Harp

:Harp is also a slang term for the diatonic harmonica; see blues harp. See also Jew's harp.

The harp in music

The harp is used sparingly in most classical music, usually for special effects such as the glissando, arpeggios, and bisbigliando. Italian and German opera uses harp for romantic arias and dances, an example of which is Musetta's Waltz from La bohème. French composers such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel composed harp concertos and chamber music widely played today. In the nineteenth century, the French composer and harpist Nicolas-Charles Bochsa composed hundreds of pieces of all kinds (opera transcriptions, chamber music, concertos, operas, harp methods). Henriette Renié and Marcel Grandjany have composed many lesser-known solo pieces and chamber music. Modern composers utilize the harp frequently because the pedals on a concert harp allow many sorts of non-diatonic scales and strange accidentals to be played (although some modern pieces call for impractical pedal manipulations).

Related Topics:
Glissando - Arpeggio - Bisbigliando - Opera - La bohème - Claude Debussy - Maurice Ravel - Nicolas-Charles Bochsa - Henriette Renié - Marcel Grandjany

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See List of compositions for harp for the names of some notable pieces from the classical repertoire.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There have been a few harpists active in Jazz and free improvisation, including Dorothy Ashby, Rhodri Davies, Carol Emmanuel, Zeena Parkins, Park Stickney, Alice Coltrane, Deborah Henson-Conant and Elizabeth Panzer.

Related Topics:
Jazz - Free improvisation - Dorothy Ashby - Rhodri Davies - Carol Emmanuel - Zeena Parkins - Park Stickney - Alice Coltrane - Deborah Henson-Conant - Elizabeth Panzer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In current pop music, however, the harp appears very rarely. Joanna Newsom and Dee Carstensen have separately established images as harp-playing singer-songwriters with signature harp and vocal sounds.

Related Topics:
Joanna Newsom - Dee Carstensen

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~