What Are Harps and What is Their History?

Lots of us think harps as the things the angels play as they drift around on fluffy white clouds. But harps have been around a lot longer than those rosy-cheeked paintings from the Renaissance era. In fact, the predecessor of the harp, which is the lyre, was invented in approximately 3000 B.C. There are many paintings of Egyptians with musical instruments that look just like our modern-day harps. It is commonly believed that the first harps really were bows that men bent and attached strings to.

The harps that we are familiar with today came about in medieval times. They were used extensively in the middle ages and this is when they got fancy with carvings and stones and jewels on them.

Marie Antoinette is credited with making harps extremely popular and branded the harp as a musical instrument predominantly for women. During her reign the French nobility all wanted to have harps in their homes. During this time harps began to be decorated with scrolls and foliage on their forepillars and necks. Many of these ornate Louis XVI harps are shown in museums today.

Another type of harp is the South American style. A German missionary went to Paraguay and taught the Guarani Indians to play harps in the 1600s. In turn, the Guaranis began to produce their own types of harps. Sometimes you might hear the South American harp being referred to as the “national instrument” of Paraguay. These harps are different because the strings that originate in the neck area. They have also added extra strings. The sounds of the Paraguayan harps tend to be higher.

The makers of harps are called Luthiers. The word Luthier comes from the word lute, which refers to any plucked string instrument and appears to come from Arabic or Persian roots. Luthiers work with the wood and the strings to come up with harps that each have very unique sounds.

You may be wondering what harps are made of:

• Body - Harps are mainly composed of wood. Every harp needs a good “soundboard” wood. Some are made of exotic woods that are costly. Usually the higher the cost of the wood, the more expensive the harp.
• Strings - The strings can be made of different materials:
  • The Welsh harps were made with hair
  • The Irish harps were made with wire
  • The Scottish harps were made with gut

Today, most harps use a combination of nylon, gut, and wire for the strings.

Today many harps have metal pedals. The pedals change the sounds the strings make. Even today a Celtic harp does not have pedals, but a large orchestral harp does.

The first pedals were developed in 1697; in 1810 the first double action pedal harp was produced. Nowadays many harps have seven different pedals that have three different positions.

Many harp manufacturers now make electric pedal harps. Some even have amplifiers attached to the strings.

As you can see, harps have changed considerably over the past millennium. Imagine what will happen in the next 5,000 years!