 |
|
Autoharp
|
One
of my other interests is the Autoharp. I discovered this amazing
instrument about two years ago and have fallen in love with it. I
played guitar -
mostly chords only - for about 40 years, but after a breakdown I
stopped playing. A few years later, I wanted to pick up my music again,
but
found that the weight I had put on, plus arthritis, made it impossible
for me to play the guitar. I am not sure where I heard of the autoharp,
but am so glad I did. I can use many of the picking skills I had
acquired, but play whole chords using just one finger of the
left hand - marvellous indeed! I have since joined the UK
Autoharp Association, and thanks to their UKAA Days and
meeting and
listening to a whole load of wonderful players, I am beginning to
explore the melody
possibilities of this instrument as well as just chords. Basically
though, I am a singer, and want the harp to accompany my voice - which
I have found again after many years of silence. I now perform at local
folk groups and spread the word about the autoharp there.
I
have two harps at present - there is a recognised medical
condition called AAS - Autoharp
Acquisition Syndrome. My first
was a Made-in-China 21 chord
Ashbury harp, which is the black
harp I can be seen playing in
some of the pictures below. I
have now swapped this
for a much better model OSC21, shown left, which I have converted to a
"sharp harp" playing mostly in the keys of G,D and A. Last Christmas I
treated myself to a 15
chord F/C Diatonic Desert Rose from
Pete D'Aigle in the USA - a hand made luthier quality
instrument shown right, that I absolutely love. Another of those might
soon follow if Father Christmas obliges! |
|
|
|
 |
There
are two basic kinds of
harp. Chromatic
harps are designed to play in as many
keys as possible and
the 37 strings cover all of the black and white notes of the piano over
two and a half octaves. Diatonic harps are designed for one or two keys
only, and only have strings tuned to the notes you would find in those
keys.
On the left you can see me playing the Ashbury at
Bingham Folk Club,
Nottingham, and the D'Aigle at Conwy Folk Club during my Welsh Tour in
September 2007 (;-). Wasn't the guy behind me enjoying the performance?
My repertoire is mostly folk
oriented, but modern songs by Eric Bogle, Richard Thompson, Kate Rusby
and even Marc Cohn intrude frequently. My ambition is to play
"Stairway" on the Autoharp!
The Autoharp is almost always a compromise instrument. You have only 21
chords at most, which means you sometimes do not have all of the chords
you would like. It is not easy to play melody - hitting the right
string out of 37 is tricky. There are also 37 different ways it can go
out of tune. But in the hands of a master, which I am definitely not,
it sounds wondrous. I have
written some words that fit a well known tune to explore this
compromise.
My
Autoharp plays nicely but I wanna play it naughty
I got 37 strings, but it feels like I need 40
So I asked the guy who made it "What am I a-gonna
do?"
He said "Son, there just ain't no pleasing you!"
I got 21 chords and I need 22
But there ain't no cure for the Autoharp Blues!
I
got a C diminished 7 and I want a C minor
I got an F Suspended 4th but a major would be finer
So I asked the guy who made it "What am I a-gonna
do?"
He said "Boy, you just stop moaning and play what's
given you!"
I got 21 chords and I need 22
But there ain't no cure for the Autoharp Blues
I can jam along with Bluegrass,
but I wanna play some Mahler
I want to
play the lead but with this box I gotta foller
So I asked
the guy who made it "What am I a-gonna
do?"
He said
"Boy, you stick to Old Time, don't you mess
with nothing new"
I got 21
chords and I need 22
But there
ain't no cure for the Autoharp Blues
|
| Finally,
the chance to hear some autoharp, and me singing. I have to be very
conscious of copyright considerations here, so cannot publish
most of my recordings, which are done using Pro-Tool LE and a
Digidesign Mbox2. I will add to these as and when I can. Meanwhile I
apologise in advance for offending anyones musical sensibilities -
these recordings are done for my own pleasure only, not for any profit.
I have only published here songs which I believe to be in the
Public Domain. If anyone thinks differently please inform
me, I will at once remove any that infringe any copyright. |
|
|
|
 |
