Europe
Angle harps and bow harps continue to be used to the present day. In Europe, however, there was further development.[when?] Adding a third structural member, the pillar, to support the far ends of the arch and sound box. The Triangular Frame harp is depicted in sculpture from the 8th century Pictish stones in Scotland[5][6] and in manuscripts (i.e. the Utrecht Psalter) from the early 9th century France.[7] The curve of the harp's neck is a result of the proportional shortening of the basic triangular form to keep the strings are equidistant. If the strings were proportionately distanced, the strings would be farther apart.
European harps in medieval and Renaissance times usually had a bray pin fitted to make a buzzing sound when a string was plucked. By the baroqueperiod, in Italy and Spain, more strings were added to allow for chromatic notes; these were usually in a second line of strings. At the same time single-row diatonic harps continued to be played.[citation needed]
The first primitive form of pedal harps were developed in the Tyrol region of Austria. Hochbrucker was the next to design an improved pedal mechanism, followed in succession by Krumpholtz, Nadermann, and the Erard company, who came up with the double mechanism. In Germany in the second half of the 17th century, diatonic single-row harps were fitted with manually turned hooks which fretted individual strings to raise their pitch by 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. Later, a second row of hooks was installed along the neck to allow for the double-action pedal harp, capable of raising the pitch of a string by either one or two half steps. The idea was even extended to triple-action harps, but these were never common. The double-action pedal harp remains the normal form of the instrument in the Western classical orchestra. There was a chromatic harp developed in the late 19th century that only found a small number of proponents, and was mainly taught in Belgium.[citation needed]
[edit]Latin America
In Latin America, harps are widely but sparsely distributed, except in certain regions where the harp traditions are very strong. Such important centers include Mexico, Andes, Venezuela and Paraguay. They are derived from the Baroque harps that were brought from Spain during the colonial period.[citation needed]
In Perú harp is used commonly in andean music called Huayno.
Detailed features vary from place to place. Paraguayan harps and harp music have gained a worldwide reputation, with international influences alongside folk traditions. Mexican "jarocha" harp music of Veracruz has also gained some international recognition, evident in the popularity of "la bamba". In southern Mexico (Chiapas), there is a very different indigenous style of harp music. Travel between the ports of Veracruz and Venezuela afforded an opportunity for transmission of harp traditions between these areas.[citation needed]
In Venezuela, there are two distinct traditions, the arpa llanera and the arpa central (or arpa mirandina). The modern Venezuelan arpa llanera has 32 strings of nylon (originally, gut). The arpa central is strung with wire in the higher register. An authoritative source in Spanish is Fernando Guerrero Briceno, El Arpa en Venezuela (The Harp in Venezuela).[citation needed]
Paraguayan harps have a wide and deep soundbox which tapers to the top. Like Baroque harps, but unlike modern Western harps, they do not stand upright when unattended. The harp is Paraguay's national instrument. It has about 36 strings. Its spacing is narrower and tension lighter than that of modern Western harps. It is played with the fingernails.[citation needed]
[edit]Africa
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There are many different kinds of harps in Africa. They do not have forepillars and are either bow harps or angle harps. As well as true harps such asMauritania's ardin. There are a number of instruments that are difficult to classify, often being labelled harp-lutes. Another term for them is spike harps. The West African kora is the most complicated and best known of these instruments. It doesn't fit into any one category, but several, and must be awkwardly classified as a "double-bridge-harp-lute." The strings run in two divided ranks making it a double harp, they do not end in a soundboard but are held in notches on a bridge making it a bridge harp, they originate from a string arm or neck and cross a bridge directly supported by a resonating chamber making it a lute too.[citation needed]
[edit]Asia
In Asia, there are very few harps today, though the instrument was popular in ancient times; in that continent, zithers like China's guzheng and guqin andJapan's koto predominate. However, a few harps exist, the most notable being Burma's saung-gauk, which is considered the national instrument in that country. Turkey had a nine-string harp called the çeng that has also become extinct. There was an ancient Chinese harp called konghou; the name is also now used for a modern Chinese instrument which is being revived. This double bridge harp has the unusual ability to pitch bend the notes while playing. The paired strings are joined at opposite ends of freely moving short levers so that while playing, manually tensioning one of the strings raises the pitch of its linked pair.[citation needed]
In the Middle East there are several forms of Harps that predate modern harps and some that are still in existence and use today. An example of this is in the Nuristan providence of Afghanistan where the Kafir Harp has been part of the musical traditional for many years.
[edit]Modern European and American instruments
Most European-derived harps have a single row of strings with strings for each note of the C Major scale (over severaloctaves).
Harpists are aided in telling which strings they are playing because all F strings are black or blue and all C strings are red, and the wire strings are silver or bronze if C or F.
The instrument rests between the knees of the harpist and along their right shoulder. The Welsh triple harp and early Irish and Scottish harps, however, are traditionally placed on the left shoulder.
The first four fingers of each hand are used to pluck the strings; the little fingers are too short and cannot reach the correct position without distorting the position of the other fingers, although on some folk harps with light tension, closely spaced strings, they may occasionally be used. The fifth finger may also have been used on earlier, more lightly strung modern harps: Madame de Genlis, for example, in her Méthode, published in Paris in the early nineteenth century, promotes the use of all five fingers[8], while Roslyn Rensch suggests that Mlle de Guînes, the harpist for whom Mozart wrote his Concerto for Flute and Harp, might occasionally have used all five fingers when playing the harp.[9] In more modern music, the fifth finger is used very rarely, for example in simultaneous cluster chords, such as in Daniel Kessner's Sonatina.[10] Plucking with varying degrees of force creates dynamics. Depending on finger position on the string, different tones can be produced: a full sound in the middle of the string, and a nasal, guitar-like sound at the very bottom of the string. Tone is also affected by the skin of the harpist, how much oil and moisture it contains, and the amount of thickening by callous formation and its surface texture.
[edit]Concert harp
Main article: Pedal harp
The concert harp is large and technically modern, designed for classical music and played solo, as part of chamber ensembles, and in symphony orchestras as well as in popular commercial music. It typically has six and a half octaves (47 strings), weighs about 80 pounds (36 kg; 5.7 st), is approximately 1.85 metres (6 ft 1 in) high, has a depth of 1 metre (3 ft 3 in), and is 55 centimetres (22 in) wide at the bass end of the soundboard. The notes range from three octaves below middle C♭ to three and a half octaves above, usually ending on G♯. Using octave designations, the range is C♭1 to G♯7. At least one manufacturer gives the harp a 48th string, a high A.
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The concert harp is a pedal harp. Pedal harps use the mechanical action of pedals to change the pitches of the strings. There are seven pedals, each affecting the tuning of all strings of one pitch-class, and each pedal is attached to a rod or cable within the column of the harp, which then connects with a mechanism within the neck. When a pedal is moved with the foot, small discs at the top of the harp rotate. The discs are studded with two pegs that pinch the string as they turn, shortening the vibrating length of the string. The pedal has three positions. In the top position no pegs are in contact with the string and all notes are flat; thus the harp's native tuning is to the scale of C-flat major.
In the middle position the top wheel pinches the string, resulting in a natural, giving the scale of C major if all pedals are set in the middle position. In the bottom position another wheel is turned, shortening the string again to create a sharp, giving the scale of C-sharp major if all pedals are set in the bottom position. Many other scales, both diatonic and synthetic, can be obtained by adjusting the pedals differently from each other; also, many chords in traditional harmony can be obtained by adjusting pedals so that some notes are enharmonic equivalents of others, and this is central to harp technique. In each position the pedal can be secured in a notch so that the foot does not have to keep holding it in the correct position.
Three strings on the pedal harp have no pedal tuning mechanism: the two lowest strings (contrabass C and D) and the highest string (G).[11] These strings are normally tuned to C, D and G natural respectively. However, they can be manually tuned to sharp or flat through scordatura prior to performance. This can be indicated by verbal statements at the beginning of a composition, for example, "Tune Low C to C flat", or "If necessary, tune high G to G sharp".[12]
This mechanism is called the double-action pedal system, probably invented by Sébastien Érard in 1810. Earlier pedal harps had a single-action mechanism that allowed strings to play sharpened notes.
The tension of the strings on the sound board is roughly equal to 10 kN (a ton-force) or 2,000 pounds. The lowest strings are made of copper or silver-over-silk over steel, the lower-middle strings of gut (from sheep or cows) and the upper-middle or highest of either gut or nylon.
[edit]Technique
The pedal harp is played with the fingertips, with force from the hand and arm, and ultimately the upper body. The fingertips are drawn in to meet the palm of the hand, thus releasing the string from whatever pressure was placed upon it by the fingers. The fingers are naturally curved or rounded as they touch the strings, and the thumb is gently curved as the tip rises to the string as an arc from its base; this is called plucking. There are differing schools of technique for playing the pedal harp. The largest are the various French schools, and there are specific Russian schools, Viennese and other schools from differing regions of Europe. One is called the Attl technique after Kajetan Attl, in which apparently only the uppermost parts of the fingers move and the hand is largely still. There is a St. Petersburg school (more than one) in Russia in which the thumbs are moved in a circular fashion rather than in and out toward the hand.
The differences between the French schools lie in the posture of the arms, the shape of the hand and the musical aesthetics. The traditional French schooling allows for the right arm to be lightly rested against the harp using the wrist to sometimes bring the hand only away from the string. The left arm moves more freely. Finger technique and control are the emphasis of the technical approach, with extensive use of exercises and etudes to develop this. Two very influential 20th-century teachers of this approach were Henriette Renie and Marcel Grandjany, who both studied with Alphonse Hasselmans.
The other major French school is the Salzedo school, developed by Carlos Salzedo, who also studied with Alphonse Hasselmans at the Paris Conservatoire. Salzedo's technique generally calls for the arms to be held horizontally[13] and emphasises the role of aesthetic hand and arm gestures after the string has been plucked: "Each of the thirty-seven tone colors and effects of the harp calls for a gesture corresponding to its sonorous meaning."[14]
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