The Harp!
BY MIMI AND SCARLETT!
K.W.L
What I Know!
What I want to know!
What I learnt
 The Harp is shaped in
a love heart shape.
 It is played by sitting
on the side of the
instrument and
strumming the
strings.
 How many different
types of Harps are
there?
 When was it first
played?
 Is it easy to learn how
to play?
 How is the Harp
played?
 How does the harp
make its sound?
 Who is famous for
playing the Harp?
 We learnt that there
are 1810 different
harps.
 There are many
people who play the
harp.
 The biggest harp and
instrument is the
earth harp.
 If we ever need to play
the harp we will know
how to.
When was the Harp invented?
 The earliest evidence of the Harp was found in Egypt in
2500 BC. They were shaped like bows and had very few
strings.
 Most of the evidence was found on paintings.
How is the Harp played?
 The Harp is played by resting it between the players
knees and along the right shoulder.
 A Harpist knows which string is which by the colour
of it. F strings are all blue or black, C strings are all
red or orange.
 The first four fingers of each hand are used to pluck
the strings. The pinky is too short and cannot reach
the correct position without getting in the way of the
other fingers.
 The pedals allow the player to change the sound of
the notes F and C.
How does the Harp make
it’s sound?
 The Harp makes it’s
sound from the sound
board at the bottom of
the Harp.
 It works by the Harpist
strumming the string
which vibrates through
the string in to a little
hole and down into the
sound board where it
then is projected out into
the world.
Is it easy to learn how to
play?
 The Harp is one of the
many instruments that
are easy to learn. Harps
are like a guitar you
strum the strings and
get a great noise. So by
strumming the strings
frequently you can
create a tune.
Parts of the Harp
The strings run vertical and attach
to the tuning knobs at the top and
the sound board at the bottom.
The strings are made out of nylon.
Some are made out of hair and
some are even made out of gut.
How many different types of Harps are there?
 There are around 1810 different types of Harps with pedals around the
world.
 Some types of modern harps is the Lyre, the Crwth, the Ancient
Egyptian harp, the frame harp and the Medieval harp.
 There are some types of harps with no pedals they include Modern
Gothic Harps, Modern wire Harps, Multi-course harps and LatinAmerican Harps.
 The wind harp, electric harp, earth harp, jaws harp , bell harp and the
harp guitar are all rarely played and unusually shaped.
The Earth Harp
The earth Harp is the longest stringed
instrument and was invented in 1999 by
William Close. It is 330 metres long and
William and his band, MASS, have toured
around the world installing them in many
places.
Players of the Harp
 Henriette Renie was one of the first well known
female harpists to play the Harp. She was so tiny that
extensions were built to her harp so she could use
the pedals. When she was eleven years old she won
the Premier Prix.
 Turlough O’Carolan was another well known harpist.
By the age of 18 he was blind however he still
travelled around the Ireland playing and writing
many tunes that are still played today.
What a Harp sound’s like
This is a small audio of the Harp.
Interesting facts about the Harp
 The Harp is one of the world’s oldest instruments.
 It belongs to the string family.