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The harp: ancient and modern

A celtic and a modern harp side by side

Harps shown in old pictures only resemble modern harps in having the overall roughly triangular frame with a set of strings stretched across it. The old harps in pictures, and the more recent Celtic harp, are much smaller than present-day concert harps. The earliest harps did not have pedals and were limited in the notes they could play and overall range of the notes.

The strings of a harp

The modern harp has evolved over several hundred years. Nowadays it is played sitting down with the instrument tilted back to rest on the player’s shoulder.

The strings are grouped into different colours to indicate pitches, and the pitches themselves can have three positions which are chosen by the position of the pedals to which they are attached. The pedals have three positions, which enables the modern harp to play all the notes of the chromatic scale.

Lucy Wakeford talks about today's harps.

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