Q & A with a harpist
Aren’t most harps bigger? Harps come in a variety of sizes from having just a few strings to 47. The large orchestral harps (pedal harps) can weigh up to 95 lbs. My primary harp has 36 strings or 5 octaves, enough to play most music. It only weighs about 20 lbs. Is that a harpsichord? A harpsichord is a keyboard instrument, a precursor to the piano. Is that an autoharp? It’s a small harp. An autoharp is strummed and has a set of chord bars to make playing the right notes