What are Autoharps Good For?

Invented about 1883, autoharps have had many ups and downs. And the reasons people sold or bought them has varied over the decades.

Before radio, autoharps (and many similar instruments) were promoted as ways to have music in the home for families who couldn't afford pianos or music lessons.

Much later, musicians like the Carter family demonstrated the autoharp's value in "Mountain Music" and related genres.

In the 1970s, autoharps became widely used in elementary schools that had stopped maintaining their pianos.

Sadly, many musicians today assume that autoharps are just "novelties" or outright toys. Until they get their hands on one, that is. Then, they are often surprised and delighted at the sound they can get from the things.

The many current values of the autoharp include:

• The FUN Factor - Mostly, it's fun. When I put a properly-tuned autoharp into the hands of a non-player, their first response is almost always something like "Holy Cow, this is fun." Hand them a lyric sheet that lists the chords for simple songs, and many of them are playing and singing "Cripple Creek" or some such in a matter of minutes.

• Accompanying Yourself - If you like to sing and you would enjoy being able to accompany yourself, whether in your bedroom or an open mic, an autoharp will back you up on most songs without any special adaptations.

• Learning Music In Spite of Yourself - Playing more songs in more keys is a musical education in itself, as folks eventually realize that D7 is to G as C7 is to F, etc. An autoharp can help you develop the same ear for this sort of thing that most people develop by playing piano, guitar, banjo, or mandolin.

  

• Joining In at Jam, Singalongs, Hootenannies, etc. - Most modern autoharps enable you to play simple songs in C G, and D. If you discover that you need more chords to really keep up, there's a wide range of resources to help you add those chords (or get someone to do it for you).

• Playing Solos - Experimenting with fingerpicks will let you eventually play countless tunes on your 'harp. Simple tunes like "Boil that Cabbage Down" are a good place to start, since the melody line follows the chord changes exactly. But once you get the hang of it, you can play quite a few tunes.

• Playing in Ensembles - Well-played autoharps provide a rich sound that "fills out" the sound of string band-based music, in addition to be able to provide "lead" breaks. Sarah and Maybelle Carter proved that for decades, and they weren't alone.

  Today, more folks are tweaking their autoharps to play Folk, Bluegrass, Country, and related genres, which means they could turn up just about anywhere.

In other words, try one out. You may be very pleasantly surprised.

Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you come away with some great ideas for "sharing the joy."

And please stay in touch!

    - Paul Race

All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted ? 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009,
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