Engineering:Sharpsichord
Template:Infobox musical instrument The Sharpsichord is a musical instrument created by Henry Dagg in Faversham, Kent.[1] It is a pin-barrel harp that plays music using a system of pegs, like a music box.[2][3] The pegs slot into a grid of 11,520 holes[1] to program songs onto a 46-string harp using a chromatic scale.[4] The harp is then amplified by a pair of large horns.[1][4] The instrument can also be played more traditionally using a keyboard.[4] The Sharpsichord is solar-powered and can play 90 seconds of music at a time.[5][4][6] It is made of stainless steel and weighs 2,500 kilograms (5,500 lb) altogether.[4][7] Dagg has stated that the Sharpsichord is intended as a tribute to Cecil Sharp, a collector of folk music.[4]
It took around four years for Dagg to create the Sharpsichord after he was enabled to do so following a commission from the English Folk Dance and Song Society in 2006.[1] The society asked Dagg to create a trio of instruments to use in a "sound garden" following a grant from the Big Lottery Fund.[3][5] Dagg only produced one instrument: the Sharpsichord.[4] Due to the Sharpsichord being perishable it was not able to be used in the garden and Dagg later had to refund the money.[7][5] The instrument took a total of £90,000 to build. The Sharpsichord was used by Björk on her Biophilia tour for the song Sacrifice.[7][8][4][6][9][10][11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Inventor unveils 'sharpsichord'" (in en-GB). BBC News. 2010-01-26. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/8481926.stm.
- ↑ "Sharpsichord" (in en). https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/weirdest-musical-instruments/sharpsichord/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Pin barrel harp needs new home". 28 January 2010. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7084253/Pin-barrel-harp-needs-new-home.html.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 "The Sharpsichord - Created By Henry Dagg" (in en-GB). 2011-11-23. https://www.clashmusic.com/features/the-sharpsichord-created-by-henry-dagg/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "HENRY DAGG - FOCUS ON SOUND SCULPTURE" (in en). 2020-12-18. https://www.favershameye.co.uk/post/henry-dagg-focus-on-sound-sculpture.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "9 bizarre, unique instruments – from the gameleste to the pikasso guitar" (in en). https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/the-strangest-instruments-made-by-musicians.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "What the Hell is a Sharpsichord?" (in en). 7 October 2013. https://www.vice.com/en/article/rqwwxr/what-the-hell-is-a-sharpsichord.
- ↑ Peluchetti, Ami (2016-12-22) (in en). Ecotronica. Ami Peluchetti. https://books.google.com/books?id=AXnrDwAAQBAJ.
- ↑ "A Guide To Björk's Custom Biophilia Instruments" (in en). 9 February 2012. https://www.vice.com/en/article/eza747/a-guide-to-björks-custom-ibiophiliai-instruments.
- ↑ "Pin barrel harp" (in en). 2010-01-31. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/pin-barrel-harp-is-labour-of-lov-a88617/.
- ↑ KOS Media (2010-02-03). Your Swale, Issue 123, February 3, 2010. http://archive.org/details/your-swale-issue-123-2010-02-03.
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