Show harp was in use years before christian era the harp was played thousands of years before the christian era it especially was favored by the egyptians king david is mentioned in the bible as being a harpist in verdi verdis s opera aida the harp is featured in the orchestral score the harp is triangular in shape has a range of more than six octaves and is played by plucking the strings with the fingers the ancient egypt tian harp had no front pillar to sup port the strings the harp was also popular in ancient greece and rome it was the national mitru ment of ireland scotland and wales in ancient times related a writer in the Inal anapolis news the ancient lyre is another form 0 brien boru an irish king was famous for his ability as a performer harp play ing contests were a feature of the feis fels the ancient parliament of ire land held up to A D the irish folk song the harp that once tara s halls celebrates the fame and mourns the decadence of the irish instrument the welsh harp is called a and harp playing contests also were a feature of the eisteddfod the welsh parliament the scotch mitru ment is called a clar sach king alfred of england not only played the harp but in wartime visited the camp of his danish enemies in the guise of an itinerant harpist the chief musical deficiency of the harp was that it had but one scale sebastian erard improved the older instrument which enabled it to bunc tion as perfectly as any other or ch estral instrument he added a seven pedal mechanism to shorten the strings so that harps could be played in eight keys the ancient harp was tuned in the key of E flat the modern is in C flat flat keys are used because they used the greatest length of the strings in creasing the intensity of the vibrations the ethereal sounds which be produced on the harp are called harmonics |