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The harp is a stringed instrument in which the strings are plucked with the fingers. In different forms it was played by people of nearly all lands throughout the ages. The oldest stringed instrument that I could find is the Egyptian bow harp, taken from Egyptian mural drawings. It dates back to 3000 B.C and is with some probability the ancestor of modern harps. Another is a Cycladic marble statue of a harpist from the island of Keros. It was found together with Phoenician idols which points to the possibility that this harp originated in Phoenicia, which is mentioned in Greek literature as one of the countries that in ancient times used triangular stringed instruments. It also dates back to 3000 B.C. The Kithara originated in ancient Greece, dating back to 490 B.C. The Kithara was a wooden string instrument that was played with a plectrum, which is similar to what we know today as a pick, and was usually made from the horns of animals and shaped into a device that looked similar to a spoon. The early form of the kithara had a rounded base, while the later form had a flat base. The strings of the instrument were mainly made from twisted sheep-gut, although, cord made from flax fibers were sometimes used as well. Early Greek pottery depicts the kithara to have four strings, and later models included seven strings. Tuning was accomplished with a tool known as a kollops, which was made from pieces of hide from the neck of an ox. Most musicians held the kithara wile standing because of its large size, which made the instrument easier to maneuver. The lyre is closely associated with the kithara and is sometimes hard to distinguish in ancient art. The instrument was similar to the kithara in respect to the tuning mechanisms and with the way it was held, although the lyre was smaller and lighter. Because the lyre was not as physically strong as the kithara, the pitch of the strings could not have been wound as tight, resulting in a lower sounding instrument. The best known of the historical Celtic harps was the Clairseach, a brass-wire strung Irish harp played in highland Scotland. Having roughly 22 strings, the Clairseach was an improvement on the ancient small harp or lyre, around 1100 A.D. The extra strings, added in the treble, were needed not for playing melody, but in order to play Divisions. Called Cors and Ports or “streams and openings”, harp divisions were runnings or methodical variations based on a melodic ground. Today, divisions survive on the highland pipes. Historical Celtic harpers played melody with the right hand below the left, resulting in the melody being played on the lower pitch strings. The left thumb played a high monotone drone. The harp became particularly popular with the Irish from the 9th century. They adopted the small instrument still in use, called the Irish harp, as a national symbol. The larger instrument was well known on the Continent by the 12th century. It was during the 15th century that the harp came to be made in three parts, as it is today: sound box, neck, and pillar. The strings are stretched between the sound box and the neck, and the tuning pegs are fastened into the neck. Chromatic harps appeared in the late 16th century, and had a string for each tone of the chromatic scale. This was not as practical as the diatonic harp, made in the late 17th century in the Tyrol and equipped with hooks capable of altering the pitch of any string by a semitone. A pedal mechanism that shortened the strings was devised around 1720 in Germany. The harp was perfected with Sébastien Erard’s invention of the double-action pedals, which can shorten each string twice, raising the pitch by a semitone or a tone. The harp appeared occasionally in the orchestra in the 18th century, but regular appearances, as well as most of it’s solo literature dates from the late 19th century. The oldest instrument with neck and fingerboard I can find dates back to 2500 B.C. It is from the dawn of human civilization, the Sumerians. It appears on a clay tablet attached to the temple Bel between the Tigris & Euphrates rivers. It shows a shepherd with a flock of sheep playing an oval shaped instrument with a neck three times the length of the body. Details like the number of strings, the existence of frets, or type of tuning pegs are not clear. Two Hittite sculptures were found that depict stringed instruments with fingerboards, dating back to 1500 B.C. The fist was found at Sendshirli in North Syria by German archeologists. The stringed instrument has a strap and rests on the players knee. The player is shown with eyes fixed on the playing fingers of the left hand. The second Hittite stringed instrument with fretboard is appearing in a sculpture on the castle ruins of Bos-ojok in the northern part of Asia Minor. Very interesting details present themselves for the first time in history, such as the sides incurve so as to bear a striking resemblance to the modern guitar, several sound holes are visible, there is the appearance of frets in a graded scale down the fretboard in a regular series, and it also appears that two strings are attached to the head and a plectrum is attached by a ribbon. The Ud, or Arabic Lute was introduced into Europe by the Moors during their occupation and conquest of Spain around 711. The history of the Ud is ancient, going back far beyond written history that currently exists. Through the crusades and trade, the Ud was spread throughout Europe, and it was adoped as an instrument by the Europeans. Frets were added and eventually the strings were doubled. It later became known as the lute. A long necked lute type instrument shown on a terre-cotta plaque from Babylon dates to 1250 B.C. and is now in the British Museum. The earliest occurance of the guitar shape in a short-necked lute was in central Asia shortly after the beginning of the Christian ear. At this time central Asian lutes were of many kinds, the guitar shape is found in examples dating from the 1st to 4th century. By 1200, you can see paintings and sculptures of Europeans playing the lute, and by 1400 the players had adopted a standard tuning. The Lute is built with only wood and glue, there are no nails or screws used in construction. It is the first instrument for which we find a large quantity of written music. It was a very respected musical instrument of it’s time, and probably the most popular stringed instrument of the renaissance. There was more music written for the lute than any other instrument in the renaissance. In the 14th century a stable tuning and design appear. It had 4 sets of strings, and was played with a plectrum. As the music became more complex, the lute was played with the fingers. The construction and the strings are very light, much lighter than the guitar. Tablature was the early music notation used by the lute and many other instruments of the renaissance. There were many different types: English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German. The French used letters to show the player where to put the fingers on the instrument, while the Italian used numbers. The 16th and 17th centuries was the golden age of the lute. A tremendous amount of music was composed and published. Professional lutenists were in demand by those that could afford it and musicians were well paid. During the Renaissance the lute occupied a special place that was only superseded by the human voice. It was the most popular instrument of it’s time, and its repertoire was enormous. A larger form was developed called the archlute. It gave rise to the theorbo, which is simply described as a large lute of the baroque period, and to the chitarrone, which was supplanted by the Spanish vihuela and the modern guitar. The theorbo had an extra set of bass strings, not stopped on a fingerboard as the regular set are but plucked as open strings. These made it more suitable for playing baroque music than was the lute. It originated in the late 16th century and survived until the end of the 18th century. Developed from the mandola, a 17th century lute, the mandolin has a half pear shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum. A smaller type was the Neapolitan mandolin, having four pairs of strings. It became popular in the 18th century and is the usual present-day mandolin. In popular music it is generally played with a tremolo motion. Notable uses of the mandolin are in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and in pieces by Beethoven and Mahler. The balalaika did not appear in Russia until 1700. It has a triangular body and a long fretted neck. Usually there are three strings, which are generally plucked with a pick. The balalaika is made in various sizes, and several may be combined to make a band or orchestra. A similar instrument, the bandura, is found in Ukraine and Russia, and other types are to be found in the countries of the Middle East, where the balalaika almost certainly originated. Like the guitar, the balalaika has been much used to accompany folk songs and country dances. Slaves brought the banjo to America by 1688 from West Africa, and it is thought to have come from Europe or Asia. The banjo has a body resembling that of a tambourine. It consists of a hoop over wich a skin membrane is stretched. It has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. The banjo was played in minstrel shows in the 19th century. It is used frequently in hillbilly and Southern folk music. Because of an incisive, percussive quality, it is often used as a rhythm or a solo instrument in Dixieland bands. Earlier versions of the guitar had pairs of strings like the lute. The guitar usually has a flat back, sides that curve inward to form a waist, and a fretted neck. The traditional classical guitar appeared as early as the 12th century in Spain, the country with shich it is particularly associated. It was very popular there in the 16th century, when much music was written for it. The composer Fernando Sor was a brilliant guitarist who wrote many important works for that instrument. Around the middle to the end of the 9th century, there are several discussions of an instrument called a rabab in the Arabic lands. Unfortunately, no physical examples of the instrument have survived to the present, and early Islam forbade depictions of the real world, so the only existing contemporary evidence is literary. This evidence does give us some very detailed descriptions of the form and method of playing the instrument. It was bowed by a string rubbed with resin attached to a bent shaft, which was drawn across the strings. The left had is described as being used to stop the strings to create different pitches while the right hand manipulates the box. The shape of the rabab is described having a long narrow neck with a pear shaped body. Strings were attached to an end pin and had tunable pegs at the other end. The rabab had no frets, it was played upright on the lap, with the instrument facing away from the player. The strings were tuned in fifths. Later evidence tells us that the instruments were made with a dried gourd body, a tightened skin soundboard and a wooden neck. The preferred string material was twisted silk, though dried gut was also used. By the 11th century, the instrument had found its way into Byzantium and Spain. The Byzantine instrument was held point up, like the Arabic style, though the bow was long and flat, as opposed to curved. The Spanish one was more like the Arabic version. The earliest Spanish example is the Catalan Psalter from the middle of the 11th century. A change in the number of strings occurred as the instrument moved into Europe. The Byzantine instrument had only 2 strings, but the new instrument had anywhere from 2-3, sometimes up to 6 strings. By the middle of the 11th century the instrument was spreading over Europe into Spain, France and Germany, and into England and the rest of Europe by 1100 or so. The Europeans did not significantly change the form of the instrument, however several changes did occur. The number of strings settled on 3 (or 6) instead of 2 (or 4). The instrument was more regularly made of wood rather than gourd or skin, and the method of playing shifted from the vertical lap position to a more horizontal position at the shoulder, much like the modern violin. In its early history, the rebec was seen as a court instrument. Bowed instruments of any kind were very popular in the 11th to 13th centuries in royal society. Having musicians was a sign of status and wealth, a tradition carried into the 14th century. During the 13th century, fiddles were invited into the church as part of the musical presentation of the services. The instrument thrived through the 14th century as a primary stringed instrument until the development of the competing vielles and fiddles, which were fretted bowed instruments, easier to play as the musician did not have to be as accurate with his or her finger placement. By the fifteenth century its appeal in the courtly classes was diminishing, and it was regarded as a rustic instrument, suitable mostly for peasant dances. The violin appears around the middle of the century, and slowly supplanted all other bowed stringed instruments. By the end of the 16th century , the rebec was wholly regarded as a plebian instrument, fit only for public streets and taverns. “Dry as a rebec” became a popular derogatory comment. Bibliography: Word Count: 2416
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