Fran Zajac, age 14, of Billings, Mont., for her question:
HOW WAS THE HARP INVENTED?
We aren't sure exactly when the harp was invented, but the experts tell us that it was most likely back in ancient times. The harp invention probably came about as the result of a suggestion made by a hunter who had heard a nice sound as he shot an arrow from his bow. By adding additional strings and by changing the tightness, this hunter musician discovered that he could made different sounds and actually make music.
Harps are among man's oldest musical instruments. Many different kinds were used in Mesopotamia as far back as 3000 B.C.
Harps were used in ancient Egypt and in early Greece. They turned up in Europe before the 9th Century. Then troubadours, who were traveling singers, started using hand held harps in the 12th Century.
It wasn't until the late 19th Century that a lot of good music was written especially for the harp. As improvements in the harp were made, better music seemed to come along. Composers such as Hector Berlioz, Claude Debussy and Richard Wagner wrote beautiful harp music in their orchestra compositions.
Today's modern double action pedal harp is often regarded as the queen of the orchestra's string family. It is truly a beautiful looking instrument.
The harp is the only stringed instrument of the modern symphony orchestra that is played entirely by plucking the strings.
The harp's shape is triangular. Its three sides are called the column, the curving neck and the sounding board. Sometimes the neck is called the harmonic curve.
Connecting the neck to the sounding board is the column. Near where the column and sounding board meet, there are seven foot pedals. On the instrument there are usually 46 strings stretched between the neck and the sounding board.
The tones of the harp's strings match the tones of the white keys of the piano. Nylon or catgut strings are used in the middle and higher tones. The bass strings are wound wire.
The strings are in several colors, so the player can see them more easily. One of the combinations that is used is to have the C strings in red, the F strings in purple and all other strings in white.
Each of the pedals control all of the strings of one tone. The C pedal, for example, is connected to all the C strings, and so on.
When the player pushes down his foot, each pedal can raise the connecting string one or two half tones. This is the "double action" of the harp. Before 1810, the harp could only be raised one half tone, but in that year a musician by the name of Sebastian Erard improved the pedal so that each string could be raised another half tone.