Pictures!!!

Wow, I just discovered I could actually post pictures here now. Isn't that special? I'm sure it's completely made your day. Anyway... in a post many months ago, I promised you a picture of a wire-strung harp. Now I can actually make good on that promise!

The harp shown here is a reproduction of the "Brian Boru" harp currently living in Trinity College Dublin. Legend would have us believe that this harp actually belonged to Brian Boru, but as it has pretty firmly been dated to about 400 years after his death, that can't be true.

This particular reproduction is one designed / made by Andre Schubert of Klangwerkstatt Markt Wald in southern Germany. Andre also runs "make it yourself" workshops throughout Germany, as well as one in Ireland, so that people who want to get sawdust in their hair, on their glasses, between their teeth, and in various other odd places can do so. Great fun! (making the harp, that is, not getting sawdust everywhere)

The Brian Boru harp is 90 cm / 36 inches tall and has 27 strings, the lower ones wound and the upper ones steel. Theoretically I could have had blades installed, but I decided I would have enough to worry about just trying to learn to play the silly thing without blades. It's not a bad instrument; OK, it's not a Witcher harp, but neither is the price! The harp I'm drooling over: http://www.harpanddragon.com/trinityharp.htm. I think the only way I'll be able to get something like that is to make it myself. Unfortunately, the decorated Witcher Brian Boru in the link has been sitting on the sales floor for at least 3 years. If I had an extra 10K sitting around, it wouldn't be there anymore!

What are blades? A modern concert harp (you know, the 2 meter tall gilded monsters) has synthetic or at least non-metal strings that are controlled by pedals to allow playing accidental notes: the black keys on the piano. The "folk" harps strung with synthetic or non-metal strings have levers which can be used to change the length of the strings to give the harp the accidentals. Wire-strung harps need blades, which simply touch the strings, as opposed to levers which move the string. Why? Metal is less extensible than the synthetics and doesn't stretch well, so a lever would be a good way to break a string. Without the blades, levers, or pedals, all a harp player has is the white notes on a piano. Which limits the repertoire to an extent. Now, aren't you glad you asked???

Currently reading: Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy. I swear he recycled the opening scene for one of his other books (insurgents destroy a Soviet/Russian site out in the middle of nowhere), but I can't remember which one.
Currently hearing: Blue Bells of Scotland, The Corries. No, not the Corrs, the Corries. These guys were Scots and proud of it. I've put together a new iTunes playlist of all the tunes in my library that celebrate, commemmorate, or mourn Scots or Irish battles, historical events, and so on.
Current cat activity: sleeping.