The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #12977   Message #104665
Posted By: Susan of DT
13-Aug-99 - 09:33 AM
Thread Name: More Strings Than Most: how many harps?
Subject: RE: More Strings Than Most: how many harps?
There are several categories of many stringed instruments and I would not lump them under "Harp". There are harps (multistring with stings not running over the soundbox) and zithers, whose strings do run over the soundbox. I would include autoharps, psalteries and hammered dulcimers under the zither catogory. The MacArthur or barn harp is a combo of the 2 since some strings run over the box and some are free. Another category might be lutelike instruments with more strings than 12.

Harps come in many sizes from small lap harps with around 2 octaves to concert pedal harps with 6(?) or so octave. Some folk harps are almost as large as concert harps - Lyon & Healy come to mind. I have a medium sized harp with 29 strings made by Betty Truitt in California. Since I do not practice musical instruments, I do not really play the harp or othr instruments. At sings, I sing. I also have, and used to play, an autoharp. I also have and do not play a MacArthur Harp and a bowed psaltery.

Maybe a cat-harp group would get me to work on that lovely instrument sitting forlorn in my family room.