Harps for Sale

History of the Harp

Whenever we think of a harp a romantic and large image comes to our mind. What most of us do not know is that harp comes in different shapes and sizes, all harps are not the same.

The harp is one of the oldest instruments known to mankind. Its origin dates back to 2500 B.C. being of such an old origin harp is still prevalent among the modern age music instruments.The harp has undergone a lot of changes and modifications since its origin.

The different species of harp that have come up since then are from Egypt, Ireland and many other cultures. The harps that have been in the usage till today are diatonic, triple stringed,

Mono-action pedal, double-action pedal and the chromatic cross string.

The first harp that was known came from Egypt; due to this many people confuse a kinnor, an instrument played by the king David, for harp, whereas a kinnor is basically a type of lyre. The original harps either had a small angle bend or looked like a bow. This shape allowed the harp to have only few strings.

The strings of the support lacked on a solid support therefore were not able to take on a large amount of tension. Then somewhere between eighth and tenth century came another form of harp from the Western Europe. This harp was the first version of harp that had a support for the strings. These harps were then termed framed harps. These harps also made use of a sound box to amplify the music played on the harp. European harps were also known as Renaissance harps and were very different from the harps of Ireland.

Then in the sixteenth century the came the double strung harps followed by the invention of triple string harps. It was very convenient to play the triple string harp as it had three horizontal blocks of strings. It was also very easy to amplify the music played on this instrument. Then came the single pedal harp by the year 1720.the single pedal harp had a blend of diatonic harps and a single string harp with a new element called the pedal. Initially this harp had five pedals which later on increased to seven and till today also the harps use seven pedals.

There were many other modifications that were made during the later years of nineteenth century and various versions of harps came up. The music that the strings of harp produce is very unique and soothing and this is the reason that an instrument which dates its origin in 2500 B.C. is still played in the twenty first century and is enjoyed a lot too.