Allowing Nature to Sing - A Photo Blog

One of the many items that Arthur (Fiondil) and I discussed before he died was Aeolian harps. We talked about this because of a short story he wrote that featured an Aeolian harp, but I've always been fascinated by the voice of the wind as I stood in so many places throughout the Southwestern US where wind rules. Yesterday Aearwen and I were discussing unusual instruments and I got pushed back into thinking about these wonderful harps. I've been wanting to build one for several years now and it's still on my to-do list. Since I can't find the time to build one right now, and since some of you may be unaware of what an Aeolian harp is, I thought a photo blog and some links might be helpful.

This large Aeolian harp is located in Ireland. If you follow the link,
you can hear what it sounds like. 

This outdoor harp is located in Launceston. It fits so
well into the environment. 

This lawn sculpture could be placed in anyone's back yard without taking
up the space of the larger public installations. Yet, the wind is just
as happy to play on these strings as on those of the big harps. 

This harp is on the Brighton Jetty and was built in 1999. It was
designed and built by Gavin Malone who specializes in
works of public art. 

This giant Aeolian harp was installed in Cornwall as part of the
Eden Project. The artist, Luke Jerram, is from Bristol.
There's a nice article about it here. 

The harp doesn't have to be large to be effective. This 10-string box-style
harp is only four feet long, but equally effective if the wind is in the mood to play it. 

Are you intrigued? Do you want to make one of your own?
Here's a link to a lovely page of several patterns, a bit of
history, and some You-Tube videos to help you along. 

Allowing the wind to not only have her voice, but to play songs through taught strings intrigues me. I'm quite sure that the harp Arthur envisioned in his tale was a larger, more elaborate public work, but it really doesn't have to be elaborate to be successful. Do a general image hunt on Google to see hundreds of styles of Aeolian harps. Maybe you'll be inspired to make one of your own.

Happy Thursday to all. Today will be a bit of a mess, but the weather should be decent as we head into a weekend of possible RAIN with temps approaching the upper 40's F. Time to melt some of the snow piles :-)