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San Diego Harp History

Harp Origins (excerpts from Wikipedia.org):

An ancient Egyptian harp on display in the British Museum. An ancient Egyptian harp on display in the British Museum. Harps were most likely independently invented in many parts of the world in remote prehistory. It is self-evident that the harp's origins may lie in the sound of a plucked hunter's bow string or the strings of a loom. A type of harp called a 'bow harp' is nothing more than a bow like a hunter's, with a resonating vessel such as a gourd fixed somewhere along its length. To allow a greater number of strings, harps were later made from two pieces of wood attached at the ends: this type is known as the 'angle harp'. The oldest depictions of harps without a forepillar are from 4000 BC in Egypt(see Music of Egypt) and 3000 BC in Persia (see Music of Iran). While most English translations of the Bible feature the word 'harp', especially in connection with King David, the Hebrew word is nevel, a type of lyre with 10 strings and not a harp at all. The Hebrew word for one kind of harp is kinnor. Other ancient names for harps include magadis and sambuka. The kanun is a descendant of the ancient Egyptian harp and was introduced to Europe by the Moors during the Middle Ages.

Structure and mechanism:

Harps are roughly triangular and are usually made primarily of wood. The lower ends of the strings are fastened to the inside of the sounding-board, which is the outer surface of the resonating cavity. The body is hollow and resonates, projecting sound both toward the player through openings, and outward through the highly flexible sounding board. The crossbar, or neck, contains the mechanism or levers which determine the pitch alteration (sharps and flats) for each string. The upper ends of the strings are attached to pins in holes drilled through the neck. The longest side, the column, encloses the rods controlling the mechanism of a pedal harp. At the base are seven pedals, which activate the rods when they are downwardly pressed. The modern sophisticated instrument spanning 6½ octaves in virtually all keys was perfected by the 19th-century French maker Sébastien Érard. Lever harps do not have pedals or rods. Instead they use a shortening lever on the neck for each individual string which must be activated manually in order to shorten the string and raise the tone a half step. Thus, a string tuned to natural may be played in sharp, but not flat. A string tuned to flat may be played in natural, but not sharp. Lever harps are considerably lighter in weight than pedal harps and are smaller in size and number of strings. Lever harps are popular for playing folk music and are most commonly called folk harps. The harp lute or dital harp adapts the lever tuning system to a fretted instrument in the lute or guitar family.

Technique:

The 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. There are differing schools of technique for playing the
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 calls 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. The hands are more-or-less rounded, though the thumb is usually in a low position relative to the hand. Finger technique and control are the emphasis of the technical approach, with extensive use of exercises and etudes to develop this. Musical choices tend to be conservative, and centered in the harp music of the 19th century, a continuation, if you will, of the salon tradition of harp playing. Two very influential 20th-century teachers of this approach were Henriette Renie and Marcel Grandjany. Grandjany's pupils have sometimes added to their technique the habit of having the knuckle joints curved inward rather than outward, optionally or always, as M. Grandjany's fingers were wont to do. The other major French school is the Salzedo school, developed by Carlos Salzedo, who studied with Alphonse
Hasselmans at the Paris Conservatoire. Also a virtuoso pianist, he informed his harp playing with what came naturally as a crossover from his piano training. This resulted in a more curved hand, more free movements of the arms, a more wide range of dynamics and tone colors in his playing, which was exceptionally brilliant. He emphasized brilliance and speed in playing. He was also a dedicated modernist, oriented to contemporary music and ideas, and in the forefront of the same. He was an inspiring teacher, and his students filled many important teaching, solo and orchestral positions in the United States and elsewhere. He has come to be seen as American because he was exported to America to serve Arturo Toscanini as harpist at the Metropolitan Opera, and based his later career in the U.S. He helped to design two important harps, the Style 11 and the Salzedo model of Lyon and Healy harps. As an innovative performer and composer, he was of great influence on the direction of harp music composing. His own music began in a fluent late-Romantic style, then a unique Impressionist style and a modernist style unlike any other composer. In fact, he was more imitated by composers than imitative.

Use in music:

The harp found its early orchestral use in concerti by many baroque classical composers (Handel, J. C. Bach, Mozart,
Albrechtsberger, Schenck, Dussek, Spohr) and in the opera houses of London, Paris and Berlin and most other
capitals. It began to be used in symphonic music by Hector Berlioz but he found performances frustrating in such
countries as Germany where qualified harpists and harps were few to be found. Franz Liszt was seminal in finding
uses for the harp in his orchestral music, and Mendelssohn and Schubert used it in theatrical music or oratorios. The
French and Russian Romantic composer particularly expanded its symphonic use. In opera, the Italian composers
used it regularly, and Puccini was a particular master of its expressive and coloristic use. Debussy can be said to
have put the harp on the map in his many works that use one or more harps. Tchaikovsky also was of great influence,
followed by Rimsky-Korsakov, Richard Strauss and Wagner. The greatest influence on use of the harp has always
been the availability of fine harps and skilled players, and the great increase of them in the U.S. of the 20th century
resulted in its spread into popular music.

The first harpist known to play jazz was Casper Reardon, a pioneer in the world of "hot" music. Florence Wightman
was likely the first to have her own radio series of recitals on several networks in the 1930s.
Many passages for solo harp can be found in 19th century ballet music, particularly in scores for the ballets staged for
the Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, where the harpist Albert Zabel played in the orchestra. In ballet, the harp
was utilized to a great extent in order to embellish the dancing of the ballerina. Elaborate cadenzas were composed
by Tchaikovsky for his ballets The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty; as well as Alexander Glazunov for his score
for the ballet Raymonda. In particular, the scores of Riccardo Drigo contained many pieces for harp in such works as
Le Talisman (1889), Le Réveil de Flore (1894) and Les Millions d'Arlequin (1900). Cesare Pugni wrote extensively
for the harp as well—his ballet Éoline, ou La Dryade included music written for harp to accompany the ballerina's
numerous variations and enhance the atmosphere of the ballet's many fantastical scenes. Ludwig Minkus was
celebrated for his harp cadenzas, most notably the Variation de la Reine du jour from his ballet La Nuit et le Jour
(1881), the elaborate entr'acte composed for Albert Zabel from his ballet Roxana (1878), and numerous passages
found in his score for the ballet La Bayadère, which in some passages were used to represent a veena which was
used on stage as a prop.

The French ballet composers were no slouches in the harp department, either. Delibes made excellent use of it, as did
Gounod and Massenet in their music.

There is a prominent harp part in "She's Leaving Home" by The Beatles in their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band. In the 1970s, a harp was common in popular music, and can be heard in such hits as Cher's Dark
Lady and the intro of Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves. Most often this was played by Los Angeles studio harpist Gayle
Levant, who has played on hundreds of recordings. In current pop music, the harp appears relatively rarely. Joanna
Newsom, Dee Carstensen, Darian Scatton, Habiba Doorenbos, and Jessa Callen of The Callen Sisters have
separately established images as harp-playing singer-songwriters with signature harp and vocal sounds. Canadian
singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan plays the harp in her 2006 holiday album, Wintersong. In Hong Kong, a notable
example of harp in pop music is the song Tin Shui Walled City (天水圍城) performed by Hacken Lee with harp
played by Korean harpist Jung Kwak (Harpist K).

Harp use has recently expanded in the "alternative" music world of commercial popular music. A pedal harpist,
Ricky Rasura, is a member of the "symphonic pop" band, The Polyphonic Spree. Also, Björk sometimes features
acoustic and electric harp in her work, often played by Zeena Parkins. Philadelphia based Indie Pop Band Br'er uses
a pedal harp as the foundation for their cinematic live sets. Art in America was the first known rock band featuring a
pedal harp to appear on a major record label, and released only one record, in 1983. The pedal harp was also present
in the Michael Kamen and Metallica concert and album, S&M, as part of the San Francisco Symphony orchestra.
R&B singer Maxwell featured harpist Gloria Agostini in 1997 on his cover of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work".
On his 7th solo album Finding Forever, Hip- Hop artist Common features harpist Brandee Younger on the
introductory track, followed by a Dorothy Ashby sample from her 1969 recording of The Windmills of Your Mind.
Some Celtic-pop crossover bands and artists such as Clannad and Loreena McKennitt include folk harps, following
Alan Stivell's work. Recently Florence Welch has begun to incorporate harps into her songs, notably on "Rabbit
Heart (Raise It Up)".The Webb Sisters from UK use different size harps in almost all their material during live
performances...

For more Harp History, please see "Harp" at Wikipedia.org

Copyright © 2005-2010 Harp Enchantment - Sonia Marie Olivas