Have you ever wanted to play this amazing instrument called the “Lyre Harp”?
Or perhaps you simply love listening to people playing it, and you find the sound and character of it incredibly beautiful, relaxing and magical.
But why is the Lyre Harp so amazing? These are my top 3 favorite things about this great instrument:
1. The Open Strings
All open string instruments (like harp, lyre harp, zither etc.) share a special kind of rich and open sound when you pluck the strings. Open strings mean that you don’t press down the string on a fretboard, but simply pluck it and let it ring out its beautiful vibrations freely. The open string sound make it truly feel like magic or angels playing.
2. The Easy Playing
Since the lyre harp is diatonic, it is very easy to learn how to play. Diatonic means that the strings are tuned to the 7 notes of a specific key. For example, C Major. And you can then of course play the relative A minor scale since it shares the same notes. This means that learning songs on this instrument is also very easy, as long as you know the key of the song, and how to transpose that key to suit your lyre harp tuning. But even just playing improvised notes will sound beautiful on your lyre harp, and feel very natural and easy because of the diatonic tuning.
3. Harmonies & Arpeggios
With strings tuned to a diatonic scale, you will be able to find and play harmonies very easily. For example by skipping a string to play a 3rd harmony, or skipping 3 strings to play a 5th harmony. This can really spice up your performance by adding harmonies into your otherwise solo melody performance. You will also be able to play the chords as arpeggios, which really brings out that magical and angelic sound of your lyre harp.
Bonus Tip: Glissandos
Of course, the most common sound we relate to with any type of harp, is the magical sounding glissando. And you do this on your lyre harp by simply running your fingers across the strings, up or down. It sounds like dreaming in the clouds, like your own heaven.
The Sound in Action
Now let’s listen to the Lyre Harp in action, so you can hear it’s magical character, dreamy tone and unique sound.