throughout the centuries, no other musical instrument, or instrumental tradition, has played such an extensive role in symbolism, allegory, and the creation of national identities as the Irish harp” (O’Donnell 253). This instrument was widely used beginning with the 6th century in the Kingdom of Ireland and played by Brian Boru, the king. The harp has been a political symbol of Ireland for many centuries, since it was first used as a symbolic portrayal of Ireland on the flag of Jacob I of England. Since that time, the harp has been persisting in all royal flags of England, Britain and the United Kingdom, though the style of depiction changed with time. In addition, the harp is depicted on Irish coins (beginning with medieval and up to nowadays). The visual metaphor of the harp formed many centuries ago, placing the golden harp on the Iris blue coat of arms. And, considering the sonic aspect, O’Donnell (257) provides the opinion of Cambrensis”, who identified the skill of Irish harpers and the musicality of the Irish people as being the sole redeeming characteristics of an otherwise barbaric race. The main peculiarity of an authentic Celtic harp is use of metallic strings instead of those made of gut. According to the common viewpoint of the scholars, brass and iron were the most common materials, while fingernails were still the main means of playing. The strings were secured on the large soundboard carved from a one-piece log, and both the neck and the column were rather substantial in order to lend support to the construction and resist the strain of metal strings. Conclusion The brief information about the harp and its varieties provided in this essay cam serve as a ground for supporting the statement that the harp is one of the oldest musical instruments known by people. Moreover, we can conclude that the type of harp construction, embellishment and just general place in cultural heritage depend on the particular culture. This is demonstrated by perception of the harp in generally European environment and in particular Irish environment. Works Cited: Daltrop, Shira, et al. "Vibroacoustic Characteristics Of A Gothic Harp." Journal Of The Acoustical Society Of America 131.1 (2012): From: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.adams.idm.oclc.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a4b0bcd8-2775-495c-830c-6b52e5b4d410%40sessionmgr4005&vid=0&hid=4103 In this article, the author takes a closer look at the gothic Baroque harp and its properties and history. GALPIN, F. W. “The Sumerian Harp of UR, C. 3500 B.C.” Music and Letters (1929) X (2): 108-123. From: http://ml.oxfordjournals.org/citmgr?gca=musicj%3BX%2F2%2F108 The article focuses on historical aspect of the harp and the relatively recent findings of the archaeologists. ODonnell, Mary Louise. "A Driving Image Of Revolution: The Irish Harp And Its Utopian Space In The Eighteenth Century." Utopian Studies 21.2 (2010): 252-273. From: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.adams.idm.oclc.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=641729f8-c03b-4eab-9ab5-2fc1f7d80a34%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4103 The article dealing with the position of the Irish harp in the local cultural and historical backgrounds. Waltham, Chris, and Andrzej Kotlicki. "Vibrational Characteristics Of Harp Soundboards." Journal Of The Acoustical Society Of America 124.3 (2008): 1774-1780. From: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.adams.idm.oclc.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e9631f7d-ab92-48e8-b2a1-30245f497998%40sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4210 Here, the issue of correlation between the properties of the soundboard and sonic characteristics of the harp is considered. Read More