Concert Harp
The pedal harp (also known as the concert harp) is a large and technologically modern harp, designed primarily for use in art music. It may be played solo, as part of a chamber ensemble, or in an orchestra. It typically has 47 strings with seven strings per octave, giving a range of six and a half octaves. In this type of harp the pedals alter the pitch of the strings, so that the pedal harp can easily play works written in any key. This is particularly important in the harmonically complex music of the Romantic period and later 20th-century classical music. Parts Body and strings A pedal harp typically stands about high, is deep, and wide at the bass end of the soundboard. It weighs about . The body of the harp consists of a straight upright pillar, sometimes adorned with a crown at the top; a soundboard, which in most harps is pear-shaped with additional width at the bottom, although some older instruments have soundboards that are straight-sided but widening toward ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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String Instrument
In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some string instruments, like Guitar, guitars, by plucking the String (music), strings with their fingers or a plectrum, plectrum (pick), and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow (music), bow, like Violin, violins. In some keyboard (music), keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord, the musician presses a key that plucks the string. Other musical instruments generate sound by striking the string. With bowed instruments, the player pulls a rosined horsehair bow across the strings, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician cranks a wheel whose rosined edge touches the strings. Bowed instruments include the string section instruments of the orchestra in Western classic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Triple Harp
The triple harp is a type of multi-course harp employing three parallel rows of strings instead of the more common single row. One common version is the Welsh triple harp ( Welsh: ''telyn deires''), used today mainly among players of traditional Welsh folk music. Italian ''arpa tripla'' The triple harp originated in 16th-century Italy. To enable chromatic playing required by late-Renaissance music, a second row of strings containing the pentatonic scale (the accidentals) was added in parallel to the first row, which contained the diatonic scale. These harps were called ''arpa doppia'' or double harp and allowed for fully chromatic playing for the first time in the history of the harp. Later, a second diatonic row of strings was added on the other side of the pentatonic row of strings, creating the ''arpa tripla'' or triple harp. Double and triple harps continued to be the norm throughout the Baroque era in Italy, Spain, and France and were employed both as solo and continuo in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Enharmonic
In music, two written notes have enharmonic equivalence if they produce the same pitch but are notated differently. Similarly, written intervals, chords, or key signatures are considered enharmonic if they represent identical pitches that are notated differently. The term derives from Latin , in turn from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek (), from ('in') and ('harmony'). Definition The predominant tuning system in Western music is twelve-tone equal temperament (12 ), where each octave is divided into twelve equivalent half steps or semitones. The notes F and G are a whole step apart, so the note one semitone above F (F) and the note one semitone below G (G) indicate the same pitch. These written notes are ''enharmonic'', or ''enharmonically equivalent''. The choice of notation for a pitch can depend on its role in harmony; this notation keeps modern music compatible with earlier tuning systems, such as meantone temperaments. The choice can also depend on the note's re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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C-sharp Major
C-sharp major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has seven sharps. Its relative minor is A-sharp minor (or enharmonically B-flat minor), its parallel minor is C-sharp minor, and its enharmonic equivalence is D-flat major. The C-sharp major scale is: Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The C-sharp harmonic major and melodic major scales are: A harp tuned to C-sharp major has all its pedals in the bottom position. Because all the strings are then pinched and shortened, this is the least resonant key for the instrument. Scale degree chords The scale degree chords of C-sharp major are: * Tonic – C-sharp major * Supertonic – D-sharp minor * Mediant – E-sharp minor * Subdominant – F-sharp major * Dominant – G-sharp major * Submediant – A-sharp minor * Leading-tone – B-sharp diminished Compositions Mos ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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C Major
C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel minor is C minor. The C major scale is: Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The C harmonic major and melodic major scales are: On the piano, the C major scale can be played by playing only the white keys starting on C. Scale degree chords The scale degree chords of C major are: * Tonic – C major * Supertonic – D minor * Mediant – E minor * Subdominant – F major * Dominant – G major * Submediant – A minor * Leading-tone – B diminished Compositions Twenty of Joseph Haydn's 106 symphonies are in C major, making it his second most-used key, second to D major. Of the 134 symphonies mistakenly attributed to Haydn that H. C. Robbins Landon lis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Natural (music)
In modern Western music notation, a natural (♮) is a musical symbol that cancels a previous sharp or flat on a note in the written music. The natural indicates that the note is at its unaltered pitch. The natural symbol can be used as an accidental to cancel sharps or flats on an individual note. It may also be shown in a key signature to indicate that sharps or flats in a previous key signature are cancelled. A note is referred to as 'natural' when the letter-name note (A, B, C, D, E, F, or G) is not modified by a flat or sharp (either from a key signature or an accidental). These notes correspond to the white keys on the keyboard of a piano. A key signature with no sharps or flats generally indicates A minor or C major, using all natural notes with no sharps or flats. The natural sign is derived from a square ''b'' used to denote B in medieval music (in contrast with the round ''b'' denoting B, which became the flat symbol). Usage Like all accidental markings, t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sharp (music)
In music, sharp – eqv. (from French) or (from Greek ) – means higher in pitch. The sharp symbol, ♯, indicates that the note to which the symbol is applied is played one semitone higher. The opposite of sharp is flat, indicating a lowering of pitch. The symbol derives from a square form of the letter ''b''. Examples The sharp symbol is used in key signatures or as an accidental applied to a single note. Below is a staff with a key signature containing three sharps ( A major or F♯ minor) and a sharp symbol placed on the note, indicating that it is an A♯ instead of an A♮. : In twelve-tone equal temperament tuning (the predominant system of tuning in Western music), raising a note's pitch by a semitone results in a note that is enharmonically equivalent to another named note. For example, E♯ and F would be equivalent. This is not the case in most non-standard tuning systems. Variants A double sharp is indicated by the symbol and raises a note ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Enharmonic Equivalence
In music, two written notes have enharmonic equivalence if they produce the same pitch (music), pitch but are musical notation, notated differently. Similarly, written Interval (music), intervals, Chord (music), chords, or key signatures are considered enharmonic if they represent identical pitches that are notated differently. The term derives from Latin , in turn from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek (), from ('in') and ('harmony'). Definition The predominant musical tuning, tuning system in Western music is 12 tone equal temperament, twelve-tone equal temperament (12 ), where each octave is divided into twelve equivalent half steps or semitones. The notes F and G are a whole step apart, so the note one semitone above F (F) and the note one semitone below G (G) indicate the same pitch. These written notes are ''enharmonic'', or ''enharmonically equivalent''. The choice of notation for a pitch can depend on its diatonic function, role in harmony; this notation keeps modern ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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C Flat Major
C-flat major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has seven flats. Its relative minor is A-flat minor (or enharmonically G-sharp minor). Its parallel minor, C-flat minor, is usually replaced by B minor, since C-flat minor's three double-flats make it impractical to use. The direct enharmonic equivalent of C-flat major is B major, a key signature with five sharps. The C-flat major scale is: Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The C-flat harmonic major and melodic major scales are: C-flat major is the only major or minor key, other than theoretical keys, which has "flat" or "sharp" in its name, but whose tonic note is the enharmonic equivalent of a natural note (a white key on a keyboard instrument). Scale degree chords The scale degree chords of C-flat major are: * Tonic – C-flat major * Supertonic – D-flat minor * Medi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Flat (music)
In music, flat means lower in pitch. It may either be used in a general sense to mean any lowering of pitch, or to specifically refer to lowering pitch by a semitone. A flat is the opposite of a sharp () which indicates a raised pitch in the same way. The flat symbol () appears in key signatures to indicate which notes are flat throughout a section of music, and also in front of individual notes as an accidental, indicating that the note is flat until the next bar line. Pitch change The symbol is a stylised lowercase ''b'', derived from Italian ''be molle'' for "soft B" and German ''blatt'' for "planar, dull". It indicates that the note to which it is applied is played one semitone lower. In the standard modern tuning system, 12 tone equal temperament, this corresponds to 100 cents. In older tuning systems (from the 16th and 17th century), and in modern microtonal tunings, the difference in pitch indicated by a sharp or flat is normally smaller than the stan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jacob Hochbrucker
Jacob Hochbrucker (also spelled ''Jakob Hochprugger''; 1673 – 28 May 1763) was an eighteenth-century harp maker and musician credited with the invention of the single-action pedal harp popularized in Europe between 1729 and 1750 by his descendants, and particularly by the Dauphine, Marie Antoinette, who performed on it after her arrival in Paris in 1770. Life and work Hochbrucker was probably born in Mindelheim. From 1699 he lived and worked in Donauwörth, where he also built lutes and violas. Around 1720 Hochbrucker invented the pedal mechanism to play the harp, adding to the instrument five (later increased to seven) pedals and connecting them to the hooks for the C, D, F, G, and B strings, thus allowing the player to alter the strings sound of a semitone and greatly extend the range of the instrument for the extraction of sounds. This ingenious chromatic system later became the subject matter of studies and extended considerations. In the second half of the 18th century, the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1720 In Science
The year 1720 in science and technology involved some significant events. Astronomy * February 10 – Edmond Halley is appointed as Astronomer Royal of England. Medicine * May – First patient admitted to the Westminster Public Infirmary, predecessor of St George's Hospital, London. * Dr Steevens' Hospital is established at Kilmainham, Dublin. * Great Plague of Marseille, the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Europe. * English physician Richard Mead publishes ''A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it''. Physics * Willem 's Gravesande publishes ''Physices elementa mathematica, experimentis confirmata, sive introductio ad philosophiam Newtonianam'', an introduction to Newtonian physics, in Leiden. Technology * A theodolite is developed by Jonathan Sisson of England. * Pinchbeck is invented by English watchmaker Christopher Pinchbeck; it is an alloy of 83% copper and 17% zinc, creating a strong, hard-wearing metal w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |