T
HE CHILDREN
'
S
H
ARP
The children's harp is a musical instrument with only
seven tones, especially developed and built for
children. Its simple and clear-cut form, the delicate,
yet rounded tone, as well as the arrangement of the
tones, relate to the musical experience of the child. In
the music itself this experience finds its expression in
the so-called Mood of the Fifth.
M
USICAL
M
ODES
; P
ENTATONIC AND
M
OOD OF THE
F
IFTH
The way in which a child experiences music differs
from that of the adult. He is far more receptive to
everything going on in the world around him. He
becomes deeply involved with, and experiences
inwardly, the sounds and noises he hears, and this
involvement influences his experiences of musical
sound in a very particular way. The way in which one
creates music depends on how one hears music. For
an adult the ground tone, the tonic, is almost always
the reference point, the foundation of the melody. For
the child, the melody moves around a note, but one
which to his ear never sounds fixed in the way a tonic
does.
The child's interest is focused on the intervals between
the notes. These intervals are "open" to him in every
sense and not "categorized" and referred to any system
of musical expression. This is particularly apparent,
and is experienced as a feeling of both openness and
movement, in the interval of the fifth, which is the
basis of the so called mood of the fifth (German:
Quintenstimmung).
The fifth d' - a', e' - b', a' - e'', and g' -d'' should
be tuned pure, with the a' at 432 Hertz. When
playing together with other instruments which have a
fixed pitch (e.g., flutes), the a' may be tuned to 440
Hertz. Tuning forks with these pitches are availavble at
your Choroi-workshop or music store. Likewise a
pentatonic pitch-pipe in a'=440 Hertz is available. The
mood of the fifth comes into being when fifths are
formed above and below the tone a':
d' - a' - e''
To these three basic notes are added the seconds,
which keep the adjoining notes flowing and flexible.
d' - e'
g' - a' - b'
d'' - e''
In this way, pentatonic music can be developed within
the mood of the fifth, in the five-tone (penta = five)
scale: d - e - g - a - b. This scale has for the child's
ear a warm and reassuring quality.
Around the ninth year of life, the child enters into a
new relationship with himself and his surroundings.
T
HE
S
HAPE OF THE
C
HILDREN
'
S
H
ARP
A musical instrument is an immediate point of
connection between the child and his surroundings.
This means that the instrument does not necessarily
require an enclosed resonance body, as long as a true
resonance is produced. The "front" and "back" sides of
what would habe been the resonance enclosure, are,
on a children's harp, "pushed away" from each other,
with the result that an open resonance space is created.
Through this, a "gesture" appears within the shape of
the instrument, and this principle of form contributes
to bringing about a tone quality which suits the young
child.
S
ONGS AND
E
XCERCISES
The sequence of tones we have just described is
particularly suitable for developing a free, musical
form of play. There are, however, a number of songs
and excercises which, besides being used directly,
may also help to stimulate the creation of one's own
little melodies.
Here is a short selection:
Julius Knierim:
Quintenlieder;
Edition Bingenheim,
Verlag Freies Geistesleben,
Postf.131122,
D-70069 Stuttgart
W-Germany
Alois Künstler:
Das Brünnlein singt und sa-
get; dtto.
Elisabeth Lebret: "Pentatonic Songs" and
"Sheperd's Song Book"; To
rontoWaldorf School,
Box 220, 91, Bathurst
Street, Thornhills,
Ontario, Canada L3T 3N3
Only then can he begin to understand the different
musical rules and structures, and to relate to, for
instance, major and minor.
Children's Harp
Playing and Care
