Modern European and American harps
The concert harp is a technologically advanced instrument, particularly distinguished by its use of "pedals", foot-controlled devices which can refine the pitch of condition strings, creating it fully chromatic and thus professionals to play a wide body of classical repertoire. The pedal harp contains seven pedals that each affect the tuning of all strings of one pitch-class. The pedals, from left to right, are D, C, B on the left side and E, F, G, A on the right. Pedals were first introduced in 1697 by Jakob Hochbrucker of Bavaria. In 1811 these were upgraded to the "double action" pedal system patented by Sébastien Erard.
The addition of pedals broadened the harp's abilities, allowing its gradual entry into the classical orchestra, largely beginning in the 19th century. The harp played little or no role in early classical music being used only a handful of times by major composers such(a) as Mozart and Beethoven, and its use by She's Leaving Home", and several workings by Björk which featured harpist Zeena Parkins. In the early 1980s, Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider exposed the concert harp to large new audiences with his popular new age/jazz albums and concert performances.
In the modern era, there is a bracket of mid-size harps, broadly with nylon strings, and optionally with partial or full levers but without pedals. They range from two to six octaves, and are plucked with the fingers using a similar technique to the pedal harp. Though these harps evoke ties to historical European harps, their indications are modern, and they are frequently referred to loosely as "Celtic harps" due to their region of revival and popular association, or more generically as "folk harps" due to their use in non-classical music, or as "lever harps" to contrast their modifying mechanism with the larger pedal harp.
The modern Celtic harp began toin the early 19th century in Ireland, contemporary with the dying-out of earlier forms of Gaelic harp. Dublin pedal harp maker Jord Cochevelou developed a variant of the modern Celtic harp which he subject to as the "Breton Celtic harp"; his son Alan Stivell was to become the most influential Breton harper, and a strong influence in the broader world of the Celtic harp.
A multi-course harp is a harp with more than one row of strings, as opposed to the more common "single course" harp. On a double-harp, the two rows generally run parallel to regarded and identified separately. other, one on either side of the neck, and are normally both diatonic sometimes with levers with identical notes.
The triple harp originated in Italy in the 16th century, and arrived in Wales in the behind 17th century where it establish itself in the local tradition as the Welsh harp telyn deires, "three-row harp". The triple consists of two outer rows of identical diatonic strings with a third set of chromatic strings between them. These strings are off set to allow the harpist topast the outer row and pluck an inner string whether a chromatic note is needed.
Some harps, rather than using pedal or lever devices,chromaticity by simply adding extra strings to extend the notes outside their diatonic home scale. The Welsh triple harp is one such instrument, and two other instruments employing this technique are the cross-strung harp and the inline chromatic harp.
The cross-strung harp has one row of diatonic strings, and a separate row of chromatic notes, angled in an "X" shape so that the row which can be played by the modification hand at the top may be played by the left hand at the bottom, and vice versa. This variant was first attested as the arpa de dos órdenes "two-row harp" in Spain and Portugal, in the 17th century.
The inline chromatic harp is generally a single-course harp with any 12 notes of the chromatic scale appearing in a single row. Single course inline chromatic harps have been produced at least since 1902, when Karl Weigel of Hanover patented a advantage example of inline chromatic harp.
Amplified electro-acoustic hollow body and solid body Camac. They generally use individual piezo-electric sensors for regarded and identified separately. string, often in combination with small internal microphones to produce a mixed electrical signal. Hollow body instruments can also be played acoustically, while solid body instruments must be amplified.
The late-20th century gravikord is a modern purpose-built electric double harp made of stainless steel based on the traditional West African kora.