| The harp is one of the most ancient instruments that | | | | fingers to create music. But the truth is that the size |
| continues to prevail in today's modern world. Its use | | | | of the instrument has very little to do with whether |
| dates back several centuries. Archaeologists and | | | | it is a harp or not. Harps come in many size from |
| historians have confirmed the use of harps by the | | | | small enough to be held on the lap to large enough |
| ancient Egyptians and Persians. | | | | that it must be set on the floor while the artist |
| The actual "invention" of the harp cannot, however, | | | | playing it must sit next to it. |
| be pinned down to any one person or even any one | | | | So what, exactly, makes a harp a harp? The most |
| civilization. It is actually believed that several | | | | defining feature may be its long strings, most often |
| civilizations around the world had invented some type | | | | flowing vertically from top to bottom. The |
| of harp independent of each other. | | | | soundboard, which is the part of a stringed |
| Many historians and archaeologists tend to believe | | | | instrument that transfers the vibrations of the strings |
| that the idea for a harp came from a hunter's bow, | | | | to the air, is situated perpendicular to the strings of a |
| which makes a sound when plucked. Indeed, many | | | | harp -- which is why a lyre cannot be considered a |
| early harps are little more than a hunter's bow -- | | | | harp. |
| known as a "bow harp" -- with a resonating vessel | | | | Other features that a stringed instrument must have |
| attached and typically more than one string attached. | | | | in order to be considered a harp are the neck and |
| Today's concert harps are quite large, standing about | | | | resonator. There are harps with and without a |
| six feet high, and utilizes a seven-pedal system to | | | | forepillar -- the former type being known as a |
| change the pitch of the strings. | | | | framed harp, while the latter is referred to as an |
| What Makes a Harp a Harp? | | | | open harp. |
| Many people often think about the boy David in the | | | | Although harmonicas are often referred to as a |
| Bible who played a harp to please his king. However, | | | | "Blues harp" and there are also instruments such as |
| the instrument that David played was actually a | | | | the mouth harp and wind harp that use the name, |
| kinnor, which is an ancient Hebrew lyre. | | | | because they are not stringed instruments, using |
| Ask the average person on the street to describe a | | | | reeds in place of strings, they cannot be considered |
| harp, and they are likely to imagine a very large and | | | | harps. |
| heavy instrument whose strings are plucked by the | | | | |