Plucky Strings and Peppy Percussion Strings and Percussion    

Lesson 23: Harp - Danse sacrée et danse profane

by Claude Debussy

Performer: United States Marine Band

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

This lesson introduces the harp, a stringed instrument. Harps typically have a triangular frame strung with between 40 to 47 strings. Harps are plucked or strummed with the fingers. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Danse sacrée et danse profane,' by Claude Debussy, features the music of a harp. The painting included in the lesson, 'The Harp of Erin' by Thomas Buchanan Read, shows a woman chained to a rock and playing a harp on the rocky shore of the ocean.

Vocabulary

Harp: A musical instrument, roughly triangular in shape, consisting of a frame supporting a graduated series of parallel strings, played by plucking with the fingers.
Graduated: Arrange in a series or according to a scale.
Parallel: Of lines, planes, surfaces, or objects side by side and having the same distance continuously between them.

Category

Music lessons over the next two years group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

String instruments produce sound through the vibration of strings. Strings may be plucked or strummed with fingers, hit with hammers, or rubbed with a bow.

See a picture of strings below. Note that some strings are thicker and some are thinner.

The sound produced by a string depends in part on its thickness, its length, its tightness, and its material.

Instruments have multiple strings of varying thickness. Musicians playing instruments turn pegs to tighten or loosen the strings and change their sounds. Musicians also press their fingers against the strings to control the length of strings that vibrate and produce sound. Strings are made from materials such as nylon or steel.

String instruments include violins, violas, cellos, double basses, guitars, ukuleles, sitars, mandolins, banjos, and depending on who you ask, pianos.

Study the images of strings.

1. Viola Strings

2. Cello Strings

3. Guitar Strings

Enrichment

Activity 1: Study the Parts of a Harp

• Study the parts on the labeled picture of the harp.

Activity 2: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson image, 'The Harp of Erin,' by Thomas Buchanan Read, and find the following:

• Woman
• White Dress
• Green Fabric
• Ocean Waves
• Rocks
• Chain
• Metal Ring
• Harp
• Harp Strings
• Harp Column
• Harp Head
• Harp Knee
• Harp Foot

Activity 3: Listen to a Harp

Listen to the recording of a solo harp:

Review

Question 1

What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 5

Answer 1

The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 5

Question 2

Which string instrument does this lesson feature?

2 / 5

Answer 2

This lesson features the harp.

2 / 5

Question 3

How many strings do harps typically have?

3 / 5

Answer 3

Harps typically have between 40 to 47 strings.

3 / 5

Question 4

What are the major parts of the harp?

4 / 5

Answer 4

Major parts of the harp include the head, neck, tuning pegs, strings, column, foot, body, and knee.

4 / 5

Question 5

How do musicians make sounds with a harp?

5 / 5

Answer 5

Musicians use both hands to strum the harp strings.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which string instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the harp.
3. How many strings do harps typically have? Harps typically have between 40 to 47 strings.
4. What are the major parts of the harp? Major parts of the harp include the head, neck, tuning pegs, strings, column, foot, body, and knee.
5. How do musicians make sounds with a harp? Musicians use both hands to strum the harp strings.

References

'String instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Harp.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.