ROBERT HART
TRAD AND NOW INTERVIEW JAN 2003
T&N:
What was the first instrument you made?
It was a small 30 string
Paraguayan harp made at an Andy Rigby harp-making workshop. The year was about
1991. A friend of my wife friend rang me telling me about Andy’s Paraguayan
harp making workshop being held in Canberra. So I made arrangements and
went to the workshop, which lasted nearly 2 weeks. I went as an observer and
made notes etc.
T&N:
How did you gain expertise in instrument making?
ROBERT:
After returning to Byron I
started on my first harp using my notes and Andy's 30 string plans as a guide.
It was made with marine hoop pine plywood with a straight Oregon pillar. It
worked ok and I started to play music on it. I had played the classical guitar
for many years prior to this so I started to play the harp in a similar way,
adapting guitar technique to the Paraguayan harp.
I made a few more of the 30
string harps using various woods. After about a year I obtained plans for a 36
string Paraguayan harp from Robinson's harp shop in the U.S.A and proceeded to
build it. It had an Oregon sound board and blackwood body. It was ok to play
and sounded reasonable. I took it to the International harp festival at Albury.
Also I applied the principles
embodied in some of the Paraguayan harps I had seen to the 30 string models.
That is a curved back and convex base plate adjusting the thickness of the
soundboard etc. The sound quality was a big improvement the original 30 string
model. It had a lovely light brilliant sound with a good resonance in the lower
range
A lot of work and research
went into the 36 string models, The basic concept with the Paraguayan harp is
to keep the weight down and at the same time keeping enough strength in it
to stop it collapsing. It owes its design philosophy more to guitar
construction than conventional harp making. After all, Paraguayans are also
great guitar players too.
T&N:
What's the most unusual instrument
you've made/repaired?
ROBERT:
Probably the
Colombian/Venezuelan harp. They are rare in this country. Their construction is
unusual. It is very large, about five feet tall, and has low tension
strings. It is very light and mostly made of cedar( see my article on repairing
this harp on Arpa Llanera
)
The Colombian makers often
have to make do with less than perfect hardware and materials. Despite this and their
unusual construction they are capable of a really beautiful sound. You should
hear what they play on these harps!
T&N:
Do you play one of your own instrument(s)
when you perform/jam/session - if not tell me about the instrument(s) you play?
ROBERT:
I have nearly always played my
own harps. Because I play the harp I know what makes a good harp, sound
quality, even string tension string-spacing, balance, weight etc.
T&N:
Do you closely follow
traditional designs and materials or have you incorporated new innovations,
materials and technologies?
ROBERT:
I have tried to emulate the
traditional Paraguayan design ethic, although there are many different styles
of Paraguayan Harp but the main thing is all of the ones made in Paraguay are
made of the local cedar for the body and neck. It is very light, of medium
hardness and quite strong. It smells like pencils. Above everything else it
seems to be the key factor in producing the unique brilliance in the sound.
The traditional Paraguayan
harp has a short sustain and high volume and brilliance. There is a
relationship between harp mass and sustain and response, It is difficult to
embrace all in one instrument.
T&N:
Do you use Australian
timbers/materials in your instruments? How do they compare with the traditional
timbers/materials?
ROBERT:
My harps have used spruce
soundboards and black wood, PNG rosewood for the soundboxes and hoop pine ply
for the necks. But the best one was made of camphor laurel. It is the one I
play professionally. It is heavier than the Paraguayan cedar and has more
sustain and less sweetness but is better suited to all round music making.
Recently on a visit to Tasmania I visited the old family farm. The apple
packing shed had been converted to a craft shop. In one corner was a dirty old twisted
log standing on its end on the floor. It was about five feet high and 1 foot wide.
I wondered what it was, so I tapped the top. It rang like a bell! a log that
big! I asked what kind of wood it was. The lady said Huon pine! That made
me wonder if a harp body made from Huon pine would sound similar to the
Paraguayan cedar ones.
T&N:
Do your customers generally know
what they want, or do you guide them in making decisions on the instrument you
will make for them?
>
ROBERT:
Both, some people want a harp
and it is their first harp others know what they want
T&N:
What are you working on at
present?
ROBERT:
I am developing my music and
extending the harp playing technique, Incorporating Paraguayan techniques with
guitar and piano music styles. I want to be able to express as much as possible
on the harp It is amazing what can be done on the harp, whole melodies played
as tremolos of four notes over a complex bass pattern amazing cross rhythmic
patterns, and performing with other musicians etc.
T&N:
And the future?
ROBERT:
I don't think much about the
future these days, when I was young I did, I am doing what comes day by day.
Life is easier this way. If plans need to be made they are made. The passion in
the music of life is what is important.
