What is a harp? Is it the instrument played by angels floating on clouds? Or is it that tall, golden, half-hidden thing in the symphony orchestra? Maybe it's that squat and broad instrument in an Irish band or the stringed instrument accompanying an African storyteller.
The harp, in fact, is all those things. It can accompany a voice, a silver flute, or be backed by jazz bass and drums. It can have a body carved from a single chunk of wood, or one precisely constructed from 2000 hand-crafted or machine-tooled pieces. In simplest terms, the harp is any plucked string instrument, usually triangular in shape, in which the plane of the strings is perpendicular to the soundboard. Although harps come in a huge variety of shapes, sizes, and weights, they all consist of three main parts: the sound board (or box), the neck, and the strings. Harps are found, in one form or another, throughout the world, in more sizes and shapes than almost any other instrument. |