The sketches for The Harpist

The project involves two parts, the harp and the player. The harp itself is composed of one string that can be accurately tensioned so that when plucked, it’ll play specific notes. By having it shaped like a wedge or a triangle, it takes after the classic form of a harp.

The second piece of the performance is the arm that plucks it. I was specifically thinking an almost human-like arm fixed at the shoulder to mimic how a human would play a harp, as well as have some potential for more enthralling movements.

I could also see that part as being built into the harp so that it seems to play without a player, hauntingly. This could also allow for people to come up and pluck the string, an since the harp automatically selects notes, all one would have to do is pluck it in the right way and just like that you’re playing a song.

Scale-wise, I’d thin k this would be human scale, which is to say that an arm would be the size of a human arm and the harp would be roughly the height of a full harp.