The Harp (photo) (audio)

The first harp appeared in the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. This developed into two different styles created by the Assyrians during the seventh and eighth century. The difference between the two were that one had a sound chest at the

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bottom while the other had the sound chest at the top. The Syrians, during the ninth century, created the trigon, a type of harp that had a frontal pillar support. The trigon became the standard upon which all western European harps were based on.

The contemporary harp, standing at about six feet tall has six and a half octaves in pitch. Most of the thicker strings are made of gut while the thiner, higher-pitched strings are spun out of wire or silk. Like the Greek harp-prototype, the soundbard is close to the player.

In the

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nineteenth century, Sébastien Érard created a mechanism within the harp which allowed the string to be raised or lowered by one or two half steps in pitch. He created a petal at the foot of the harpist which controlled the pitch of the strings. By the twentieth century, Gustave Lyon created a different type of harp called the chromatic harp. This harp didn't have a petal and the strings were arranged in a criss-cross position. The "natural" pitches cross over the "accidental" pitches in a chromatic harp.